The Ojamajo Doremi—Magical DoReMi series is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, with the release of a new movie Looking for Magical DoReMi (Majo Minarai o Sagashite) to commemorate the occasion. After a delay due to COVID-19, it will premiere on 13th November. Toei Animation, the production house for the movie, had delayed the initial May 15 release back in March. The movie has already premiered in Japan at the Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday.
Here is what to expect from and know about the movie before its release:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52puas1ps8&feature=emb_logo
Three Japanese women—27-year-old office worker Mire Yoshizuki, 22-year-old college student Sora Nagase, and 20-year-old freelancer and okonomiyaki shop worker Reika Kawatani— find themselves stuck in their lives, and unable to step forward and change them. What draws them together are Magic Spheres and shared love for an old anime called Magical DoReMi. They are mysteriously brought together and must embark on a magical adventure to travel to the locations featured in the anime.
Junichi Sato (A Whisker Away, Sailor Moon), who was the director of the original Ojamajo Doremi anime series, will be returning to co-direct, along with Yū Kamatani. Scriptwriter Midori Kuriyama and character designer/chief animation director Yoshihiko Umakoshi will also be reprising their roles from the original. Shōko Nakamura is the animation director, with Hiromi Seki as the producer.
The cast includes:
- Aoi Morikawaas Sora Nagase
- Rena Matsuias Mire Yoshizuki
- Kanako Momotaas Reika Kawatani
- Kenta Hamanoas Seiya Kubo, Reika’s thieving boyfriend
- Shohei Miuraas Ryūichi Oomiya
- Akira Ishidaas Hayato Yabe, Mire’s junior at work
Despite the constant references to the original series, and the original voice actors returning to voice their characters, audiences don’t actually need to have much knowledge about Ojamajo Doremi to be able to watch and understand the movie. It is a coming-of-age film featuring three adult women (not teenagers! as is the norm), the bond of their friendship despite their different circumstances, and them recognizing the ‘magic’ in themselves. The magic, in the movie, isn’t always literal.
