Nobody expects the magical girl movie from 1989 to be about class war, but here it is, kids defending their playground against gentrification, armed with a magic compact and pure spite. The movie treats the children's desperation as completely legitimate, not cute or quaint. It's a magical girl story that actually has something to say about power, property, and who gets to decide what happens to the places where you grow up.

Taisho's father owns a stretch of empty land behind his house, and he wants to put up an apartment building on it. The neighborhood children, though, use that lot as their playground, and they band together to stop the plan and keep the field just as it is. This feature film is a mahou shoujo comedy, and it builds its story around the kids' struggle to hold on to their favorite place to play.