If you enjoy magical bishojo anime then Magical Doremi is an anime for you. While not focusing on bishoujo, Magical Doremi does focus on clumsy elementary school student Harukaze Doremi, who has an affinity for witches (to be more specific, to become one herself). Doremi gets her wish one day when she encounters an actual witch at a magic shop, with Harukae turning Majorika into a small worm like creature (if a witch is revealed to be a witch, they transform into a familia). As punishment for revealing her true form, Majorika decides to turn Harukaze into a full fledge witch in order to transform herself back. As you’d expect, having a ditzy, wishy-washy person such as Doremi for a witch ends up being an amusing series to watch unfold.

Already Magical Doremi and Sugar Sugar Rune have the whole magical witch aspect about both of them. They both also share the innocent plot at first, which evolves into a more complex dark plot as the series progresses. Magical Doremi, just as with Sugar Sugar Rune, has a contrasting cast of characters with opposing attitudes between them. While Chocolat is loud and gregarious in Sugar Sugar Rune, Vanilla is more laid-back and shy, refraining from speaking unless spoken to. Doremi is the same way in Magical Doremi, being the outgoing but spacey girl in her group. Her other friend, Fujiwara Hazuki, is the shy but brilliant type, being the more reserved and logical friend in their trio much like Vanilla in Sugar Sugar Rune. Their transfer student friend Seno Aiko is the energetic, friendly, and popular one of their group. If you do decide to watch Magical Doremi and want more of the same thing, there are three (yes, count them three) more series that are sequels to Magical Doremi: Magical Doremi Sharpd, Motto Magical Doremi and Magical Doremi Dokkan.

Shugo Chara! is an anime about Amu Hinamori, an elementary school student who is thought to be the coolest girl in the entire school. The thing is, Amu actually isn’t. She just wants to wear dresses from time to time, be cheerful and happy, and overall just act like a normal girl. So after a night of hopeful wishing to herself, three brightly colored eggs appear beneath her (no joke). They hatch into Guardian Characters, little spirits who are personifications of who Amu truly is on the inside. With the help of these Guardian Characters, Amu will learn how to literally be herself.

Already taking one look at Shugo Chara! and you’ll be reminded of the cute atmosphere of Sugar Sugar Rune. From the way girl’s character acts to the little chibi designs of the Guardian Characters are reminiscent of the character design in Sugar Sugar Rune. That also goes for the animation style as well. Similar to Magical Doremi and Sugar Sugar Rune, Shugo Chara!’s story becomes more serious and darker as you progress through the anime (even though it does have to do with eggs and a magical lock known as a Humpty Lock). Unlike Magical Doremi, the love aspect is more in line with Sugar Sugar Rune’s. It’s the more usual “lovey-dovey” kind of relationship. Amu has a major crush for Tadase Hotori, but dances around the topic when with him, gets embarrassed when around him, etc. Humor is still a driving force in this anime, but not as much as Magical Doremi (but it is still pretty funny either way).

Sakura Kinomoto walks into her parent’s library one day to find a mysterious book. After carelessly picking the book up and opening it, Sakura releases all the cards within the mystical book, having only the guardian of the book Kero (or Cerberus, if you want to call him by his full name) to help her. Since Sakura released the cards and all the Clow beasts sealed within them, the Kero gives her the official title of card captor and the mission to capture ALL of the monsters released. Oh yeah, Sakura is a cheerleader too. Known as Cardcaptor Sakura, based on the manga and produced by the legendary CLAMP studio, it’s no wonder this series became a favorite among anime fans.

Already Cardcaptor Sakura reminds one more of Pokemon or Dinosaur King than Sugar Sugar Rune, but keep on reading for the similarities. In Sugar Sugar Rune, Chocolat and Vanilla have to collect hearts in order to decide who will become the next queen. Sakura must collect all the released cards so her world isn’t destroyed. Okay, those two don’t have that much in common, but they do involve collecting stuff. And as usual with these types of anime, the usual love interest is also included (she has a crush on her older bro’s friend Yukito). Also, similar to Sugar Sugar Rune’s later half, Cardcaptor Sakura is already action driven from the get go. Don’t believe us? Watch the first episode and you’ll get a sense of the battle’s Sakura will be going through.

This magical girl anime is about a mermaid who can transform into a powerful pop singer! Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is about princess Lucia Nanami and her cute penguin sidekick Hippo as they try to locate the other mermaid princesses in order to combat the evil water demons. Not only this, but Mermaid Melody also focuses on Lucia’s love, a human boy named Kaito Domoto. Unfortunately, Lucia doesn’t realize the danger she’s in if she confesses her love to a human. What will become of Princess Lucia and Kaito? The only way to find out is to watch Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch!

You can obviously tell the shoujo style is present in both Sugar Sugar Rune and Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch. Both have characters with large eyes, small faces with pointed chins, and the proportions of the characters themselves. Other similarities between the two include the themes of love and, more importantly, good versus the forces of evil. Such as how Chocolat and Vanilla have to be on the lookout for black hearts in the world, Princess Lucia has to constantly battle with water demons of various sizes and forms in order to keep the world safe. Another similarity between the two anime would be the importance of friendship. Chocolat and Vanilla are best friends, and they would do anything to save the other (this becomes more prevalent near the end of Sugar Sugar Rune). In Mermaid Melody, Lucia wouldn’t be strong enough to defeat the water demons all by herself nor adjust to normal human livelihood, so her friends are necessary in order to keep the world protected and to maintain her daily life.

Yes, an anime about a girl who transform in a magical ballerina! Princess Tutu can be described… exactly as that. Ahiru is a young girl who attends a private dancers’ school in an odd unnamed town. Although Ahiru aims to become one of the top dancers at her school, it’s a bit of a challenge due to her clumsy and spacey behavior. It doesn’t help when she’s destined to save the world by transforming into Princess Tutu, a graceful and beautiful ballerina who smites evildoers with her elegant moves. And FYI, Ahiru means duck in the Japanese language, which is what Ahiru truly is: a duck. That may be hard to believe, but it should be expected for a town where a cat is a dance teacher along with an anteater.

One would mistake Princess Tutu as something Studio Ghibli would’ve made due to the feeling the anime gives off (talking animals, bizarre world that is the norm for the inhabitants of said world, creepy evil character pulling all the strings, etc), but the strange world is similar to the Witch World in Sugar Sugar Rune, where rules and customs are slightly different than they're in the normal human world. Where it was polite to be loud in the Witch World, it’s normal to have… walking animals as teachers. In Sugar Sugar Rune, Pierre and Rockin’ Robin, who start off as minor characters, play a larger role later in the anime. The same goes for Mytho in Princess Tutu, having a very strong connection to storyteller Drosselmeyer (the creepy old dude in Princess Tutu). And just as with every other anime recommendation mentioned above, Princess Tutu also has to do with love, just as innocent as it is in Sugar Sugar Rune. Overall, Princess Tutu could be described as a more classy and refined version of Sugar Sugar Rune.

This next anime is way more modern than the recent ones on this list. Momona (yes she has no last name) is supposed to be attending her cousin’s wedding in Jewel Land when she is suddenly brought into the Jewel Palace. Specifically chosen by her mentor jewelpet Ruby, a little rabbit creature with red eyes, Momona is one of several candidates in line to become the next Lady Jewel of the land. In order to reach this attain this high title, Momona will have to learn how to act like a proper lady and prove that she is the worthy one out of her other competitors for the job. This is basically a modern day bishoujo anime, and we mean that literally. Her magical transformation device is an iPod, with apps that perform different activities! One can tell they knew their specific audience of today.

Lady Jewelpet also has the traditional shoujo aesthetic to it, but in this case, it has the current pop shoujo art style rather than the old Sailor Moon style. It would be hard to explain if one doesn’t compare old animation with newer ones and vice-versa, but basically the shoujo style has evolved to have characters with small heads but large rounded eyes, large and over the top hairstyles, noses represented only by a line or dot, and of course a rounded chin and essentially rounded features. The old style is basically a more pointier and cartoon-ish style, the style that Sugar Sugar Rune is most similar to. You would actually have to compare two images side by side in each style to get the idea. Moving on, Lady Jewelpet has an overall happy and cheerful atmosphere to it. It may be due to the vivid colors and fluid animation, but there never seems to be a dull moment for your eyes on the screen as you watch Lady Jewelpet, just as in Sugar Sugar Rune.

The plots are very similar to one another with mild alterations. Chocolat and Vanilla must collect enough hearts in order to be worthy of becoming the next Witch Queen in the Witch world. That sounds an awful lot like Momona’s mission in Lady Jewelpet, which is to become the next Lady Jewel by receiving different etiquette training and quests to prove her worth as a true lady. The romance in this anime is spot on to the romance within Sugar Sugar Rune. Momona doesn’t exactly like nor care for Kaien (at first). The two eventually start to gain feelings for one another as they work together through their various trials and challenges. Sounds like the relationship between Chocolat and Pierre in Sugar Sugar Rune. Any bishoujo anime wouldn't be complete without the eventual dark turn of events within the plot and, as you could guess, Lady Jewelpet also has this intertwined with their storyline as well. If you want a anime with more current themes and animation to it, Lady Jewelpet is the way to go.