Ojamajo Doremi (おジャ魔女どれみ Ojamajo Doremi?) is a magical girl anime series that has obtained wide popularity among young girls in Japan. Its popularity rivals that of the also popular Sailor Moon in the magical girl (mahō shōjo) genre of Japanese animation. Over four television series, the Ojamajo Doremi metaseries is currently one of the longest running magical girl franchises with a total of 201 episodes. There are four television series, two movies and a thirteen episode OVA in the metaseries. A manga adaptation was published by Kodansha written by Izumi Todo and illustrated by Shizue Takanashi.
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Story
The series anime focuses on two main themes. The first is the heroines' efforts to become skilled in the art of magic, and secondly the friendships and relationships between them in the human world. In Majo-kai, the world of witches, they focus on fighting enemies, the Queen's fearful predecessor, or hostile wizards. In the human world however, they use their magical talents to help those in need. Being trainees in magic, their powers often do not immediately provide a solution to their problems. In the end, the primary moral of these stories is not about power, but about kindness and compassion.
Series
There are four story arcs to Ojamajo Doremi.
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- Ojamajo Doremi: When the witches are discovered by their families and friends at the MAHO-Dou, Onpu uses the forbidden magic to erase everyone's memories. Although she claims that she is still protected from the magic charm, it disintegrates and Onpu's punishment is a 100-year sleep. Doremi, Hazuki, and Aiko are desperate to wake her, and Jou-sama claims that they can do Magical Stage, but regardless of whether Onpu wakes up or not, they must give up their powers. They agree to do so, and with Poppu's help, Onpu awakens. But now all five witches must give up their powers, in Onpu's case because she used too much forbidden magic.
- Ojamajo Doremi ♯ (Sharp): The Former Queen places a curse on Hana-chan that makes her terribly sick. Nothing can help her, and so the witches learn that they must find a flower that will help Hana-chan. The catch is that the Former Queen is blocking the way to the flower, so they must defeat her to get through. One by one, Aiko, Onpu, and Hazuki use their crystals at full power, but are beaten and fall into a 1,000-year sleep. Doremi also attempts, and she finally breaks through and get the flower, but she falls asleep too. When Hana-chan sees that they're all asleep, she cries out "MOMMY!", and the four girls are all awaken. However, they must all give up their powers, AGAIN, and they can't take care of Hana-chan anymore.
- Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi: With the help of the new Ojamajo Momoko they wake up the Ancient Queen. The Ancient Queen is angry and sad with humans after having lost all her sons and daughters and her husband, but Doremi convinces her that inside her heart she still has beautiful memories of them. Ancient Queen Majo Tourbillon remembers the happy times she spent with her family and the Cursed Wood retreats.
- Ojamajo Doremi DOKKA~N: When it's time for the girls to finally become witches, they are faced with a hard choice. If they accept, then they their lifespand will expand greatly and therefore they cannot live in the same time scale with their family, friends, etc. anymore. After a month thinking, Doremi answers for everyone that they all choose not to become witches, which of course means that they cannot see Hana-chan anymore and they must give up their powers one and final time.
- Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho: This is a 13 episode OVA series which takes place during the Motto! season. There is no storyline.
Adaptions
In Japan, Ojamajo Doremi has aired on each of the ANN TV stations (Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC, Japan), TV Asahi, Nagoya TV (Metele), and others) and Broadcasting System of San-in Inc.. Ojamajo Doremi is produced by Toei Animation and ABC. In North America, 4Kids Entertainment has licensed the show under the title Magical DoReMi, which aired on 4Kids TV for the 2005-2006 broadcasting season. Sometime in November, the series will be brought back to television.[1]"New" episodes are broadcast every Tuesday on the website[2] In Korea, Magical Doremi airs on Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation and Tooniverse, licensed by Iconix Entertainment. Other countries' companies to license the series are France Fox Kids, Germany RTL II, Italy Italia 1, Mexico Unicable, Spain Fox Kids,K3, Portugal Canal Panda and 2:, Taiwan YOYO TV, Hong Kong TVB and a network of regional stations. In the Italian version, each of the main character's names has been changed to suit the musical theme. An Arabic dub has also been produced under the title "Dorebi", which is currently airing on Spacetoon.
Locations
Misora is a hilly city. It was a castle town of the Misora feudal clan towards the end of the Edo era.
- Misora First Elementary School: The elementary is on a hill with views of the sea. The girls' school is the location of many problems that the heroines try to solve. Across all series, the heroines attend school here from 3rd to 6th grades.
- Maho-do: Majo Rika's shop which was redecorated and is now managed by the ojamajo. Initially selling magical items, the shop was transformed into a variety of stores, remodelled into a flower shop at one stage and reopened again as a sweet bake house.
- Majo-kai: Access to the Witches' world, Majo-kai, is through a door at Maho-do. Initially the girls attend their tests here. It is ruled by the queen and her council of twelve elders. It can only be accessed at certain times of the month, although it is not linked to the lunar phases.
Themes
- In Japan, the show's name combines the terms Ojama (clumsy) and Majo (witch) in Japanese and is initially a derogatory term that Majo Rika uses in frustration. Eventually the term is used to refer to the girls as apprentices.
- Musical Theme: There is a strong musical theme throughout the series. The heroine's name in the Japanese version is Doremi, (Dorie in English) borrowing from the Solfege system of note learning in music. In the United States, the title was slightly altered to Magical DoReMi which reflects the three dubbed names of the heroines (Dorie (Doremi), Reanne (Hazuki), Mirabelle (Aiko)). The fairies' names also reflect the Solfege, each being named after a note. The transformation that the girls perform must be completed before the transformation music stops to prevent it from failing. In Sharp, Mo~tto! and Na-i-sho, the transformations involve clapping on parts of the body in time with the music for the transformation to succeed.
- Each of the story arcs has a key theme, which is represented in the Majo-do shop's wares. While the series begins with the key theme of music, the second story arc features flowers as its key theme. Food (namely baked goods i.e. cakes and cookies) is an important theme in the third story arc and the fourth arc focuses on clothing.
- Fairies are granted to the heroines after passing their level 9 (being the lowest level) tests. Bound to the magical power of their master, they are initially inept and grow along with the girls. They can transform into the same form as their master but cannot speak, but eventually they will learn to transform into others. When they are within their magical spheres they cannot be seen except by the girls.
- In the original series the fairies are seen in the eyecatch along with the magical register which is given to the girls at Maho-do. The register acts like a cash register and can produce cards.
- Magical Stage (Dub: Perfect Harmony)(マジカルステージ Majikaru Suteeji): Produced when three or more witches which have roughly equal power summon it together in order to use more advanced and powerful magic. (In Ojamajo Doremi # episode 19, Aiko, Onpu and Poppu were unable to make it because Poppu's power is too weak compared to the other two. But Hana-chan helped them to perfect the stage.) Three-person Magical Stage will add 2 levels of power to each caster's normal power. For example, if three level 9 witches cast Magical Stage, they will be able to perform level 7 magics.
- Banned magic: Healing wounds and reviving the dead is prohibited. If you revive someone from the dead, you die instead. Tampering with the mind of a person is also prohibited, but there are several instances where a mild type of tampering is left unpunished, usually because it had positive effects. Also, using your powers for selfish reasons is allowed as long as you don't make any harm. Penalties can be assigned from the queen of the Majo-kai. One of the most severe punishments is to be put to sleep for one hundred years, which was given to Onpu at the end of the first season. Majoruka has an amulet that protects against being sent to the magic world for punishment.
- Magical Wands are used to cast magic using the power of magical balls. Each one has an incantation which is specific to each wand. The wands appear when buttons on a colorful dial are pressed, each button again representing a note on the Solfege. This dial has been released as a toy and is referred to by Bandai as a Dreamspinner. This item is called a "Keyboard" in the Japanese original. Bandai has also released the Wandaler which reflects the style of the original wands and the Wandawhirl, which resembles the wands in the second half of the first story arc. The wand used in the first series is called the "Peperutoporon" in the Japanese original, and the original Japanese toys are larger than the US Bandai released version. In # (Sharp), the Wandalers and Wandawhirls are replaced by the Pikotto Poron. When the girls are in their Royal Patraine forms, they use a magical wreath instead. Items used in the "Motto!" series include the "Patissier poron" that has a crank handle and sprinkles magic onto the pastries and candy they make; The "Sweet poron" is the wand in the Motto! series; and the "Parara Tap" takes the place of the keyboard for storing their costumes. In the fourth season, the wands are, namely, the "Jewellery Poron" and Hana-chan's magical gloves.
- Spell Drops are the currency of the witch's world, as well as the source of magical power for apprentices. Items of the human world can be exchanged for magical balls. The importance of an item sets the exchange rate. Second level magic balls are introduced once the ojamajo have passed their sixth level test and Doremi # introduces two more types of magical ball, which are referred to as magical seeds. Each ordinary magical seed has the magic power of about 50-100 magical balls. The Royal magical seeds however has the power to summon magic as strong as a magical stage with one girl's power rather than all of them dancing to summon the magical stage. But the royal seeds only grow every ten years from the tree of life, so therefore the girls were only permitted to use it when they are protecting Hana-chan from the evil wizards.
Voice actors
Japanese seiyū
- Doremi Harukaze (Pink Majo) (Chiemi Chiba)
- Hazuki Fujiwara (Orange Majo) (Tomoko Akiya)
- Aiko Senoo (Blue Majo) (Yuki Matsuoka)
- Onpu Segawa (Purple Majo) (Rumi Shishido)
- Momoko Asuka (Yellow Majo) (Nami Miyahara)
- Poppu Harukaze (Red Majo) (Sawa Ishige)(In episode 27 of the first season, Yuka Shino took over this role)
- Hana-chan (White Majo) (Ikue Otani)
- Majorika (Naomi Nagasawa)
- Lala (Megumi Takamura)
- The Queen of the Witch's Land (Credited as a question mark "?" throughout most of the series, revealed in episode 50 of the fourth season as Yuka Imai)
- The Queen's Predecessor (Mika Doi)
- Keisuke Harukaze (Yuta Mochiduki)
- Haruka Harukaze (Yuka Shino)
- Miss Seki (Nanaho Katsuragi)
- Miss Yuki (Yuka Imai)
- Tetsuya Kotake (Kumiko Yokote)
- Reika Tamaki (Ai Nagano)
- Masaru Yada (Nami Miyahara)
- Nobuko Yokokawa (Kyoko Donowaki)
- Yuji Sagawa (Reiko Fujita)
- Yutaka Ota (Noriko Fujita)
- Toyokazu Sugiyama (Reiko Kiuchi)
English voice actors
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Korean voice actors
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Songs
| Opening themes | Ending themes |
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CD Media
see this article: Ojamajo Doremi discography
Manga
Kodansha published six volumes of manga which span several story arcs. 1st Story Arc
2nd Story Arc
External links
- France
- magicaldoremi.net A French website that is also in German and English.
- Italy
- Makihatayama Rika's Maho-Do An Italian fan site that offers information about Ojamajo Doremi and Magica Doremi, the Italian series.
- Ojamajo Dream The Italian (not official) site devoted to the magic series of Ojamajo Doremì
- Japan
- Toei Animation Homepage - Magical DoReMi Japanese Market management and headquarter
- Toei Animation Ojamajo Doremi website - The official website to the first season of the series.
- Toei Animation Ojamajo Doremi Sharp website
- Toei Animation Motto! Ojamajo Doremi website
- Toei Animation Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan website
- Toei Animation Ojamajo Doremi Naisho website
- Neo Wing All Rights Reserved of Magical DoReMi
- USA & Canada
- 4Kids TV Magical DoReMi website - The official 4Kids website to the series.
- Royal Patraine A large fan site with information on both the English dub and the original Japanese series.
- Bandai's press release on Magical DoReMi product lines - Also confirms Ellie Craft's name.
- China & Taiwan
- Korea
- Iconix Enertainment Homepage - Magical DoReMi Korean Market management and headquarter
- Magical DoReMi in Magical Remi website
- Tooniverse Magical DoReMi in Magical Remi Vivache Homepage
- Portugal & Brazil
- Ojamajo Doremi Planet - A portuguese website about the magic series of Ojamajo Doremi
| Ojamajo Doremi (series) |
| - 1st Story arc - |
| - 2nd Story arc - |
| - 3rd Story arc -
Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi - Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi Movie |
| - 4th Story arc - |
| List of characters from Ojamajo Doremi |
