posted on by Adriana Hazra
Original anime’s director Junichi Satō draws storyboards for peek into girls’ future
The staff of the Magical DoReMi (Ojamajo Doremi) magical girl anime debuted a video for its 25th anniversary at AnimeJapan 2024. The video features newly animated glimpses of the main characters as they grow up.
Junichi Satō, the director of the original anime, storyboarded the new video, while Tatsuya Nagamine, an episode director on the original anime, directed the video. Yoshihiko Umakoshi returned to design the characters and served as animation director for the video. Sho from YZ Entertainment is credited for the choreography.
The official website for the 25th anniversary of the magical girl anime had announced the debut of the video on January 19.
The first Ojamajo Doremi anime series originally premiered in Japan in 1999, and 4Kids began broadcasting a heavily edited version of the series in the United States in 2005 under the title Magical DoReMi.
The franchise celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2019 with “Ojamajo Doremi 20-shūnen Carnival” (Ojamajo Doremi 20th Anniversary Carnival), a special event held at the Tokyo International Forum Hall C. It featured a concert, a stage reading, a live drawing event, and talk show featuring the anime’s voice actresses and staff.
Looking for Magical DoReMi (Majo Minarai o Sagashite), the anime film commemorating the 20th anniversary of Ojamajo Doremi, opened in 2020 after a delay. It won the Best Animation Film award at the 75th Mainichi Film Awards in 2021.
Source: Toei Animation‘s YouTube channel
