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Ojamajo Doremi Producer Wants to Make Anime of Franchise's High School Novels
posted on by Sarah Nelkin
Hiromi Seki — the producer for a majority of Toei's Ojamajo Doremi TV anime series, specials, and original video animations (OVAs) — revealed in an interview in the Ojamajo Doremi 18 2nd: Spring has... novel that shipped on June 2 that he wants to make an adaptation of the novel series that features the girls in high school.
He replied to a question asking about the possibility of an anime:
I want to do an anime adaptation. Man, do I want to make it. It's just that there is a certain condition for this, and if I have to be frank, that condition is sales. Volume one [of the series] sold a lot of copies, but the sales of volumes two and three fell substantially. If there aren't sales, then the higher-ups and sponsors who put money into the show won't gather. Since this is the adult world, the sales of the novels need to get into the numbers so they will say, "Well, it's selling this much, so it's OK to make an anime!" I believe that an anime adaptation will depend on everyone's support. Please cheer us on a lot!
In addition, the wrap-around jacket band around the novel revealed that Ojamajo Doremi 19, the final book in the series, will ship in Japan on December 2. A limited-edition version will come bundled with the third and final drama CD adapting the series. The cast will once again return for the drama CD, with Chiemi Chiba as Doremi, Tomoko Akiya as Hazuki, Yuki Matsuoka as AIKO, Rumi Shishido as Onpu, Nami Miyahara as Momoko, and Ikue Ohtani as Hana. The limited-edition bundle will retail for 2,680 yen (about US$22).
This Ojamajo Doremi novel series takes place during the heroines' high school days. The series began in December 2011. Each volume features an interview at the end with the voice actress of the character on the cover. Midori Kuriyama, a writer on the original anime, is writing the light novels, and original character designer Yoshihiko Umakoshi is illustrating them.
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.
Update: Background information fixed. Thanks, Umeko.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history