Ojamajo Doremi 03: The Transfer Student From Naniwa! Aiko Debuts

Summary:
Aiko arrives in town. Doremi was walking to school with Hazuki when Aiko suddenly appears and plays a practical joke on her. So Doremi walked off with a bad mood. Seki-sensei told the class that there’s a new transfer student. Incidentally, it’s Aiko! She gets to sit behind Doremi, so she chats with her and Hazuki. Aiko says some rather rude things (but she never intends to be rude) to them, and they get quite agitated even more.

Walking home, Doremi happens to see Aiko shopping, so she follows her around. She was surprised that Aiko rode a taxi, so she used her magic to fly around, until she arrives at the Senoo residence. Aiko saw her and invited her in. Doremi met Aiko’s father, and saw that their family is actually cheerful and nice. Outside while eating, Aiko says that her father is always busy driving the taxi, that’s why she does many house chores. Doremi was impressed with Aiko and her father, but then asked about her mother. Aiko said that her parents are separated.

It’s almost Parents’ Day, where parents visit their children’s school and see them study at class. Aiko told Doremi that her father can’t come because of his job, and so Doremi tries to think of using magic to bring Aiko’s father to school. At first Doremi just told the father, but he was really busy. And so she decided to use magic to clone the father! Aiko’s clone father… cannot speak Kansai-ben! Failure for Doremi, but anyway she ordered to clone to go to the school later.

At school, Doremi was waiting for the clone to arrive, but he was kinda lost. Meanwhile, Aiko’s real father decided to go to the school anyway. He arrived, and Aiko was surprised. At first she was quite angry at Doremi for telling her father about Parents’ Day, but she realized that Doremi did this for her. Aiko started to cry with happiness, because this is the first time that her father had gone to school. They embraced each other, and the rest of the people there greeted them with a warm applause.

After that Aiko’s father drove off to go and work again. Afterwards, the “clone” father appeared before Doremi, Hazuki, and Aiko’s eyes! And it even vanished before their eyes! Hazuki and Aiko stared eerily at Doremi… oh no! Doremi’s secret is gonna be revealed!

Notes:
– Great episode. This actually is an example of how this anime can make the “magic” theme a mere secondary plot device, meaning it isn’t even important. Try to forget that Doremi used magic to follow Aiko, or to clone her father, and then you still will have a coherent plot to work on.
– I keep mentioning secondary characters like Tamaki and the SOS Trio. They will have their own episodes, don’t worry.
– Aiko came from Naniwa, which I think is a part of Kansai, which has a regional dialect called Kansai-ben, which is more popularly known as Osaka-ben.
– Aiko’s father drives a taxi for a living. The Senoo family is of the lower class, plus they are composed of father and daughter only.
– Aiko has no mother, meaning their parents are separated. We will be able to see her mother in future episodes.
– The very first touch of drama is in this episode. Pretty simple but effective, where Aiko was touched that her father visited her school.
– Doremi thinks that she’ll turn into a frog when her witch status gets discovered, but that’s not actually the case for her. Find out why next episode.