Might I add that the animation of these two episodes was quite spectacular. The second episode in particular had a level of fluid motion when Akko fought against Croix that it makes me wish technology could move to a point that such movement could be achieved in anime without putting animators on deathwatch. One thing I found in these episodes is that Lotte and Sucy look to be close to fading into the background much like the enchanted Parade crew as they don’t play much of role in Akko’s quest to gather the words. Indeed Akko, Ursula and Croix seem to be in the main spotlight with perhaps Diana playing a small part. Really I believe that Little Witch Academia isn’t making full use of the cast of characters it has built up and there are episodes which could have greatly benefited from other characters taking a more active role.
It is not often that I am blindsided by a twist in a story. That may sound like bragging but in all my years of watching media I have come to get a general idea of how things play out. Of course I cannot predict with 100% accuracy what can come to pass in a show but I have gotten to a point of not being very surprised by it. Even if I don’t pick up on foreshadowing, with my regular trips to check out opinions on reddit often point out things that I miss. So having the real reason behind Chariots magic shows be something of a much sinister nature really was something I never considered. In truth I was hoping that Chariots reveal to Akko would be more…for lack of a better word…epic but this reveal does make the whole story make a lot more sense. Suddenly Urusala’s reluctance to reveal herself, her care for Akko and her drive to awaken the words are given a deeper context within the narrative. One thing that really is effected by this is Chariots show in the very first episode where the intervention of the Croix like creature may have been Croix herself attempting to prevent Chariot from stealing the magic of the audience. I honestly never saw this coming and the only thing I managed to guess was that Chariot really was responsible for the mark on the moon.
We at least know the full details of Croix’s plan now, that being to rile people up into a frenzy in order to gather their emotions to open her own grand triskelion. Essentially in part repeating the mistake that Chariot made in drawing magic out of people. Though in this case to a more negative degree. It’s clear that Croix doesn’t quite know what she’s messing with and i say any magic that glows blood red and is taken from negative emotions is not going to be some world saving solution. She’s clearly fueled by envy over not being chosen as well as her own pride so I am certain her little experiment is going to backfire on her, hard. But there are small signs that despite how antagonist she is being to Chariot that she still does care about her. When she managed to knock Ursula off her broom she actually panicked and tried to save her from falling. Her anger seems directed at Claimh Solas and Woodward rather that Chariot. So I think she might not even up this series final boss after all. Andrew also gets a moment or two here with him encouraging Akko for once and perhaps he might be the one to knock her out of her current funk. Or Diana might be a better option in that regard.
I theorized that magic is like any form of energy, it cannot be created nor destroyed, just transferred or transformed. As for Akko, her magic is related to Diana’s. However, how Diana got her magic back is simple.She didn’t get her original magic, her mother transferred all her magic into Diana. After her mother died, Diana learned about the seventh word which meant sacrifice. Diana interpreted that sacrifice meant that her mother took her own life to ensure that she has magic and Diana has since them blamed herself for her mother’s death. I’m pretty sure that when Diana learns that Chariot was the one responsible for her loss of magic and was Ursula, Diana might forgive Ursula for robbing her of her magic but will never forgive her for taking her mother away.
Akko will attempt to leave Luna Nova only to be stopped by Diana and Akko’s friends. Akko revealed that her whole dream was a big lie and Diana was right to call her a fraud as she worshiped the one who caused all these problems and responsible for her suffering. Diana counters that Akko has proven a true witch and hugs her in the process. Diana will bring up all the past noble deeds Akko has done and finally revealed her condition to Akko. Despite losing her ability to do magic, Akko did many amazing things all the while Diana had to use her mother’s magic. Diana was proud that Akko was not a rival but a kindred spirit as they both love magic. It was at this point, Akko learned about the meaning of the seventh word and went to the Fountain of Polaris where it saw Akko’s maturity and granted her new magic to prepare for the final battle.
The meaning of the seventh word, sacrifice. Despite all the hardships and both the light and dark of the world, one able to risked their own life to defend others is proof that one is worthy to be the master of the Grand Triskellion. Potential spoilers, Akko will disappear leaving everyone to believe that Akko was killed in bringing back magic leaving Chariot to confess that she robbed magic because she was a coward to sacrifice her own life but now Akko has taken her place. Suddenly, the Grand Triskellion restored everyone’s magic and Akko returned, alive showing what the seventh word meant. Akko has proven that she was not only the keeper of the Grand Triskellion but officially inducted into the Olde Witches not known as the Ten Olde Witches.
There were a lot of Ghibi/Nausicaa vibes in these episodes. So Dianna and Akko’s problems with magic are due to attending Chariot’s shows. Sad, very sad. Shame on Chariot to take the joy of children and turn it into something base.
This was an excellent episode. I was really caught off guard by the big reveal, too. Obviously there had to be some reason that Ursula/Chariot no longer had the rod / stopped performing, but I hadn’t really speculated much about it. It’s a good twist to explain a number of things as you mentioned, primarily Ursula’s reluctance to reveal her identity to Akko, an ongoing aggravation that that peaked at the cliched interruption last episode, though I definitely agree with the way it actually was handled. Croix smugly reciting an undoubtedly incomplete version of it while Ursula could only stand silently made for good drama and properly stomped on Akko’s yay!. I was getting somewhat bored with the erratic plot progression and lack of demonstrable character growth in Akko, mostly considering that the acquisition of the words is supposed to come from profound internal development – lampshaded in 21 when Akko herself admits it after Ursula saves her at Wagandea. Though, I’ve always looked forward to watching it for its fun and light-hearted atmosphere even if the story was getting a little derailed. Reflection reveals that even the first episode showing what we now recognize as Croix’s SSS-tech beast at Chariot’s show is significant. So little things like Diana’s Chariot card and presence at the show now tie directly into the main plot. A rewatch may be in order sometime that will reveal more purpose in some of the whim/word-chase of the day episodes. A lot of theories speculate Diana regained her magic not only through rigorous training but because of her mother’s sacrifice and/or strong witch heritage and/or family’s healing abilities, so we’re hopeful that Akko can still get jacked through more blood and sweat (discounting OP Claimh Solas mana drain ability, Riot/Blizzard plz nerf), but surely she’s feeling a little less driven:
https://i.imgur.com/OA1SoDN.jpg
Figure 1: Akko no yay
I still feel that the last three episodes will struggle to cram in all the story that was withheld for the first half of the series. We require proper time for Akko to process this development and get through those 7 stages of grief at a pace of about 1 stage/hr, elaborate on Chariot/Croix’s history/motivations/”downfall,” find the last word, further develop her relationship with Diana/Andrew and mend her one with Ursula while hopefully not completely abandoning our other characters, possibly fight a major battle / face a grave challenge, do the Grand Triskeletal dance which we know nothing about (if it’s a purely benevolent source of power why has it been locked up for a millennium? It’s been stated that available magic energy has been on the decline for at least a century, so one would have expected that the Shiny Rod’s been workin’ the clubs trying to get hooked up for some portion of that time prior to Chariot. Certainly there must be some consequences of unsealing it even if it’s just as simple as ‘it’s a finite source / one time “world change” and witches are still doomed in the long run unless they utilize “emotion fuel” and other sources of renewable magic’; the show has given us some info, but I find the world and lore fascinating and worth exploring), and produce a conclusion involving the show’s fairly large cast that trims up most of the dangling threads or at least sets up for a second season at anime girl Hogwarts.
I also liked Croix yelling at Chariot to wake up before hitting the ground at Wagandea in 21. Gives depth to a character that until now has been portrayed an manipulative, enigmatic ne-erdowell with no real motive other than a decade of simmering envy. She’s put quite a few people in harm’s way while slurping ramen in her lab, and I definitely think she had her phaserbots set to ‘kill’ when she attacked Akko on the roof, a sequence which as you mentioned was fabulously animated. Somebody was channeling Monty Oum’s spirit with Akko’s deft dodges from the mechablob-mob.
I am almost certain Chariot took the dream emotion fuel from the crowds without malice or even greed/power, evidenced by all we’ve seen about her character so far. Whether she believed it would naturally regenerate within folks, only a minute portion was taken, or that it would be restored upon successful unsealing of the Triskeletal, I doubt she was knowingly castrating the magic of everyone around. We were all young and dumb once, and there wasn’t exactly an instruction manual for a whimsical, semi-sentient 1000-year old artifact that literally grows out of trees and selects an owner. Croix’s monster could’ve played a number of roles as well. She could’ve been a collaborator in the show to create drama/fear and thus soak up even more fuel, perhaps she stumbled upon some information about what was occurring and appeared to try and stop Chariot, or maybe she was just trolling. No idea about the two’s relationship between her seemingly accepting the Rod’s choice in the flashback at the bean stalk tree and the current timeline. In her haughty history lesson to Akko, I believe she said something along the lines of, “the Rod done goofed – twice,” but it’s not unreasonable to assume they worked on finding the words together for at least some amount of time, and if she knew clues regarding the seventh she could just tell Chariot/Akko. For a scientific genius, the insinuation that she would have been successful with the Shiny Rod/Triskeltal dance where Chariot and Akko have failed is an illogical assumption. I’d also like to commend her excellent crazy-villain face as she showed off her sweet iPad app and LED-adorned flying Kyuubes while explaining her nefarious plot.
I wrote way too much. If anyone’s read this far and wants to discuss: has anyone seen Croix actually use traditional magic/a broom? It’s possible she lost her magic via the Rod’s Drain ability or the sky-tree pollen or something. I’d probably go full Voldemort if I were in her position and already envious of Chariot / had OP magic skills (I think her aptitude has been mentioned..) but flunked out of Luna Nova because Chariot pulled an Akko and did something stupid and accidentally stole my shit. I only remember seeing her floating around on her roomba / swiping left on her iPad.
Oh. And thank you for this site, guys. I recently found this ‘blog’ while looking for Dennou Coil reviews which are fairly rare and pretty polarized. It came as a recommendation from an ex who hates most anime (despite being friends with a bunch of us dirty weebs and having gone to cons like a half-dozen times), and I finally got around to checking it out. I agree with psegls’ review. Great show.