The mahou shoujo return with Magical Sisters LuluttoLilly in April

The Mahou Shoujo Return with Magical Sisters LuluttoLilly in April

Well, here’s something I didn’t see coming—and I fancy myself rather good at spotting patterns.

Studio Pierrot have finally stirred from their magical girl hibernation. Twenty-eight years, if you’re counting. That’s the better part of three decades since Fancy Lala closed the book on what many consider the golden age of the Pierrot Magical Girl Series. Now, bandied together with Bandai Namco Filmworks, they’re dusting off the wand for Magical Sisters LuluttoLilly—a direct spiritual successor, and rather fittingly, a 40th anniversary tribute to Magical Angel Creamy Mommy (1983).

The second trailer dropped this week, and colour me intrigued. It’s bright, it’s earnest, and—crucially—it doesn’t apologise for what it is. The footage confirms an April 5 premiere on TOKYO MX, with a two-cour run split across the broadcast calendar. Six months of magic, give or take a seasonal breather. That’s commitment.

The Sound of Internal Logic

What caught my ear, though, was the ending theme. Calling, performed by the in-story idol duo LuluttoLilly themselves—voiced by May Tachibana (Lilly Konpeto) and Nao Ojika (Lulu Mashu). There’s a neat bit of internal logic there; the characters are the performers. It’s the sort of creative choice that feels almost old-fashioned in the best possible way.

Behind the curtain, Shintaro Doge takes the director’s chair, with Yuko Kakihara—no stranger to character-driven storytelling—supervising scripts. The character designs fall to a trio: Hirono Nishiki, Mami Sodeyama, and Namiko Torii. Their task isn’t enviable: honour the silhouette and charm of 80s mahou shoujo whilst making it palatable to viewers weaned on pastel palettes and digital compositing.

The Supporting Cast

• Jun Kasama (Keiichi Nonoyama) — last heard in Boruto and DanMachi, brings grounding presence.
• Megumi Ohara (Shio Nonoyama) — the legendary voice behind Nobita Nobi in Doraemon. That’s bona fide pedigree.
• Aya Endo (Mari Hinoura) — recognised for Jujutsu Kaisen and Macross Frontier, adds emotional texture.

A Lineage, Not a Brand

Here’s the thing that fascinates me. Nostalgia is cheap currency in modern anime; studios trade on it relentlessly. But Pierrot haven’t simply rebooted an old property Pierrot have resurrected an entire category of storytelling they virtually invented. The Pierrot Magical Girl Series isn’t a brand—it’s a lineage. And this is its first new entry since 1998.

That’s either a spectacular piece of timing or a tremendous gamble.

Now we wait to see whether the product matches the pedigree. April will tell us if Pierrot still understand the alchemy that made Creamy Mami, Persia, and Pastel Yumi small-screen icons—or whether 28 years of distance has blurred the formula beyond recognition.

What I’m Pondering

Does the modern anime landscape—with its shorter attention spans and seasonal churn—still have the patience for the slower, character-building rhythms that defined 80s magical girl storytelling?

And secondly: if this succeeds, do we think other dormant genres will follow suit? The industry loves a trend. What else is gathering dust in the archives, waiting for someone bold enough to wind the clock back?