Sally the Witch

Sally is the witch princess of the Magic Kingdom who longs to visit the mortal realm, presumably to make friends her own age. One day, by mistake, Sally teleports to the "mid world" (Earth), where she uses her magic to fend off a couple of burglars menacing two schoolgirls. Immediately befriended by her new acquaintances—tomboyish Yoshiko Hanamura (known affectionately as "Yotchan") and girly Sumire Kasugano—Sally decides to stay on Earth indefinitely, leading to mischief. Sally tries to keep her supernatural abilities secret, assuming the role of a human child.

In the final episode of the anime, 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 it out. Her powers thus exposed, Sally's time to leave has finally come. She waves farewell to her friends, and returns to the Magic Kingdom.

• Sally Yumeno (夢野サリー, Yumeno Sarī) (Voiced by: Michiko Hirai (1966 series), Yuriko Yamamoto (1989 series))
  The main character of the series. Sally is the daughter of the King and the Queen, and therefore princess of the Magic Kingdom. Yumeno means "dream field" but is a homophone to "a dream of" in Japanese; her full name, spoken in the Japanese name order, means "Dream of Sally".
• Yoshiko Hanamura (花村よし子, Hanamura Yoshiko) (Voiced by: Midori Kato (1st) Teiyū Ichiryūsai (2nd))
  One of Sally's best friends in the mortal realm. Her head is bean-shaped. Yoshiko is a tomboy. Sally usually refers to her as "Yotchan."
• Sumire Kasugano (春日野すみれ, Kasugano Sumire) (Voiced by: Mariko Mukai (1st) Nana Yamaguchi (2nd))
  Another of Sally's human friends, she has a girly personality in contrast to Yoshiko.
• Cub (カブ, Kabu) (Voiced by: Sachiko Chijimatsu)
  Sally's magical, shape-changing assistant. His first appearance was a crow before Sally's Dad sent him to Earth to retrieve her. Assuming the form of a five-year-old boy, Cub poses as Sally's younger brother. Cub is mischievous, usually playing pranks on Sally and friends or triggering unpredictable situations. However, his level of mischief has been on par with the Hanamura Triplets and Poron.
• The Hanamura Triplets: Tonkichi (花村トン吉, Hanamura Tonkichi), Chinpei (花村チン平, Hanamura Chinpei), and Kanta (花村カン太, Hanamura Kanta) (Voiced by: Masako Nozawa)
  Yoshiko's kid brothers. Incorrigible boys adept at landing themselves in trouble. Like their big sister, their heads are also bean-shaped.
• Poron (ポロン) (Voiced by: Fuyumi Shiraishi)
  A little witch girl who appears in the later part of series. Saucy, selfish and rather lovable, she frequently casts spells she can't reverse, such as shrinking herself down to mouse-size, then being unable to "grow up."
• Daimaō (大魔王, Great Magical King) (Voiced by: Kosei Tomita)
  Sally's paternal grandfather. An original character to the anime. He also wears a horned hairstyle similar to Sally's father. He has a magical horned staff, which Poron stole to cause mischief with Cub and the Hanamura triplets on Earth.
• Mr. Yumeno (サリーのパパ, Sarī no Papa)
  The ruler of the Magic Kingdom. A pompous blowhard who dislikes humanity on principle, he nonetheless has a good heart where his daughter is concerned (a quality shared with Endora from Bewitched). He wears a distinguished horned hairstyle.
• Mrs. Yumeno (サリーのママ, Sarī no Mama) (Voiced by: Mariko Mukai (1st) Nana Yamaguchi (2nd))
  Queen of the Magic Kingdom. She's friendly, modest, a dutiful wife and a devoted mother, holding firmly the head of the King. She appears to be always knitting. Her name was Cima (シーマ, Shima) in the original manga.

Written and illustrated by Mitsuteru Yokoyama, Sally the Witch, was serialized in Shueisha's monthly Ribon magazine from July 1966 to October 1967. It was originally titled Sunny the Witch, before being changed as Sony owns the trademark to "Sunny". The series was inspired by the American TV sitcom, Bewitched (known in Japan as Oku-sama wa Majo, or The Missus is a Witch).^[3][4]

Susumu Yoshikawa created a manga for Pyonpyon and Gakushū Zasshi that coincided with the 1989 anime adaptation.

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. Black-and-white and color versions exist of the opening animation sequence.

Being so popular in Japan, a second series was produced 23 years later. The second series continues a few years after the original ending, and finishes with the original video animation Sally the Witch: Mother's Love is Eternal, in which, at the end, Sally finally becomes the ruler Queen of the Magic Kingdom, but worries about leaving her friends behind.

Mahōtsukai Sally runs half hour per episode and has 109 episodes.^[5]

Mahōtsukai Sally 2 runs half hour per episode and has 88 episodes.^[6]

• Opening song: Mahotsukai Sally by Hiroko Asakawa
• Ending songs: Fushigi Sally (eps 1–45) and Little Princess by Hiroko Asakawa (eps 46–88)

Sally the Witch was one of the first ongoing anime series produced.^[7] The series was originally in black and white but due to its success, later episodes were produced in color. 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 other several countries under different names: in Italy (Sally la Maga), French-speaking Canada (Minifée), Poland (Sally Czarodziejka—based on the Italian version), México and South America (Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, and Peru) as La princesa Sally. Depending on the country, she is called Princess, Magician or Witch.

A second Sally the Witch anime, also made by Toei, aired for 88 episodes on Japanese TV from 1989 to 1991. It 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. There were also two specials in 1990 and an educational OVA about the Japanese Bankers Association in 1995.

The main strength of Sally the Witch lays in its strong characterizations and detailed continuity. The basic storyline would be incorporated into many later magical girl TV anime shows and manga, particularly the concept of a magical princess relocating to the human world. Toei Animation reutilized the same concept in Mahō Tsukai Chappy, 1972, and Majokko Megu-chan, 1974, but later become a recurrent basis for the magical girl theme, with later unrelated characters such as Sailor Moon, or even foreign productions such as LoliRock or Star vs. the Forces of Evil using the same basic plot.

Author Robert Jay Lifton stated that Sally Yumeno "has long been one of the most popular of all manga and animation characters."^[8] Sally made an appearance as the character "Sunny the Magician" in the Giant Robo OVA series, paying homage to and featuring characters and elements from many of Yokoyama's works.

In December 1994, police found a pamphlet at the headquarters of the Aum Shinrikyo cult which included a song called "Sarin the Magician," a parody of the theme song of Sally the Witch with the lyrics changed to refer to the poison known as "sarin" which Aum Shinrikyo used during the attempted assassination of judges in a case against the cult in June 1994 and later in March 1995 when it carried out a terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway. Lifton said that Sally "was undoubtedly a prominent figure in the childhoods of leading Aum members."^[8]

In 2015, the Japanese idol girl group Angerme released a new, updated, upbeat dance version of the original anime opening from the first series.

• Toei website about Sally, the Witch (in Japanese)
• Mahô tsukai Sarî at IMDb