Trouble Chocolate

Trouble Chocolate (トラブルチョコレート) is a romantic comedy fantasy anime produced by AIC in 1999 and is licensed in the United States by Viz Media. The series features Cacao, a student at Micro-Grand Academy studying magic. One day, while his magic class teacher, Ghana, is performing a spell to summon a tree spirit, Cacao finds and eats some chocolate, which turns out to be 200-year-old magical chocolate. After eating the chocolate he becomes drunk and causes a wreck. During this, he interferes with Ghana's spell, letting the spirit, Hinano, escape. She inhabits the body of a marionette, who then moves in with Cacao.

A second season of 24 episodes was planned but was eventually cancelled.

Subsequent episodes of Trouble Chocolate have little connected storyline. Rather, the show is a parody of other anime. For example, two other characters, Murakata and Deborah, are constantly shown professing their love to each other, set to absurdly explosive special effects and backdrops, as is common (to a lesser extent) in many anime.

The dubbed dialogue in Trouble Chocolate (written by professional comedy writer Pamela Ribon and recorded by The Ocean Group) often bears little or no resemblance to the original script (as heard in Japanese and seen in the subtitles), as opposed to the normal convention of translating the words as directly as the change in lip-sync will allow.

Plot
"Cacao woke up to find a girl sleeping next to him. Unable to remember what had happened on his own and didn't get enough needed answers from Hinano, he went to school to ask his friends what had happened. He finally got the explanation of events from Prof. Ghana in term Cacao joined his wizardry class."

Characters

 * Cacao (カカオ)
 * The main male character of the series. He often gets drunk off of eating chocolate. Cacao is rather lazy as a whole and is often always hungry.
 * The main male character of the series. He often gets drunk off of eating chocolate. Cacao is rather lazy as a whole and is often always hungry.


 * Hinano (ヒナノ)
 * The main female character of the series. She often says "It's Enough" (じゅうぶんです) and "Wahoo" (わっちゃ). She is a faerie spirit who inhabits a marionette and will do anything she can to protect Cacao and make him happy.
 * The main female character of the series. She often says "It's Enough" (じゅうぶんです) and "Wahoo" (わっちゃ). She is a faerie spirit who inhabits a marionette and will do anything she can to protect Cacao and make him happy.


 * Murakata (ムラカタ)
 * Handsome star athlete and Mr. Popular all around. He is adored by his kohai Deborah and is often sen together. He is captain of the school security force, SMAT and has an ulter-ego as The Masked Driver.
 * Handsome star athlete and Mr. Popular all around. He is adored by his kohai Deborah and is often sen together. He is captain of the school security force, SMAT and has an ulter-ego as The Masked Driver.


 * Deborah (デボラ)
 * Hinano's rival and lover of Murakata. She is pretty and popular and is often jealous of the attention Hinano receives from the other students. Deborah is second in command of SMAT.
 * Hinano's rival and lover of Murakata. She is pretty and popular and is often jealous of the attention Hinano receives from the other students. Deborah is second in command of SMAT.


 * Truffle (トリュフ)
 * Super rich heir of the city's chocolate conglomerate. He is madly in love with Hinano and will go to great lengths to win her affection.
 * Super rich heir of the city's chocolate conglomerate. He is madly in love with Hinano and will go to great lengths to win her affection.


 * Almond (アーモンド)
 * A tribal boy who was accidentally transported to the city when Cacao interfered with a magic spell. Almond once ate enough food to feed 100'000 people in a matter of a few hours. He resembles a tornado similar to the Tasmanian Devil when he hunts for food.
 * A tribal boy who was accidentally transported to the city when Cacao interfered with a magic spell. Almond once ate enough food to feed 100'000 people in a matter of a few hours. He resembles a tornado similar to the Tasmanian Devil when he hunts for food.


 * Ghana (ガーナ) / Ganache
 * A magic teacher at MG Academy. He constantly attempts to teach Cacao magic, with little to no success.
 * A magic teacher at MG Academy. He constantly attempts to teach Cacao magic, with little to no success.


 * Big Bang (ビッグバーン)
 * A teacher at MG Academy. She is shown to have feelings for Papaya.
 * A teacher at MG Academy. She is shown to have feelings for Papaya.


 * Papaya (パパイヤ)
 * A teacher at MG Academy. He dislikes Sunlight.
 * A teacher at MG Academy. He dislikes Sunlight.


 * Matcha (抹茶) / Green Tea
 * A Chinese mercenary who hunts chocolate monster cards. Her younger twin sister is Azuki.
 * A Chinese mercenary who hunts chocolate monster cards. Her younger twin sister is Azuki.


 * Azuki (小豆) / Red Bean
 * A Chinese mercenary who hunts chocolate monster cards. Her older twin sister is Matcha.
 * A Chinese mercenary who hunts chocolate monster cards. Her older twin sister is Matcha.


 * Hamu Hamu (ハムハム) / Ham Ham
 * The alien shop owner of Dagashi-ya and Cacao's landlord.
 * The alien shop owner of Dagashi-ya and Cacao's landlord.


 * Wheat (コムギ)
 * An elementary school newspaper reporter and member of SMAT.
 * An elementary school newspaper reporter and member of SMAT.


 * Sardine (イワシ)
 * A small nerdish male member of SMAT and Cacao's best friend.
 * A small nerdish male member of SMAT and Cacao's best friend.


 * Mint (ミント)
 * A girl who has desires to conquer the world. She however is mostly a joke when it comes to evil. She has a sidekick named Crunchy Bug (Spider Monster in Japanese). Crunchy Bug is voiced by Yuji Ueda in Japanese and Colin Murdock in the dub.
 * A girl who has desires to conquer the world. She however is mostly a joke when it comes to evil. She has a sidekick named Crunchy Bug (Spider Monster in Japanese). Crunchy Bug is voiced by Yuji Ueda in Japanese and Colin Murdock in the dub.


 * Mozzarella (モッツァレラ)
 * Truffle's grandfather and Ganache's arch-nemesis. He is also the main antagonist of the series.
 * Truffle's grandfather and Ganache's arch-nemesis. He is also the main antagonist of the series.

Theme Songs

 * Openings
 * 1) *"C.H.O.C.O."
 * 2) *Lyricist: Akio Togashi / Composer: Akio Togashi / Arranger: Akio Togashi / Singers: Sakura Tange&Kyoko Hikami


 * Endings
 * 1) "Hey Why..." (ねぇ 何で…)
 * 2) *October 8, 1999 - January 14, 2000, March 24, 2000
 * 3) *Lyricist: Atsushi Iwamizu / Composer: Hitoshi Harukawa, Shifo / Arranger: Hitoshi Harukawa / Singers: Rie Yoshizawa
 * 4) *Episodes: 1-12, 20
 * 5) "I Want to See You: Missing You - Millenium Dance version" (あなたに逢いたくて〜Missing You〜 Millenium Dance Version)
 * 6) *January 21, 2000 - March 17, 2000
 * 7) *Lyricist: Seiko Matsuda / Composer: Seiko Matsuda, Ryo Ogura / Arranger: Ando Takahiro / Singers: Sakura Tange&Kyoko Hikami
 * 8) *Episodes: 13-19

Reception
THEM Anime Reviews gave Trouble Chocolate two stars, saying that it's "At best, worth a rental, but only if you've seen everything else at Blockbuster".

Mania.com gave the first North American Trouble Chocolate DVD a B+ for audio, a B for video, a B+ for packaging, a C for its menu and a B for its extras.

digitallyOBSESSED! gave the first North American Trouble Chocolate DVD a B for style, a B− for substance, a B+ for image transfer, a B+ for audio transfer and a D for extras.