BenQ Momo dead. Long live BenQ Momo. I know I’ve said it before, but that’s really the best way to describe the original series’ infamous murder of its heroine, as well as the series’ 1991 reboot. Magical Princess Minki Momo: Dream o Dakishimete Continuing the original series from 1982-83 and resetting the clock, both leaning into the quirky elements of the ’80s version while moving away from the idea that Momo himself had to take on a serious mission. The result is something that feels like a classic children’s show from the 1990s—sometimes preachy, sometimes hilarious, and always completely crazy.
Instead of resurrecting the original heroine, the show stars another girl named Minky Momo. She is the cousin of the original girl and the princess of the underwater kingdom of Marinasa, not the floating kingdom of Fenarinasa. She travels to Earth after her parents thought it would be fun, so her whole motivation is less about “saving our world” and more about “freewheeling adventure.” Like her cousin before her, Momo convinces a couple that she is their daughter and uses their home as a base for her various adventures. She is accompanied by her dog Cookbook, monkey Chamo and bird Lupipi, and the first episode carefully lays out the connection to Japanese fairy tales Momotaro. Like her cousin, Momo also has her Gourmet Popo car and campervan, and is able to transform into her 18-year-old self when using her wand. The most notable difference here is that OG Momo’s transformation is “with an adult twist,” while 90’s Momo’s transformation is “with a Minky twist,” which I have to say works better. The only real limit to her transformation is that she can only turn into a human – so in episode four, when she announces that she’s going to be a dinosaur, that doesn’t work.
Momo wants to transform into a dinosaur to help paleontologists, which perfectly embodies her character’s personality. Although her cousin is on a mission to save Fenarinarsa, the girl simply goes through a series of unrelated adventures. While she does transform into a few professional characters (professional golfer, pilot), most of her transformations are on the lighter side – Burglar, Tarzan, Robin Hood, etc. While the original series wasn’t what I’d call serious, this series has a much more relaxed atmosphere.
Or at least, that’s the case in most cases. As I mentioned, parts of these episodes can be very preachy, and sometimes they delve into potentially disturbing content. The most obvious example of this is in episode five, when she meets a Hitler lookalike who tries to get foreigners to take his country’s precious lollipops. Not only does this have straight-up Nazi imagery, but in “Food Pops,” Momo is also shot down while flying across the country, and there’s a lot of real danger here — especially for an episode centered around candy. Episode eight pits her against a wealthy man who buys the town’s golf course with the aim of wiping out the local mole species, while episode three features a truly disturbing poaching scene. This is probably the most preachy of all the episodes, but it’s hard to argue with its environmental points, and the same can be said for Episode Twelve. Finally, in the eleventh episode, the so-called Christmas episode, the artificial intelligence attempts to blow Santa Claus out of the sky with missiles, mistaking the Saint Nick army for an enemy plane. That’s all well and good, but it’s still likely to be unsettling for younger viewers, and it’s also likely to be unsettling for older viewers because it’s a parable about the future of artificial intelligence. Viewing in 2026 will certainly look different than in 1991, although Momo’s idea that the bombs were fireworks would be unsettling in any year.
Don’t worry, though, because there’s still plenty of craziness to come with older kids’ media. Some are unintentional, such as the bomb being labeled “BOOMB,” but the show often has a fun sense of humor. In the episode about a writer hiding from her many editors at a hotel run by Momo’s Earth parents, the editor-in-chief’s name, Ohno, is always pronounced “Oh! No!” which is hilarious, and the idea of Santa Claus having a sleigh tickled me for some reason. Momo’s own voiceover skills are skillful and engaging Megumi Hayashiharais a kind of enjoyment. She’s a wild person who runs wherever she wants but almost always has her heart in the right place. (The notable exception is the episode in which she molests a fourteen-year-old boy because they both want to rent a VHS.) The animation isn’t spectacular, but the entire production has a cozy Saturday morning feel.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in episode six, which may be one of the earliest examples of another world in gaming. The focus of this episode is Dragon Quest looks similar final fantasy Name (Final Mission), Momo ends up trapped inside. It’s a perfect parody of early ’90s role-playing games, from the look to the plot to the gameplay, and it’s awesome that Momo’s Earth mom has to play games for Momo to help the game characters – especially since she’s absolutely rubbish at the games. Modern Gaming Isekai should revisit this episode and take some notes.
although Fairy tale princess Minqi MomoThe reboot doesn’t have the same cachet and appeal with modern audiences as its predecessor, but it’s still worth a watch until the latest resurrection of the heroine arrives in fall 2026. Aside from being a part of a legendary (or infamous) magical girl, it’s still worth watching. franchisewhich itself is also a great snapshot of an earlier era, reminding viewers that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Parents today may put as much pressure on their children to succeed as they did when Episode 13 originally aired, and we do need to take better care of the environment. But sometimes we need to let loose, and what better way to have fun than watching a pink-haired girl fool an archaeologist and a novelist into thinking she’s their daughter while she rampages around town on a mission?