Sally the Witch

Sally the Witch
Sally, the Witch (Mahōtsukai Sally) in 1966
魔法使いサリー (Mahōtsukai Sarī)
Genre	Magical girl, Comedy
Manga
Written by	Mitsuteru Yokoyama
Published by	Shueisha
Demographic	Shōjo
Magazine	Ribon
Original run	July 1966 – 1967
Volumes	1
TV anime
Directed by	Toshio Katsuta Hiroshi Ikeda
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	NET (later TV Asahi)
Original run	5 December 1966 – 30 December 1968
Episodes	109
TV anime
Sally the Witch 2
Directed by	Osamu Kasai
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	TV Asahi
Original run	9 October 1989 – 23 September 1991
Episodes	88
Anime film
Studio	Toei Animation
Released	10 March 1990
Anime and Manga Portal

Sally the Witch (魔法使いサリー, Mahōtsukai Sarī^?), is the first magical girl genre anime in Japan. This may (even more broadly) be the first shōjo anime as well.^[1] The first magical girl manga was Himitsu no Akko-chan but it took longer to be adapted into an anime. Both series deal with henshin style transformations (such as Sailor Moon), but neither is the first anime to feature this. Another henshin magical girl anime that aired between the two anime was Princess Knight.

Sally was also one of the first ongoing anime series produced^[2]. The series was originally black and white when it began production, but later started producing episodes in color.

The first manga series was drawn by Mitsuteru Yokoyama in 1966, and was, according to Yokoyama, inspired by the American sitcom, Bewitched (known in Japan as Oku-sama wa Majo, or "The Missus is a Witch").^[1][3] The anime series was produced and aired from 1966 to 1968 in Japan by Toei Animation. Unlike Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go, the series never received a U.S. broadcast, but was aired in Italy (Sally la Maga), French-speaking Canada (Minifée), Poland (Sally Czarodziejka – the Polish version was based on the Italian version) and South America (Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, as La princesa Sally).

A second Mahōtsukai Sally anime, also made by Toei, aired for 88 episodes on Japanese TV from 1989 to 1991, and also was released in French (Sally la Petite Sorcière), Italian (Un regno magico per Sally), Polish (Sally Czarownica), Spanish (Sally la Brujita) and Russian (Ведьма Салли). The 1989 series is a sequel to the original, in which an older Sally returns to the human world, reunites with her old friends, and embarks on a new round of magical adventures.

Notable features this anime established in the mahō shōjo genre:

• The heroine must keep the secret of her magic. If she reveals the secret, she will be punished.
• When heroine uses magic, she needs her magical phrase and an enchanted object like a baton (Sally's magical phrase is "Mahariku Maharita Yanbarayan," a phrase with as much meaning as "Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo" (from Disney's Cinderella)
• A magical servant follows a heroine in a mundane world.
• Two sub-heroines of tomboy and girly girl are established as the heroine's sidekicks.

These features still influence the magical girl genre in today's anime.

Story

Sally is the princess of the "witch world", Astoria, who longs to visit the mortal realm - presumably to make friends her own age. One day, Sally teleports to the "mid world" (Earth), where she uses her magic to fend off a couple of burglars menacing two young schoolgirls. Immediately befriended by her new acquaintances - tomboyish Yoshiko Hanamura (known affectionately as "Yotchan") and girly Sumire Kasugano - Sally decides to stay on indefinitely, leading to various kinds of shōjo mischief in the best Japanese tradition. As with Samantha Stevens in Bewitched, Sally tries to keep her supernatural abilities secret, assuming the role of a human child.

The final episode

In the final episode, Sally's grandma informs her she must return to the Magic Kingdom. Before leaving, Sally tries to tell her friends about her origins but no one will believe her. Then her elementary school catches on fire, and Sally uses her magic to put out the fire. Her powers thus exposed, Sally's time to leave has finally come. She waves farewell to her friends, and returns to the Magic Kingdom. The 2nd series ended with the movie/TV special "Sally the Witch: Mother's Love is Eternal", in which Sally becomes queen of the witch world, but worries about leaving her friends behind. As with most Japanese cartoons of the period, Mahōtsukai Sally's main strength lays in its strong characterizations and detailed continuity. The basic storyline would be incorporated into many later Mahō Shōjo programs, particularly the concept of a magical princess relocating to the human world (as in Mahō Tsukai Chappy, 1972, and Majokko Megu-chan, 1974).

Characters

Names are in Western order, with the family name after the given name.

• Sally Yumeno (夢野サリー, Yumeno Sarī^?) – The main character of the series. Sally is the daughter of the Witch-King, and therefore princess of the Witch-World. Yumeno means "dream field" but is a homophone to "in a dream" in Japanese.
• Yoshiko Hanamura (花村よし子, Hanamura Yoshiko^?) – one of Sally's best friends in the mortal realm. A stereotypical animated tomboy, Yoshiko is probably the first of her kind to appear in a magic-girl anime. Sally usually refers to her as "Yotchan".
• Sumire Kasugano (春日野すみれ, Kasugano Sumire^?) – another of Sally's human friends. Sumire is the archetype "girlie" girl so common in Japanese animation today; probably the inspiration for the dozens of cutesy side-kicks that would follow.
• Kabu (カブ^?) - Sally's magical, shape-changing assistant. Assuming the form of a five year old boy, Kabu poses as Sally's younger brother.
• The Hanamura Triplets: Tonkichi (花村トン吉, Hanamura Tonkichi^?), Chinpei (花村チン平, Hanamura Chinpei^?), and Kanta (花村カン太, Hanamura Kanta^?) – Yoshiko's kid brothers, typically incorrigible Japanese boys adept at landing themselves in trouble.
• Poron (ポロン^?) – A little witch girl who appears in the later part of series. Saucy, selfish and rather lovable, she frequently casts spells she can't reverse, such as shrinking herself down to mouse-size, then being unable to "grow up".
• Daimaō (大魔王, Witch-king^?) – Sally's grandfather, the ruler of the Witch-World. A pompous blowhard who dislikes humanity on principle, he nonetheless has a good heart where his daughter is concerned (a quality shared with Endora from Bewitched).

Production

The first 17 episodes of the original 1960s TV series were filmed in black and white, and the remainder of the series was filmed in color, making it one of the earliest color anime. Both black-and-white and color versions exist of the opening animation sequence.

A movie/TV special was made called "Sally the Witch: Mother's Love is Eternal", which served as the finale to the 2nd series.

Reception

Robert Jay Lifton, author of stated that Sally Yumeno "has long been one of ther most popular of all manga and animation characters".^[4]

In December 1994 police found a pamphlet at the headquarters of Aum Shinrikyo which included a song called "Sarin the Magician," a parody of the theme song of Sally the Witch. Lifton said that Sally "was undoubtedly a prominent figure in the childhoods of leading Aum members."^[4]

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Patricia Duffield (October 2000). "Witches in Anime". Animerica Extra Vol 3, No.11. http://www.mindspring.com/~theduffields/resume/articles/features/witches.htm. Retrieved 10-15-2011. 
2. ^ (Japanese) "Kinema Junpō Bessatsu: Dōgaō vol.2: Super Majokko Taisen" (キネマ旬報別冊 動画王vol.2 スーパー魔女っ子大戦) Kinema Junpōsha, July 14, 1997. p. 21.
3. ^ (Japanese) "Super Majokko Taisen" p. 18-21 and 26.
4. ^ ^{a b} Lifton, Robert Jay. Destroying the World to Save It: Aum Shinrikyo, Apocalyptic Violence, and the New Global Terrorism. Henry Holt and Company, 1999. First Edition. p. 185. ISBN 0-8050-5290-9.

External links

Anime and manga portal

• Toei website about Sally, the Witch (Japanese)
• Sally the Witch guide at StrategyWiki