This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2019) |
![]() | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (September 2011)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Love me Licia | |
---|---|
Genre | Comedy |
Created by | Alessandra Valeri Manera |
Developed by | Barda & Lumetti |
Directed by | Mario Cavazzuti |
Starring | Cristina D'Avena Pasquale Finicelli Salvatore Landolina |
Composer | Giordano Bruno Martelli |
Country of origin | Italy |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 34 |
Production | |
Running time | 25 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | Italia 1 |
Release | 6 October – 24 December 1986 |
Love me Licia is an Italian television series. It is the first of the four live adaptations of the Japanese manga Ai Shite Knight (known in Italy as Kiss Me Licia). Its sequels are Licia dolce Licia , Teneramente Licia , and Balliamo e cantiamo con Licia .
Bee Hive, a musical group that left for the United States at the end of the animated series, return from America and then go on tour followed by their girlfriends. Licia suspects that Mirko, her boyfriend and frontman of the Bee Hive, has fallen in love with Mary, the group's manager, but the one who actually falls in love with her is Marrabbio, Licia's father. Marrabbio will literally lose his head for Mary and will do his best to woo her, often offering her inviting food he cooked, but he will have to compete against the younger and more handsome Vilfredo, whom he nicknamed "Boiled Artichoke". Vilfredo, however, will have a negative role in the series, because he will kidnap the cat Giuliano to obtain the recipe of Marrabbio's meatballs, only to be forgiven in the following series.
Miss Mary will have the power to sweeten the grumpy Marrabbio, to such an extent that he will be convinced to let Licia go to the beach with Mirko and the rest of Bee Hive, in order to be able to take care of Andrea. The grouchy father will follow his daughter to the beach anyway, where new adventures and comic skits will happen.
Aishite Knight was very successful in Italy, so broadcasting company Fininvest decided to make, with the consent of the original producers, the show Love me Licia as a sequel of the anime.
Cristina D'Avena, who had sung the Italian opening of the original anime, would play Yakko, while Pasquale Finicelli was chosen for Go Kato. Although the two were both singers, Finicelli's voice is never heard in the show while D'Avena's voice was only used for one song. This is because all the actors of the show were voiced by the voice actors of the characters they played, so Cristina D'Avena was dubbed in the parts spoken by Donatella Fanfani, while Finicelli was voiced by Ivo De Palma in the dialogues and, in the sung parts, by Enzo Draghi. The character of Lauro was played by his voice actor (Antonio Paiola), so he was not dubbed. Characters invented specifically for the show were also equally voiced except for Lucas (Bee Hive's new manager) and Hildegard (a German girl) who were voiced by their actors. The interpreters of Shigemaro and Grandpa Sam (Salvatore Landolina and Sante Calogero respectively), despite being both professional voice actors, were voiced by Pietro Ubaldi and Riccardo Mantani.
The show is affected by the influence of the original anime much more than the other three future ones, especially for the look of the characters (Yakko, for example, had bobbed hair like in the anime, although in later series they will become smooth).
The initial and final theme song of the show was written by Giordano Bruno Martelli and Alessandra Valeri Manera and sung by Cristina D'Avena.
The interiors of the series were shot in the former studios of Merak Film S.r.l. while the exteriors in the park of Brugherio both in Cologno Monzese.
The Bee Hive concerts were shot in a former disco in Jesolo and Igloo in Varallo.
The show features new characters invented specifically for it.