History Anime / TweenyWitches

Arusu (Sachiko Kojima) is an 11-year-old girl who has a thing for the occult and is especially obsessed with witches and magic, thanks to a book given to her for her fifth birthday by her DisappearedDad, Jidan (Atsuki Tani). When some bullies try to steal her book, a mishap sends her falling literally into the Magical Realm. Almost immediately, she meets Sheila (Creator/HoukoKuwashima) and Eva (Creator/RyoHirohashi), two apprentice witches who are close to her age.

* SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: The series weigh both ends of the spectrum but ultimately comes to idealistic conclusions. [[WideEyedIdealist Arusu]] believes in [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve magic]], happiness, freedom, ThePowerOfFriendship, and [[PluckyGirl determination]] even though [[ExtraordinaryWorldOrdinaryProblems the Magical Realm is full of ordinary problems]]. [[TheLancer Sheila]] believes in [[BrokenBird depending on herself alone]] due to her DarkAndTroubledPast and tells Arusu that [[DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs they must fight the warlocks because they want to fight]], though Sheila gradually becomes more idealistic near the end of the series. When it's revealed that [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the Magical Realm is dying]], the contrasts between idealism and cynicism become clear; Arusu tries to save the realm with the legendary magic of light, Luca believes in [[BlackMagic dark magic]] as the only way to save his people, Sheila and [[TheChick Eva]] decide to do everything they can no matter what, Atelia tries to distract her people from the truth to keep the weakening peace in her realm, [[BigBad Grande]] plans to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy the Human Realm with dark magic]] to make a new home for his species, and [[MysteriousWaif Lennon]] tells Arusu that nothing matters in such a situation. In the GrandFinale, [[spoiler:when [[TragicMonster Eva]] has gone insane with the power of dark magic, Arusu [[CallBack reminds her]] [[TastesLikeAFriendship of how their friendship began]] [[ThePowerOfFriendship with a chestnut]], by which she manages to use the legendary magic of light to stop TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt and destroy the magic of darkness [[EmotionEater fueled by]] hate, distrust, and despair.]]

* SameRaceMeansRelated: During the second half of the TV series, Arusu finds out that there are other humans in the Magical Realm. They are [[spoiler:Lennon, who is revealed to be her half-brother; and Jidan, her father who has been imprisoned in Wizard Kingdom for the last 6 years.]]

* SavedFromTheirOwnHonor: [[spoiler:Atelia]] surrenders her life to the angry mob in [[spoiler:her half-human son's]] place by publicly confessing that she has hidden [[spoiler:her past forbidden relationship with Jidan to come to and stay in power]]. Her family interrupts her SuicideByCop [[spoiler:and, in the finale, the grand master not only spares her and her son but also restores her to power, allowing both of them to help rebuild the Magical Realm]].

** It's hinted that Arusu may be the long-lost daughter of Atelia due to how they both have long red nails. This is Jossed, however, when it turns out that [[spoiler:Jidan went to the Interdimensional Sea with a baby Lennon and the True Book of Spells 14 years ago]], meaning that [[spoiler:the 11-year-old Arusu cannot be the daughter of Atelia]].
** Barunn, Nerabu, and Biris are suspected by Sheila of being the traitors who perform dark magic because they side with Grande. Then it turns out that another witch is the real traitor.

For two anime/manga series with similar art-style, premise, and themes, see ''Manga/SoulEater'' and ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia''. Not to be confused with ''Series/{{Tweenies}}''.

* CastOfSnowflakes: Even background characters look distinctive in identical costumes, which is quite necessary considering the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters.

In North America, Creator/MediaBlasters released the original series and ''The Adventures'' in 2008 and 2009 respectively, both dubbed and subbed. The original series can be streamed on [=AnimeHeaven=] for free.

* BigBad: Grande is the leader and general of the warlocks, who are ([[NotAlwaysEvil mostly]]) the mortal enemies of the witches and wizards. He is behind one of the most prominent conflicts in the original series as he plans to destroy the Human Realm through dark magic in hopes of making a new home for his species to escape the eventual destruction of the Magical Realm.

** The original series ends with [[spoiler:Arusu saving both the Human and Magical Realms, but she and her friends have to bid farewell to each other before she returns to her homeworld and reunites with her parents. Lennon has reconciled with his mother (who has been forgiven by the Grand Master for her past forbidden relationship with Jidan) and is going to live with her, but they're never going to see his father surviving his apparent death.]]

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Sigma and Lennon are a preteen and a teenager respectively. They are two of the more sympathetic villains in the franchise and the only villains who end the original series redeemed.

* DuelingMessiahs: The original series ends up with Arusu and Grande fighting to stop [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the destruction of the Magical Realm]]. The former is an AllLovingHero and a pacifist whereas the latter's plan of HomeworldEvacuation involves destroying another entire dimension in the process.

* EverybodyLives: [[spoiler:Nobody dies in the original series and ''The Adventures'' outside of flashbacks.]]

* IdiosyncraticEpisodeNaming: ''Tweeny Witches'' uses "Destiny" for the original series and "Adventure" for ''The: Adventures'', though the latter is missing in the original Japanese version.

* OnTheNext: The previews in the original series have no voice overs, only subtle scenes that foreshadow the next two episodes.

* PreviouslyOn: Every two episodes of the original series start with the narrator recapping the previous episodes.

* TheTeaser: Every episode opens with medieval illustrations on the screen while the song named "Atelia" plays. In the original series, the scene switches to a female narrator explaining to the audience who Arusu is in [[Recap/TweenyWitchesDestiny1TheWitchRealm "The Witch Realm"]] and recapping the previous episode later. In ''The Adventures'', the scene switches to a male narrator explaining what the Magical Realm is and telling the audience to watch Arusu's adventures.

* AdultFear:
** Arusu and her mother, Yoko, spend six years having no idea where her father, Jidan, went [[DisappearedDad missing]].
** Sigma saw his father get killed for standing up against a tyrant.
** [[spoiler:Jidan was separated from his baby son, Lennon, on the Interdimensional Sea by accident.]]
** [[spoiler:Atelia never found her son, Lennon, for 14 years ever since her husband, Jidan, took him away from her to protect their mixed-race family from the persecution they would face in the traditionalist society of the Witch Realm.]]

* SensibleHeroesSkimpyVillains: Inverted. Arusu and her friends wear sleeveless black minidresses, with Arusu only in a {{tank top|tomboy}} and pants before she gets a SignificantWardrobeShift as part of her GoingNative. [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Atelia]] is a veteran of the raid on Wizard Kingdom to retrieve the True Book of Spells, where she wore a [[FormFittingWardrobe skin-tight]], sleeveless [[DangerouslyShortSkirt minidress]] and ZettaiRyouiki. The antagonists, on the other hand, cover a lot of skin in varying degrees:

* SpellBook: The True Book of Spells is the only book that mentions every spell a witch can use. It sent Arusu to the Magical Realm and enabled her to use magic without using a fairy's body part in the first place. Her father gave her the book for her 5th birthday, which raises her question of why he managed to get such a thing that would exist only in the Magical Realm. It later turns out that [[spoiler:Jidan]] is responsible for the theft of the book that the Grand Master of Witches states happened 14 years ago.

* MohsScaleOfViolenceHardness: While there are some combat scenes, no blood are shown on the screen.

Certainly one of the {{darker|and edgier}} takes on the MagicalGirl genre, ''Tweeny Witches'' (魔法少女隊アルス, ''Maho Shôjo Tai Arusu'', translated as ''Magical Girl Squad Arusu'') is a 2004 anime created by Creator/KeitaAmemiya and produced by Creator/Studio4C. The series aired within ''Tensai Bit-kun'' on Creator/{{NHK}} Educational TV from April 9, 2004, to March 4, 2005, with a 6-episode OVA spin-off titled ''Tweeny Witches: The Adventures'' released on November 22, 2007.

** Sigma [[WeCanRuleTogether offers Sheila a chance to leave the world together]], telling her that he knows they're NotSoDifferent. The way he talks makes it look like he's making a LoveConfession for her.

* MagicIsFeminine: Although male magic users are introduced halfway through the series, one of them is the only male witch and the rest of them are on the brink of extinction as a race called the wizards. In addition, the male witch not only rarely uses magic but also hates magic, at least at first.