Mahoutsukai Sally

English Title: Sally, the Witch or Little Witch Sally
Mangaka: Yokoyama Mitsuteru
Pub. Date: 1966
# of Vols.: 1

TV Series: 1966 (109 Episodes)
1989 (88 Eps.)
3 Movies between 1967-1973
Movie (1990)
TV Special: Majo ni natta Yoshikochan (1990)
Special: LWS: Mother's Love is Eternal* (1990)

Yumeno Sally, a witch and princess, gets bored in the Land of Magic, and so decides to sneak down to the human world. Her first friends are Sumire and Yoshiko, they think she's a bit strange because of her habits but soon warm up to her. Her first task she sets for herself after making friends is conjuring a house in a vacant lot. When her parents learn she's run off, her father sends Kabu down to watch out for her and retrieve her. He poses as her little brother, and can shape change into things, like a crow or alarm clock when Sally wonders if she's late for school. She gets into little scrapes and adventures throughout, like foiling burglars when she, Sumire, and Yoshiko have to retrieve a doll the class bought as a going away gift for another student.

This is an important show of the genre for several reasons. It started the mahou shoujo genre as the first series to air, plus it was the first anime to target girls. Originally the story was to be titled Mahoutsukai Sunny, but due to legal reasons the heroine's name was changed to Sally.

The theme of the heroine coming from a land of magic or witches or whatnot will be a common one throughout the genre. Later shows like Meg will also employ it.

The series would continue twenty years later with a new run in 1989.

Magical Phrase
Mahariku Maharita Yambarayan

Magical Items
Wand

*Title for 1990 TV special provided by The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. In it Sally dreams of leaving her human friends and returning to the country of magic to be queen.