Mahoutsukai Sally

Sally, the kind but mischievous princess of the Land of Magic, has developed an interest in the human world. Wanting to experience it for herself, she runs away and meets two girls her age—Yoshiko "Yocchan" Hanamura and Sumire Kasugano—at a department store. They quickly become friends and spend time at Sally's mansion, which she conjured with magic.

The two girls realize they forgot something at the store, and despite it having closed for the night, they leave to fetch the item. Sally and her younger brother Cub, who had been sent by their parents to retrieve her, follow them and discover that they have been captured by a pair of thieves who were attempting to rob the store. Utilizing their magic, Sally and Cub drive the thieves away and rescue the girls, who remain unaware of Sally's powers.

Attached to her new friends and the fun of the human world, Sally decides to stay, taking up the surname Yumeno and attending school with Yocchan and Sumire. Cub chooses to live with her and together they make a variety of new friends and go on various adventures, all the while spicing up their lives with magic.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yumeno, Sally Main

Hirai, Michiko Japanese

Kasugano, Sumire Main

Yamaguchi, Nana Japanese

Kabu Main

Chijimatsu, Sachiko Japanese

Poron Supporting

Shiraishi, Fuyumi Japanese

Truck Driver Supporting

Sumiko Supporting

Abe Supporting

Pesu Supporting

Vic Supporting

Midori Supporting

Kosaka, Harume Episode Director

Takenouchi, Kazuhisa Episode Director

Ikeda, Hiroshi Episode Director

Nitta, Yoshikata Episode Director

Reviews

Nov 9, 2019

LacrimaMosa666

Recommended

45 hours, 109 episodes, non stop. What a great journey it was!

That's pretty tough piece to review, not only bacause of it's age, but as well it's the very first mahou shoujo anime out there. Mother to the whole genre. And it's full of it's flaws and downs.

Story:6
The story is very generic, from the beginning till the very end. Everything's about Sally, the witch girl out of space that end up on earth with people of the same age and mentality as her. After some time she decides to stay and pretend that she's human and make some friends with the other girls. Then ... she began to discover all the good and bad parts of living as well that magic and fun are not the mmost important things. It's a kid story and mainly for kids up to age of 8 maybe 10. The storybuild and writing, however, is over the average even with today's standards and overall deserves some praising.

Art:8
Well, for 53 years old anime the art is pretty decent. The moves are smooth, background old-stylish with very static animations but looking amazing. The locations like castle, some of the outside world parks and nature is just amazing. First 18 episodes, however, are in black and white only, at least on version I watched, from ep.19 there's beautifully hand-colored world full of magic, beautiful character designs and most important - the quality is outstanding and during whole show there's not much animation flaws that I can talk about. Been enjoying it very, very much, what is a big suprise, as often I doscovered that art became THE most important thing in anime for me.

Sound:5
It's after all 53 years old anime. But starting from beginning, the opening song is amazing, I can actually sing it now from memory and it's just lovely and sweet as the whole prosuction. The voice acting is decent but quality of sound is the weakest part of the anime. Sometimes was pretty hard to understand dialogues and what was really common - the music was much too loud. Like a lot. But that's common as well in old productions and I'm already used to it, so after few wpisodes I just stopped caring about that and enjoyed production.

Character:9
That's on the other hand the strongest part of the anime, the character development is more than decent, reliable and writing of each of them is just oldy stylish, what's mean - aythors put a lot of effort to create characters that we can identify with, especially for the kids.
The main character will be amongst the lovliest characters I ever seen on the screen, sweet, smart and very funny girs, that teaches through the humour as well as gives some smart and quite useful advices. Similar thing will be going to her on-screen friends and as perfect follow-ups for the Sally and basically are responsible for this sweet climate of the whole production.

Enjoyment:9
Hell yeah, what a journey it was. Even I can't believe it yet how much fun and joy I had, the 25+ guy I need to add. Been laughing much more that average, smile was constantly visible all over my face and, actually, I got used to the characters and the story and by the end of the show I was quite sad it's going to an end. Great episode planning, that even if half of those were basically the same it doesn't kill the magic of it and I haven't feel bored for even a second of the screening. Of course, it's generic, but in the best meaning of this word. And bloody hell, it's kids story about the witch that learns the world is not only to show up but it's based on love, frienship and enjoyment. The hella of the anime for small children, isn't it?

Overall:8
Been fighting myself about the rating for a while but finally ended up with the higher one. The most important thing about this choice was, obviously, it's age and knowing few productions from the time it was exceptionally great and back in the days probably would deserve the max score. Of course, it's failing the test of time after all and only the biggest maniacs will even consider spending their time with this title, but nothing will change the thing - this world will completely take you and will remind u how was the childhood nice and innocent. That's the biggest compilment I can give to anime like that.
And bloody hell, it's the mother of the whole mahou shoujo genre, the first one on screen, now I can even see how much impact it had on some of my favourite mahou shoujo animes that I didn't see before or even been thinking that it was something new for the title. But not anymore.
Obviously it's the thing that started it all and only for that it deserves to be remembered and praised. Especially it's available online to watch.

Having less than 600 people that rated it it's just a disgrace for mal environment. Come on guys, go for it, it's the piece of real history, soon no one will remember it and mediocre articles like
'First Anime Series of Every Genre (Well, 10 of Them Anyway)' will be only reminding of those titles.

What an amazing journey was that, really. Nothing to regret, even I'm tired as hell after watching it all at once.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Nov 27, 2021

ooReiko

Recommended

First of all Mahoutsukai Sally was the first anime directed to the Shoujo demographic. And when it comes to shoujo demographic in the 60s the manga scene there was already some kind of identity to the shoujo character design. You can see reminiscence of that design in the designs of the characters of this series.

The story of the series is simple at its core Sally coming to earth to live with the humans, however I don't think the series is necessarily about the overarching story. The story is moreso used as a vehicle to create the premise that enables setting up the characters. I'd ... say the important part of the story is the premise in which we learn that Sally doesn't have knowledge about the human world and comes to human world to start living in there.

The series however shines when it comes to the episodic slice of life stories based on around Sally learning about herself and the human world and what it means to be able to or to not use magic in human world. Which I think is explored in interesting ways throughout the series.

Art of the series gives off this cute and endearing vibe reminiscent of the 60s shoujo manga. I'd describe the overall visual aesthetic of the series as charming.

Voice acting in the series is pretty much the best voice acting that I've heard in any series. Especially when it comes to the main character Sally. Her voice gives off this cheeky yet endearing vibe that gives incredible amount of life into her character. Other voice actors don't fall far behind as the whole main cast gives off a really strong presence with their voices.

About the characters I'd say that this series has probably the best dynamic between characters that I've seen in any series. The dialogue and interaction between characters is joy to watch and listen with the lively voice acting coupled with visually endearing animation. It is a type of series where the characters grow on you the more you watch. More of the cast like Poron are introduced later on the series other than that the cast stays pretty much the same.

I'd say that the inclusion of Poron in the latter half of the series definitely enhanced the character dynamics of the series to a new level. As the Sally and Kabu duo dynamic didn't provide as much as it does as a trio with Poron.

Other important characters, Sally's 2 friends Sumire and Yoshiko with the triplet little brothers provide important perspective as major characters from earth. They are not aware of the magic that Sally has which I'd say adds another layer to the dynamic between the characters.

Overall I found the series, especially the interaction between the characters and the handling of the concept of magic very enjoyable on the series. I'd go as far that I say that the series has the best interpretation and starting point when it comes to exploring magic that I've seen when it comes to anime. When you combine that with the likable, charming and endearing overall vibe of the characters themselves and the design, you get something special.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Nov 13, 2022

ProudElitist

Recommended

Mahou Tsukai Sally, A.K.A. the magical girl show that spawned a whole slew of copycats cannibalizing every single frame of this series at least circa early 2000's, it was definitely really good. Great voice acting (amongst the best I've ever listened to) and in particular the one provided for the main character who 100% sounds like a living sassy girl, good main score, awesome chara design by one of the future key animators of the masterpiece Kanashimi No Belladonna, animation that has stood the time better than godawful CGI provided from nowadays Toei, fun factor elevated to over 9000 thanks to really funny side characters, ... the only real annoyance that prevented this series from getting a 10/10 from me was the use of the removal of magic powers from the main characters as a tool to humanize and make them relatable to the main audience, not because I have problems with the aim but because I have problems with the way it was achieved. I get it, it was the land of unsubtetly known as the 60's, it was the first magical girl show ever so they had no idea how to do things properly and they improvised...even considering the time and the background of the series, after the tenth time you use this plot device in a series about the misadventures of a little witch that is shown using magical powers in the OP it gets monotonous, especially considering it's used in conjuction not just with Sally but with people like her granddad, THE FRIGGIN' KING OF HELL AND SUPREME WIZARD, who loses his powers and then immediately gets them back because reasens. Me thinks Toei did better in the humanizing/relatability factor in the following Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, by using small touches and believable relationships and with a full-on differentiation between the side of the senshis as normal students living their life together and superheroines fighting crime (an activity curiosly Sally carried on at the start of her career, in the first B/W episodes). With this little grievance out of the way, the show is awesome, and if you're into magical girl shows in general you HAVE TO WATCH THIS, not matter what your favourite one is. Everybody took something from this, from SM to Princess Tutu passing through Utena and Ojamajo Doremi, so you definitely have to watch this. Trust me, it will be a really fun ride.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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CollectionHistory and Culture