Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho

Ojamajo Doremi Naisho, placed somewhere in the summer vacation between the school terms covered in season 3 and season 4, is practically a loose chain of short stories around the characters of Ojamajo Doremi. While completely knowing the parent story is not really nescessary, it is probably useful to have watched some episodes of the parent story. (I only watched the first two seasons and about half a dozen of the other two and that was plenty enough. Even half of that would be enough.)

Ojamajo Doremi deals with five girl "witch novice" protagonists. While the parent story mainly focuses on these girls, here they actually ... play more of a supporting role. The spotlight in each episode is reserved on some side characters. Some of them being comepletely new, some other are also featured as (more or less minor) side characters from the parent story. In each episode the character's problem is featured, with a part of the main charaters stumbling over the the character and more or lesss secretly goes on helping the character or is observing his or her character development.

While magic is still an element of the series, it has not really that much weight in the series. These shown problems are usually not dealt or tried to be solved with it, but by the characters themselves.
In addition some quite serious and, considering the audience of this franchise, surprisingly mature problems are dealt with in this series.

The series is surpsingly realistic in showing and dealing with these problems and I really like how magic is not a direct part of solving these troubles. The series is at its core very mature, but still presents the topics in a manner, very suitable for children. There is quite some educational value inside of it.

Despite its age it doesn't really look dated. Due to its parent series, it's still quite trimmend on "cute" and very colourful, although, it appears to me, not quite as much as in the parent story.

Story (8/10):
In my opinion, this is the best season of Ojamajo Doremi since it serves very well as a complement to the others, the ova format made the themes can be developed much more freely since this time there were no age restrictions.This can be noted for example in chapter 4 (Where Onpu is developed and the idol industry is criticized in a very subtle way) or in chapter 12 (One of the most tragic chapters of the entire franchise).
All the chapters are worthwhile and develop themes and characters that had not been touched in the other seasons. Even the worst episodes are decent and ... entertaining (Like episode 9).

Art and sound (7/10):
The ova format made the anime had animation and music 10 times better than the other seasons. I like the opening and ending.
Nothing more to say about it.

Character (8/10):
In this season, the characters who did not have the opportunity to have a chapter in other seasons were given time, new characters were also introduced and the protagonists were further developed.
This season shows how one can become fond of a character in a single chapter if the execution is good.

Enjoyment (9/10):
In my opinion all the chapters were very entertaining.
Nothing more to say about it.

Overall (8/10):
Ojamajo Doremi Na-i-sho manages to be a very good complement to the franchise, his themes develop better than in other seasons and with slightly more mature themes touched with subtlety.

Ojamajo Doremi Na-I-Sho is a nice break from the main series, dealing with a series of side plots that take place in between the Motto! and Dokaan! seasons, to my knowledge. And to be honest, this series may not have been 'necessary' to the series success, but it certainly contributed to breaking the mold that was set up. Whether or not this was a good or bad choice will depend on your personal preferences, as some episodes have mediocre or subpar quality in my opinion. However, I believe that many of the episodes that do not fall in this category are some of the best ... in the series overall, let alone this mini-season. One thing I liked is that the series is unafraid to step out of its boundaries: there's material here that would be written off elsewhere as unfit for the show or too mature, though it's handled with grace and subtlety here. The way it's done lets older viewers cue into the episode's content, while younger viewers won't feel left out, as it's done in a "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" style. By doing so, the series balances both of its messages - innocence and maturity - perfectly, one not overshadowing the other. Furthermore, this series is a treasure trove on backstories, featuring many well-done episodes on main and side characters alike. Of course, there may be a few bad episodes spread throughout, but they are far and few between. I believe that the good episodes outnumber the bad, so I'll give the series an 8/10.