Folks, it is absolutely time for more Ojamajo Doremi. The show has become a genuine favorite of mine, and offers a desperately necessary slice of optimism in a unforgivingly harsh world. I won’t lie to you – these last few years have rigorously tested my own optimism, as well as my faith in my fellow man. With my own country led by a man who essentially embodies all that is small and cruel about humanity, and a global rise of nationalism and xenophobia accompanying him, it’s become more difficult than ever to believe the future will be better than the past. As Donald Trump’s every hateful pronouncement earns righteous cheers from his supporters, I have to question whether the average person is simply less kind and empathetic than I assumed – whether our public commitments to charity and kindness were only ever aspirational, and whether our fundamental nature actual trends more towards cruelty and selfishness.

Fortunately, Doremi’s skies are in no way clouded by these unhappy thoughts. Doremi’s characters genuinely care about each other, and for the most part do their best to be kind. I’m not so naive as to believe the real world could ever be like Doremi’s, but the optimism of Doremi and its creators gives me a little hope, too. Doremi is a show that believes in people, and the sincerity of its creators, the passion of its artists, and their collective love for these characters come through in every episode. People might not actually be as fundamentally decent as Doremi posits, but to think otherwise leads only to despair. We have to believe in each other, and do our best to honor that belief in others. Great, empathetic media can foster that hope, and Doremi is a shining example of the form. Let’s dive into another episode of this beautiful and profoundly necessary show.

Episode 41

Hoo boy, it’s a shogi episode. We open with a defeated-looking boy who’s presumably our focus classmate, facing off against a confident spectacled boy with a camera watching

I’m sure it seems even more impenetrable because I didn’t grow up with it, but actually becoming good at shogi feels like such an impossibly monumental task. Chess by itself is a maddeningly difficult game, and adding in the ability to replay any captured tokens basically anywhere feels like it would exponentially increase that complexity. How can you play five moves ahead if your opponent can always put anything they’ve captured anywhere?

Shogi aside, a grounded classmate-focused episode sounds about right, given the wild magic focus of last episode. Though honestly, #40 was so very good that I certainly wouldn’t mind another trip to Witch World

Doremi’s friends trying to cheer her up about failing the test, establishing a natural bit of continuity from last episode. This Onpu arc has embraced continuity a lot more consistently than the show’s first act

And then Onpu herself shows up, to tell Doremi she’s just going to fail again. “I’m sorry, I’m a very straightforward person and always say what I mean” – the perennial defense of assholes who know they’re assholes

“Father and Son – The Move Towards Victory!” Oh god it’s a Doremi March comes in like a lion episode

We catch up with the girls at lunch, as Doremi is called to pick up some papers. I think this is the first time we’ve seen the class break for lunch

Our focus character is Taniyama, who Doremi describes as “like a ghost that comes out when the sun’s out.” See, Onpu would have said something this insensitive intentionally, while Doremi just does it because she’s Doremi

“I’m saying that people forget you exist.” Oh my god Doremi

Taniyama actually briefly reaches out with “you’re feeling like a failure, too?” But of course, Doremi is too insecure about her own failure to realize he’s looking for support

Seki-sensei is facing off in shogi against our requisite Jerk Teacher, who now adds sexism to his list of crimes

Right, this guy’s the vice principal

The show creates a sense of tension through the combination of announcing tile movements and consistently jumping to ever-closer closeups. It’s a fine tactic; shogi is so maddeningly complex that there’s almost never a way to convey its tactical thrills within fiction, so you focus on either the immediate physical drama of the matchup, or use the March approach of centering your fights on either emotional struggles or parsable metaphors (“this opponent’s style is so stifling it feels like I’m drowning,” etc)

Majo Rika’s in her cups again. I like how her line art becomes more squiggly and thin as she gets drunk, naturally implying her fraying state

Pop yells at her stuffed animal for binge drinking

Majo Rika’s wonderful expression when Pop says she’ll take over. How do they make this tiny frog blob so expressive

Taniyama claims he hates shogi, so of course, there’s some familial expectation or something poisoning his love for it

I’m trying to remember if I’ve seen a show starring a character who’s good at something, but actually just plain doesn’t enjoy it. It’d be hard to turn that into a satisfying narrative, but it feels like a situation worth illustrating

Taniyama looks in on some shogi players, and fondly remembers playing with his father

“You made me realize I was lying to myself.” Damn. Efficient work, Doremi!

“If you don’t get to level 4 before your 30th birthday, you have to leave the Shogi Association.” That is a wild, brutal rule. Welp, I guess there go my hopes of shogi stardom

So his father failed and broke down, his mother had to deal with his father’s struggles, and now both of his parents hate shogi. What an unfair situation

I can see why they’re keeping the teacher prominent in this episode – this seems like the sort of situation that demands an adult’s interference

“I’m no good, but you have talent!” Doremi’s really killing it this episode. Both her persistence and her selflessness are fully on display

Yep. Seki says she’ll talk to his parents. Some issues can’t be fixed by kids alone

A crucial lesson in itself. If the people who are hurting you are in a position of power over you, sometimes you need to rely on friends and authority figures to help you out. While adolescent fantasies tend to champion the self-reliance their audiences desire, shows for children understand that we exist in a larger society, none of us have total power over our own lives, and it’s very often the right choice to ask for help

Also nice that this episode is acknowledging our parents can be as petty and fallible as the rest of us. This is a truth that’s essentially baked into Aiko’s personal story, and it’s as true and critical here

Taniyama’s dad relents… BUT ONLY IF HE WINS AT THE TOURNAMENT. We shonen now

Now I know why Doremi succeeded so quickly. We had to sneak a whole tournament into this episode’s back half

His dad fortunately shows up to the actual tournament. Equally important to demonstrate that people who make single rash or unkind actions aren’t necessarily all bad

The finals opponent is a “sixth grader third dan.” The wild age range of professional shogi is really something

“I was feeling pretty down, but I feel much better after cheering for him.” Another good lesson – “if you’re caught up in your own troubles, sometimes helping others with their problems can make your own problems feel manageable”

Oh goddamnit, one of the shogi tiles is a Bad Item. Of all the times

Taniyama’s father sees his own lessons in his son’s play, and is proud

Taniyama better not lose because of some witch world bullshit. I’m actually really invested in his story now!

Granted, that might facilitate the better narrative, where his dad still lets him play now that he’s witnessed his passion

Doremi immediately grabs Oyajide, confirms the bad item, and freezes time to grab it. I find myself almost missing incompetent early Doremi

Taniyama-dad not only consents, he decides to give up drinking and start training Taniyama again. I guess that, uh, solves everything!

And Done

All right, that was a very nice episode. For the first time basically since Onpu’s appeared, we ran through a traditional classmate-focused drama, treating their personal conflicts with all the care and enthusiasm of Doremi’s more fanciful material. And this episode’s particular personal conflict was a good one – Taniyama’s struggles illustrated how sometimes we don’t have the power to solve our own problems, and need to rely on the support of friends and trusted authority figures to help. It was also a welcome gesture towards the fallibility of our parents, and did a solid job of keeping Taniyama’s on-board struggles engaging throughout. One more sturdy and emotionally generous Doremi episode!

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