Outspoken, energetic junior high "Esper" Mami Sakura one day discovers she has psychic powers when she ends up rescuing her prodigy classmate Takahata from being threatened by the school bullies. After discussing it with Kazuo Takahata, Takahata ends up believing he is the one with psychic powers.

And so Mami goes on a journey of working out how to make use of her powers like telportation and telekinesis, and how it'll affect her life and those around her. Deciding to use it to help those in need whenever she hears someone in distress through telepathy (sometimes biting off more than she can chew).

This feels like Fujio's attempt at a magical girl story but without the transformation sequence.

It's episodic mostly but also one big story at the same time much like Emon 21 as we watch how Mami (and Kazuo's) life is affected. Often you'll see the show referencing past incidents and events.

Whereas Doraemon doesn't really have to care about the consequences of lending out his gadgets, Mami's use of her new powers does eventually affect her in a negative way. It's interesting to see Mami growing up as she learns not to rely on her powers completely.

It's mostly cute interactions when it's not dealing with serious themes. There's your 80/90s romance cliches when Mami is helping couples out. Plenty of cheezy chasing laughing scenes.

When it does get serious, there's a lot of mature themes going on (with the odd joke to lighten the mood) so it's definitely not a show for kids like most of Fujio's shows are. There's quite a couple of episodes dealing with self-harm (episode 37 is probably the darkest...) Bit of stalking, scams and homelessness too.

There's also some good influences too believe it or not such as taking responsibility for your power and behaving while parents are out instead of wrecking the home. It's also not a Fujio show if there's no sprinkle of science involved. Often Kazuo tries to make sense of Mami's newly gained powers, such as concluding teleportation can only be used when there is a burst of kinetic energy within range

With the seemingly more mature demograph in mind, the show seems to have no qualms in nude modelling sessions.. It even shows a nude painting of Mami straight away and suggests she's fine posing as a nude model for pocket money. Other than that, there's no blatant fan service but there are upskirt scenes much like Doraemon. It has no problem with nude playboy pin-up posters when Mami is dealing with criminals or deliquents.

Aesthetics such as house and character designs are fairly similar to Fujio's other shows though. You've got the toast girl running late for school trope during this era of shows. Your ongoing girls can't cook trope too of course. Mami's hand pose looks like a reverse version of Spider-Man. They seem to make use of the City Hunter sound effect when Saeba Ryo is about to take a shot.

Fujio fans will find plenty of references to his other works like Perman and mainly Doraemon so have fun spotting them. He also hints about protecting the planet in a number of episodes just like his other works (there's even an original episode about being friends with a tree). Doraemon gets multiple cameos, often with jokes referencing the show.

Think I saw the Sompo Japan HQ that is featured in Shinkai's Your Name and Suzume in episode 46. Interestingly enough, the building was built in 1976 which was the same time as when the original Manga was serialised.

The Manga originally had 6 volumes (61 episodes) but have since been re-printed as the current 9 using the Anime as the cover but the content is essentially the same. All the Manga has been adapted but there are some episodes are original to the Anime such as episode 33 "Last Race" or episode 59 "Night Train" which is why it's so long. In some cases, the Anime does a better job of wrapping the original story up like episode 16. 95 and onwards are all original to the show. At that point, the title screen style also changes the scenarios aren't as dark but still manages to stick with teaching good morals.

Nice wrap-up overall even though it wasn't your big group photo like a lot of shows ending during that time of Anime.

Movie, Hoshizora no Dancing Doll (1988)
星空のダンシングドール

Based on the Manga chapter entitled "The Crying Doll", Mami meets a young team of troubled pupeteers whose members were steadily dwindling. After helping them out with their play she comes across a young girl who had the doll her late mother made for her thrown away because she was isolating herself with it too much. Soon Mami finds herself involved with a series of incidents involving dolls.

Quite a short but fun action comedy movie with wholesome moments like the show. Feels more like multiple episodes strung together but title is pretty fitting. Bit of youth drama about the struggle of chasing dreams.