Mahou no Star Magical Emi

Bell
From ep. 24. It represents first love. Kaganei kept a tiny bell all his life that used to be on Taeko's bike. He only met her for an afternoon while they picked raspberries, but the summer memory of the girl he fell in love with that afternoon lingered through the bell. When Mai learns the bell has lost its ring, she brings back that summer day for both in the audience and they meet once more to the tinkling of a little bell whose ring is restored.

Doll
From ep. 19. A doll called out to Mai so she bought her. During the episode, Mai's grandfather explains to her even dolls have hearts. He tells her story of soldier doll of lead who watched a dancer doll but couldn't speak; they could only look at each other. One day he was thrown into the fire. His gaze never left her and a wind came through the window, somehow helping her to follow him. After, only a heart-shaped piece of lead was left in the ashes. This story parallels the doll Mai finds. She too longs after another doll and the two can only watch each other, until Mai figures out a way to bring them together.

This idea of dolls or toys having life to them is quite common. It even extends to the other toys which during the night come alive Mai learns, when humans and children are fast asleep. In the end, it turns out fairies resided in the two dolls and the two disappear as lights into the mirror, their hearts reunited.

Fairy
Topo, a mirror fairy, and others appear throughout the series.

Gingko
In ep. 26 Shou dreams of these gold leaves of fall, and there he meets a girl with golden hair and earrings made of gingko leaves. At one point, the leaves and tree appear during Emi's show. She doesn't realize it's happening, but it's a link to magic hers picks up on, or possibly the unspoken wish in Shou's heart as her magic tends to manifest that which is in the human heart and deeply longed for. When the last leaf falls, the woman disappears. The tree and spirit of the tree are important to Mai and Shou as they symbolize the transience of things, change. She'll return in the spring, the same and yet different, just as the characters will do the same. The seasonal change representing their own coming of age.

Mirrors
Mirrors in this series act as one form of gateway between the human and fairy world. They also can reveal what can't be seen by human eyes, as in ep. 19 where the doll Mai buys is crying but the tears on her face can only be seen in the doll's reflection in the mirror. Another example is the nature of Emi's magic and the reason it can make manifest the wishes of others. Topo tells her in ep. 38: "Since I'm a fairy of the mirror, I reflect your dreams. Emi is your dream."