Ojamajo Doremi

[AllMightyCow]

https://www.crunchyroll.com/anime-n...h-anniversary-with-2020-anime-theatrical-film, https://twitter.com/Doremi_staff

I'm pretty excited about the new film. The staff working on this film alone pretty much already confirm it's gonna be fantastic.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Obligatory.

But I actually really do need to get around to watching the whole series for reals. I think it's sad that magical idols basically trumped magical witches in the long-run, but I thought the idea of Magical DoReMi Useless Witch Girl Doremi was cute.

 

[ES 148]

Doremisofalatido

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Doremisofalatido

Dotilasofamiredo

 

[sasazuka]

I think it's sad that magical idols basically trumped magical witches in the long-run

By "magical idols", are you talking about Pretty Cure specifically?

 

[Kari Kamiya]

By "magical idols", are you talking about Pretty Cure specifically?

Oh shit, I was getting it mixed up with PriPara lol. Whoops.

Ojamajo isn't the first that dealt with using music for magic, right? Magical idols have been a thing for ages, but like musical witches were unheard of, or something like that? I dunno, I wonder if Toei wanted to go back to the roots of Sally the Witch but with a twist while fresh off the heels of Sailor Moon.

 

[sasazuka]

I don't know if Ojamajo Doremi was the first magical girl show where the girls were explicitly referred to as "witches" and they use music-based magic but it seems to be the most popular. There was also Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch which was probably influenced by Doremi to some degree but that one hasn't had the former's enduring popularity. More recently, there's the Strike Witches spin-off Luminous Witches although that one isn't exactly marketed towards kids the way Doremi was.

 

[UY 690]

It would be funny if the show gets a redub in the states and could also bring the movie here as well. Given 4Kids is gone for real. Some dubbing company could get the rights to it. Just make sure it's not Funimation or Saban Brands like last time.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

It'd be great if old shows get relicensed and redubbed (I will forever pine for a redub of Tokyo Mew Mew, no one seems to want it), but kids' shows typically get the 4KIDS/Saban treatment. I think Saban would be an alright choice despite their dub of PreCure, but if Viz wants to expand their titles, Ojamajo Doremi could be a good choice. They'd put it under their Viz Kids label, unless that's manga-only.

 

[TungstenCarbide]

I don't know if Ojamajo Doremi was the first magical girl show where the girls were explicitly referred to as "witches" and they use music-based magic but it seems to be the most popular. There was also Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch which was probably influenced by Doremi to some degree but that one hasn't had the former's enduring popularity. More recently, there's the Strike Witches spin-off Luminous Witches although that one isn't exactly marketed towards kids the way Doremi was.

I think that Mermaid Melody didn't reach Doremi popularity because it looked...I don't know, not well planned? Not only the story, but also from an aestetical POV. IMHO it was forgettable, while Doremi looked fresher and made with care, I especially remember its beautiful pastel-colored backgrounds.

 

[weed weenus]

Late to bread but good lord this show was my childhood, I loved it to death and it will always have a special place in my heart. It's a shame it got raped by 4Kids and never caught on here in the US, though...

 

[Niggernerd]

Can Japan just make a anime based on the Yakuza series.
I prefer my magical girl anime from the 80's

 

[soy_king]

Obligatory.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=oUIUO6mgo6Q
But I actually really do need to get around to watching the whole series for reals. I think it's sad that magical idols basically trumped magical witches in the long-run, but I thought the idea of Magical DoReMi Useless Witch Girl Doremi was cute.

This feels like a strange hybrid of anime, Cal Arts, and early 2000s Western animation. Honestly, a lot of this looks like y'all are excited because you've got nostalgia goggles on, but can anyone explain the appeal behind this show?

 

[Kari Kamiya]

This feels like a strange hybrid of anime, Cal Arts, and early 2000s Western animation. Honestly, a lot of this looks like y'all are excited because you've got nostalgia goggles on, but can anyone explain the appeal behind this show?

Wouldn't be surprised if the style's inspired by American cartoons, although '90s Western animation was grittier than it is nowadays, so I don't know. It changes in later seasons because of a change in directors, I believe.

I'm currently watching it (because I only ever saw the first half of the first season, so I'm reaching new territory although I'm taking breaks), and it's adorable. The style is akin to how early One Piece looks since they were being made at the same time, but Ojamajo (Useless Witch) was a new magical girl series coming off of Sailor Moon, and this was an original idea that became a big hit. The designs and magic involve musical themes, although they don't sing magic spells (that might be later in the show given their wands being batons, which are run on a limited supply of Magic Spheres that have to be refilled). You can tell their "power level" based on their fairies and scant magical spells they can perform, but every month or so they take tests to level up. The transformation sequence is also unique in that they're on a timer to get their dresses on, so if the music stops, they have to start over. The appeal is we're following apprentice witches helping out a witch with her shop since Doremi accidentally turned her into a frog when she ousted her (when she was super excited about meeting a witch). They have permission to be part-timers because they fibbed to their teacher they're helping out a great-grandmother on the weekends, and so they're learning how to grow their magic while still going through life problems as every elementary schooler does on the cusp of middle school.

Currently where I am, they got artificially bumped up to level seven (which includes the power to talk to plants and animals) because the slow witches who test them (and by slow I mean slow in the head) were on their way out to a vacation they had won and didn't want to test them. This may bite the girls in the butt here soon, given how grounded in reality the magical laws are in this series (like how witches aren't allowed to heal people because the magic just transfers the injury and sickness to the witch). Honestly looking forward to seeing that come to pass.

If it's too cutesy, then it's not gonna be for you, especially since it is a children's show tasting like diabetes. But there's a charm to it that's slowly coming together as the show progresses, and I hear later seasons get intense, weird as that sounds. I wish this got rescued out here in the states, I think had it continued I would've loved it more, but then again I had entered middle school by the time it did, so I was just right outside its intended demographic when I caught it. But the look always stuck with me, and is why I like magical witch girls as a concept.

 

[weed weenus]

I hear later seasons get intense, weird as that sounds.

Yes, surprisingly. Later on, the show deals with heavy subjects such as miscarriages, suicidal ideation, and children dying from cancer, and the series as a whole takes on a more emotional tone as you go on, especially in the final season. It still remains a fun series, the heavy episodes are just sprinkled in more often. (One can only imagine how badly 4Kids would have butchered it if they dubbed the later seasons.)

 

[A Random]

the slow witches who test them (and by slow I mean slow in the head)

They're not 'just' slow in the head, they're slow as a whole. Their names are even a pun about that [motamota means 'slowly, inefficiently'].

Let's see what you think as the seasons progress. Might be interesting to see some... not quite livewatching commentary, but at least an approximation of such.

 

[AllMightyCow]

Yes, surprisingly. Later on, the show deals with heavy subjects such as miscarriages, suicidal ideation, and children dying from cancer, and the series as a whole takes on a more emotional tone as you go on, especially in the final season. It still remains a fun series, the heavy episodes are just sprinkled in more often. (One can only imagine how badly 4Kids would have butchered it if they dubbed the later seasons.)

Fun Fact: When 4kids bought Ojamajo from Toei, they also got One Piece (the most infamous 4kids butchering of a series) in the same deal.

I'm unsure why 4kids didn't dub Sharp, Motto and Dokkan (and even the OVAs if they were allowed to). People say it's because Toei hated it, but honestly that doesn't seem very likely since Toei absolutely loved 4kids' dub of One Piece though, despite what many butthurt fanboys said eons ago when 4kids' dubs were still airing on Cartoon Network. Their dub appealed to kids (which is One Piece's target demographic in Japan) and lots of merchandise sold. I can confirm those Luffy toys that had arms you could actually stretch were pretty baller. For some reason, American anime figures produced in the 90s-2000s were so much better than imported ones from Japan; at least the old DBZ and OP toys anyway. But sperging aside, IIRC Ojama-er, Magical Doremi, sold lots of merch as well. Doremi dolls, along with the DVDs, got plastered about at Toys R Us, so I'm sure those sold like hotcakes. Unless it has something to do with 4kids choosing not to continue One Piece in 2006 which could've potentially burned bridges with people at Toei, then it's possible they didn't want to dub any further because of the more mature episodes? But then again that doesn't make too much sense considering they could've easily cut out the part where Aiko and her mother talk about the miscarriage (they would've edited it out anyway because Aiko and her mother are in the bathtub during the scene). And if the ongoing divorce saga episodes throughout the series were "too heavy" for kids, they could've cut those as well, albeit at the expense of Aiko's character

 

[weed weenus]

Fun Fact: When 4kids bought Ojamajo from Toei, they also got One Piece (the most infamous 4kids butchering of a series) in the same deal.

I'm unsure why 4kids didn't dub Sharp, Motto and Dokkan (and even the OVAs if they were allowed to). People say it's because Toei hated it, but honestly that doesn't seem very likely since Toei absolutely loved 4kids' dub of One Piece though, despite what many butthurt fanboys said eons ago when 4kids' dubs were still airing on Cartoon Network. Their dub appealed to kids (which is One Piece's target demographic in Japan) and lots of merchandise sold. I can confirm those Luffy toys that had arms you could actually stretch were pretty baller. For some reason, American anime figures produced in the 90s-2000s were so much better than imported ones from Japan; at least the old DBZ and OP toys anyway. But sperging aside, IIRC Ojama-er, Magical Doremi, sold lots of merch as well. Doremi dolls, along with the DVDs, got plastered about at Toys R Us, so I'm sure those sold like hotcakes. Unless it has something to do with 4kids choosing not to continue One Piece in 2006 which could've potentially burned bridges with people at Toei, then it's possible they didn't want to dub any further because of the more mature episodes? But then again that doesn't make too much sense considering they could've easily cut out the part where Aiko and her mother talk about the miscarriage (they would've edited it out anyway because Aiko and her mother are in the bathtub during the scene). And if the ongoing divorce saga episodes throughout the series were "too heavy" for kids, they could've cut those as well, albeit at the expense of Aiko's character

Huh, I always heard that Doremi had poor merchandise sales in the US; I know it had low viewership because of its poor timeslot. I feel like that and the mature episodes are probably why 4Kid$ opted not to dub the rest of the seasons. Sure, they could have edited them out, but that underestimates just how badly 4Kid$ didn't respect the audience's intelligence.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

I like how I took a break right on the episode where the source of OP's pic of the pistol came from lol. That episode reminds me a bit of the infamous "Godzilla's Revenge" where the kidnappers were a couple of morons upstaged by a kid, except in this case the kidnappers were legit morons and the girls were still too useless to do anything else but mess with their heads. It was amusing, and although they were stupid enough to kidnap a girl and risk jail time for blackmail, they should thank their lucky stars Hadzuki is such a saint. Yeah yeah, it's a show for kids, they're not supposed to be malicious in nature, it's just odd how previous episodes were a bit more mature in approach just to then regress to a comedy duo resorting to kidnapping to get the money they want to get a chance to become stars.

But the chase sequence was pretty great, that makes up for it.

Let's see what you think as the seasons progress. Might be interesting to see some... not quite livewatching commentary, but at least an approximation of such.

Yeah, I like this idea of doing a little check-in on my journey with this adorable series. I think it's a good way to help keep me motivated and return to this show sooner rather than later. 'Cause I don't hate it at all, it's just a lot of juggling I'm doing with shows and life and such so it's not top priority, although I probably would've been watching/finishing the second season by now had I kept to my original plan lol.