Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m delighted to announce we’re returning to Ojamajo Doremi Sharp, which just recently broke my heart with its poignant Mother’s Day episode. Rather than the easy layup of simply celebrating the cast’s relationships with their mothers, our last episode explored the complicated emotions inherent in feeling isolated on such occasions, how to balance your painful grief with your desire to remember your lost loved ones, and how we can seek to connect with each other and collectively find joy in these bonds, whether our parents are together, divorced, or sadly passed away.
As always, Ojamajo Doremi soars by taking both its characters and its audience seriously, speaking without prevarication or metaphor about the genuine struggles that every child must overcome, and admitting frankly that such struggles are also faced by the adults in their lives. There is no facile assurance of “growing out” of the difficulties of coexisting; instead, Doremi offers a kindly assurance that we all face these difficulties together, that the adults we trust are all fighting their own sympathetic battles, and that through sharing both our joy and our sorrow, we can find a common humanity that is the essence of love itself, and the foundation of a compassionate society.
All that is basically the great work of artistry incarnate, but that episode also made me cry, so I’d be happy enough to cool down with goofy witch-world antics or something. Maybe a reprise of Loyal Dog Doremi? Well, whatever’s coming, I have absolute faith in this team, and am eager to get this show on the road. Let’s get to it!
Episode 16
Our cold open sees the girls fawning over Hana-chan as she begins to crawl, embarking on a journey of greater mobility that will surely drive everyone to hysterics. It’s bad enough when a regular baby learns to first crawl and then toddle around, how the heck are they gonna baby-proof the shop against a witch baby?
Nonetheless, Hana remains an excellent vehicle for exploring a major realm of childhood experiences: learning to get along with and take care of a new brother or sister. Ojamajo Doremi does its best to frame a new sibling as a source of joy and proud responsibility, rather than a source of competition for parental affection, a perspective that can come naturally to any child who is used to monopolizing their parents’ attention. To this, Ojamajo Doremi declares, “yes, you’re not the baby anymore, but that’s a good thing! Be proud of how you’ve grown, and do your best to help your new sibling get there too”
Nice dynamic boarding as the girls rush to the Majo-dou after school, only to be stopped by a defiant Pop
“You’ll wake Hana-chan if you’re that loud!” Pop’s always the responsible one
More creative layouts as Lala floats dejectedly into the frame; I particularly like this one framed just in front of her goofy wizard cap, a very playful way of conveying her exhausted body language without any actual animated movement. It’s easier to convey comedic character acting when you’ve got the time for full, fluid animation; doing it with still frames is tricky, but Ojamajo Doremi’s staff are masters of economy
Our episode director Naoyuki Ito apparently has a busy career ahead of him; he’s a unit director of several Toei films, as well as the lead director of both the Overlord and No Guns Life franchises
Excellent face as Lala smashes into a wall, but I actually like the followup shot even more, where she’s basically just a blonde smear splattered against the wall
“First Time Crawling!? Big Panic at the Harukaze’s!”
Nice use of forced perspective as Lala steadies herself, yanking the camera down to the ground to make the girls seem as large to us as they do to her
Presumably Lala is exhausted because Hana-chan has already started crawling. The nightmare has begun
Meanwhile, Majo Rika has deflated entirely into loose putty
Apparently they’re exhausted because Hana-chan has been increasingly crying at night. Another incidental lesson for young siblings here – babies will do a lot of crying, and that doesn’t mean anyone’s necessarily doing anything wrong, or that you can even blame the baby for it. “Babies cry” is just a fact of life
Aw, these tinfoil-reflected sunbeam effects. One of the many beautiful, distinctive tricks of traditional cel photography that was lost in the transition to digital animation. Watching Dear Brother can be a melancholy experience for that alone, seeing all the distinctive lighting tricks Dezaki employed that have at this point been abandoned
The two urge the girls to not worry and head on home, but Doremi is uncertain. A gesture towards one of Ojamajo Doremi’s most fundamental strengths: its acknowledgment that adults are fallible people too, and can often use our support
The production team are having a lot of fun with Lala and Majo Rika’s attempts to pacify Hana-chan. Lots of energetic Kaneda-style posing for this “transformation sequence,” as Majo Rika prepares to make a bunch of silly faces
Yeah, the character acting is lovely in this episode. We rarely get to see Lala being so dramatically expressive
Next Lala transforms into a cat and does a preposterous luau dance. Figures Ojamajo Doremi would follow something as heartfelt as the Mother’s Day episode with this delightful nonsense
“Majo Rika, the cat thing is useless.” Lala has no fucks left to give by the next morning
Doremi suggests the two of them visit the hot springs, making her fateful offer to take care of Hana-chan for the night
With their caretakers gone, Hadzuki and Onpu immediately point out the risk of Hana-chan using magic and giving away her witch nature. Thanks for that timely interjection, friends
“Don’t worry. Even though Doremi’s useless, I’m there too!” And yes, Doremi’s adoring sister. She is so cherished by her community
And the other girls just pile on, agreeing that with Pop in attendance, everything should be okay. Ah, Doremi
Hana swiftly begins animating drawings and levitating toys at the Harukaze household. How did our girls think this was gonna work out
And at last, Hana-chan begins to crawl
Ooh, I really like this composition conveying their late-night vigil, with Hana in the foreground and Doremi in the back, allowing the team to create a sense of temporal progression through racking focus from Doremi nodding off to Hana waking up. Efficient visual storytelling, and also just a visually interesting composition, with the closeness of the camera both bolstering the sense of intimacy and making an attention-drawing geometry of Doremi’s face, naturally leading the eye towards Hana
Hana-chan cleverly distracts Doremi by crying for milk, then commences her grand escape plan
Aaand she’s crawling on the ceiling. Great, Hana learns to crawl and immediately becomes a devil-baby
The rest of the gang arrive, and are disappointed but not surprised to learn Doremi has already lost the baby
Oh my god, Onpu casts a “turn us into mice” spell, and it actually just makes her, Aiko, and Hadzuki tiny in mouse costume pajamas. I was hoping for Loyal Dog Doremi, and this episode isn’t far from it
Love that Onpu’s mouse costume has a top hole for her hair curl to pop out. The details are important!
We get a lovely momentary vision of Majo Rika’s hot springs trip, where they appear to be soaking in a sequence of hot spring terraces that feed waterfalls dropping off their floating spring island. Seeing a new fragment of the Witch World is always a pleasure
Oh no, Hana’s on the computer! What will she post!?
Eventually our crew just takes the nuclear option, using Magical Stage to track down their wayward baby
And Done
Excellent, excellent. That was exactly the sort of irreverent nonsense I was hoping for, replete with ridiculous faces and a whole lot of dunking on poor Doremi. Our ojamajo was clearly out of her depth dealing with Hana-chan’s exorcist act, but to be honest, I think most young parents would struggle with the distinct demands of raising a witch baby. And the Doremi team clearly had a lot of fun visually articulating these trials, constructing compositions that flattered this episode’s unusual surfeit of tiny characters, and demonstrating how much personality can be conveyed even in just a couple frames of motion. You did your best, ojamajos!
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