Let’s get back to Ojamajo Doremi! Doremi’s last episode was frankly amazing – not only did it feature the long-awaited return of Loyal Dog Doremi, it even doubled down with Heroic Horse Doremi, turning a random treasure hunt into one of Doremi’s most entertaining episodes yet. Doremi can knock it out of the park when it comes to the emotional stuff, but it’s also capable of farcical episodes so inventive and energetic that they rival pretty much any comedy out there.

That episode also made great use of Ojamajo Doremi’s continuously expanding cast, finding smart ways to use a variety of Doremi’s classmates, all of her immediate friends, and even both the teacher and nurse. Doremi’s always been something of an ensemble production, but it feels like we’re now reaching a point where the show has established enough characters that it can pull off far more sprawling stories than before. “Doremi chases down her missing magic item” doesn’t sound like the most ambitious narrative, but structurally, we bounced between over a dozen major characters in twenty minutes, something only possible because the show’s dedicated prior time to building up all those characters. With that in mind, I’m not worried by the fact that I can’t imagine this episode topping that one – the show is clearly making the most of its new dramatic tools, and I’m excited to see where it leads us next. It’s time to cast some spells with our ridiculous Ojamajos!

Episode 30

Our cold open begins with a young boy watching an old man as he apparently whittles some wooden object. Oh man, this is a great sign – it’s been far, far too long since Ojamajo Doremi offered a classmate-focused personal conflict, and those have generally tended to be its most emotionally rich. On the whole, I prefer Doremi to offer a balance of poignant personal stories and total madness like last episode, with the magic world-focused stuff clocking in as a clear third priority. I feel like the magic in this show is best used to either illustrate the limitations of magic (for the first category, so the characters are forced to solve problems through actually reaching out and emotional labor), or to facilitate great jokes (like in last episode). When the magic is the dramatic point, the show suffers

Yeah, it seems like this is a boy receiving a hand-whittled toy from his grandfather

Oh wow, starting with an absolutely gorgeous shot down some temple steps. I love the reserved color palette of this shot – it’s basically just a combination of green and yellow, but it still feels incredibly vibrant. It seems like they used some kind of blur effect on the mid-distance trees to create a separation between the foreground and background, which works very well to create a sense of depth. This show is so humbly beautiful

So it looks like Doremi and a bunch of her friends from school are visiting this boy at his home, a local temple. Like last episode, it seems this one will be directly capitalizing on Doremi’s ensemble cast: pretty much every classmate who’s already received a focus episode is here with this group. That seems like a good choice to me – using these characters we’ve built up solidifies them as people and emphasizes the overall living nature of this world, while also offering new opportunities for them to bounce off each other. It’s also inherently satisfying to see these characters carry on with the lessons we’ve seen them internalize, which reinforces our sense of emotional connection with the show

“I Want to Meet the Ghost!” Heck yeah, spooky episode

Another great late-afternoon background here. This show’s colors are so nice

Yamauchi, the boy who lives here, is apparently a master storyteller

He tells a story of a father visiting his daughter’s grave, and likely running into her ghost. As expected, we get flavorful little interjections from our prior episodic characters

The story ends on anticlimax, but Hadzuki is totally fine with that. I’m not sure if they’re riffing on her disliking spooky stuff or the same odd dramatic sensibilities that make her like the goof-off trio’s jokes so much, but either way, it’s very endearing. Sequences like this are a natural payoff for ensemble shows – bringing all these characters together and seeing each of them react to some new situation in turn essentially acts as validation of the time we’ve spent getting to know them

Some interesting character design choices for this ghost story. It feels like the show is adopting a more angular, loose style that evokes something like Windy Tales. It works reasonably well as a tonal separation for this story-in-a-story

Evocative held shot conveying her death here, as her hand moves from grasping her father’s to settling on the pillow

Yep, Hadzuki hates scary stuff. Great exaggerated reactions here

I thought it was just for the ghost story, but this episode feels pretty exaggerated and angular in its character movements all around. It’s a nice shift

“That’s our Yada, always cool.” “I can’t move… my legs.” Again, little reveals like “Yada’s actually spooked too” feel like inherent rewards now that we’ve spent some time with these people

This episode’s pacing is snappy as hell. The fact that it’s adopting such a tried-and-true ghost episode format means it doesn’t really need to explain anything, it can just leap straight through the test of courage

Damn, I love this shot where the ghost appears. The goofy kid’s hand stretching towards the camera, the overall dynamic poses, the depth of the composition. This episode is definitely one of the show’s more impressive visually

They see a ghost, and it seems to be Yamauchi’s grandfather. I love Yada trying to keep his cool on the side here

Another cute payoff – Ai and Nobuko go on the test together, with Nobuko regaling Ai about her newest detective stories

And more great layouts and expressions, as Nobuko sells their own ghost experience. This episode is turning out to be wonderful

“Does it work? That spell?” God, this is so good. Now Hadzuki gets to help Yada feel a little less afraid. I wish more shows understood the value of building up and retaining characters like this

Ah, Yamauchi actually wants to see his grandfather. His own ghost story thus acts as a handy metaphor for his feelings

“I need to apologize to my grandfather. When he passed away, I said some terrible things to him.” Doremi is really never afraid to go for tough and emotionally mature points. Feeling guilt about an imperfect relationship with a dead relative isn’t an easy topic, but it’s one a great number of kids can relate to, and they deserve to have stories that acknowledge their pain

The anger a child can feel at a loved one when they die. A natural emotion very worth validating

So what, are they going to imitate the ghost to give Yamauchi some closure?

Okay good, they’re actually just summoning the ghost, not pretending to be Yamauchi’s grandfather

Yamauchi’s grandfather never finished the horse he promised, itself a fine metaphor for a child’s inherent belief that the people they love will always be there beside them

“Sorry, I raised my voice.” Yamauchi is dealing with a more serious form of guilt than many of his peers, and it’s interesting seeing that counterbalanced against the fact that disposition-wise, he’s actually one of the most considerate and polite classmates we’ve met so far. Even the nicest people carry heavy burdens

Ah, the grandfather’s ghost wanted someone to help him finish the horse and fulfill the promise, but people always ran away when they saw him

And so they ultimately connect at the end, replacing that promise with a more positive one, that Yamauchi’s grandfather will always be there for him

And Done

Alright Doremi fine, just keep knocking it out of the park like that. This was another terrific episode, bolstered mightily by its uniquely dynamic layouts, great expressions, strong use of the show’s secondary characters… basically just a whole lot of bolstering going on in general. I felt the episode lost a bit of its snap in the last act, but was happy to see Yamauchi’s problem resolved through actually engaging with his grandfather, instead of the far more dubious “Doremi and co pretend to be his grandfather to grant him closure” route. All in all, this was another fine episode of a fine show, demonstrating a great number of Doremi’s many strengths. What a lovely cartoon this is.

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