Dear lord am I ever happy to return to Ojamajo Doremi. I don’t yet know when you’ll be reading this, but as of today, I just finished writing my way through a hellish weekish and a half that included around twenty preview guide premieres, a Crunchyroll column on top of that, and two sprawling, confessional essays on Neon Genesis Evangelion and End of Evangelion. It was almost certainly the most writing I’ve ever done in a single week, and I’m frankly still not through – I can’t really justify pausing the Current Projects for another weekend, so as of Thursday morning, I need to write three Current Projects articles and my next Why It Works column by some time on Sunday.
But as of right now, it is absolutely time for Ojamajo Doremi.
Watching this episode will technically fulfill one of my Current Projects obligations, but more than that, I need something I genuinely love and that always tends to bring me peace, and that is absolutely Doremi. This show is so charming, so visually engaging, so fundamentally thoughtful and kind. Last episode saw our heroes learning just a few of the many complex responsibilities of parenting, as they worked to take care of a baby with more magical energy than all of them put together. Hana-chan’s powers thus served as a clean metaphor for the emotional experience of parenting – you run yourself ragged, while your baby always seems to have more energy, demands, and tantrums ready. Doremi and the girls did the best jobs they could, handling their new responsibilities with diligence and pride.
It was an excellent episode on the whole, but after two episodes of establishing the season two premise, I’m kinda hoping we get to check in with Doremi’s classmates again. Either way, I’m sure we’ve got an endearing and thoughtful journey ahead of us, because goddamnit, this is friggin’ Doremi. Let’s see what episode three has in store!