Creamy Mami is almost always at least solid, and is often incredible. It has one of the most emotionally effective finales that I've seen in a Mahou Shoujo show, maybe second to only Sailor Moon S1. Osamu Kobayashi starts and ends off the show with a bang - stunningly high quality storyboards from a veteran. Tomomi Mochizuki and Takashi Anno do great storyboarding work on their episodes.The extended rotation in Mochizuki's episode 50 showcased some of the most technically accomplished compositing and camera work I've seen in TV anime. His episode 37 makes for a stunningly surreal supernatural murder mystery with a surprisingly dark conclusion. Episode 10 by Takashi Anno has some strong uses of verticality in shot composition and camera work in order to deliver on the central theme of the episode.

There are a good number of episodes with excellent animation, whether it be the acting, athletics, animated backgrounds, effects, or even mechanical animation in a few episodes. The style of motion seems distinct from the Kanada school that was popular at the time. I noticed the classic Tatsunoko quality perspective and effects work here, as well as the more frequent than normal use of 1s which had been a staple of Tatsunoko since all the way back in the 60s. This set of tendencies would inevitably be passed on when the early Pierrot members broke off I suppose. This only scratches the surface though. There is more for me to understand and unpack from it all, and there is far more here than a mere continuation of old traditions. Shinya Takahashi's episodes in the early part particularily stand out thanks to the involvement of Toshiyasu Okada and his virtuosic but hardly showy realism. All in all, while not every episode is amazing animation wise, some are even a tad boring on that front - the undeniable high quality execution of a less commonly appreciated style of animation is easy to notice. I feel educated, bewildered, and enriched by this experience with the animation. There is always something new to dig in to when it comes to the diverse talents of Showa era animators.

The episodic plots tend to be well structured and engaging, and the characters are easy to empathize with. Even characters who were created under the concept of a repeated gag end up revealing more dynamism and depth than you would expect. It unifies the episodic plots through some loose thematic coherence and a central tension that never gets old despite motivating pretty much the whole show. It shows a kind of skill with the writing and overall vision of the work that tends to be more common in older episodic shows with some unifying constraints around them. Megumi was absolutely wonderful as a foil to Mami. I often found myself liking Megumi even more than Mami.