1. どっきりどっきりDON DON!!

Romaji: Dokkiri dokkiri DON DON!!

Cultural Nuance: "A jolt of surprise, a jolt of surprise, DON DON!!"

🗣 Japanese Insight: This song opens with onomatopoeia. Onomatopoeia is a general term covering giongo / 擬音語 (words representing sounds and voices), gitaigo / 擬態語 (words describing the appearance or state of things), and gijōgo / 擬情語 (words expressing sensations and movements of the heart). Many languages have them, but Japanese has an abundance of words that portray not only sounds but also states and feelings through the sound of the words themselves, and they are widely used from everyday conversation to writing and works for children.

The opening word dokkiri / どっきり is close to doki / ドキッ, which expresses the sensation of the chest leaping from surprise or tension, and the bouncing pronunciation created by the small っ (a geminate consonant) brings to mind the movement of a heart. Bikkuri / びっくり shares the same "っ…り" shape and describes the state of being startled. These two words are each repeated twice and followed by the alphabet-written DON DON and BIN BIN. DON, like the beating of a drum, and BIN, with its sharp resonance, could both be called onomatopoeia that convey sensation through the impression of sound.

In the second verse, these are replaced by きんきらきんきらRIN RIN!! (kinkira kinkira RIN RIN!!) and ばっちりばっちりBAN BAN!! (bacchiri bacchiri BAN BAN!!). Kinkira / きんきら expresses something shining brilliantly, and bacchiri / ばっちり is a word meaning that things go perfectly, with nothing left to be desired. In addition, RIN has a resonance that calls to mind the sound of a bell ringing, and BAN one that calls to mind the sound of something bursting open with force. In both the first and second verses, we can see a form in which listeners can enjoy not only the meaning but also the sound of the repeated words themselves.

Composer Takeshi Ike, on the official website, singles out these two opening phrases and expresses thanks to Omori for finding such memorable words to fit the densely packed notes. According to Real Sound's analysis, the heavy use of sixteenth notes is especially conspicuous in the "dokkiri dokkiri DON DON" section. A design that can be enjoyed through rhythm alone, even without knowing the meanings, is thought to overlap with Producer Seki's approach, which kept in mind children too young to read.

2. きっと毎日が日曜日 学校の中に遊園地

Romaji: Kitto mainichi ga nichiyōbi gakkō no naka ni yūenchi

Cultural Nuance: "Surely every day is Sunday, and there is an amusement park inside the school."

🗣 Japanese Insight: 毎日が日曜日 / mainichi ga nichiyōbi is an expression describing a state in which every day is a day off and one is free, like Sunday. Since Sunday is a day without school for Japanese children, just hearing these words conveys a sense of liberation. The きっと / kitto at the beginning is an adverb expressing the expectation that something will surely happen, even though there is no certainty. It can also be read as voicing an expectation within the fantasy set up by the preceding line, 不思議なチカラがわいたら (fushigi na chikara ga waitara, "if a mysterious power were to well up").

学校の中に遊園地 / gakkō no naka ni yūenchi overlays a place for studying with a place for playing. 遊園地 / yūenchi means "amusement park," and by ending with nouns alone, without a verb, the phrase creates the effect of the imagined scene spreading out right before one's eyes.

In the second verse, this changes to きっと毎日がたんじょう日 (kitto mainichi ga tanjōbi). It moves from a day off to a special day on which one gets celebrated, restated in the same "every day is…" (毎日が〜) pattern, which is part of what makes it interesting.

3. やな宿題はぜーんぶゴミ箱にすてちゃえ

Romaji: Yana shukudai wa zēnbu gomibako ni sutechae

Cultural Nuance: "Go ahead and throw all that unpleasant homework into the trash can."

🗣 Japanese Insight: やな / yana is a spoken contraction of いやな / iya na ("unpleasant"), which creates a childlike tone. ぜーんぶ / zēnbu is likewise ぜんぶ / zenbu (全部, "all") with its sound stretched out, an emphasis meaning "every last bit." 宿題 / shukudai refers to the homework assigned by school, something many children face in their daily lives, and in the way the lyric flatly tells them to throw it into the ゴミ箱 / gomibako (trash can), one can sense a childlike boldness.

すてちゃえ / sutechae is the spoken form of 捨ててしまえ / sutete shimae ("throw it away"), in which 〜ちゃう / ~chau is a contraction of 〜てしまう / ~te shimau. It has the ring of nudging someone on with "go ahead and just do it," and the ending え / e, though originally an imperative form, can be read here as a light tone, like friends urging each other on with やっちゃえ！ (yacchae!).

Producer Seki cites not wanting to do homework as an example of the "children's honest feelings" that were requested. This passage is probably an expression along those lines. The second verse also contains いたい注射はやわらかいマシュマロにしちゃえ (itai chūsha wa yawarakai mashumaro ni shichae, "turn the painful shot into a soft marshmallow"), which uses the same 〜ちゃえ form to replace something unpleasant with something fun.

4. 大きな声で ピリカピリララ

Romaji: Ōkina koe de pirika pirirara

Cultural Nuance: "In a loud voice, Pirika Pirirara."

🗣 Japanese Insight: ピリカピリララ / pirika pirirara is the same as the first half of the spell ピリカピリララ ポポリナペペルト (Pirika Pirirara Poporina Peperuto) that the main character Doremi Harukaze chants in the series. A spell (呪文 / jumon) is a set of words chanted when using magic, but no dictionary meaning can be confirmed for these words themselves, so it seems fair to see them as words to be enjoyed for their sound alone.

The 大きな声で / ōkina koe de ("in a loud voice") placed before it can be taken as encouraging singing out loud, as if chanting a spell, and the act of singing itself comes to sound like casting magic. The following はしゃいで騒いで歌っちゃえ (hashaide sawaide utacchae) also takes the 〜ちゃえ form seen in Phrase 3, and はしゃぐ / hashagu is a verb meaning to get carried away with fun and act boisterously. In the second verse it becomes ふざけて騒いで踊っちゃえ (fuzakete sawaide odotchae), with "sing" changing to "dance."

5. パパ ママ せんせ ガミガミおじさん

Romaji: Papa mama sen-se gamigami ojisan

Cultural Nuance: "Papa, Mama, teacher, and the middle-aged man who nags and grumbles."

🗣 Japanese Insight: パパ / papa and ママ / mama are the words children use to call their parents, and せんせ / sen-se is a childlike way of saying 先生 / sensei with the ending shortened. The ones lined up here are all adults close to a child's world, but the ガミガミ / gamigami that joins them is an onomatopoeia for the way someone loudly and persistently scolds or nags. Combined with おじさん / ojisan, it is thought to stand less for a specific person than as a symbol of a nagging adult.

In the following line うるさーい なんてね 火山が大噴火 (urusāi nante ne kazan ga daifunka), なんてね / nante ne is a colloquial expression that teases and softens a bold remark just made, as in "just saying that, you know." 火山が大噴火 / kazan ga daifunka can also be taken as a comical expression comparing an explosion of anger to a volcano.

The second verse takes the form ねなさーい なんてね かみなり落っこちた (nenasāi nante ne kaminari okkochita). The Japanese expression 雷が落ちる / kaminari ga ochiru ("thunder falls") is an idiom meaning to be scolded loudly and fiercely, and by choosing the childlike-sounding 落っこちた / okkochita, the line lets amusement come ahead of fear, which is a distinguishing feature. Note also that the lyrics do not say whose words うるさーい (urusāi) in the first verse and ねなさーい (nenasāi) in the second are. They can be read as a parent's or teacher's catchphrases, or as words a child mimics.

6. テストで3点 笑顔は満点 ドキドキワクワクは年中無休

Romaji: Tesuto de san-ten egao wa manten dokidoki wakuwaku wa nenjū mukyū

Cultural Nuance: "A score of 3 on the test, a full score for the smile. The doki-doki and waku-waku never take a day off, all year round."

🗣 Japanese Insight: Tests in Japan are often scored out of 100 points, so 3点 / san-ten (3 points) is quite low. 満点 / manten, on the other hand, means the maximum score, and by extension it is also used in the sense of "perfect, leaving nothing to be desired." It could be called wordplay, lining up a low score and a full score for the smile using words that share the same 点 / ten. By omitting the verbs and ending with nouns, the line also gains a pleasing rhythm.

ドキドキ / dokidoki is an onomatopoeia for the chest pounding with nervousness or anticipation, and ワクワク / wakuwaku is an onomatopoeia for the heart bouncing with excitement. Japanese describes and distinguishes such movements of the heart through the sound of words in this way.

年中無休 / nenjū mukyū combines 年中 / nenjū ("all year round") and 無休 / mukyū ("no days off"), and it is an expression often seen on shop signs and business notices. In English, it corresponds to "open every day of the year." By applying a shop's language to feelings, the line creates the humor of "the doki-doki and waku-waku are open for business anytime." It can also be read as forming a pair between the "day off" connoted by 毎日が日曜日 / mainichi ga nichiyōbi in Phrase 2 and 無休 / mukyū.

7. ジュースでカンパイ おかわり100パイ 元気がてんこ盛り 年中無休

Romaji: Jūsu de kanpai okawari hyappai genki ga tenkomori nenjū mukyū

Cultural Nuance: "A toast with juice, a hundred refills. Energy piled high, no days off all year round."

🗣 Japanese Insight: カンパイ / kanpai is 乾杯 (a toast), a word strongly associated in Japan with occasions of drinking alcohol, but here, followed by ジュースで / jūsu de ("with juice"), it becomes a toast among children. Incidentally, in everyday Japanese conversation, the word ジュース / jūsu is sometimes used broadly for sweet soft drinks in general, not just fruit juice.

おかわり100パイ / okawari hyappai can be read as wordplay that repeats, as is, the sound パイ / pai at the end of the preceding カンパイ / kanpai and connects it to 100杯 / hyappai ("100 cups"). おかわり / okawari means getting another serving of a drink or food, and bringing in an exaggerated number like 100 is exactly the kind of exaggeration typical of children.

てんこ盛り / tenkomori is a colloquial term for piling food high in a bowl like a mountain, and it is mainly used for things like rice. 元気がてんこ盛り / genki ga tenkomori applies that word to a feeling as a metaphor. With words about drinks and food following one after another (juice, refills, heaped-up servings), a single thread of connection is created.

And finally, 年中無休 / nenjū mukyū is a word used mainly in the world of business and commerce, expressing that a shop or the like operates without a break all year long. This business term is attached to ドキドキワクワク / dokidoki wakuwaku in the first verse and to 元気 / genki ("energy," "vitality") in the second, and the song closes with ずっとずっとね 年中無休 (zutto zutto ne nenjū mukyū), ending on this very phrase. It seems fair to say that the humor of feelings and energy being "open for business" without a break, like a shop, is amplified all the more through the repetition.

🎤 Emotional Summary

"Ojamajo Carnival!!" is a song that, while imagining the power of magic, turns the unpleasant parts of a child's everyday life, such as homework, nagging adults, and tests, into laughter. The onomatopoeia that appear throughout the lyrics, from DON DON and BIN BIN at the opening to gamigami and dokidoki wakuwaku, make it fun just to say them out loud even without knowing their meanings, and this can be called one of the song's major features. Add to this the sound of the spell "Pirika Pirirara," the light 〜ちゃえ (~chae) sentence ending, and the wordplay on 満点 (manten) and パイ (pai), and the lyrics as a whole produce a bouncing rhythm. The production side asked for lyrics expressing children's honest feelings, and considered it fine if the lyrics could not be memorized after a single hearing. That intention is probably reflected in the rhythm of the lyrics and the choice of words. And as 年中無休 (nenjū mukyū) is repeated at the very end, what remains is the joy of the dokidoki wakuwaku and the energy that "keep going without a day off."

📚 Sources & References

• Takeshi Ike Official Website, "Library: Ojamajo Carnival!!"

• animate Times, "How Ojamajo Doremi Was Made: Interview with Producer Hiromi Seki, Part 2" (May 2, 2024)

• Real Sound, "What Makes 'Ojamajo Carnival!!' Still Loved Today?" (by Kyu Nakanishi, August 27, 2020)

• Cinema Today, "Ojamajo Doremi Voice Cast Perform the Magic Spell Live" (November 14, 2020)

• ORICON NEWS, "Ojamajo Carnival!! | MAHO-Dou" (release date and label)