#46 – Ojamajo Doremi

Long running shojo warhorse of the 21st century.

These are the adventures of merchandisable witches whose character design becomes ever increasingly stylised as the series progress.

There are 4 series, a couple of films and an OAV. 4Kids licensed it and launched it in the US.

Doremi, a young girl accidentally discovers the owner of a local shop is a witch. This results in the witch turning into a green blob, and enlisting Doremi as a witch apprentice with the aim of training her up and being able to undo the transformation. Doremi's school friends Hazuki and Aiko end up being enlisted to and heart warming adventures aimed at teaching kids the value of both friendship and the purchasing the toys available based on the series.

Further series introduce more characters and change the theme of the shop (flowers, baking, clothing accessories), and thus the range of toys Bandai can sell.

It's so easy to be cynical about things you've never seen you know.