In many ways, Lala is a 90s update of Creamy Mami. Both revolve around a young girl who gains the magical power to metamorphose herself into an older girl, both feature girls who become idol singers, and both feature a duo of cute magical guardians that serve to guide and watch over the heroine (cats in Creamy Mami, dinosaur-looking things in Lala). Both share attractive character designs by Takada Akemi (Kimagure Orange Road, Mobile Police Patlabor). Yet despite the fact that the story is not very original, the formula works.

Young girls will surely relate to Shinohara Miho, an awkward nine-year-old girl and aspiring manga artist who suddenly finds she can transform into a lovely 15-year-old girl named Lala (voiced by Oomori Reiko, a real-life 14-year-old when this series was made). Through Lala, girls can magically become pretty, popular, and older. They can vicariously fulfill their fantasies of being an actress, model, or pop singer. They can even become the object of their favorite idol's affection -- Lala gets to do it all.

Yet there is much more to this series than a sugar-coated spoonful of wish-fulfillment for young girls. The situations Miho gets herself into while attempting to keep her alternate identity a secret are frequently hilarious. Miho and her family are very human characters, and it is easy to empathize with their struggles. There is a delicate look at first love (Yamaguchi Kappei, doing his "young boy" voice, plays a classmate with a crush on Miho, though he would never actually admit it), and also a real mystery regarding the true nature of Miho's magic.

LaLa belongs to the "magical girl" genre. Like many other magical girl characters, from Magical Princess Minky Momo to Akazukin ChaCha, the main character Miho (alias LaLa) is a very young girl who gains the magical power to become a (relatively) adult version of herself. Unlike many other magical girls, Miho does not transform to become a heroine; she does it just to enjoy herself.