It’s a cold and cloudy day today, as the last dregs of summer’s humidity brush up against the chill of New England’s nine month winter. Somebody’s been hammering and yelling outside at about equal volume for maybe three hours now, which served as this morning’s alarm clock. I went to sleep with profound anxiety and have woken up with profound back pain, symptoms which may or may not be related. All in all, it’s been a pretty lukewarm morning.

Fortunately, all those trivial gripes don’t matter much now. It’s time for Ojamajo Doremi, and when it’s time for Ojamajo Doremi, I really can’t complain. Our last episode of Sharp offered the kind of story I’ve been eagerly awaiting all season – a return to vignettes about Doremi’s classmates, focusing on the charming friendship between Marina and Kimura.

Doremi’s strongest episodes often inhabit one of its genre extremes; either they’re full-on magical spectacle, either full of farcical spells or focused on the alluring witch world, or they’re full-on character drama, stories that barely make use of magic at all, and instead illustrate fundamental truths of emotional development. Last episode fell in the second category, and offered a tale of insecurity, misunderstanding, and regret that barely involved our actual stars. As is often the case, the resolution didn’t come about as a result of some massive emotional revelation or shocking twist; Kimura simply needed a friend he could talk to without any sense of insecurity or defensiveness, who could help him acknowledge the truth he already knew. With a full season of ensemble character development behind us, Doremi can now pull off episodes that are almost Doremi-free – we’re well acquainted with several dozen of Doremi’s classmates at this point, and watching them interact and resolve their own problems is an inherent validation of all the time we’ve shared. Whatever this episode brings, I’m excited to return to this lovely show. Let’s get to it!

Episode 7

Our cold open couldn’t be more straightforward this time – a witch carries Hana away, saying that the witches will take care of her now. I mean, to be fair, they’ve been doing a pretty shaky job of taking care of this kid

Of course, that’s a lesson in itself – taking care of a baby teaches kids how hard parenting is, and that parents are imperfect people doing their best as well

This goofy opening song is so charming. It’s like smooth jazz played on a toy keyboard

Some nice incidental moments of the girls expressing themselves at the Maho-dou. Aiko slides down the banister and gives herself ten points

Ooh, no wonder this episode is visually celebrating their personalities like this – it was directed by Junichi Sato himself! Sato has a great eye for the fundamentals of slice of life; he’s always very good about including lots of expressive body language and endearing character beats. A show like Princess Tutu would have been far less approachable if not for his light and character-centric touch

And right on cue, we get some terrific Doremi faces and offhand physical comedy

Hana sees Aiko slide down the banister and decides to do it herself. Levitating babies are a tough deal

“Hana-chan’s Health Examination”

Doremi attempts to lecture Hana about the uses of magic, which is about as effective as, well, someone trying to lecture Doremi about the uses of magic

“Newborn babies can usual float about five centimeters.” I learn so much from this show

Dela forgot to gave them the health manual for the baby. In classic Sato fashion, this exchange is conveyed with lots of strong expression work and exaggerated physical movements, giving the light conflict a lot of visual energy

They’ll be meeting with Majo Heart, a witch physician. I have an assortment of questions, but I think I’m just gonna leave that one be

Looks like that “entering the witch world” footage has been added to the bank, which explains why it’s so darn pretty

The witch hospital looks like a big cake, which brings some awkward Hansel and Gretel vibes to mind

“We’re just part-timers. We just graduated from magical school, so we’re working here.” The more I learn about the Witch World, the more confused I feel. Why is the Queen just doling out babies to every witch in this society

The octopus-squid couple have a baby too, of course

They are very proud of their child of destiny, who will bridge the divide between their ancestral houses

Majo Heart announces she’s against humans taking care of witch babies from the start, which frankly sounds pretty sensible

I like how Ojamajo Doremi’s cold opens aren’t necessarily actual scenes from the episode to come – instead, they often just embody the conflict or anxiety that will define that episode. Instead of giving anything away, we’re simply conditioned to be preoccupied with the fear of potentially losing Hana-chan

Hana-chan is too light and too small. Horrible baby, just the worst baby

Moto and Motomoto brag about their own superior babies

“The worst thing a parent can do is compare their child to others.” Sage advice from Maho Heart

Apparently the Floating Test is a key measure of witch baby health. Did Sato just spearhead this episode so he could make up a bunch of bullshit magical lore

Another great sequence that plays into Sato’s strengths, as the girls all panic and bumble around trying to convince Hana to float. His works all have such a strong sense of physicality; his characters are constantly stumbling over themselves or otherwise dynamically engaging with their environments. It’s no surprise he’s done such great work on shows where the environment itself is a key character, like Aria or Princess Tutu

Now this is interesting. They seem to have added a couple of new cuts into the middle of the bank footage spellcasting sequence, as Onpu gently takes a note from her castanet and places it in her wand. I wonder if that’s just a one-time thing, or if they always intended this sequence to be a little longer, but hadn’t finished that animation yet

Onpu convinces Hana to float by giving her a butterfly to rescue from a spiderweb. I love the insanely smug faces of all the girls

Now they engage in a “milk-drinking test,” where every single baby has to chug a bottle of milk within a strict time limit. I remain unconvinced that witches actually know anything about raising babies

Hana sees that Atarimeko, the squid-octopus baby, is having trouble finishing its milk, so she casts a spell to take the milk into her own bottle. These kids have a very smart and considerate baby!

Of course, that should hopefully be a result of the selfless lessons it’s been absorbing from their actions around the Maho-dou. Kids are like sponges, they will absorb lessons whether you intend them to or not

I now see why they brought Moto and Motomoto back for this episode – their takes on each of these challenges offer the “default answers,” which are then contrasted against the madness of Doremi’s team. In order to convey a tangible sense of chaos or conflict here, in a challenge where the assumed responses are themselves a mystery (how many people have engaged in a magical baby stewardship competition?), having these two witches offer what amounts to a “control case” helps establish necessary context

Creating drama is sort of like starting a fire – you rub sturdy but incompatible variables against each other in a way that generates friction, and eventually dramatic heat. For that to work, those initial variables have to genuinely feel sturdy; otherwise, you end up with a conflict with no stakes, where the “challenge” feels arbitrary or unthreatening. In this conflict’s case, if Moto and Motomoto weren’t there, we would have no frame of reference for how well or poorly the girls are doing, and thus no sense of either tension when they’re failing, or accomplishment when they succeed

This episode basically seems like an excuse for Sato to run through a long series of group reaction shots, as Hana fails to do her various tasks and all the girls panic in response. The man is a genius

Having become accustomed to being rocked to sleep by a quartet of dancing fairies, ordinary mobiles just don’t cut it for Hana

Hana-chan turns the mobile into a giant wailing wheel of death, terrifying all the other children

Onpu saves the day with her lullaby. This production crew have such an obvious Onpu bias, it’s pretty great

The Witch Queen grants the girls those magic phones we keep seeing in this season’s eyecatches. I’m obviously not super interested in Ojamajo Doremi’s efficacy as a driver of toy sales, but that seems like a pretty clever bit of marketing – the eyecatches essentially act as an early preview of this cool toy, and now they’re finally revealed with a bunch of pomp and circumstance. Eyecatches are a very interesting and anime-unique tool of storytelling; they can offer a tonal counterpoint to an episode’s drama, greater context on the narrative (like Attack on Titan’s excellent guidebook entries), or just sell a toy like this

And Done

Alright, we’ve passed the health exam! I can see why Sato would tackle this episode specifically – not only does it essentially act as a small “first act climax,” summing up all of the girls’ progress so far, but it also neatly played into many of his strengths as a director. Sato isn’t actually the first choice I’d go for when it comes to an episode full of heavy dramatic beats and tough personal drama – that’s more Igarashi or Yamauchi’s bag. But Sato excels at comedy, ensemble drama, and character acting, and this episode was a playground of all three. It’s… I mean, look at those last two sentences. Doremi is so blessed in terms of its staff that it can actually pick between three of the best anime directors of all time (among many other incredibly bright talents), depending on the unique needs of any given episode. What a remarkable show.

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