Internationalization
The anime also became extremely popular in Europe with the title "Rock'n'roll kids" in Germany, "Embrasse-moi, Lucile" and "Lucile, Amour et Rock 'n Roll" in France, and "Kiss me Licia" in Italy, as well as "Bésame Licia" in Spanish. In fact, the anime series was so popular in Italy that it spawned a domestically-produced live-action teen soap opera, which ran for 145 episodes through four seasons ("Love me Licia," "Licia dolce Licia," "Teneramente Licia," and "Balliamo e cantiamo con Licia") on Italian TV from 1986 to 1988. Cristina D'Avena, who performed the Italian theme song to the anime series, played Licia (Yakko) in the live-action version.
Versions of the songs in several languages also exist because of the popularity of "Ai Shite Knight" outside of Japan. In Italy and Switzerland, "Bee Hive" became teenagers' idols, epecially when the live action sequels to "Ai Shite Knight" were aired and featured new songs performed by the band, which were awarded even gold and platinum discs. The "Bee Hive" members in the live action series were:
- vocals Go/Mirko Pasquale Finicelli (voiced by Enzo Draghi)
- keyboards Satomi Sebastian Harrison
- drums Matsudaira/Matt Manuel De Peppe
- bass Sugi/Steve Marco Bellavia
- guitar Tono/Tony Giovanni Colombo
Manuel De Peppe, Marco Bellavia and Giovanni Colombo left for the third season, so three new characters were introduced:
- drums Mike Vincenzo Rinaldi
- bass Jim Germano Di Mattia
- guitar Paul Luciano De Marini
Marco Bellavia returned for the fourth and final season.
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