| Sally the Witch | |
Sally, the Witch (Mahōtsukai Sally) in 1966 |
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| 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 |
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:
These features still influence the magical girl genre in today's anime.
Contents |
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.
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).
Names are in Western order, with the family name after the given name.
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.
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]