Bishôjo Senshi Sêrâ Mûn SuperS Movie Etymology: Hummingbird Fairy Poupelin

The Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn SuperS movie begins with Poupelin playing a magical tune on his pipe. He uses that magical tune to take the children of a German town away from their homes. Badiane commanded Poupelin and his comrades to bring the children of the Earth to her. She says that if the children are with her, they will not grow up and they will not be harmed. Poupelin, who is the older brother of Perle, eventually comes to take the children of Tokyo. Chibi Usa, who falls under the spell of Poupelin’s pipe, walks like a zombie with the other children toward Poupelin’s flying gondola. (While the children walk, they sing a song named

Sanji no Ysei, which means Three O’clock Fairy.) Usagi unceremoniously brings Chibi Usa back to her senses. The two girls and their friends eventually meet up with Poupelin, who attacks them with his blue Bonbon Babies. After Poupelin tricks the sailor soldiers with his gingerbread house illusion, Tuxedo Mask appears and fights with Poupelin. Perle comes along and the Bonbon Babies stop attacking. Poupelin becomes angry with Perle and wonders why his younger brother is opposing him. In the sky appears a huge projected image of Badiane, who wonders what is happening. Eventually, Poupelin takes Chibi Usa and the other children with him on his flying gondola. Later, when the sailor soldiers are at Marzipannu Castle, Poupelin, Banane, and Orangeat attack them. Sailor Uranus cuts Poupelin’s pipe with her Space Sword, and Poupelin becomes a blue hummingbird that flies away.

Poupelin may not really be evil. He says that he simply wishes that children would never become adults. The Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn SuperS Movie Memorial Album specifically calls Poupelin a

hachidori no ysei, which means hummingbird fairy.

Several hundred years ago, small pastries named poupelins were popular in France. The katakana-character combination

pupuran can approximate poupelin. A poupelin is made by cooking chou paste in a plain round mould. Three-quarters of the pastry spill outside the mould during cooking, and all that is left is a sort of outer crust that is filled, once it has cooled, with chantilly cream, fruit mousse, or ice cream. In some of the older French texts, an infant or child can also be called a poupelin. The term poupelin can also be written as poupelain. The French use the letter combinations in and ain in terms to represent essentially the same sound. The phonetic symbol represents that sound. The Japanese approximate that nasalized sound () by using the katakana characters

an. Moreover, the katakana characters

ppuran can also approximate poupelin.

There is a pastry shop in Tokyo that has the name Le Poupelin (

Ru Pupuran). Here is its address:

The shop’s hours are usually 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM. It is closed on Wednesdays. Its telephone number is +81-042-376-0970 (+81 is the country code).

Nobuo Hida (

Hida Nobuo) provided the voice for Poupelin in the Bishjo Senshi Sr Mn SuperS movie.