Himitsu no Akko-chan (ひみつのアッコちゃん, The Secrets of Akko-chan[1]) is a popular pioneering magical girl manga and anime[2] that ran in Japan during the 1960s.
The manga was drawn and written by Fujio Akatsuka, and was published in Ribon from 1962 to 1965. It predates the Mahōtsukai Sunny (whose name became Sally in the Mahōtsukai Sally anime) manga, printed in 1966. However, that title is the first magical girl anime as Himitsu no Akko-chan was not broadcast until 1969.
The original anime ran for 94 episodes from 1969 to 1970. It was animated by Toei Animation and broadcast by TV Asahi (then known as NET). It has been remade twice, in 1988 (61 episodes, featuring Mitsuko Horie in the role of Akko-chan and singing the opening and ending themes) and in 1998 (44 episodes).
Two movies were produced. Himitsu no Akko-chan Movie and Umi da! Obake da!! Natsu Matsuri both released in 1989. It was adapted into a live action film released on September 1, 2012.[3]
Currently, an adaptation the series is running as a web manga, ひみつのアッコちゃん μ (Himitsu no Akko-Chan μ, pronounced "myu".) It is written by Hiroshi Izawa, and drawn by Futago Kamikita.[4]
