Someday's Dreamers

Someday's Dreamers (魔法遣いに大切なこと) is a manga written by Norie Yamada and illustrated by Kumichi Yoshizuki. It was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Dragon magazine from May 2002 to January 2003 and was later collected in two bound volumes. In 2006, Tokyopop released the manga in the United States under the name Someday's Dreamers.

Someday's Dreamers was also adapted into an anime series that was produced by J.C.Staff under the direction of Masami Shimoda. It loosely based on the storyline of the first manga series, and added new characters to the story. It ran for a total of 12 episodes on TV Asahi and was later licensed by Geneon Entertainment USA for release on Region 1 DVD.

Another story set in the same universe, Someday's Dreamers: Spellbound (魔法遣いに大切なこと 太陽と風の坂道), written and drawn by the same author and illustrator, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Comic Dragon Age. It ran from December 2003 to February 2006 and was later released in five bound volumes. In 2006, Tokyopop released the manga in the United States under the name Someday's Dreamers: Spellbound (魔法遣いに大切なこと 太陽と風の坂道).

In 2007, Norie Yamada and Kumichi Yoshizuki began work on a third title in the Someday's Dreamers universe titled Summer Skies (魔法遣いに大切なこと 〜夏のソラ〜). It is being serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Shōnen Ace and began its run in the April issue, released on February 26, 2008. Summer Skies is scheduled to have a live-action movie adaptation released on December 20, 2008, though was originally scheduled for a summer 2008 premiere. The story was also adapted into an anime series, following the new main character, Sora. The series is directed by Osamu Kobayashi, is written by the series' original creator Norie Yamada, and is animated by Hal Film Maker. It aired on TV Asahi from July 2, 2008 to September 24, 2008.

Someday's Dreamers
The story is set in present day Tokyo. Much of the setting is based upon real areas, the more obvious ones being the Shibuya Crossing and Tokyo Tower. The main backdrop of the series where they all reside is in Shimokitazawa, roughly 6 minutes west of Shibuya on the Keio Inokashira Line. In Tokyo is the Bureau of Magic, which employs Mage Labour for certain special requests by everyday people. However, the mages must only use their magic with special permission, and any unlicensed use results in a penalty. The story is very gentle and centers around the protagonist, a witch named Yume Kikuchi (菊池ユメ), a 2nd year senior high school student from Tono in Iwate prefecture. In order to train as a magic user, she travels to Tokyo during her summer break to apprentice under the charming Masami Oyamada (小山田雅美). The story is very peaceful and tells of Yume's trials and tribulations as she works toward her eventual graduation as a full-fledged magic user licensed by the Bureau of Magic. There is a strong undercurrent of romance which is not resolved.

Mahōtsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora
Suzuki Sora is a cheerful country girl from the small town of Biei. She made a promise to her father, and following this promise applies and is accepted for a magic intership in Tokyo, where she will face the life in a big city. While training to get better with her magic, she meets a mysterious boy also practicing to become a mage. While he can not use magic that well and he seems distant and cold at first, Sora's fate intertwines with his and the two are thrown together, learning a lot of new things about life and each other.

In the manga, Sora has a strange trait to her magic that manifests itself despite her ire; whenever Sora casts a spell, the end result always involves sunflowers, though otherwise almost always how Sora intended it. This is absent in the anime.

Someday's Dreamers

 * Yume Kikuchi - (Seiyū:Aoi Miyazaki, VA:Kari Wahlgren)
 * Masami Oyamada - (Seiyū:Jun'ichi Suwabe, VA:Otto Towne)
 * Angela Charon Brooks - (Seiyū:Akeno Watanabe, VA:Shereen Hickman)
 * Melinda Iwashita - (Seiyū:Akiko Hiramatsu, VA:Stevie Bloch)
 * Go Kato - (Seiyū:Hiroshi Iida, VA:Stevie Bloch)
 * Gin Pun - (Seiyū:Kouji Tsujitani, VA:Jake Martin)

Mahō Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora

 * Sora Suzuki - (Seiyū:Kana Hanazawa)
 * Seiichirou Hara - (Seiyū:Rikiya Koyama)
 * Gouta Midorikawa - (Seiyū:Tomoaki Maeno)
 * Hiyori Yamabuki - (Seiyū:Mikako Takahashi)
 * Honomi Asagi - (Seiyū:Marina Inoue)
 * Saori Shiraishi - (Seiyū:Urara Takano)
 * Kouji Kuroda - (Seiyū:Daisuke Namikawa)

Music
The composer of the anime soundtrack, Takefumi Haketa, hoped that girls would identify with the lead role and created music which had a nostalgic feel to it, evoking both English and Irish suburbs but also memories of the European Middle Ages. Using traditional instruments such as Irish whistles, he created tracks based on jigs, reels and a real Salsa track. For two themes he employed the voices of a 10-strong choir of schoolchildren. The vocal songs were also arranged by Haketa and sung by Miki Taoka. The CD soundtrack was released in America in 2003 by Pioneer Anime LDC, inc.

Someday's Dreamers

 * Opening theme: "Kaze no Hana" by Hana Hana
 * Ending theme: "Under the Blue Sky" by The Indigo

Mahō Tsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto: Natsu no Sora

 * Opening theme: "Fly Away" by Thyme
 * Ending theme: "Kawaita Hana" (乾いた花) by micc