Mama wa shougakku yonensei, or Mama is a 4th Grader is not really a Magical Girl show like all of the others listed on the page. However it does share many things in common with them, and it is a very cute show, so I decided to include it on this page anyways.

Mama is a 4th Grader is the story of an incredibly cute 4th grade girl named Mizuki Natsumi. Natsumi, like many Magical Girls, is a tomboy. She is very outgoing and friendly. The series revolves around something very strange that happens in Natsumi's life.

The story takes place during a time when Natsumi's parents are away in England. Natsumi is left behind in Japan in the care of her aunt Izumi, an aspiring shounen (boys) manga artist that is even more of a tomboy than Natsumi. Natsumi's life is pretty normal up until this point. She is well liked in her class by everyone. She has a great 4th grade teacher named Ookawa-sensei, and two funny best friends named Eriko and Tamae. There is also a boy in Natsumi's class that she has a crush on. His name has escaped my mind at the moment, but he is very cute and obviously brushes his teeth with "Anime Gleam" (TM) toothpaste, because his teeth always seem to sparkle brilliantly when Natsumi stares at him. There is also a boy in Natsumi's class named Daisuke that is considered to be a little 'tough'. He wears his hair long and in a ponytail and he has an earring. Fortunately, Natsumi is tough enough to handle anything Daisuke does.

Meanwhile, in another time, a pretty young woman and her husband are having a usual evening at home. The house looks amazingly similiar to young Natsumi's house. The young woman is playing some music from a music box to her cute little baby. Playing with her daughter, the woman puts a little pink band in the baby's hair. The woman's husband calls the woman over to the next room to see his latest invention. It seems to be some sort of communications device with two matching trasmitters. They seem to work like walkie talkies. As the woman is in the other room with her husband, a huge flash of lightning and thunder crashes and they hear their baby laugh in the next room. The woman rushes back to her daughter to see her raise up into the air on a wave of electrical energy, and disappear.

Things are going pretty much as usual for Natsumi, despite her parent's absence, and the presence of her wacky aunt. But then something strange happens. Namely the arrival of a cute little baby from nowhere. It is a stormy night, and as the lightning crashes, a baby appears in the air in Natsumi's family room. The baby lands safely. Needless to say, Natsumi is a bit startled by this. The baby is cute to the extreme, wearing a little pink jumpsuit and a pink band holding her hair in one ponytail on top of her head. Natsumi's aunt is not home at the time of the baby's arrival, and Natsumi is a bit panicked. She does her best to take care of the baby, but has no idea who the baby is. Fortunately, the baby seems to have arrived with a bag full of supplies, including a strange (but cute, of course) sort of compact and a pin-on transmitter. The transmitter is pinned on the baby's jumpsuit.

Suddenly the transmitter and the compact make some noise and someone's frantic voice can be heard. It is a woman's voice and she is asking about her baby. To Natsumi's shock, the voice is her own! It seems that the baby she is now holding is her very own daughter from 15 years in the future!

Much of the story revolves around poor Natsumi's amazing dilemma. She is faced with the responsibility of taking care of her own child! Natsumi's aunt helps her out, but neither of them are very experienced with child-raising. The baby has come with a few very cute 'magical items' that help Natsumi out with taking care of the baby, who name seems to be 'Mirai' (which, appropriately enough, means 'future'.) Many issues come up in the series, including the fact that she has to keep the baby's presence a secret from everyone, including nosy neighbors, the troubles of trying to shoulder the responsibility of raising a baby and attend 4th grade at the same time. She is like a working mom trying to juggle a child and work. Also, there is the question of who the child's father is! They never show his face really at first, so we are left guessing if it is someone from her 4th grade class, or someone else competely.

This is such a cute show. There is a lot of supernatural things going on, what with the baby's gadgets (and they are pretty amazing- one even has the power to pause time!) as well as a very realistically portrayal of trying to raise a child. Mirai is very real. Everything about the show is very sweet, especially the ending song. I highly recommend this anime for shoujo anime fans!