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Looking for Magical DoReMi Anime Film Opens in Hong Kong on March 25
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Hong Kong film distributor Neofilms announced on Wednesday that it will open Looking for Magical DoReMi (Majo Minarai o Sagashite), the brand-new anime film commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Ojamajo Doremi magical girl anime franchise, in Hong Kong on March 25.
The film opened in Japan in November 2020, after a COVID-19 delay. Toei and Toei Animation announced in March that they were postponing the May 15 opening of the movie due to production issues, and later rescheduled the anime for fall 2020. The movie ranked at #4 in its opening weekend. The film earned 74,061,680 yen (about US$709,100) in its first three days. The film had earned a cumulative total of 245,957,520 yen (about US$2.36 million) as of December 6.
The story follows 27-year-old Tokyo office worker Mire Yoshizuki who just returned to Japan, 22-year-old fourth-year college student Sora Nagase who aspires to be a teacher, and 20-year-old boyish, part-time Hiroshima okonomiyaki shop worker and freelancer Reika Kawatani. What draws together these three women from completely different walks of life are Magic Spheres. A "New Magical Story" begins when they are mysteriously brought together by chance and embark on a journey.
Junichi Satō (Sailor Moon, Aria, Princess Tutu), the director of the original Ojamajo Doremi anime, directed the new film alongside Yū Kamatani (Precure franchise episode director) at Toei Animation. Midori Kuriyama (episode scriptwriter for Lovely Complex, Heartcatch Precure!) and Yoshihiko Umakoshi (Boys Over Flowers, Mushi-Shi) also returned from Ojamajo Doremi as scriptwriter and character designer, respectively, and Umakoshi is also credited as chief animation director. Shōko Nakamura (Doukyusei -Classmates-) is also credited as animation director for the film, and Hiromi Seki led her team as producer.
