Ojamajo Doremi Sharp – Episode 19 - Ai Animes 🤖

Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am delighted to announce we’re checking back in on Doremi and her fellow ojamajos, as we explore a fresh episode of the conveniently titled Ojamajo Doremi Sharp. Whether it’s offering a poignant personal lesson, exploring the distinct lives of Doremi’s classmates, or simply reveling in its aesthetic flexibility and fantastical worldbuilding, each episode of Doremi offers a barrelful of fresh treasures, demonstrating the universal appeal of great children’s entertainment at its very best.

Our last episode was an admittedly embarrassing one for Doremi herself, as her bad attitude and sense of entitlement prompted an exodus by her fairy Dodo. This of course turned out to be a prime opportunity for Doremi’s animators, who indulged themselves with all sorts of goofy Dodo expressions, including the unforgettable Sukeban Dodo. And ultimately, the episode served to underline one of this production’s most enduring themes – its understanding that better behavior is a practice we must continually recommit to, not a stable fact of our unchanging identities. Even the adults in Doremi are works in progress, serving as a testament to its compassion and breadth of emotional insight. Now let’s see what nonsense the girls get up to today!

Episode 19

We open with baby Hadzuki and Doremi playing together on violin and piano respectively. Genuinely love how there’s no narrative hook here, no question in need of answering – it’s just a delightful moment between best friends, celebrating an aspect of their friendship that we’ll presumably expand on in the episode to come. Ojamajo Doremi is generally quite tightly plotted in terms of its episodic narratives, but it also finds plenty of time to simply luxuriate in the joy of sharing your passions with your friends, embodying the greatest strengths of slice of life productions

I feel like Revolutionary Girl Utena has instilled in me a permanent fight-or-flight instinct when I see these rose-fringed compositions, which always seemed to imply some deeper secondary intent

Some nice goofy yawns and noodly poses as a tired Doremi lounges at the Maho-dou. As a general rule, it is a good thing if your characters seem to have the physical consistency of pudding

Her boring day is interrupted by Hana-chan doing her exorcist routine on the ceiling again. I don’t really understand the witch world’s policy of having their powerfully magical babies be raised by mortal children, but far be it from me to second-guess their system

Oh no, Hana-chan has already inherited Doremi’s pout. She learned it from you, Doremi!

Oh my god, Doremi then just puts Hana-chan on a leash. Fantastic

Hadzuki is of course scandalized by this

“Doremi and Hadzuki’s Big Fight.” Jeez, the hits keep coming for Doremi! Feels like we’re reaching a point where her friends are all getting a little tired of her immature antics

As the girls subsequently reflect, Hana-chan really needs a full-time minder at this point

Hadzuki then magics up a crib for Hana-chan. I like how this composition naturally implies Doremi’s doubts about this plan, with the camera positioned inside the crib and looking up, emphasizing its bars as a kind of prison

“Now she can’t get out.” “You’re right, but this is kind of like a cage from a zoo.”

“Doremi-chan, you’re so clumsy!” “Hadzuki-chan, you worry too much!” Their developing fight emphasizes how our natural personalities taken to an extreme can easily spark conflict with the conflicting priorities of others. They’re normally good at compromising on their usual instincts for each other’s sake, but this conflict of how to treat Hana-chan is making each of them obstinate and exaggerated in their defense of their own systems

“She’ll grow up to be just like you, unable to express her feelings clearly!” Their escalation ultimately leads to Doremi crossing a serious line, essentially calling the current Hadzuki an emotional failure. I appreciate how cruel they’re willing to go with this, embracing an honest portrait of deeply hurting a friend

Doremi immediately realizes she’s overstepped, but Aiko walks in right after that, and Hadzuki flees

“You scolded her on the thing she was most worried about!” That’s the thing about close friends – you let them know your anxieties, giving them the power to hurt you the most. It’s a responsibility you can’t take lightly!

“You should go apologize before everything falls apart.” But the very fact that they employed such a harsh line supports the subsequent assurance that even painful breaks can be fixed through communication

Doremi flies over to apologize, and overhears Hadzuki being reassured by her grandmother

“Those two strange buns on her head think about nothing but steak.” Harsh but fair

And of course, Doremi assigns these uncharitable thoughts to Hadzuki before flying off again

Their disagreement escalates the next day at school, to the point where they request not to sit next to each other. Well, I can only hope Seki-sensei or Onpu will put this nonsense in order

“I think you two should stay away from each other to clear your heads.” Seki-sensei sees in their theatrical outburst how they still clearly care about each other, but are currently attempting to one-up each other in their expression of disagreement. Rather than let them keep hurting each other through this performance, she wisely opts to accept their desire for separation, and let them each think about what they actually want to say to each other

Transition shots of the rain outside do a fine job of echoing their moods

The separation also allows the rest of their classmates to get some nice individual moments, as they congregate around the two separated poles of Doremi and Hadzuki

Tamaki of course takes this chance to try and poach Hadzuki’s friendship. If she can recruit her nemesis’s greatest ally, her power within the class will surely grow precipitously

After school at the shop, Pop can only marvel at her sister’s immaturity. You tell ‘em, Pop

Oh my god, this cut to Majo Rikka brushing and blow-drying her single hair. Hope springs eternal, Majo Rikka

Thus Aiko decides to transform herself into Hadzuki in order to apologize to Doremi. Not sure what moral lesson we can draw from this strategy, but I appreciate her concern

Oh, I actually quite like this. Aiko immediately blows her cover via her unique speech patterns, a turn that emphasizes how well Doremi actually knows her friends

Extremely fun expressions and smears as Hadzuki swiftly deduces the same regarding the disguised Onpu-chan. Doremi’s design is just beyond perfect for exaggeration, composed of flexible circles that naturally lend themselves to fluid distortions

Back at the Maho-dou, their classmate Nanako pops in to check on the feuding pair. Apparently she attended the same kindergarten as them, and witnessed a similar fight from back then. Always nice when this show highlights the countless tiny links across their class community

Aw jeez, their class bunny actually died! And then Doremi lied about it to protect Hadzuki’s feelings, driving a rift between them. Once again, this episode doesn’t shy away from the possibility of genuinely, deeply hurting your friends

Even back then, Masaru-kun proved his kind nature by working to reconcile them

Thus our girls in the present use magical stage to return the two to that moment of reconciliation, and remind them of how much they’ve weathered and grown together

And Done

Nice work, girls! Doremi and Hadzuki can indeed both be quite stubborn, but between their fellow witches and the kind consideration of their other classmates, the road to their reconciliation was clearly in good hands. Always nice to have an episode that celebrates all the distinct, compelling personalities of Doremi’s greater ensemble, and I particularly appreciated how cutting this episode was willing to get in its depiction of our leads’ initial disagreement. Treating your characters’ feelings with empathy and respect necessarily means acknowledging we will inevitably hurt each other, and this episode did an excellent job of articulating and respecting that reality. I do still think a leash is more dignified than a zoo cage, though!

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