Flower Witch Mary Bell (花の魔法使いマリーベル, Hana no Mahōtsukai Marī Beru), or known as Mary Bell in some countries, is a Japanese magical girlanime series by Ashi Productions, aired from 1992 until 1993. The series was adapted as a theatrical film and two educational videos and the DVD version was released on March 20, 2004.
Story
Yuuri and Ken are two siblings living in the port town of Sunny Bell, where their parents have recently moved and set up a flower shop. They are given the Mary Bell Picture Book from their neighbor Rose, which is a story about two children who get lost in the forest and are helped by a magical girl named Mary Bell. The children wish together that Mary Bell was there to help their parents' struggling flower shop. Suddenly, Mary Bell appears in front of them, introducing herself and her Seelie Court partner Tambourine, and agreeing to help them with magic. Over the course of the series, Mary Bell, Ken, Yuuri, a dog named Ribbon, and the others go on adventures in both Sunny Bell and the Flower Magic World, Mary Bell's home.
The series finale involves the Holy Tree of the Flower Magic World coming to Sunny Bell in order to take away all of the plants on Earth, as it believes is necessary to prevent humans from harming them. Mary Bell and the townspeople are able to convince it not to do this, and Mary Bell decides to stay on Earth and encourage people with magic, even though her goal (to collect the dreams of humans by helping them) has already been completed.
Mary Bell is a "floral magician" from the Flower Magic World (花魔法界, hanamahō-kai) who helps children or others when they are trying to do something. Her catchphrase is "Just leave it to Mary Bell!" (マリーベルにおまかせよ!, Marī Beru ni omakase yo!)
Rose is a nice old lady who believes in fairies who lives alone next door to the Mary Bell flower shop with her dog, Ribbon. When Mary Bell first appeared, Yūri and Ken did not believe she was the real Mary Bell; while she met Mary Bell, Rose immediately told that she wanted to meet her.
Jito is Bart's 20-year-old nephew who lives in his house. When he was a little child, he got lost and helped by fairies. His friends did not believe him and called him a liar. Since then, Jito keeps trying to capture a fairy to prove that he told the truth.
Mamabel von Decasse is Mary Bell's mother. Her magical spell is "Mamarin, Berlin, Lunrunlun".
Media
Anime
The TV series was produced by TV Setouchi, Big West, and Ashi Productions and directed by Tetsuya Endo, with series composition by Takao Koyama and Hideki Mitsui.[1] The animation directors include Masashi Hirota, Kōichirō (新羽高一浪), Yuriko Chiba, and Kouji Fukazawa. These four supervised about 80% of the 50 episodes.[2][3]
