Tokimeki Tonight (ときめきトゥナイト, lit. Heart-Throbbing Tonight) is a Shōjo manga series by Koi Ikeno which ran in Ribon magazine from 1982 to 1994, with 30 volumes. The plotline spans 3 generations of the Etou family. Years after the original manga was published, a reimaging of the series called Tokimeki Midnight was published in the magazine Cookie Box with 9 volumes.
This series is about a girl named Ranze Eto, a girl who looked like an Ordinary High-School Student, but her family is something that came straight out of The Addams Family. You see, her father is a vampire and her mother is a werewolf. And it also turns out that Ranze has special powers of her own: for example, whenever she bites anything, she can change herself into a carbon copy of that object, whether it's another person or an inanimate object such as a piece of bread. Only by sneezing can she return to her normal self.
On her first day of school, Ranze meets a handsome guy named Shun Makabe. The chief problem with this is that Ranze's parents will not allow her to date a human (and in fact have already arranged a marriage for her with a boy in the demon kingdom) - although there may be much more to Shun than meets the eye. On top of this, Ranze also has a bitter rival in the pretty but spiteful Yoko Kamiya, the daughter of a yakuza boss, who is also in love with Shun (and has been for a while) and doesn't take kindly to Ranze intruding on her turf.
The manga was adapted by Toho, with Group TAC as animation studio, into an anime that ran at 34 episodes on Nippon Television from October 7, 1982 to September 22, 1983 and was directed by Tatsunoko Production veteran Hiroshi Sasagawa, famous for Gatchaman and the Time Bokan series. The anime was frequently preempted for baseball broadcasts and quickly fell into obscurity in Japan, but is much loved in Italy and the Middle East.
Must not be confused with Konami's Dating Sim series Tokimeki Memorial.
This series contains examples of:
- The '80s: The manga series is set in this era; this is reflected by things such as old phones and the lack of modern technology.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Italian one is utterly awesome.Simpatica e carina, è una bambolina, [oh, Ransie-re!]non si direbbe in giro che ha un papà vampiro, [oh, Ransie-re!]lo sguardo è sempre acuto come mamma lupo, [oh, Ransie-re!]anche se lei è sincera, a volte fa paura perchè...Ransie è una strega molto bella e deliziosa sai,ma se si arrabbia allora sono guai,sa usare tutte le magie,per fare mille e più follieRansie è una strega sempre dolce e premurosa sai,ma se s'infuria allora sono guai,anche se adesso è innamorata,lei non dimentica la meta, perchè...Ransie una strega è!
- Artistic License – Biology: Makabe feeding milk to Ranze as a bird, though she can consume human food. Real life birds (and cats) do not have the enzymes to break lactose in milk.
- Ascended Extra: Tamasaburo Kamiya and Kunihiko Shusai in the anime. Especially since the anime concluded before the manga picks up on its first major story arc.
- Arc Words: 'If X dies, then I die'. Especially during the more serious parts of the manga.
- All Love Is Unrequited: Prince Aaron and Kunihiko, whose advances of attempting to date Ranze are always rejected by her.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The Demon King is usually a gruff man, he secretly craves the love of Tana/Hanae even though he was forced to banish her.
- Babies Ever After: Ranze eventually marries Shun and has a daughter named Aira, while Yoko accepts that he doesn't like her and moves on. She marries Riki, the son of a rival yakuza gang's leader, and they also have a daughter named Mumu. In the special edition Itsukimeite, it's revealed that Aira married Kairiku and is pregnant with his child.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Seldom used as a nice little throwaway gag. Mori Eto (a vampire by birth)'s family tree shows that one of his relatives is... Christopher Lee. Also, one panel that shows a vampire village in Magic World has Vlad Tepes as one of the inhabitants (among other references such as Graf Orlok and... Frank N. Furter!?).
- Betty and Veronica: Our preppy protagonist Ranze is the Betty (sweet, kind and socially awkward), while her Arch-Enemy Yoko is the Veronica (boisterous, spoiled, selfish and annoying). This was before she underwent a Jerkass Realization.
- Book Worm: The preppy nerd classmate at Ranze's school, Kunihiko Takaba (nicknamed "Shuusai", the Japanese equivalent of the trope) who has a crush on Ranze and spends most of his time on books and dislikes athletics on principle.
- Bowdlerization: Amusingly inverted in the case of the Italian version of the anime, called Ransie la strega (Ransie the Witch). This version directly referred to the Demon/Magic World as Hell, the ruler of that kingdom as Satan thus implying that Shun really was Satan's son and all the creatures who sometimes visited the Eto household as coming from the depths of Hell. Yes, even Santa Claus.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Volume 1, Ranze and her friends are getting up to typical rom-com shenanigans. Volume 8, they're grappling with the conflicts on the underworld, mending the broken relationships surrounding the Demon King and trying to save innocent humans from being mauled by creatures.
- Christmas Episode: The anime has one where Ranze tries to find the perfect gift for Shun.
- Coming of Age Story: Past the comedy and romance, it's a gritty story about Ranze and her friends restoring peace to the underworld, but to get there they have to resolve all their personal demons first.
- A Day in the Limelight: In one of the manga extras Potato's Merry Christmas, Potato the dog gets transformed into a human for a day. He scores a date with a human girl, but unbeknownst to him, she is also a dog that Santa transformed into a human for a day.
- Dub Name Change: In the Italian version, Shun is renamed Paul, and Yoko becomes Liza (pronounced "Leeza" as in Gibbons, not Minnelli). Ranze is Ransie, not having her name changed as much as having the spelling/pronunciation changed slightly.
- Gecko Ending: The anime, since the manga only finished in 1994. In this one, Shun turns out to be the long lost prince of the Demon World, but he denies it and says the birthmark proving this is merely a mole. The Etos are kicked out of the Demon World until they can bring the prince back. And when Ranze's about to personally talk to Shun, Yoko interrupts... and the story ends there.
- Gonk: Whenever characters are shocked, surprised or angry, expect their facial expressions to revert into this.
- Gratuitous English: It's set in Japan, but occasionally you'll see a street sign or a magazine that has English words/text.
- Hopeless Suitor: Tamasaburo stands no chance at winning Hanae Makabe's heart. He actually collapses when Shun tells him she's remarried.
- Love Dodecahedron: Ranze accumulates an Unwanted Harem of male admirers (and Rinze becomes quite the casanova after he grows up), and there's a ton of unrequited love everywhere.
- Love Triangle: Ranze is smitten with Shun at first sight. Unfortunately, she finds that Yoko also has eyes for him, and she's aggressively territorial about keeping him for herself.
- Monster Mash: What the Magic world appears to be. It is divided into tribes of various species such as vampires, werewolves, witches and so on.
- Mukokuseki: Ranze is half-vampire half-werewolf but passes as phenotypically Japanese because of her Raven Hair, Ivory Skin. On the other hand, Yoko is Japanese but is a blonde. There are also many characters in the manga that have technicolour hair.
- Our Vampires Are Different: As stated above, Ranze can change herself into anyone (and anything) she has bitten. Yes, this even applies to food for the first few episodes, before she can control it.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Shiira usually looks 100% human, but her fangs, wolf ears and tail pop out when she's pissed.
- Shinigami: Manga only. The first one that appears, named Georges, has to claim Narumi's soul due to a heart failure. Rinze, who's fallen in love with her (at 5!), with the help of his sister convinces him not to do so and save the little girl. Later on, Georges becomes an ally of the Etos and a semi-regular character (and a bit of a goofball too).
- Shoujo: With a supernatural twist, it's a shoujo romantic comedy about a Cute Monster Girl navigating a world beyond ours.
- Show Within a Show: Mori writes novels for a living, and one of them becomes a bestseller and gets a movie.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Both Ranze and Shun have never loved anyone else the way they loved each other.
- Sneeze Cut: In Episode 12, Santa Claus does this.
- Time Skip: The third volume takes place when Ranze is an adult and has since married and had a daughter with Shun.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: Narumi, in the manga, spends years pining for Rinze and eventually gets with him, forming the series' Beta Couple.
- Walking Spoiler: For the manga's first story arc, anything regards to the Demon King and Makabe's lineage
