Motto! Ojamajo Doremi

Motto! Ojamajo Doremi is pretty much the best season thus far, breaking straight through the ambivalence of Sharp and surpassing the first season's high expectations for it. Where to start? Firstly, it succeeded where Sharp failed: an overreliance on Hana as a main character (which led to boring episodes without a satisfying resolution) and second, dispersing the exams for the season almost completely, cutting down the first two seasons' nine and 12 respectively to only seven. This meant that a lot less episodes had to be focused on exams and they could spend more time on character development, particularly for the new and interesting characterMomoko. Furthermore, Hana was removed from the storyline for the most part until the midway point, which cleanly allows plenty of time for the girls to develop as characters and have funny and heartwarming interactions without being overshadowed by a larger plot. The second half of its key to success is based in Momoko, a foreigner to the group and the country overall. Struggling with a language barrier, her actress is pleasing to listen to in her perfectly fluent and natural-sounding English, as well as what Momoko herself brings to the table. For starters, Momoko is an outsider to the group, which means she wasn't around the two seasons and is arguably developed the least. What this allows for is a set of "fresh eyes" (so to speak) to change and warp the group's dynamic, adding her own aura and energy, which allowed lots of character interactions between everyone and setup for some of the series' best jokes, let alone the season's. What this also means is that they get a free pass to set up plots about perceptions of life in America versus Japan, handling topics like discrimination, how people socialize differently, as well as hardships faced in America or Japan and how people think differently of others, or the same. Hana's plot was worked out pretty well this time: she took up a nice (but not excessive) storyline for herself which worked its way into the finale. She has four episodes devoted to her mini-arc, but even then things go on in the background and there's plenty more to focus on than just her plot by itself. One of my favorite aspects of the series is actually the judges for the Patisserie exams: the show (as well as the girls themselves) are able to use food as a medium, which honestly works amazingly well. Food can break through a lot of social barriers set up, convincing someone to trust others and forming a bond that sometimes words can't even express. Plus, the girls don't rely on magic and (adhering to their prior season's principles) make everything by hand, which allows us to see how much care they put into getting everything perfect. The overarching plot with the Cursed Forest is also resolved here, while Alexander has been put to the sidelines. This season is pretty much anything you'd love about the series, and it's the best one thus far. 10/10!