Ojamajo Doremi (1999) 1-51 END
For as good as this show was, one would expect it to be mentioned more. This show is Junichi Satou's next entry in the magical girl genre after
Sailor Moon and
Mahou Tsukai Tai!. Doremi is more of an oldschool magical girl show as there is no evil force to battle against and the cast doesn't fight monsters of the week, but instead we have a small team of apprentice witches who spend their time training or helping others with their magic. Of course, not everything goes as it should and they don't always have the purest of intentions, but such character antics are what make the show so much fun. In that respect, it's like somebody took all the right lessons from Sailor Moon.
Since you can't have character antics without good characters, we're given the main character Doremi, who is a lot like Usagi both in personality and hairstyle, along with her younger sister Pop, who is a lot like Chibiusa (the most underrated character in all of anime). She also eventually gets paired up with Hazuki, who is kinda like Heartcatch's Tsubomi, and Aiko, who is kinda like Erika. However, this show is nowhere
near as stiff as Heartcatch Precure and even changes up its own modus operandi from time to time like Sailor Moon did. I actually felt a little upset that nobody had told me about this show sooner, but I suppose getting released at the time it did and the overt drop in character ages led to it being overlooked against larger heavyweights.
To be fair, Doremi spends as much time selling merchandise as Precure does, but it's so much more thoroughly enjoyable that the IN STORES NOW aspect is more easily perceived as a means to an end rather than the point of the show itself. I should also mention that the show's sense of style is a definite downgrade from something like Sailor Moon, but people like jman2050 will be pleased to know that this show used
Adobe Premiere more successfully than
a certain other show.
There's really only so much I can convey talking about this. You're just going to have to check this show out!
That said, I would recommend that people only start with the first series. Satou leaves after the first series, and if you're getting at all invested in the story, you may not like what happens in the sequels. (Yes, I spoiled it for myself.)
Conclusion:
11 HONMAs out of STEAK
