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Ojamajo Doremi
alt title(s): Magical Doremi
The Ojamajo (left to right): Momoko, Aiko, Doremi, Hana, Hazuki and Onpu.

"If you had magic, what would you do?"

Toei Animation's Cute Witch Cash Cow Franchise from 1999 to 2003, spanning four year-long television series and one OAV.

Ojamajo Doremi (Ojamajo being a portmanteau of "ojama", meaning clumsy and "majo", meaning witch) tells the story of Doremi Harukaze, the self-proclaimed "unluckiest pretty girl in the whole world", who dreams of becoming a witch just like in the stories she reads. One day she stumbles across a mysterious shop run by an old woman who fits the profile of a witch to a tee. Doremi calls her out on it, and suddenly the woman transforms into an ugly little frog thing: turns out she really was a witch, and this is what happens when a human correctly identifies one.

The ex-witch, Majorika, takes her on as an apprentice witch so that Doremi can eventually gain enough magical power to change her back. The thing is, Doremi is horrible when it comes to learning the trade, which leads to Majorika branding her an ojamajo. Not soon afterwards, Doremi's two friends Hazuki Fujiwara and Aiko Senoo get in on the act, and in the latter half of the series, Onpu Segawa - another apprentice witch who uses magic for selfish reasons- turns up as an antagonist of sorts.

In the second series (Ojamajo Doremi Sharp), Onpu has reformed and Doremi gains a magical "daughter" called Hana that she has to raise for one year. The third series (Mo~tto! Ojamajo Doremi) introduces American witch apprentice Momoko Asuka to help the group pass a test to become formal witches. This test involves turning their shop into a bakery for the season. The fourth and final television series (Ojamajo Doremi Dokka~n!) has Hana force-grow herself to the same age as Doremi so she can attend school with her "mommy". An OAV followed (Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho) that was set during Mo~tto and focused on various secrets held by the main characters.

The franchise was your standard Magical Girl affair, though there was very little evil-fighting. The series was instead driven by the characters and their development not only as Cute Witches but as people. Admittedly, it suffers from a lot of Filler, and depending on how cynical you are, you could consider every series after the first to be Post Script Seasons. But it was a massively popular series in Japan and has its fair share of high points.

The series has been dubbed into several languages and released in multiple countries under the name Magical DoReMi. In America it was licensed by 4Kids, becoming the first version not to call the main character "Doremi" (instead they called her Dorie, turning Hazuki and Aiko into Reanne and Mirabelle respectively to retain the pun in the title). While the first twenty-six episodes were aired on television, the last twenty-five were only available online. Your Mileage May Vary on how well they adapted it.

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