Mary to Majo no Hana

Mary Smith is a clumsy girl with wild red hair who can't seem to do anything right. After moving in with her Great Aunt Charlotte, Mary finds herself lonely and bored, until one day she spies a cat which seems to keep changing color every time she sees it. Curiosity gets the better of her and she follows it into nearby woods. Deep in the forest, the cat takes her to a clearing with dead trees and brown grass, where the only sign of life is a cluster of mysterious blue flowers that Mary has never seen before. The gardener of the estate later tells her that the rare species is called "Fly-by-Night," and is said to be sought by witches for its incredible magical power.

When the strange cat returns to her one night, Mary is led once again into the woods, but this time to an old broomstick hidden by a gnarled tree. After she clumsily squashes some Fly-by-Night against the broomstick, it begins to glow, whisking her off into the sky. Her wayward journey ends at the Endor College for Witches, where she is mistaken for a new student. And so, Mary must learn to look after herself in this marvelous new world of magic, where things are not always as they seem.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Smith, Mary Main

Sugisaki, Hana Japanese

Peter Main

Kamiki, Ryunosuke Japanese

Tib ing

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Flanagan ing

Satou, Jirou Japanese

Gib ing

Lynn Japanese

Red-Haired Witch ing

Mitsushima, Hikari Japanese

Banks ing

Watanabe, Eri Japanese

Doctor Dee ing

Kohinata, Fumiyo Japanese

Madame Mumblechook ing

Amami, Yuuki Japanese

Zebedee ing

Endou, Kenichi Japanese

Nishimura, Yoshiaki Producer

Yonebayashi, Hiromasa Director, Script

Kimura, Eriko Sound Director

Nakazawa, Shintarou Episode Director

Reviews

Jan 22, 2025

mari_ari

Recommended

I really liked the movie. It's perfect, you relax, it puts you in the shoes of the characters. Unlike other reviews I read, the movie didn't seem predictible to me, I had similar scenarios but I didn't expect it to be like this. Yea, Peter could have been introduced more into the story, but in the end it's a two-hour movie and so many people don't have the patience to watch a movie for two hours because "it's too long". I really think it's a good movie, at one point it made me very emotional, but usually that's how Chibli movies are for me, because ... they give me a vibe of childhood and my hometown.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 10, 2023

xXDAGGERHEARTXx

Mixed Feelings

This is a pretty average movie story-wise but with a very high production value. There's really nothing in the story or characters that stood out or made a big impression on me, it follows a very safe template yet somehow has a disappointing ending all the same.

The animation is easily the strongest part of it as despite the middling story everything is in a lively Ghibli-esque art style. The soundtrack and voice acting are also solid, I have no complaints in that department. Despite the lack of charm it's worth a watch if you want a very safe movie that won't challenge you but will ... look consistently beautiful.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Aug 11, 2021

Katherina16

Not Recommended

Mary and the witch's flower at first glance had me intrigued and excited for something new that at least had a similar feeling to the Ghibli movies that I've loved since I was little. But by the end of it, I just ended up feeling genuinely upset. It could have been so good, but it lacked so much in it's story and character building that could of probably been solved if the movie was simply a bit longer.

Without going too in depth on how I would actually change the story to make it better, I'll point out the main issues that made the movie ... much less enjoyable for me.

1. The friendship between Mary and Peter goes from non-existent to BFF's without any buildup what-so-ever.
Mary just meets Peter twice by chance, he mocks her for looking like a monkey so she gets upset and then he just leaves! Then Mary has the fantastic idea to get Peter mixed up in all of the magic shenanigans happening, which really made me dislike her as a character. Her decisions were so immature and irresponsible at times and for the dumbest reasons. When she cried and apologized to Peter it didn't feel like she cares about him and feels bad for getting him mixed up in danger, it felt as if she was just being a brat crying over the mistakes she made. (because their relationship had no buildup, why should she care about someone so badly if she just met them a few days ago?)

2. The story was predictable.
As soon as I saw the front yard of the school and saw how madam Mumblechook showed up and behaved, I knew immediately that she was the antagonist and from there everything else was predictable. Judging by the scene in the beginning that showed a girl who looked like Mary, and everything about the broom, I knew that the woman wanted the flower that Mary used to get there. I could also immediately predict the "Twist" that the aunt was the girl from the scene at the beginning of the movie. It really just left me feeling bored in the end.

3. Peter's role and him as a character
Enough said, he lacked development and he was sirt of just a prop so that Mary could mess up and have a chance to shine upon rescuing him.

I'm giving the movie an overall rating of 3, because there's only 3 things that I liked. One point for the animation for being pretty and fluid and second point for the scene at the beginning of the movie where Mary's aunt steals the flower seeds and flee's the academy. I know I complained about that scene a little bit, but truly for me it was the best part of the movie, it got me more hyped and excited for what was going on and really just gripped me and made me wanna keep watching. Third point is for the whole animal and human experimentation theme that was going on, I found it to be different and creepy, so it kept me intrigued a little bit longer.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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