Let’s settle in for another episode of Ojamajo Doremi! The show’s last episode was pretty much textbook Doremi, balancing goofy adventures within the main cast around a sturdy character study featuring Yamauchi, one more of Doremi’s consistently well-realized and multifaceted classmates. That in turn resolved into a simple but solidly articulated lesson regarding the nature of grief and guilt, offering comfort for anyone who’s said something cruel or regrettable to a loved one in a difficult moment.

Yamauchi’s story was a little more abridged than many of Doremi’s character stories, but there was a very good reason for that: a great deal of the episode was mostly just about reveling in the fun relationships between Doremi’s various classmates. One vignette at a time, Doremi has steadily built up a roster of well over a dozen unique and engaging classmates, and at this point, simply putting a group of them together in a new setting like “graveyard test of courage” offers inherent dramatic rewards all by itself. We know and like all these kids, and throwing one person we know and like next to another one just to see what happens has been a time-tested formula for character drama since characters experienced drama in the first place. Episode twenty-nine (the Doremi horse episode) offered a terrific example of what happens when Doremi just leans into its ensemble nature for madcap thrills – in contrast, episode thirty demonstrated that Doremi’s increasingly ensemble nature can be just as useful for more somber and personal stories. Ojamajo Doremi just becomes richer and richer the more it builds up its larger cast, so I’m happy to see it putting that investment to use, and ready for whatever’s next. It’s time for some mediocre magic with the ojamajos!

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Let’s get right the heck back on board with Ojamajo Doremi! Last episode wasn’t necessarily a highlight, but it did establish a reasonable platform for the show’s drama going forward, integrating the whole “bad item” deal into Doremi’s more emotionally-founded conflicts in a very natural way. That was definitely one of the main things I was looking for in this arc – some way to marry the potentially interesting but emotionally removed Pureleine conflicts to the inherently compelling character drama Doremi already possessed. Doremi seems to be at its weakest when it leans on fantastical genre fundamentals like this Pureleine stuff, but the Majo Ruka arc also demonstrated that even in larger conflicts which don’t themselves possess that much emotional resonance, individual character struggles like Ai’s harmonica drama can still shine. With the overall Pureleine conceit and even the team’s regrettable new mascot pretty much settled into the show’s usual tone, it feels like the episodes from here on out could go basically anywhere. Let’s see where Doremi and the Ojamajos take us today!

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Let’s check back in with Ojamajo Doremi! Doremi’s show is one of the few good things in this sunblasted hellscape of a modern world, and I’m always happy to have a chance to stop in with her and the girls. The show’s new arc hasn’t really proven itself yet, and has in fact made some pretty awkward choices so far, with the most glaring being “adding a second annoying mascot character who’s also a horny old man.” “Horny old man characters” and “inspiring and emotionally educational shows for children” don’t really seem like a natural mix to me, but everyone who’s watched Doremi says the show actually improves over its running time, so I’m not worried this will really derail anything. I’m more just curious as to when this new “Bad Item” arc will actually start paying off, and what form that payoff will take.

The main issue I have with Doremi at the moment is that all of its witch world conflicts are far less interesting than its mundane classroom conflicts, because they’re invented magic-centric conflicts with no relevance to anything outside of themselves. Issues like “Majo Ruka has stolen the shop” and “we need to seal these Bad Items” possess no inherent thematic or emotional weight – the show can give them that weight, but it’s starting from a more arbitrary position than a conflict like “Hadzuki needs to learn boundaries regarding making her friends’ choices for them.” But Doremi has found resonant emotional material in unlikely places before, so I’m eager to see how it handles this new challenge. Let’s get right to the next Ojamajo Doremi!

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We return at last to Ojamajo Doremi! It’s been a little while since I spent time with these ojamajos in the real world, and I am beyond happy to return. This is my first Doremi post of 2018, a year that I’m hoping will somehow turn around the global inferno that was 2017, but considering this year started by the heat dying in my apartment followed by a blizzard sealing me in my apartment, I’m not entirely optimistic.

Enter Doremi as a ray of sunshine, a show that’s still charming and well-crafted and full of heart no matter how bad things are out there. Doremi’s last episode saw the show seemingly jumping subgenres entirely, as the introduction of “bad items” and “bad cards” offered Doremi a dash of Card Captor Sakura. I’m not yet sure what to make of Doremi and her friends being dubbed Pureleine card-hunters – I generally prefer when the show’s drama focuses more on grounded human problems than fanciful issues specific to the witch world, and this whole bad item business seems as fancifully arbitrary as they come. But I highly doubt Doremi could have given up its moral ambitions partway through its first season and still be considered such a classic, so I’m less worried and more intrigued as to how these new elements will interact with the existing formula. And either way, Pop is still a magical girl, so I don’t really get any more narrative requests for at least another season. Let’s dive right in to one more episode of Ojamajo Doremi!

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Let’s get right back to Ojamajo Doremi! It’s been a while on my side since I had a chance to write about Doremi, and I’m very excited to be back. Not only is Doremi just a generally charming show, but last episode saw us reaching the end of the Majo Ruka arc, meaning we’ll likely be returning to episodic conflicts starring Doremi’s classmates. Ruka’s arcs had its highs and lows, but the stories focused on Doremi’s classmates tend to demonstrate the show at its best – thoughtful, often very poignant, and generally just solidly written. Even at its most mundane Doremi is a pretty satisfying show, and when it comes to highlights like Hadzuki’s rabbit episode or Ai’s harmonica story, Doremi can match basically any show out there for emotional power. Let’s see what we’ve got this time!

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Let’s power on through some more Ojamajo Doremi! Last episode saw the show finally reaching the end of its Majo Ruka arc, with Doremi and her friends’ level six powers proving just strong enough to conquer Rika’s nemesis. Unfortunately, Ruka’s exit has opened the door for an even more powerful foe: Doremi’s sister Pop, the most competent and confident character in this entire series. Defeating evil witches is one thing, but Pop has demonstrated she can handily cross swords with Doremi any day of the week, and her silence will not be bought for cheap. My personal suggestion is Doremi give Majo Rika to Pop permanently in order to keep her quiet, but I suppose the show couldn’t make things that easy. It’s Pop’s time to shine in Ojamajo Doremi twenty-five!

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It’s time for more Ojamajo Doremi! It’s been about a month in my time since my last Doremi episode, but certainly not due to lack of interest. The last episode of Ojamajo Doremi was possibly the best episode the show has put together yet, and undoubtedly featured the best single sequence of any episode so far. The flashback to Ai and her father coping with her mother leaving was a devastating and phenomenally executed sequence, building on Doremi’s strong familial relationships to arrive at a moment of transcendent catharsis. It was pretty much the definition of beauty through tragedy, demonstrating the strength of Ai and her father’s relationship in the harshest of times. I’m guessing it’ll be some time before we reach another sequence as strong as that, but Doremi has actually gotten consistently more powerful all throughout, so I’m excited for whatever comes. Let’s take it to that friggin’ Majo Ruka!

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Let’s get back to Ojamajo Doremi! The gang are at their lowest point yet this week, having not only lost the shop to Majo Ruka, but also entirely run out of magic spheres. The show spent pretty much the entirety of last episode stripping them of their few remaining resources, so it feels like some sort of change has gotta come. That said, this arc has largely defied my expectations from start to finish, both in positive and negative ways, so I can’t begin to guess how they’ll resolve it. Maybe the actual witch government will step in? It seems like they’d have some vested interest in dealing with a witch queen successor who spends all her time poisoning ignorant humans, but I guess I don’t really understand the mechanics of witch politics anyway. Maybe poisoning people is good to them. Who can say.

Anyway, that’s enough rambling. Let’s get right to the Doremi!

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Let’s get back to Ojamajo Doremi! Our last episode didn’t really see the story moving all that much, as Ruka’s diabolical magic goods didn’t actually result in any negative consequences, at least for her personally. We’re still at the point where Rika is acting as an annoying freeloader, the girls are trying to figure out some way to beat Ruka, and the moral lessons are temporarily on hold. I’ve enjoyed this change of pace well enough, but Ruka’s story frankly hasn’t been interesting enough to measure up to the show’s usual episodic fare. I’m ready for Ruka to get her just desserts, and hope one of our heroes has a real plan this time. Let’s get right to it!

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