"Pollon, Pollon troublemaker!" This is one of the best known refrains if we talk about 80s anime. Our journey into this world continues with her, the goofy and funny mini-goddess who aspires to become a full-fledged goddess. After addressing the love issues of Mila and Shiro, the missions of Great Mazinger and Ninja Turtles, passing through the challenges of Holly and Benji e The Tiger Man, we enter a totally different mood, venturing on in Olympus.
Once upon a time ... Pollon: the plot
The dream of becoming a goddess
Once upon a time ... Pollon is an animated series based on the manga of Azuma Hideo and told in 46 episodes. The protagonist is clearly Pollon, the only daughter of the god Apollo, who lives with her father and all the other gods on Mount Olympus. The image that is given of the divine place par excellence is very similar to that of the Earth, complete with television, shops and supermarkets.
The biggest desire of the small and curly protagonist is to become a goddess and it is precisely for this reason that she asks for help from her grandfather who is none other than the father of all the gods: Zeus. A pact is born between them: she will fulfill her wish when she has filled a magical piggy bank with coins that he will give her every time she does a good deed. The piggy bank has the shape of a throne that gets a little bigger with each coin, only when it is big enough to sit can it become a goddess.
Pollon and his helpers
Pollon he is thrilled with his grandfather's promise Zeus and immediately sets to work in the search for people to help. In these missions, however, she is not alone: she is at her side Eros, god of love and his inseparable companion. The good will of both are punctually put in difficulty by the unexpected that make their missions real misadventures. On the way to becoming a goddess, Pollon comes across her protagonists of Greek myths revisited in a modern way.
In her mission, the protagonist often also finds the support of Goddess of goddesses, who encourages and saves her from bad situations, like a real guardian angel. He gives her a magical clip with which to contact her in times of need and use the Bon Bon miracle.
The adventures of Pollon, between mythology and humor
As we have mentioned, every adventure faced by our aspiring goddess is inspired by mythology. Episode after episode, Pollon encounters a number of struggling characters who are drawn from well-known stories. We meet then Poseidon, Hades and Persephone, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Narcissus and many others. Some recurring, others in single episodes. However, there are clear references to Ovid's Metamorphoses, from classical Greece, with a tone that is almost always parodic, sometimes tragicomic. This is why they appear to the viewer far more than divine, rather they are devoted to vices, weak and far more than infallible and incorruptible.
The grand finale
Despite the difficulties, Pollon manages to win, one after the other, the coins he needs for his magical piggy bank, arriving at the last and complicated undertaking. As a final effort to become a goddess, Pollon finds herself having to save the Earth from the evils that came out of Pandora's box. Thanks to the hope, which had remained at the bottom of the mythical vase overflowing with demons, the little girl manages to imprison all the escaped monsters again. It is at this point that the twist arrives: Pollon discovers that the Goddess of goddesses, so far often rushed to his aid, is precisely the goddess of hope. As a token of gratitude for the efforts of Apollo's daughter, the goddess gives her the title. Pollon thus crowns his dream.
Pollon, anime e manga
Once upon a time ... Pollon is a shōjo manga written and drawn by Hideo Azuma, published since 1977 by the publisher Akita Shoten in Princess magazine. The original title of the comic was "Olympos no Pollon" or "Pollon of Mount Olympus". The anime adaptation known to all was then taken from the manga. Azuma's work was then published in Italy for the first time in 2001 by Lexy Production in four volumes, before leaving distribution to Magic Press Edizioni, which published a new edition of the comic in two volumes in 2010 and the series complete in a single volume in 2017. Unlike the anime we have met and remembered so far, Pollon is one of the few cartoons that almost completely incorporates the content of the manga from which it is taken, including the ending with the protagonist's battle against the evils escaping from the Pandora case.
The abbreviation
If the first publication of the comic is dated 1977, the Pollon cartoon actually came to light in 1982 and then aired on Italia1 for the first time in 1984 inside the popular Bim Bum Bam container. The Italian theme song, entitled Pollon, Pollon combinaguai, is played by Cristina D'Avena, and was written by Piero Cassano dei Matia Bazar and Alessandra Valeri Manera. The anime was broadcast on Mediaset television channels, and was then also replicated on the local Crotone broadcaster Radio Tele International. It was also broadcast in France by La Cinq under the name La petite Olympe et les dieux.
Pollon between gods and goddesses: the characters
Certainly one of the elements that have determined the success of Pollon are the various protagonists who meet episode after episode. The succession of well-known characters of mythology but with denotation so different to the known one - and therefore with humorous, parodic and sometimes tragicomic traits - makes the narration fun and interesting. All this while recounting some of the best known myths, albeit treated with a distinctly different tone. But what are the main characters that we find in the course of the 46 episodes dedicated to Pollon's adventure? Let's find out!
Pollon - Daughter of the god Apollo and protagonist of the story.
Eros - Pollon's best friend, he is the god of love but he is represented as a clumsy and ugly boy, with small wings.
Apollo - Father of Pollon and god of the sun, who carries on a cart pulled by Dosankos, a sad and not very awake nag. It is not quite the example of the model worker.
Zeus - The father of all gods and Pollon's grandfather, he is a womanizer always in search of new prey
Era - Wife of Zeus, almost always intent on punishing her unfaithful husband with lightning bolts she created herself.
Poseidon - The giant sea god who, despite his role, cannot swim.
Goddess of the Dee - Guardian Angel of Pollon, appears in the second part of the series and helps Pollon to become a true goddess.
Afrodite - Goddess of beauty and the most beautiful of goddesses, she spends most of her time in the mirror wearing makeup.
Artemide - Goddess of the hunt and the moon and also Pollon's aunt.
Once Upon a Time Pollon (Collectors Edition) (6 DVD)
- Hideo Azuma (Actor)
