Magical girl film staff cites production issues, but still aims for 2020

Toei and Toei Animation announced on Thursday that they are postponing the May 15 opening of Looking for Magical DoReMi ( Majo Minarai o Sagashite ), the brand-new anime film commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Ojamajo Doremi magical girl anime franchise , due to production issues. Toei aims to release the movie by the end of this year, and will announce the new release date on the anime film's official website and Twitter account as soon as a decision is made.

Toei is also postponing the sales of advance ticket passes with bundled goods, which would have started on Friday.

The story follows 27-year-old Tokyo office worker Mire Yoshizuki who just returned to Japan, 22-year-old fourth-year college student Sora Nagase who aspires to be a teacher, and 20-year-old boyish, part-time Hiroshima okonomiyaki shop worker and freelancer Reika Kawatani. What draws together these three women from completely different walks of life is a magic gem. A "New Magical Story" begins when they are mysteriously brought together by chance and embark on a journey.

The cast includes:

Aoi Morikawa as Sora Nagase

as Sora Nagase Rena Matsui as Mire Yoshizuki

as Mire Yoshizuki Kanako Momota as Reika Kawatani

as Reika Kawatani Kenta Hamano as Seiya Kubo, Reika's no-good boyfriend

as Seiya Kubo, Reika's no-good boyfriend Shohei Miura as Ryūichi Oomiya, a college student who travels with the three heroines and likes Ojamajo Doremi

as Ryūichi Oomiya, a college student who travels with the three heroines and likes Ojamajo Doremi Akira Ishida as Hayato Yabe, Mire's junior at work

Kenichi Tajiri is serving as art designer, and Shinzo Yuki and Yukie Yuki are co-designing the MAHO Temple. Kunio Tsujita is serving as color key artist.

Junichi Sato ( Sailor Moon , Aria , Princess Tutu ), the director of the original Ojamajo Doremi anime, is directing the new film alongside Yū Kamatani ( Precure franchise episode director) at Toei Animation . Midori Kuriyama (episode scriptwriter for Lovely Complex , Heartcatch Precure! ) and Yoshihiko Umakoshi ( Boys Over Flowers , Mushi-Shi ) are also returning from Ojamajo Doremi as scriptwriter and character designer, respectively, and Umakoshi is also credited as chief animation director. Shōko Nakamura ( Doukyusei -Classmates- ) is also credited as animation director for the film, and Hiromi Seki is leading her team as producer.

The first Ojamajo Doremi anime series originally premiered in Japan in 1999, and 4Kids began broadcasting a heavily edited version of the series in the United States in 2005 under the title Magical DoReMi .

Source: Email correspondence