It's been two decades since Studio Pierrot last released a magical girl series. The studio made its mark on the genre in the 1980s with Creamy Mami, Magical Emi, the Magic Star, Magical Fairy Persia, and Magical Idol Pastel Yumi before taking a break for roughly ten years, returning in the 90s with Fancy Lala. Availability in English of the studio's early magical girls has been spotty at best (as of this writing, Magical Emi is only available online with French subtitles, one of Creamy Mami's movies is streaming, and nothing for either Yumi or Persia is legally available), so Pierrot's decision to simulcast Magical Sisters Lulutto Lilly (via their official YouTube channel as of this writing) is a major triumph for fans of the studio and classic, child-oriented magical girl series. And even better, Lulutto Lilly is very, very good.

Like most of Studio Pierrot's transforming heroines, sisters Rui and Fuu Nonoyama are granted the power to become teenage versions of themselves. (Or an older teen in Rui's case; she's either twelve or thirteen.) Elementary schooler Fuu first encounters the aliens who give the girls their magic, travelers from the planet Felix Star. Meeter, the alien she meets aboard his spaceship, offers Fuu a compact that holds a magic wand and tells her that she can use magic for one year, provided she keeps it a secret from others, including her family. He also assigns two catlike creatures, Uguisu and Azuki, to watch over her. Uguisu and Fuu bond quickly, but Azuki is drawn to Rui, Fuu's older sister, eventually revealing the secret of magic to her and offering her a compact and a wand. Both girls independently transform into older teens and are scouted by tiny agency Production Once More, and both are signed as idols, completely unaware that they're sisters in their true forms.

If this sounds a bit credulity-straining, even for the intended audience, that's fair. Presumably Azuki telling Rui about magic negates Fuu's obligation to keep it from Rui (although we don't find out in this cour), but the fact that neither girl notices that they have the same cats with the same names as the Nonoyama family pets is mind boggling; in one episode, Lulu and Lilly together send Uguisu and Azuki home to fool their parents about their curfew. Even a six-year-old would spot the problems with this. The issue of not telling anyone also seems to be a little fuzzy given how many denizens of Felix Star live in the girls' hometown, all of whom appear to know the truth about the girls' purportedly secret identities. But it's quite fortunate that the rules are a bit lax, given that by episode eleven Fuu is barely able to contain herself from spilling the secret, both to Lulu and Rui.

Those are the only real complaints I have, though. Lulutto Lilly is otherwise the epitome of both a Pierrot magical girl show and the genre in its classic form. This is particularly true with Rui/Lulu. As a little girl, Rui loved to sing, but an unspecified illness or incident caused her to stop. Not only is this the source of her mild estrangement from her sister, but it also caused the already shy Rui to retreat into herself. She gives the impression of being very contained, as if she's deliberately being as quiet and unobtrusive as possible. Fuu lives out loud; Rui would go through life making no noise at all if she could. That makes her transformation and subsequent scouting (and debut as an idol) significant. Magic allows her to reconnect with a part of herself she thought was gone forever. As Lulu, she can be seen and heard, supported by Lilly, Sena, and Toko at Production Once More. Being Lulu gives her permission to exist, which is very much in line with other classic magical girl stories across all subgenres; it's a major theme of Phantom Thief Jeanne, for example, where Maron finds validity in her transformation, and of Michiru and Kaoru's arc in PreCure Splash Star.

It works particularly well because Rui's more general magical girl trajectory is supported by Fuu's, which is very much in line with her Studio Pierrot sisters. Mami, Emi, Persia, Yumi, and Lala all enjoy their transformations for what they are: a temporary bit of fun and a way to explore themselves and their worlds. While there are more serious moments, notably in Creamy Mami and Fancy Lala, the emphasis is on fun and discovering ways to grow up when the time comes. That's what Fuu's use of her transformation is in line with; she's got the boy she has a sort-of crush on – Rui's classmate Shota – who becomes her fan when she's Lilly. She can go around town on her own and does “grown-up” things like shopping for trendy clothes. She can revel in the attention of other people without worrying about the repercussions, because she's not really Lilly. It's a safe space for discovery, which is what she needs, both at her age and because of her personality.

These thematic elements show up across the show's plot points. Episode seven, which involves a haunted vacation rental, does a very nice job of integrating the themes with the ongoing storyline (and could be genuinely scary for some younger viewers), while episode twelve, the girls' first concert, is triumphant in showing the disconnect between reality (Toko's efforts to make a cart) and the magic Lulu and Lilly inhabit. Shota and other kids the girls' (actual) age don't get much screentime, but given that this first cour was devoted to getting the girls comfortable in their new lives, that's forgivable.

Visually and aurally, this is a treat. The entire show is animated in pastels, with ombre hair and soft lines functioning as a callback to Creamy Mami. (And watch for the Mami and Emi cameos!) The music is almost ridiculously catchy, particularly the opening theme “Bubee Love,” even if it did make my mother ask why I was singing about my grandmother when she caught me with it stuck in my head. (Bubbe, pronounced the same way, is Yiddish for “grandma.”) If you enjoy classic magical girls or have a soft spot in your heart for the old Pierrot standbys, you really owe it to yourself to watch Magical Sisters Lulutto Lilly. It's fun, sweet, and a delightful way to retreat into your childhood's magic.