Mamotte! Lollipop
A.K.A. Save Me! Lollipop.
Mamotte! Lollipop is a seven-volume Manga series by Michio Kikuta, first published in the Nakayoshi family of magazines beginning in 2002. It was adapted as a 13-episode Anime series in 2006.
Seventh-grader Nina Yamada is eating cake outdoors with her friends and describing her perfect man (essentially an Ideal Hero) when she notices what appears to be a hard candy on her plate. She puts it in her mouth, noticing it's not particularly tasty, when suddenly some strange boys appear. In the excitement, Nina accidentally swallows the object. It turns out that the boys are trainee wizards participating in the professional wizard exam. The team of two that is in possession of the Crystal Pearl at the end of six months gets their licenses. And since Nina now has the Pearl inside her, that makes her the target of every trainee wizard around.
The first pair of wizards, Zero and Ichi, turn out to be relatively decent fellows, and decide that they will protect Nina until such time as the Pearl can be safely removed from her. A series of other wizard teams, of varying degrees of wackiness, also come after the Pearl. Hilarity Ensues.
A sequel, entitled Modotte! Mamotte! Lollipop was published in 2006, still in the same Nakayoshi magazines. It still follows the crazy adventure of Nina that is, once again, being chased by participants of another wizard exam because she, once again, swallows another crystal called Crystal Drop that is mandatory for passing the exam.
Of course, Ichii and Zero are still there to save Nina.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Nina ends up with Zero.
- Barrier Warrior: Ichi's specialty is defensive magic.
- Battle Butler: Go to Rokka.
- Beach Episode: Nanase and Yakumo's first appearance.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Rokka. Nina can be this too sometimes.
- Clingy MacGuffin: The Crystal Pearl does not just pass through Nina's digestive system and can't be thrown up.
- Damsel in Distress: Nina is constantly getting into trouble, and at least in the early part of the manga, she doesn't have any useful talents.
- Dude Looks Like a Lady: Nanase.
- First Guy Wins: In the numerical sense, anyway.
- Fountain of Youth: Rokka temporarily turns Nina into an infant.
- Freaky Friday Flip: Nanase switches Nina and Zero's minds temporarily. The cure involves them getting "very close."
- Heavy Voice: Zura can blow up like a balloon and float. When it does this, it can still talk, but its voice is much deeper than usual.
- Kimodameshi
- Japanese Delinquents: Ichi was one in his backstory, but he's a much nicer person by the time we meet him.
- Loophole Abuse: Nina is distressed to learn that there is no rule in the contest against killing human beings (i.e., her) in order to win.
- Mascot: Ryu, the Crystal Pearl that transformed into a baby-dragon at the end of the first exam.
- Not Blood Siblings: Ichi tried to invoke this on his older adoptive sister Sarasa. As he's about eleven years old at the time and she's roughly 20, it's not treated very seriously by anyone else.
- Numerical Theme Naming: All the contestants have numbers as or in their names.
- Running Gag: San keeps making Forte dress in girls' clothing.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Rokka. In her profile, under "favorite type of boy", had "Ichi-sama, of course!"
- Stepford Smiler: San.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Zero's destruction specialty.
- Younger Than They Look: Rokka is actually 5 years old, and uses transformation magic to look like a very curvy teenage girl.
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Nearly everyone, with the notable exception of Ichi.