Magical DoReMi 2nd Season

Ojamajo Doremi Sharp is the second season of Ojamajo Doremi and has a very heavy emphasis on childcare as well as becoming a mother. This may seem like an interesting choice to some, but I find that it makes sense; the magical girl genre is typically associated with maturity, and motherhood is an element that has the potential to work very well with the themes present in the series previously (traditional views, as well as childhood and innocence). Interestingly, the series manages to have its cake and eat it too, so to speak: the girls grow a strong sense of responsibility in caring for babyHana, but maintain their ordinary lives as well as their friendship. The series also fleshes out Witch World with the addition of Wizard World, a counterpart to it of sorts. The series also has a semi-focus on fleshing out the treatment of witches and what caused their dislike and distrust of humans. This leads the series to present more traditional values which are reminiscent of its time period. Many episodes revolving around Hana contain important lessons about loving your child unconditionally and caring properly for them. This is great, as it can encourage people to learn the joy of having children. Unfortunately, the series is unable to keep its stride for long: several episodes are focused on "health examinations", which crop up periodically and replace the witch apprenticeship exams seen last season. Generally, nothing of substance occurs from these (aside from a certain character warming up to the idea of humans being mothers). The Queen's identity is still veiled in mystery with little information about her available, though we learn important facts about Witch World's history and how it affects their current relations with Wizard World. Speaking of, Wizard World was a great addition to the series: fleshing out a certain character as well as introducing many more, it had great potential to bring the series around. Unfortunately, it takes a backseat in terms of the plot. While I'd believed that a season centered around Wizard World would be really entertaining, the series unfortunately stuck to the main plot of Hana and simply used its new developments as a way to extend the status quo. Regrettably, several items (particularly, those of potential merchandising, such as phones) as well as plot devices were more often than not unused, completely forgotten about, or even retconned out later completely later in the season. This made certain characters come off as inconsistent in their motives. Additionally, there were more than a few handfuls of poorly written episodes; these mostly consisted of one-note side characters who only had a major role in a single episode, possibly a major role in a prior episode. Other times, episodes were ruined due to poor writing, such as the series contradicting its own rules on forbidden magic or not fleshing out the implications of their rules properly, leading to situations where the characters would normally have severe consequences. Some recurring characters also became more of a chore for the series to focus on than anything: these included Dela (who stopping appearing altogether without reason about halfway through the season), Hashitaro and Surumeko, Mota and Motamota, as well as several others. That said, I believe the season was decent in realistically fleshing out Hana's potential power, though it often amounted to little more than disorganized chaos. The season ending was regrettably a letdown as well, featuring a twist that came out of nowhere and undermined a previous episode. Overall, I'll need to assign the series a 5/10.