| Genre: | Comedy |
| Runtime: | 25 minutes |
| Creator: | Alessandra Valeri Manera |
| Director: | Mario Cavazzuti |
| Developer: | Barda & Lumetti |
| Starring: | Cristina D'Avena Pasquale Finicelli Salvatore Landolina |
| Composer: | Giordano Bruno Martelli |
| Country: | Italy |
| Network: | Italia 1 |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 34 |
Love me Licia is an Italian television series. It is the first of the four live adaptations of the Japanese manga Ai Shite Knight (known in Italy as Kiss Me Licia). Its sequels are Licia dolce Licia, Teneramente Licia, and Balliamo e cantiamo con Licia.
Bee Hive, a musical group that left for the United States at the end of the animated series, return from America and then go on tour followed by their girlfriends. Licia suspects that Mirko, her boyfriend and frontman of the Bee Hive, has fallen in love with Mary, the group's foreign manager, but in reality the one who falls in love with her is Marrabbio, Licia's father; Marrabbio will literally lose his head for Mary and will do his best to conquer her, often offering her inviting food cooked by him, but will have to measure himself against the younger and more beautiful Vilfredo, whom he nicknamed "Boiled Artichoke"; Vilfredo, however, will also have a negative role in the series, because he will kidnap the cat Giuliano in order to obtain the formula of Marrabbio's meatballs, to be later forgiven in the following series.
Miss Mary will have the power to sweeten the grumpy Marrabbio, to such an extent that he will be convinced to let Lycia go to the sea with Mirko and the Bee Hives, in order to be able to take care of Andrea, even if the grouch will still follow his daughter to the beach anyway, where new adventures and comic skits will take place.
| Actor | Voice actor | Role | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cristina D'Avena | Donatella Fanfani (dialogues) Cristina D'Avena (sing) | Licia (Yakko) | |
| Pasquale Finicelli | Ivo De Palma (dialogues) Enzo Draghi (sing) | Mirko (Go) | |
| Salvatore Landolina | Pietro Ubaldi | Marrabio (Shigemaro) | |
| Sebastian Harrison | Gabriele Calindri | Satomi | |
| Luca Lecchi | Paolo Torrisi | Andrea (Hashizo) | |
| Francesca Cassola | Debora Magnaghi | Elisa (Kaoru) | |
| Emanuela Pacotto | Elisabetta Cucci | Marika (Meiko) | |
| C. Brambilla Pisoni | Valeria Falcinelli | Miss Mary | |
| Marco Bellavia | Sergio Romanò | Steve (Hiroyuki) | |
| Giovanni Colombo | Federico Danti | Tony (Eiji) | |
| Manuel De Peppe | Luigi Rosa | Matt (Shin'ichi) | |
| Elisabetta Odino | Alessandra Karpoff | Manuela (Isuzu) | |
| Debora Magnaghi | Debora Magnaghi | Hildegard | |
| Sante Calogero | Riccardo Mantani | Grandpa Sam | |
| Antonio Paiola | Antonio Paiola | Lauro | |
| Augusto Di Bono | Augusto Di Bono | Lucas | |
| Giordano Garramone | Alessandra Karpoff | Grinta (Gonta) | |
| Clotilde Santamaria | Marcella Silvestri | Miss Katia | |
| Federico Danti | Franco Gamba | Vilfredo María | |
| Corrado | Corrado | Himself | |
| Persian Cat (Uncredited) | Pietro Ubaldi | Juliano | |
| Unknown (Uncredited) | Unknown (Uncredited) | Giovanni |
Aishite Knight was very successful in Italy, so broadcasting company Fininvest decided to make, with the consent of the original producers, the show Love me Licia as a sequel of the anime.
Cristina D'Avena, who had sung the Italian opening of the original anime, would play Yakko, while Pasquale Finicelli was chosen for Go Kato. Although the two were both singers, Finicelli's voice is never heard in the show while D'Avena's voice was only used for one song. This is because all the actors of the show were voiced by the voice actors of the characters they played, so Cristina D'Avena was dubbed in the parts spoken by Donatella Fanfani, while Finicelli was voiced by Ivo De Palma in the dialogues and, in the sung parts, by Enzo Draghi. The character of Lauro was played by his voice actor (Antonio Paiola), so he was not dubbed. Characters invented specifically for the show were also equally voiced except for Lucas (Bee Hive's new manager) and Hildegard (a German girl) who were voiced by their actors. The interpreters of Shigemaro and Grandpa Sam (Salvatore Landolina and Sante Calogero respectively), despite being both professional voice actors, were voiced by Pietro Ubaldi and Riccardo Mantani.
The show is affected by the influence of the original anime much more than the other three future ones, especially for the look of the characters (Yakko, for example, had bobbed hair like in the anime, although in later series they will become smooth).
The initial and final theme song of the show was written by Giordano Bruno Martelli and Alessandra Valeri Manera and sung by Cristina D'Avena.
The interiors of the series were shot in the former studios of Merak Film S.r.l. while the exteriors in the park of Brugherio both in Cologno Monzese.
The Bee Hive concerts were shot in a former disco in Jesolo and Igloo in Varallo.
The show features new characters invented specifically for it.
a TV host who hosts the show where Bee Hive perform. Played by himself
an actress who should have had a pool date with Shin'ichi. She is mentioned only by Shin'ichi.