UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie

Infobox animanga/Header
name = UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie


caption =
ja_name = 円盤 皇女 ワるきゅーレ
ja_name_trans = UFO Princess Valkyrie
genre = Comedy, Magical girl, RomanceInfobox animanga/Anime
title =
director = Shigeru Ueda
studio = flagicon|Japan Media Factory Inc.
flagicon|Japan TNK
licensor = flagicon|USA flagicon|Canada ADV Films, then Funimation
network = Kids Station
UHF Group
first = July 4 2002
last = 2004
episodes = 33Infobox animanga/Manga
title =
author = Kaishaku
publisher = Square Enix
demographic = Shōnen
magazine = Monthly Shōnen Gangan
first = March 2002
last = 2007
volumes = 11Infobox animanga/OVA
title = SPECIAL
director = Shigeru Ueda
studio = flagicon|Japan Media Factory, Inc.
flagicon|Japan TNK
licensor = flagicon|USA ADV Films
episodes = 1
released = October 5 2006
runtime = 24 min

nihongo|"UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie"|円盤 皇女 ワるきゅーレ|Enban Kōjo Warukyūre, also known as "UFO Princess Valkyrie", is an anime series based on the manga of the same name, which has run for at eleven volumes, and still seems to be continuing. It was created by the manga group Kaishaku, who are also known for creating "Steel Angel Kurumi".

It follows the story of Kazuto Tokino and the alien Princess, Valkyrie, who gives half her soul to Kazuto after accidentally crashing her spaceship into his bathhouse and nearly killing him. The price of her "gift" to him turns her into a child. Whenever she kisses Kazuto, Valkyrie regains her adult form for a short time, along with magical powers.

"UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie" was directed by Shigeru Ueda for Media Factory Inc. and initially ran for 12 episodes. Since then there has been a two episode OVA, a 12 episode Season 2, a six episode Season 3, and a two episode Season 4. English translation and production of UFO Ultramaiden is by ADV Films. In 2008, "UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie" became one of over 30 ADV titles whose North American rights were transferred to Funimation Entertainment. [ [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-07-04/funimation-picks-up-over-30-former-ad-vision-titles Funimation Picks Up Over 30 Former AD Vision Titles - Anime News Network ] ]

Plot summary

On a world where aliens are commonplace, Kazuto Tokino decides on his own to run his grandfather's bathhouse despite the protests from his parents. Kazuto however lacks a lot of the skills needed to make such a venture successful and must get by on a sunny disposition. That alone might have made things hard enough for him, but an alien princess named Valkyrie destroys the bathhouse, and in the process mortally wounds Kazuto. However, she is able to save his life with a magical kiss, but that kiss costs her half of her soul and transforms her into an 8 year old child. Princess Valkyrie is then stranded on Earth, unable to look after herself as the entire solar system is out searching for her. Kazuto now owes her his life and must defend not only his grandfather's dream but the very hyper Princess Valkyrie from those alien invaders who are searching for her even as she shows how much she has come to care for Kazuto.

Characters

*Valkyrie (child) - jp icon Hisayo Mochizuki / en icon Kira Vincent-Davis:Walküre in the original Japanese, after transferring part of her soul to Kazuto and becoming the small 8-year-old child, Valkyrie became very different then her original self, and even at times refers to herself as "Val". Even though she is incredibly attached to Kazuto, she becomes very loud and finds ways to wreck Kazuto's house in her child form. She also gets jealous easily, and often says things that are easily misunderstood by others, such as saying she gave Kazuto her "special thing". This young Valkyrie is always cheerful and has an adoring follower in Sanada, her maid. Valkyrie in her 8 year old form also calls Kazuto "Kazie" (in the English dub) which is one of the ways she shows her childlike crush on him, which is stronger in her adult form.
*Kazuto Tokino - jp icon Kenichi Suzumura / en icon Greg Ayres:Kazuto is the owner of a bathhouse which he is trying to run in part to honor his late grandfather who loved the bathhouse. He is one of the few that actually likes the idea as his parents refer to it as a "money pit" and think him a fool to even try to run it. Though somewhat stubborn in running what many believe to be an outdated and failing business, he is considered to be a kind and hard-working soul, which eventually impresses and endears all those around him, including the Valhallan Royal Family. He is nearly killed in Valkyrie's crash landing but saved when she gives him half her soul. He also seems drawn to her in a way and finds himself falling in love with her, but unsure with how to deal with her childlike appearance at times. Eventually, he does see beyond her childlike appearance and loves the Valkyrie within. He plans to marry the princess... eventually, and is recognized as her official fiancé.
*Valkyrie (adult) - jp icon Megumi Ogata / en icon Kira Vincent-Davis:Heroine of the series and a princess from Planet Valhalla, in the Dolphin Constellation. Once Valkyrie learned that her father was planning a political marriage for her without her consent, she fled to Earth and crash landed on Kazuto's bathhouse. In order to save his life she had to give half of her soul to him, but that process turned her into an 8 year old girl. She can only regain her normal form by kissing Kazuto but it doesn't last long and she normally kisses him in order to protect him. She eventually develops deep feelings of love for Kazuto. Her powers include flight, energy manipulation and defensive shields, plus she wields an artifact called the Key of Time. When it is later revealed that Kazuto is the one that she will marry, she is overjoyed, but it is difficult for the ceremony to take place since she keeps on reverting back to her child form. At the end of the 3rd series, due to a mishap with the Princess Mural, Valkyrie's older and younger selves split into two separate people. During the 4th season, Valkyrie's former classmates mistake her younger self to be her daughter.
*Hydra - jp icon Chinami Nishimura / en icon Nancy Novotny:Haidora in the original Japanese, she is a younger sister of Valkyrie, who chased her to Earth. She knew that if Valkyrie ran away, she would have to take her sister's place at the wedding, which was not something she wanted to do. However, she crash landed on Akina's temple, only to have her powers sealed by Akina, making her become a child just like Valkyrie. However, unlike Valkyrie, her mind is that of her adult form, not a child's. Much like a kiss can restore Valkyrie, the seal on Hydra can be released by Akina's will. Hydra has a short temper and is rather tomboyish, acting in a rash manner that shows action before thinking things through, meaning she is prone to destroy things that get in her way. She can transform into a winged pink and yellow horse and has several other powers. She has taken up kendo while living with Akina, and often pokes fun at Akina's breast size and her feelings for Kazuto.
*Sanada - jp icon Rie Tanaka / en icon Christine Auten:Chief maid of the royal family of Valhalla, the planet Valkyrie original comes from; Sanada, a catgirl, is a faithful and very loyal servant. Upon learning of the princess’s disappearance, she tracked her down to Kazuto's house where she settled at once, considering Kazuto to be Valkyrie's official fiancé. Even seeing how Valkyrie becomes a smaller version of herself doesn't seem to trouble Sanada at all as she finds the smaller Valkyrie to be very cute. In fact, Rika describes her as a 'Valkyrie fundamentalist'. In order to ensure her main goal of keeping Valkyrie safe, she sometimes causes more trouble then good. One of these instances is when she uses her "Cat Ear Gun" (Nekomata, or Cat-Girl Ray Gun in the English version) to turn half of the city's girls into an army of brainwashed catgirl maids for the crime of just being near Kazuto. In later episodes, these maids are summoned to aid her by a whistle. (When not serving her, they act pretty much like normal, but wearing maid outfits... and Sanada never sees fit to remove their brainwashing, vexing some fans.) During the third series, Sanada takes on a kind of 'superhero identity' to help Valkyrie and Kazuto.
*Akina Nanamura - jp icon Saeko Chiba / en icon Cynthia Martinez:A neighbor and childhood friend of Kazuto. She has considerable powers with the ability to attack with demon wards and to create barriers. She sealed away Hydra's powers after Hydra crash landed on her family's shrine and started wreaking havoc. She seems to have feelings for Kazuto as she is always stopping at his bathhouse. However, she never acts on these emotions, which she greatly regrets at times, as he and the princess Valkyrie grow closer together. She later has to face the fact that they are in love and intend to marry. A couple of things to note is that Akina is a horrendous karaoke singer, and that she is quite self-conscious about the size of her chest. In the beginning of the 2nd season, Valkyrie uses her power to make Akina's breasts grow to an immense size (At Hydra's joke request), which turns out to be a satisfying moment for her.
*Mar - jp icon Haruko Momoi / en icon Nomed Kaerf and Vic Mignogna :Mar is very short and gets stepped on a lot, but despite this he is actually a hardened warrior. He's involved with the galactic pirates and also has a history with Spot. He's also an ace pilot with the nickname of Thundering Marduke. He was initially sent to kidnap Valkyrie and hold her for ransom, but was later swayed to Shiro's side. His appearance almost copies Dengaku Man from Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo except he has a lightning bolt shape on his chest and the bit on his head is longer.
*Rika Tokino - jp icon Omi Minami / en icon Monica Rial:Kazuto's younger sister, she helps him run the bathhouse but like her parents is concerned it is just a money pit and that they might soon be broke. She tends to act like a scrooge in general when it comes to money and she sees it as quite important. She is also constantly studying in the hopes of getting into a good high school and later university. She doesn't seem very interested in having her own social life and even turned down the advances of the most popular boy at her school, though the two later became friends. She is all for the marriage between Valkyrie and Kazuto, since she sees it as a way for the family to get out of debt, (marrying into money so to speak).
*Spot - jp icon Tadahisa Saizen / en icon Andrew Love: He is called Spottenheim in the English version (or "Shirokenhaimu" in Japanese), though chibi Valkyrie calls him Spot or Shiro in English and Japanese respectively. His introduction into the series isn't explained, but he seems to be designated as Valkyrie's pet. He's a white, dog-like alien who happens to be a veteran fighter pilot who was once known as Spottenheim the Comet. He lives at the Tokino residence and does household repairs. Normally, he is the plaything of the child Valkyrie and is tossed, ridden, and swung about like a rag doll. He doesn't seem to mind being the lap dog, though he often tells Valkyrie not to pull on his ears. He has a surprisingly deep voice for such a small creature and is also very mature when not acting like Valkyrie's pet.
*Chorus - jp icon Kuwashima Hoko / en icon Kim Prause: She's one of the eight princesses of Valhalla, and she constantly refers to herself as a cyborg, though Hydra and Laine consider her as just plain nuts; In reality, she's one of those kinds of people who take fiction way too seriously. She makes a cameo in the first series and plays a major role in the second season. Chorus likes to go on the Internet in Rika's closet, much to Rika's annoyance. She has the ability to feel psychic wavelengths and can even make them into pictures by using a computer printer. In the Anime, Chorus makes direct references to other anime.
*Laine - jp icon Mayumi Iizuka / en icon Hilary Haag: The youngest of the eight princesses of Valhalla, she is basically a ditz and a terrible driver (Though she might be better than Hydra and Valkyrie, as she has yet to total her spaceship). Unlike the other princesses, Laine constantly crashes her UFO, which is a compact, two-parter. She originally came to Earth to seek out Valkyrie due to her intense affection for her, but later develops romantic feelings toward Kazuto. She has the ability to transform her outward appearance into anyone she chooses. However, whatever appearance she takes, she will always have an antennae sticking out of her head, as well as her obvious feminine features, even when imitating a man. Pulling that antennae will immediately change her back. Her disguises aren't perfect, and anyone can figure her out by looking for the antennae, though her perverted personality and large curves usually give her away before that. During the 3rd Season, she takes a trip back in time to her academy days and corrects a mistake in her past. Occasionally, her past selves visit her in the present time, though why they haven't created any time paradoxes is anyone's guess.
*Mehm - jp icon Emi Shinohara / en icon Robin Terry: The eldest of the eight Valhallan princess, she is seen as the head of the Royal Family. She's somewhat of a nosy busybody, and she frequently visits the Tokino home, both to check up on Kazuto and Valkyrie's relationship, and to enjoy living away from all her royal duties. At the end of the first series, it was Mehm who decreed that Valkyrie would marry Kazuto, as she recognized Kazuto to be the only one who could truly understand and love Valkyrie.
*Inarba - jp icon Kikoku Inoue / en icon Jessica Boone: She's the most serious-minded of the eight Valhallan princesses and stickler for the rules. She made a brief appearance in the first series, and plays a role in the third. She is considered the adjudicator of the Royal Family and has a special attack called the Thrust of Death, which sends anyone to the Punishment Dimension. Everyone fears her, even the violent Hydra. Inarba enforces the Law of Valhalla, and any offenders she meets will suffer the Punishment Dimension, which causes them to live out their greatest fears or some ironic punishment. She comes to Earth to judge the members of the Royal Family and to make preparations for Kazuto and Valkyrie's wedding during the Stellar Season. So far, only Kazuto's sister was able to counter Inarba's Thrust of Death, in which the impressed Inarba declares Rika to be her eventual successor, though Rika sees the training as just more homework.
*Nesty - jp icon Yuu Asakawa / en icon Kaytha Coker: Another of the eight princesses of Valhalla. She makes a brief appearance in the first series, and is not seen again until the final episode of the third series. Apparently she leads a sort of anti-pirate space fleet and she spends her time hunting down corsairs, criminals and such. She discovers an ancient artifact of Vahalla called the Princess Mural, in which past generations of princesses have had their weddings in front of it. She brings it to Earth so Kazuto and Valkyrie can be married in the same tradition, but that also causes the space pirates to come after it.
*Pharm - jp icon Mai Kadowaki / en icon Carli Mosier:Like the other princesses, she only makes a momentary appearance at the end of the first season, but later shows up in the third. She crash-lands her UFO on top of Kazuto and Akina's high school and sets herself up as their homeroom teacher. Pharm has a fetish for women wearing large spectacles like the one she has on. She begins converting the girls at school wearing large eyeglassses, and comes into conflict with Sanada and the Catgirl Maid Squad.
*Valkyrie Ghost - jp icon Megumi Ogata / en icon Kira Vincent-Davis:The main antagonist during the second season. She is not a single individual person, but rather the combined energies and emotions of the four missing Princesses of Valhalla from ancient times. She resembles Valkyrie in her adult form, but wears black clothes, and has different colored eyes. Valkyrie Ghost is searching for the legendary Illustrious Lover (Phantom Lover) of myth in hopes that she could cure her eternal sadness and loneliness. She finds him in Kazuto after feeling the absolute joy and happiness in Valkyrie. The missing four princesses are also the creators of Valkyrie's Key of Time.
*Akidra - jp icon Chinami Nishimura + Saeko Chiba / en icon Nancy Novotny + Cynthia Martinez:This is the combined form of Akina and chibi Hydra. When Akina began experimenting with some new incantations to fight against Valkyrie Ghost, she and Hydra are fused together during an argument. The end result is a white-haired shrine maiden with the powers of a Valhallan princess with mystic seals. Their combined abilities are magnified, but there are two drawbacks. In order to combine, Hydra and Akina must be in a state of disagreement, then touch hands. Normally, this is achieved whenever one of them does something to anger the other, (usually Akina rattles Hydra by destroying some of Hydra's personal things). Secondly, if the two are in total agreement, they automatically separate. This condition makes it very difficult for them to cooperate during combat.

Episode titles

Season 1

# The Bathouse With an Angel (天女のいる銭湯)
# The Transforming Princess Valkyrie (変身皇女ワルキューレ)
# Head Catgirl Maid, Ms. Sanada (猫耳侍女長真田さん)
# What Your Wings Are For (君の羽根がめざすもの)
# A Page Out of Rika's Youth (リカちゃん歳時記)
# Princess Memorial (姫様メモリアル)
# Runaway Princess Laine (脱線皇女ライネ)
# A Vacation for the Catgirl Maids (猫耳慰安旅行)
# Akina's Miniature Transformation (秋菜小変身)
# How I Bought an Asteroid Over the Internet (通販で小惑星を買った話)
# Tokino Bathhouse Space Annex (時乃湯宇宙別館)
# A Ride into Fantasy for Valkyrie (ワるきゅーレ夢幻騎行)

Season 1.5 (OVA)

# Season 1 Recap
# Bride for a Day

Season 2

# Key of Time
# Mechanic Princess Chorus
# Electric Wave Princess Chorus
# Maiden of the School Planet
# Valkyrie Ghost
# Meemu Night Flight
# First Super Karaoke Competition
# Nekomimi Hakkouda Mountain
# Strongest Super Girl Akidora
# Twelve Dark Moons
# The Four Lost Princesses
# Valkyrie Flying in the Skies

Season 3

# The Relation Between the Maiden and the Spectacles
# Goddess of Judgement Inarva
# Nekomimizukin Comes Forth
# Raine Raine Raine
# Runaway Princess Valkyrie
# The Battle of the Sky Wedding Palace

Season 4

# Valkyrie Reunion
# Star of Wishes, Star of Thoughts

Music Themes

;Opening Theme (Season 1)::"Itoshii Kakera" by Melocure

;Ending Theme (Season 1)::"Save" by Hisayo Mochizuki

;Opening Theme (Season 2)::"Meguriai" by Melocure

;Ending Theme (Season 2)::"Marble" by Hisayo Mochizuki, Chinami Nishimura, Rie Tanaka and Saeko Chiba

;Opening Theme (Season 3)::"Natsu no Mukougawa" by Meg Hinata

;Ending Theme (Season 3)::"Uchuu no Hana" by Kikuko Inoue, Mai Kadowaki, and Yuu Asakawa

;Opening Theme (Season 4 Ova)::"One Kiss" by Megumi Ogata

;Ending Theme (Season 4 Ova)::"Sorekara" by Kenichi Suzumura

;Incidental "Love Song"::"Agape" by Melocure

;Incidental Talent Show Song (By Little Valkyrie)::"Suki-Suki-Suki wa na Kanji (I Love it, Love it, Love it, Feels like Harmony)::by Hisayo Mochizuki

;Incidental Talent Show Song (By Big Valkyrie)::"Princess of December" by Megumi Ogata

References

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External links

* [http://www.ufoultramaiden.com/ Official ADV "UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie" site]
* [http://www.tokinoyu.net/ Official "Tokinoyu: UFO Princess Valkyrie"]