With Ojamajo Doremi getting recent, notable promotion this year like its active YouTube channel promoting anime clips and its new Nyon animated series, its huge crossover episode with Star Detective Precure, and it getting so much new premium merchandise in Japan, Toei is actively making an effort to introduce old and new fans back into the franchise again. Hiromi Seki, the general producer for Ojamajo Doremi, has confirmed that concepts are being made for a new Doremi work.
Whatever the new work turns out to be, it is pretty clear that an anime adaptation of the 16~20s light novels is what the fans, staff, and the voice actors want to see happen. In that same Seki interview, she said that the work could change depending on whether it airs now or two years, pointing out its story should have tools more futuristic than the current era. Even with the light novels providing a great basis for the anime adaptation, parts of the story could change.
I personally loved the light novels when I first read them right after finishing the original anime. In a lot of ways, it felt like a true continuation of the Ojamajo Doremi series that made me love the cast even more. It maintains the fun and light-hearted tone the series has in its character writing while also exploring the girls’ paths to adulthood that made me more invested in the characters than their elementary school years. It is a sequel that utilizes its excellent ensemble cast and interesting witch lore to flesh out its themes of friendship and hardship of life in more meaningful, in-depth ways without dismissing the conclusive developments of the original anime.
So what would I want out of the anime adaptation? Since this work could change and add a lot of new things, I opted to put in some wants that are not present in the novels. There will be no major spoilers for those who have not read it, but I personally would recommend reading them to see what work was put into it that Yoshihiko Umakoshi and Toei’s staff had immense faith in. With that, let us begin.
5. Better Animation
In recent times, Toei has upped the animation quality for some of its premium franchises. ONE PIECE has shifted its animation for the better since the Wano story arc and has taken measures to maintain high quality by opting to air two-consecutive cours of new episodes per year instead of airing all year. Dragon Ball Daima has demonstrated to have the best animation in the anime’s history and Dragon Ball Super: Beerus is looking to improve on some of its animation that was initially crushed by the rushed production of the original Super anime. Digimon Beatbreak has had the overall best animation quality in the franchise compared to its predecessor.
For Toei’s recent magical girl anime, there has been mixed results. Sailor Moon Crystal aimed to faithfully adapt the original manga story all the way, but with fairly middling animation in its early seasons, it could not overcome its bad reputation that made people dismiss it. Toei’s top magical series Precure has had a yearly airing schedule for each season that tend to bring mixed results of some bits of good animation preceded by poorly done in other episodes in its production. Precure has been unable to truly replicate the consistent miracles that were Go! Princess Precure and Heartcatch! Precure.
With Ojamajo Doremi, the animation of its original anime was honestly pretty limited outside of Na-i-sho season and some episodes with widely known directors. In this new Toei era, I would love to see the animation improve greatly, ideally around the same high quality as the recent 16~20s music videos. Improved animation that remains consistent throughout would breathe new life into its characters that would enhance the mature storytelling of the light novel story.
The issue with this hope is whether or not Toei will take the chance to do that for a magical girl anime. I would like to believe that Toei would take the major step forward and give Doremi the premium treatment it deserves, but given their past magical girl anime history, there is a good chance Toei might drop the ball. Really, I can only cross my fingers and pray that the production committee will see the light and look so fondly on the franchise to give the series a really high budget for its production.
4. New Witch Outfits That Befit The Girls’ Growth
I cannot lie when I say I was fairly disappointed when the light novels opted to use the Season 1 outfits as the basis for their teenage outfits. I understand that it comes from wanting to appeal to nostalgic fans, but it feels like the characters’ developments are moving backwards in choosing to do that. Each season of the original anime changed the girls’ outfits that showed more detail, clearly showcasing the girls’ growth as witch apprentices.
What I want to see instead for the sequel anime is new outfits that properly showcase the girls’ growth with more detail that exceeds the quality of the Dokkan outfit. I am not a magical girl fashion expert myself, but I want to see the iconic visual motifs of musical notes and floral patterns in the teenage outfit that were oddly absent in the Dokkan outfit. The Motto outfits are a great basis to take many ideas for the teenage outfit, as they best showcase those visual motifs. Design these floral/musical motifs in a more elegant and mature way that is both easy to animate and eye-catching to look at. I want to see these girls looking more beautiful and not just looking like children again with the old outfits. Perhaps go a step further and have the outfits evolve with each high school year.
3. More Witch Apprentices From Different Parts of the World
The idea of witch apprentices is cool on paper. The problem is that in actuality, only America and Japan had any sort of witch apprentice present in the actual series and in the light novels. I keep reminding myself of that one part in Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan’s opening where different flags are flown across the sky. Back in my first watch of Doremi, I had the assumption there were going to be more witch apprentices from different countries. That did not happen.
For this potential sequel anime, I would like to see that come to fruition and be integrated to the plot in some way. Add a plot element where the Queen expands the scope of who can be witch apprentices after the long-standing conflict was resolved in the original anime. I would literally take anything really, even if these witch apprentices appeared as one-shots in single episodes. Toei’s Digimon 02 touched on this worldly concept briefly in the climax of its story, where tamers from all over the world fought against a great evil. Why not do the same for Doremi? Have Doremi teach these newfound apprentices on what it means to use magic. There is so much potential to tell great stories by expanding the scope.
2. At Least A 50 Episode Run or More
This is probably asking for a lot, especially with my want of Doremi to have better animation. I specify 50 episodes because that would probably be the minimum to adapt the entire 10 volume light novel story fairly well (I am not the best guesstimate on this, so take it with a grain of salt). But if Toei wants to go a step further, they would ideally agree to have 150 episodes total for each of Doremi’s three high school years. And if we want to get greedy, we adapt the 19’s and 20s novels with 25 episodes of the girls’ futures post-high school. Would not that be awesome?
What made the original anime so amazing is that the series grew up with its audience airing non-stop for four consecutive school years. It made the most of that time by exploring many of its ensemble cast as much as possible that made the world feel so lived in. It is a phenomenal quality that should be retained in a sequel in some way. If quality needs more time in the oven for Toei and it cannot have that many episodes per year, they can do a similar thing as the ONE PIECE anime and air two consecutive cours every year that adapts each high school year.
I just REALLY want to see Doremi’s high school years be thoroughly expanded to a degree that meaningfully explores more on the girls, its ensemble cast, and the wider witch world. So many students and witches have some appearance in the main light novel story with some semblance of a role in the girls’ developments, but not all were expanded upon or featured. Why not take this chance to go full on with this sequel production?
1. LGBTQ+ Characters
This may come as a shock as my #1 want, but hear me out. I have a strong fondness for this series because of how the Doremi and the girls reach out their kindness and love to all sorts of people surrounding their every day lives. The original anime explored people of different personalities and races being treated fairly. It is an amazing quality of Ojamajo Doremi that hardly any children anime tackled at the time of its airing. In our modern world where people of different sexualities/genders exist by a wide margin and struggle to live through life being discriminated against, I believe a sequel needs to expand its horizons to have Doremi spread her kindness to these people.
Whether they are implemented in existing characters or new characters, I want to see the series take a step further in its theme of kindness. It hurts every time I see the friends and fellows in the LGBTQ+ circle I follow on social media being hurt by jerks that have nothing to do with their lives but harass and argue against them. It is so easy to be a jerk online these days and take insults to the extreme degree that it brings mental scars to these people that just want to live with these preferences and changes.
Fortunately, Toei was able to showcase that representation well with ONE PIECE and its huge ensemble cast, which includes Ivankov, Yamato, and Kiku (all of whom have played substantial roles in their respective story arcs and Toei respectfully adapting their arcs faithfully). I would like the same done for Doremi. I want to see this series become the prime example and definitive model that future coming of age stories about friendship and kindness take inspiration from for proper representation.
Surprisingly, the light novel does not cover these topics at all and is a little disappointing for that, with how thoroughly and ahead of its time it explored its themes of kindness. What romances are present are the already established straight couples and adding more implied straightness for the rest of the girls by the end of its story. I find that really meh. I would like that to change. Further representation would bring so much credibility to a series I love so dearly.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Those are all my personal wants for a potential 16~20s anime. If you have your own wants and desires that you want to share in the comments, please let me know.
