- "Mahariku Maharita yanbara yan yan yan!"—intro to the opening theme.
Sally the Witch (or Mahoutsukai Sally) is one of the first Magical Girl manga and anime, specifically it's the second to be published, but the first to be animated. note
The manga was written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama (of Gigantor and Giant Robo fame), and is said to have been influenced by the American sitcom Bewitched. It was published by Shueisha in Ribon magazine, running from 1966 to 1967 and culminating in a single volume.
The work was adapted to an anime, which was directed by Toshio Katsuta and animated by Toei Animation for air on NET (later TV Asahi). Originally running from 1966 to 1968, the series included 109 episodes. A sequel to the original anime, titled "Sally the Witch 2", was produced later by Toei under director Osamu Kasai. It ran on TV Asahi between 1989 and 1991, with 88 episodes. An animated film for the series was also created by Toei in 1990 during the run of "Sally the Witch 2".
The series follows Sally, princess of the Land of Magic (later given the name Astoria (no, not that one) in the 80s/90s series). One day, after becoming increasingly bored due to her parents never being around and always making her study, she decides to run away to the Human World (Earth). There she meets two schoolgirls, named Yoshiko ("Yotchan") and Sumire (Tomboy and Girly Girl respectively), who quickly become friends with her after she, alongside Cub (who was initially sent by her Father, the King of the Land of Magic, to come bring her back home) helps them during an incident regarding two store robbers. Sally then decides to stay & live in the Human World, with Cub staying with her, now disguising himself to other humans as Sally’s brother, in order to avoid the King’s wrath. The series consists mostly of the episodic misadventures of Sally and friends as she faces the world and the plethora of problems it has in store for her (with a bit of help from her magic). All the while keeping her magic & her identity as a magical princess a secret from even her closest friends.
The first 17 episodes of the original anime were created in black and white. After this, the series transitioned to colour, making "Sally the Witch" one of the first full-colour animes. Some foreign releases of the '60s series (i.e., Italy) omitted the monochrome episodes. Outside of a few fansubbed episodes, it remains unavailable officially in English, although the Quebec-made French dub (titled Mini-Fee) aired on the Radio-Canada network starting in 1969 and through the '70s, making it the first shoujo anime to air in North America.
Tropes seen in this series include:
- Adaptational Name Change: Originally the series' name was "Sunny" the Witch (which would later be referenced in the Giant Robo OVA), but when the series was animated, the series’ title and thus the protagonist's name was changed to Sally. The name stuck resulting in all reprints of the manga bearing the "Sally" name.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Pony, a half Japanese, half Indian girl in the '60s episode "Pony's Garden", is the target of bullying for being a foreigner, and at first only Sally is willing to be her friend.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: Applies for the Italian dubs of both the '60s and '80s/'90s series. Also, the Spanish dub of the 1960s series had its own theme song, while the French-Canadian dub of same aired in Quebec used a French adaptation of the Japanese theme.
- An Ice Person: Sally's best friend from the magical worlds, Helene the Ice Princess.
- Bittersweet Ending: The original series finishes with Sally exposing her secret identity to save her school when it catches fire, then having to return to Astoria. The second series re-takes it from there, with Sally having to re-make her human life from scratch and start training on her own to become The High Queen when it's time.
- Brought Down to Normal: In the first series, Sally goes though this as a test from her father. Too bad it comes right when, during a field trip, she and her friends get in serious trouble. Her dad has to restore her magic before she and the other girls die.
- Canon Immigrant: Poron and Sally's grandfather never appeared in the manga and the 80's series added even more characters in addition to them.
- Christmas Episode: The third episode to the original anime takes place on Christmas.
- Comic-Book Time: The second series is supposed to take place directly after the first, meaning no time has passed in between and neither Sally nor her friends have aged, and yet it pretty clearly takes place in the 1980s, while the first series is very clearly set in the 1960s.
- Cute Witch: Sally. She sometimes has to use her powers in a more Magical Girl Warrior way in the second series, though, specially when dealing with Karen.
- Dark Magical Girl: In the 1989 version, Sally gains a rival in one of these: the embittered, emotionally broken Karen, daughter of her dad's old enemy. Obviously, she has a Heel–Face Turn when defeated.
- Devilish Hair Horns: Sally's father and grandfather have highly pronounced and distinguished hairdos. Even Cub has the hairdo, although a smaller horned version which represents his mischievous and devilish personality.
- Dub Name Change: Averted in most of the foreign dubs of both the 1966 and 1989 TV series, with Sally retaining her name. The one exception is the French-Canadian Quebec dub of the '60s series which calls Sally Minifée, which is also the title of the series in that dub. Also, in the French-Canadian dub, Sumire is renamed Suzon, and Yoshiko is Yolande.
- Genre Shift: The first series was pretty much just a kids' comedy-drama, relying highly on slapstick and 1960's cartoon humor, while the second series was a far more run-of-the-mill magical girl anime (which may be why the 1989 series isn't considered a classic like the original.)
- Healing Magic Is the Hardest: Sally's magical powers do not include healing, so if she needs to heal people, she must either follow quests (first series - one of the Hanamura triplets is seriously injured, and she has to go searching for the cure) or learn special and complicated spells (second series - she has to combine Elemental Powers to even think of helping a young dancer with a bad leg before a special performance).
- Fallen Princess: Karen, which makes her a Dark Magical Girl after she and her Jerkiness father are kicked out of Astoria for the first's actions. Sally's adoptive brother Cab turns out to be a Fallen Prince too, as the son of the Royal Couple of the destroyed Gold and Silver Kingdom, entrusted to the custody of Sally's parents when he was a newborn.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Sumire, before she befriends Yoshiko and Sally. A whole episode of the 1989 series focuses on the possibility of her being sent off to a Boarding School and losing her friends.
- Magic Wand: One of the two trope codifiers in anime, the other being Chappy. Subverted in that Sally only uses a wand in the OP of the original series, but in the second series she gets a regular one.
- Manchild: Sally's magic teacher, Sherry. She reaches Too Dumb to Live extremes when she reverses the age of Sally's neighbor and is slated for execution because, when she did it, she broke one of the cardinal laws of the Magical World: Not interfering directly to change a human's destiny.
- Missing Child: In one episode, Sally's magic is taken away from her in a test to see if she is capable of being queen one day. Unfortunately, during a field trip, there's a thunderstorm, and Sally, Sumire, and Yoshiko are separated from their class. While trying to get back to them, they step on a loose rock and almost fall to their deaths, saved only by Sally's father intervening and giving her back her magic at the last moment. Of course, since Sally is magical it turned out fine, but three very young children were stranded away from their teacher, parents, and any adults who could help them, and about to fall off a cliff. Yikes.
- Missing Mom / Promotion to Parent:
- Yoshiko had to act as caretaker for her triplet younger brothers as her widowed father worked long and odd hours as a taxi driver.
- Sally also gets one when her adoptive siblings Cab and Boron go to live with her. In fact, a whole episode in the second series is dedicated to Sally trying to hide this when it's time for Yamaha-senses to talk to her parents. The Royal Couple shows up later in human disguises and convince the teacher that they're the "workaholic but caring" type (which they are, just... Not the way he expects). It works.
- Mundane Utility: Once in a while Sally used her powers for housework. One 1989 episode has her getting in trouble for it, and the punishment involves an Evil Twin.
- The Ojou: Sumire is the "kind and quiet," type. Mirzam is more of the "bossy and spoiled, but not evil" one.
- Parents as People: Mr. Hanamura loves his four kids and they love him back, but he can't be with them a lot due to work, and he often apologizes to Shikoku for having to give her a Promotion to Parent. The Megawatts are rather doting and caring to Sumire, but sometimes they don't seem to really understand her feelings.
- Plucky Rebellious Princess: Sally, and how. While she doesn't openly rebel against the Magical World itself, she is NOT likely to change her mind when her parents confront her on something.
- Precocious Crush: Boron gains one on Yamaha-sense, Sally's Cool Teacher. Who is Happily Married, and his wife is just about to give birth. Whoops.
- Shout-Out: A cat and mouse strongly resembling Tom and Jerry appear in the 60s OP.
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Spiritual Successor: Himitsu no Akko-chan to the first series (obviously, the actual sequel didn't exist yet.) Both were made by Toei, had a lot of the same people working on them, and Akko-chan took over Sally's timeslot directly after the latter's series finished. The last episode even has Sally Breaking the Fourth Wall to thank her viewers for watching and introduce them to her friend Akko-chan, which segues into a preview for the first episode of Akko-chan where there would otherwise be a Next Episode Preview. - Star-Crossed Lovers and Puppy Love: In an episode of the 1989 series, Shikoku falls in love with a gentle and free-spirited boy named Outargue, who happens to be a genie of the weather. Yoshiko also is gravely sick and almost dies, so Outargue has to leave so the cold weather will go with him and she'll get better.
- Stock Sound Effects: The 1989 series frequently uses the Hanna-Barbera sound effects library in addition to E&M's own library note .
- Strong Family Resemblance: The five Hanamuras look a LOT alike. Six, if we include the Missing Mom (we get to see a photo of her).
- Tomboy and Girly Girl:
- Yoshiko and Sumire.
- Karen and Sally.
- Sally and Sereneness.
- Visual Pun: One of the 1989 series openings has the cast in a South Seas setting so that Sally (or "Sarii") can be seen in a sari.
- World's Most Beautiful Woman: In the 1989 series, Sally's mother is specifically mentioned to be the prettiest lady in the Magical Realms. So much that, when she was a young princess, a Vain Sorceress put her into an enchanted sleep, and Sally's father had to give her a True Love's Kiss to save her. Hm, where have we seen this, huh? Little did the Queen know, the Sorceress would later return and try her hand at getting revenge — now targeting Sally, Sumire, and other human girls... Sally only manages to defeat her when she takes another option by willingly eating one of her poisoned apples rather than abandoning the other victims, making the Sorceress have a change of heart.
