Magical DoReMi (4Kids Dub)

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Magical DoReMi (4Kids Dub)
Saying that this dub is "magical" is a huge insult not only to this show, but to the entire magical girl genre!
Genre: Fantasy Magical Girl Country: United States Release Date: September 10, 2005 - May 2, 2008 Network(s): 4Kids TV Distributed by: 4Kids Entertainment Seasons: 1 Episodes: 50

Magical DoReMi is the English version of Ojamajo Doremi (おジャ魔女どれみ, lit. “Bothersome Witch Doremi”) dubbed by 4Kids Entertainment.

Development

According to a report from C21 Media, 4Kids Entertainment had been working on a deal with Toei Animation to acquire a license to the Ojamajo Doremi franchise since late 2003 with the desire of expanding their line-up of shows aimed at a female audience. By late 2004, 4Kids had successfully acquired the rights to the franchise and planned to begin broadcast the following year.

On August 10th, 2005, 4Kids announced that they had made a licensing agreement with Bandai America to serve as the master toy licensee for distributing Magical DoReMi merchandise in the United States. The toy line included a wide range of dolls, playsets and role-play items that were expected to be available for retail in Spring 2006. Both companies were excited on the deal. The CEO of 4Kids Entertainment, Alfred Kahn showed faith in Bandai America's marketing, while Bandai America's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Bill Beebe stated that they were expecting high demand on the toy line.

Nearing the show's premiere, 4Kids announced on their website that Episode 4 would be broadcasted on 4Kids TV as a preview episode on August 13, 2005. Around this time, 4Kids were said to have held a poll to determine which of their new shows would premiere first and Magical DoReMi supposedly ranked among the top contenders. Regular broadcasting for Magical DoReMi begun on September 10, 2005 with the premiere of Episode 1. The first 26 episodes had been aired by March 11, 2006, while reruns would continue until August 19, 2006 before the show was dropped from the network's line-up.

Magical DoReMi would continue its run starting November 13, 2007, with the remaining episodes being released exclusively on the 4Kids TV website, labelled as "Season 2". The last episode was released on May 2, 2008, concluding the show with a total of 50 episodes. Magical Doremi would briefly return to TV broadcasts on April 24th, 2010 with the re-airing of the first episode on The CW4Kids, the Saturday morning programming block for the The CW Television Network, however the show would eventually air for the final time on July 17th, 2010 before being dropped from the network altogether. Magical Doremi and all it's related content would subsequently be removed from the 4Kids TV website there afterwards, with it being suspected that 4Kids Entertainment's license to the franchise had expired by this point. The rights to Magical DoReMi are currently unlicensed under the original licensor Toei Animation.

Plot

The plot of the only dubbed episode is about three elementary school students who become witch apprentices, in which they must because their mentor witch physical form got turned into a green blob. But with the help of Caitlyn/Pop and Ellie/Onpu, they need to work together to become full witches to restore their mentor witch physical form.

Why This Dub Is The Unluckiest Dub In The World

1. Much like Dragon Ball Z (Remastered Uncut Dub), Mew Mew Power, Tamagotchi (English dub), Glitter Force, and One Piece (4Kids dub), it is an expurgation of a popular anime series, as anything they thought was violent and/or sexual was censored out.
   • Also, it had really stupid censorship to the point that it could be 4Kids at their absolute worst in terms of censorship, even more than their One Piece dub.
   • Not to mention that due to how awful they were at censorship for this show, some episodes were heavily edited and one of them was literally never dubbed, the only reason why is just because of the fact that there are spooky and dark elements in episode 30, which is just stupid, even for a kids show standards!
2. Even worse, the dubbing is bad because most of the voices don't sound like their Japanese voices, or they can either be high-pitched or low-pitched, much like the 4Kids dub of One Piece.
   • Dorie's/Doremi's English voice sounds irritatingly scratchy-sounding, especially in the transformation scenes, although she doesn't have the worst voice acting of the dub and it somewhat fits her character.
   • Hazuki's English voice sounds a bit too old, mature, and raspy for her shy, timid, and emotional character.
   • Mirabelle's English voice doesn't sound like a tomboy and mostly sounds high-pitched, with her voice sounding like a discorded Buttercup from The Powerpuff Girls if she's doing drag, and she probably had one of the worst voice acting out of the main characters.
   • Caitlyn's English voice can be a migraine to the ears at times, even when compared to the main characters.
3. The censorship isn’t that warranted and is extremely bad, since it's censored many things that weren't even offensive or censored many things that weren't even worth it to be censored.
   • Takoyak is turned into biscuits, one of the most pointless censorships of the dub and wasn't even needed to be changed; the only reason why it was changed is because of the fact that it's Japanese.
   • Shotguns and axes are changed into squirtguns and shovels, respectively, and while it can be understandable for the shotguns, the axes could have never been changed.
   • Asian cuisine turned into westernized cuisine, which is just asinine, and prove how much 4Kids don't want a Japanese reference in any of their dubs.
   • Even worse, due to their awful censorship on this show, episode 30 was never dubbed because they thought it was too scary for a kids show and they could never edit it. While it's true that it was considered too dark, there are many Kids Shows that can be allowed to be dark at times, and that episode was not too edgy to never be dubbed at all; ironically, 4Kids dubbed the episode Shell-Shocked from Kirby: Right Back at Ya!, which had a much more mature and even an inappropriate theme than the episode 30 from Ojamajo Doremi.
4. The title is a fusion of the main characters’ dubbed names (which also led to much backlash by fans in the states), which is very unoriginal.
   • If you want any example of the confusion of the name, the "Do" stand for Dorie's, the "Re" stand for Reanne's and the "Mi" stand for Mirabelle. Not only that, but DoReMi is the name of Dorie's name in the original Japanese version (Doremi), which make everything even more confusing than it already is.
     • While it's a bit confusing in some other dubs of the show, they aren't as confusing as this dub since some of them had the original names for most of the characters, including Doremi, so it isn't really a problem in some of them, but the problem is that here they changed the names for the characters.
5. Most of the characters' names are changed in the dub to sound lame and generic. For example, Doremi's name is Dorie, Hazuki's name is Reanne, Aiko's name is Mirabelle, Pop's name is Caitlyn, and Onpu's name is Ellie.
6. The settings aren't safe from this; their names are changed as well, despite already having American English names too (e.g., Witch World/Lunaverse and Witch Frog Town/Straytown), which just show how much they would ruin a Japanese show and try to change it to be awfully more American.
7. Like many of 4Kids Entertainment's dubs, the dialogue is inaccurately translated and sometimes sounds like it’s from the animated Bratz Babyz and Bratz Kidz series; it's even had lauchable dialogue at times.
   • There is even out-of-place dialogue added to the transformation scenes, and it’s so obnoxious to listen to; in fact, they can be ear-bleeding at times and even make you want to say shut up (this depends on you, though).
   • Even worse, sometimes it's made some characters out of character at any moment due to how inaccurately translated the dialogues are.
8. Even the name of MAHO-Dou in this dub is uncreative. The name of MAHO-Dou in this dub is The DoReMi Magic Shop, which, much like the name of this dub, is confusing since again, it's spelled the original name of Dorie's (Doremi), making this incredibly confusing once again.
9. Much like One Piece (4Kids Dub), Dragon Ball Z Remastered Uncut Dub, Glitter Force, Tamagotchi! (English Dub) and Mew Mew Power, the dub treats Magical DoReMi as an awful and boring show, which of course isn't true.
10. The early 2000's English soundtrack is bad. The theme song, for example, completely contradicts the premise of this series. For “Now That I Can Fly”, kids would listen to it and think about being a witchling; they have to spend all of their money, and they will never worry about going bankrupt.
    • Not to mention, sometimes it sounds more simplistic than the other dubs and the Japanese version. To make matters worse, the soundtrack can be incredibly generic; even the dub of Kirby: Right Back at Ya! wasn't as generic for the music, despite being very good, and that dub was also made by 4Kids.
    • Also, the theme song is really quite bad compared to the original Japanese version, and it can be stuck in your head in a bad way, much like most songs in the show.
    • Some of the songs could even be cringe-worthy at times to hear, especially if you prefer the original Japanese version soundtrack (in which most, if not all, would prefer the original Japanese soundtrack), not to mention that some of them are very out of place for this show.
11. Many of the emotional scenes were edited, as they either went from sad to humorous or were just cut out entirely, this include but not limited to:
    • When Mirabelle (Aiko) remembered her childhood and her harmonica, Dorie (Doremi) and Reanne (Hazuki) aren't crying miserably in tears because they were very sad, they are crying happily in tears because they're happy.
    • Another example is that they removed an emotional scene where Mirabelle (Aiko)’s father was very sad because it featured a tearful memory of a parent and the harmonica. Yes you heard us, they can't show a scene of dealing with a tearful memory of their loved ones.
    • In episode 34 (33 in the dub), they edited some scenes where Dorie (Doremi) attempts to wish her well but she realizes she would only be lying to go back home, so they all respected her dream and they don't want to leave Mirablle (Aiko) all alone, because she refused to leave Mirabelle (Aiko) all alone. And they added some dialogue where they have to go and get some chocolate and they cut out the scenes where they're all crying miserably in tears.
    • In episode 51 (50 in the dub), they edited the scene where they don't want to say goodbye to the Witch World or leave home without it, they cut out the scenes where they're all crying miserably in tears and the last dialogue in the dubbed scene sounds very ridiculous.
      • Also in the same episode, when they leave the Witch World, it sounds ridiculous when they bid the place farewell. And they added the last dialogue where they didn’t even cared that they’ll be leaving forever and they cut out the scene where they all cried miserably in tears.
12. Due to having much less episodes than the other dubs, the series had some plot holes and make the dub incomplete.
    • For example, all the episodes from Seasons 2-4 and the OVA were never released in English because they were only from Asia, Africa, and Europe. As a result, the dub even had a nerve to end this show on a cliffhanger.
13. It spawned an even worse short segment, which is called Witchling Sing-Along. 
    • Speaking of the Witchling Sing-Along videos, they're cringeworthy to look at.
      • "Just Like Magic" is a dub of the first opening theme song. They cut and edited some parts of the original, and the lyrics literally follow what the main characters are doing in the credits.
      • "We Can Make Magic" is another dub of the second opening theme song. It repeats the same exact scene from the beginning, and the lyrics also follow what’s happening in the credits.
      • "Make It Shine" is the first sing-along video to use the scenes in every episode, and the lyrics are cringeworthy to listen to.
      • "Now That I Can Fly", read WIS#7.
      • "Mirabelle's Theme" is pretty nice to hear compared to most other songs.
      • "Come On Along" is not only a sing-along video but also an announcement for "Season 2" of Magical DoReMi (when it’s not actually a second season but a second half of the original Japanese anime).
      • "Make a Melody" has to be the worst out of all the sing-along videos.
      • "Do Re Mi Forever" is kind of unpleasant to look at.
      • "Perfect Harmony" is kind of nice, but the lyrics are kind of decent (in a bad way).
      • "Believing in Love" and "Straytown Strut" are basically the two insert songs of the dub, and they were initially available on the official 4KidsTV website before its closure.
14. Due to the dialogues being very inaccurately translated, sometimes the characters can say dialogues that are out-of-place or even out-of-character, such as when Dorie's/Doremi says to Reanne/Hasuki that she wants a sister for Christmas, in which she already has one and that would prove that she still believes that Santa is real, although she probably means that she wants a new one, but still, it's incredibly out-of-place, even by 4Kids standards.
15. The reason why 4Kids has made this dub is not because they really wanted to make a dub out of Ojamajo Doremi, but rather to make merchandise about the show, which is pretty much a stupid reason to make a dub of any show, and it's to explain why they never wanted to dub the other seasons.
    • This might also be one of the reasons why 4Kids hasn't renewed the license after the first season, as they have low interest in dubbing the other seasons (see the trivia section for more details).
    • Also, not to mention that most of these are mediocre and poorly received by critics and fans, mostly the dolls due to being poorly made, especially Doremi, who looks traumatized in her facial expression on the doll.
16. It only lasted one season and 50 episodes, which made this dub end up at a cliffhanger that would make this dub completely pointless since Ojamajo Doremi actually had an ending to the series, at least with the ova, as said before.
17. This dub was so bad that it's actually had a terrible reputation for Ojamajo Doremi at the time, as unlike nowadays, people don't really know the Japan-only media in the States, and this resulted in the show having an awful reputation. Today, the show in the States has a better reputation because the original Japanese version is more well known than back then, and you can watch the Japanese version with English subtitles, which is more enjoyable than this dub.
    • This was also the case with the dub that 4Kids made about One Piece since that show was only dubbed by 4Kids at the time, but now there's other English dubs of it that would improve the show's reputation.
    • This was also possibly the reason why 4Kids removed the show from their blocks in 2006 until they added it back in 2010, as there was a lack of audiences, and probably due to that, they haven't aired most of the episodes on TV but rather on their now defunct website, which was a really bad idea from the start. Thank you so much for screwing up this dub and the airing time for it.
    • Not only that, but the show would return in 2010 to the 4Kids show block, but the problem is that again, there was a lack of audiences, and the rating was fairly low (much like in 2005 when the dub aired).
18. Much like the French dub of the Doraemon series (which is now lost except two episodes of the 1979 series and the theme songs of the 2005 series), the dub was also made way too late, with it being started in 2005, 6 years after the original Japanese version was aired, kind of like Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Battle 22 on the PS1 (although that game was released 7 years after it's original Japanese version, and this dub came out 6 years after the Japanese version), and ended in 2008, in which most, if not all, of the other dubs were finished to be produced or being aired. Because of this, the animation quality for Magical DoReMi(that while still looking beautiful with some great details), looks a tad bit dated due to it looking choppy and muggy, with an odd choice of coloring for the background and even some of the characters, and very poor lighting throughout the show. This makes this anime feel out-of-place and more like it was made in the late 1990s (which it is) rather than something that was made in 2005, also known as the same year that better-looking cartoons (e.g. American Dragon, Avatar, Camp Lazlo, Cat Scratch and Ben 10) and even anime (e.g Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha A's and the after mention Doraemon released in 2005) was created.
19. One of the episodes from the dub was literally named after the opening, which was Just Like Magic. Even by 4Kids standards, this is an extremely lazy decision or if they run out of ideas for naming the episodes they made.
20. Another reason why this show never really had a success in the States is because 4Kids air it at 7:00 A.M., which is a terrible time where kids would still be sleeping or were barely getting up when it's airing. Another reason is because of the fact that the other episodes that they made were only on their defunct website, at least the last ones they dubbed.
    • And if some kids had parents that would not let them see it at 7:00 A.M., then for them it was screwed for them to watch it. This was also the reason why this dub had a lack of audiences at the time compared to the Japanese and French dubs.
    • Also, it was not helped by the fact that the dub received low ratings and that probably keep the audiences to watch it, in which it was probably the reason for the lack of audiences.
21. Unlike most 4Kids shows, there were barely any home releases of Magical DoReMi, and the website of 4Kids, where they had episodes of this along with other of their dubs, is now defunct, so now the only way to watch it is pretty much in either the Wayback Machine(although the video quality is a bit poor, but it's still better than nothing), or watch it by other websites such as Watch Anime Dubs and/or on Aniwave.
    • Also, the only DVD that was made for it was with a toy of the show, and some came with a DVD of the fourth episode, and that pretty much the only thing that was released in a home release for this dub, although nowadays it is incredibly rare so it's pointless.
22. As stated in the #18 segment, while still amazing, the animation is a little worse than the other dub and the Japanese version due to the terrible translation of the screen or the worst lightning. Although that doesn't really ruin the animation, it's also had much worse lightning than the original versions, although not so much.
    • It can also have worse lightning than the original Japanese version, especially if the video quality of your TV is awful.
23. One of the episodes, episode 19, had been heavily edited and was replaced with another plot that is Reanne/Hazuki being doing something with her uncle, and the most mature theme of the episode was removed, which was the fact that Hazuki/Reanne was kidnapped, not to mention the episode in this dub was really bad compared to the original and even the French dub.
24. Some of the songs don't even fit the show at all, as most of them feel like they either came from a Barbie or Bratz show, in which Magical DoReMi had nothing to do with them. This makes most songs of this dub pointless and overall even worse, although some of them fit the show, such as the Mirabelle theme, but that doesn't compare to the original Japanese version.
    • In fact, some of these songs would be better as an add for a girl toy commercial rather than being on a show like Ojamajo Doremi.
25. Due to the bad voice acting and the awful censorship of this dub, it can either be boring at best or absolutely annoying at worst to watch it, especially with episode 19, due to the awful changes that were made to it to make it a lot worse and being full of plot holes.
26. A lot of scenes were removed, such as the fight with the Harukaze family in the very first episode of the show. This made some of the episodes shorter, and to make matters worse, sometimes it might even ruin an entire episode or have unnecessary plot holes!
27. The airing order was absolutely terrible; it wasn't the first episode that was first aired, but rather episode 4! This would make everything extremely confusing for people who have either just started watching this show for the first time and/or already watched the Japanese version.
    • Not only that, but it can be extremely confusing with the transformation scenes, where some would wonder how they got them or when they aired episode 1 after that, and you will be even more confused: What the point of airing episode 4 of an anime before the first episode if it's got some continuity?
    • This awful airing order would also make a huge amount of continuity errors in the show; not even the season 4 of Titeuf had this many continuity errors, despite also having some.
    • This is also possibly the reason why this dub had little success, due to the awful airing times and probably the terrible airing order.
28. While it can still be a funny show, there's some unfunny jokes at times, mostly due to how awful the dialogues translation are and make some of the jokes much worst than the original version.
29. Some awful changes for some of the scenes, such as the scene where we can see that Pop had 100 dollars rather than 5 dollars; this is also not helped by the fact that Pop is 5 years old, and it's not really normal for a kid this young to have this much money.
    • Even the opening suffered from this, as not only does the musics and the singing sound different but in a bad way, but some of the scenes where edited for no reasons, although it's not really something bad at times but still, it's just make this show feel too different than it's Japanese version at times.
    • In fact, even the scenes where the characters play instruments where changed for probably not any reasons given, not only that but they are very awful at times compared to the original Japanese version, which had great instrumental scenes musics.
30. Some of the episodes name are really lauchable and unoriginal, such as the episode 13 which was named, He's not Pelé, he's my brother or as said before, one episode was litteraly named Just Like Magic, the opening name of this dub.
31. Due to the soundtrack being out-of-place and sound much more girly than the original Japanese version or feel like it's could be in another animated show such as Bratz or Barbie, this dub can be hardly enjoyable to the male publics, unlike the original (even though the dub is hardly enjoyable in general).
32. Overall, this was a really awful way to bring back Ojamajo Doremi in the States, mostly due to the awful scene changes, the poor voice acting, the soundtrack that is bad with some songs that are very out of places, the plot holes, and finally with the atrocious airing order.

Redeeming Qualities

1. At least the original Japanese version of Ojamajo Doremi is an amazing show, and we wish it got a good English dub that stays true to the original Japanese version, like the original Sailor Moon and Pokémon series.
2. Some of the voicework is still pretty decent, such as Ellie (Onpu), Patina (Majorika), and Josie (Reika).
3. To be fair, there are still some funny moments out there, despite not being as funny as the other dubs and also despite having unfunny jokes, but that's mostly because of how bad this dub is, or sometimes it's got hilarious dialogues, despite some of them being out of place.
   • One of the most hilarious dialogues is when Justin says that he thinks that Ms. Cooper is nasty, which is pretty much one of the best dialogues of the dubs due to how hilarious it is, although this might possibly be because of the inaccurate translation of the dialogues.
   • Also, it's can be funny for those who want a good laugh to a bad show or even an awful dub, since there's many elements in this dub that is so bad that it's can be funny.
4. Some of the other dubs that use the Magical DoReMi name, such as the French and Italian dubs, are much better since they are based on the original Japanese version and barely have any censorship, the only change being the title and names of the characters for most parts.
5. At least it isn't as bad as the 4Kids dub of One Piece.
6. Some people might enjoy it, although that doesn't say much due to how bad this dub is.
7. While bad, it's at least nice to get an English dub of the show, as it had a great potential to be great but the execution was really bad and a redub or a remake have yet to be made as of 2024.
8. Despite the soundtrack being poor or downright bad at times, there are still some decent songs in this dub, such as the transformation scenes music, although it's pretty generic and not as energetic as the original Japanese version of the show.
9. At least the animation is still good and beatiful, despite being worst and less fluid than the original Japanese version.
10. To be honest, despite how terrible this dub is, it was mostly the reason of why Ojamajo Doremi became popular later when the dub along with the original Japanese version became a cult following over the years.

Receptions

Unlike the original Japanese dub of Ojamajo Doremi, which received positive reception, Magical DoReMi was panned by critics and fans alike and is widely considered to be one of the worst English dub of all time, next to the 4Kids dub of One Piece, Glitter Force, Mew Mew Power (Tokyo Mew Mew), Tamagotchi! (English Dub) and Dragon Ball Z (Funimation Remastered Uncut dub).

This dub is also not only considered to be one of the worst dubs of all times but also the absolute worst dub of the entire show along with the Arabic dub.

Trivia

• Before the series was removed from the 4Kids website there was a group shot from Motto, featuring Momoko with the girls.
• While airing (not counting marathons), Magical Doremi was never on past 9:00 am.
• Magical DoReMi is the only 4Kids dub that wasn't entirely aired on television.
  • After holding the license for so long, 4Kids has also lost their rights to One Piece and Pokémon, making them the second and third dubs not to be completed.
• In April 24, 2010, the first episode of the dub was shown on the CW4Kids at 7.00 a.m.
  • This was suspected as them attempting to show it a final time before their license expired.
• Originally, it was rumored that the reason 4Kids lost their rights was because the original producers were unhappy about the numerous changes made to the show and personally stripped them of their license.
  • However, the real reason 4Kids lost the rights was because their license to the series had expired and they did not bother renewing it due to low interest, and the fact that they only made the dub to do toys out of it.
• An early promo for Magical DoReMi was shown in a licensing book published by 4Kids Entertainment in 2003. In comparison to the eventual 2005 premiere of the series, this promo noticeably featured the same logo that had previously been used in other international adaptations of series, as well as the main protagonist Doremi retaining her original name.
• It is the longest dub related page on the wiki, with over 29,778 bytes as of the current revision, which surpassed Sailor Moon (DiC/Cloverway dub), which had 24,788 bytes, ironically, both are Magical Girl shows.
  • It is also currently the first and only one to be featured.

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