This is a tale of a man whose wife died during childbirth. The man decided to enroll his daughter in a magic school she that she could become one of the witches who brought such happiness to the world. But the man was called off to war and gave his daughter a bell ringer as a charm to help him get home safely. Alas the man was shot during the war and died cursing himself for leaving his daughter all alone in the world. Years later than man comes back from the grave when three witches accidentally bring him back to life and searches for his daughter so he can apologize for dying on her. Only to find that the daughter never resented him and grew up to be a witch just as he wished. The man then spends his last moments on earth with his daughter before joining his wife in the afterlife. It’s a very touching tale…or at least it would have been if the man wasn’t aggravating during every minute of screentime.
Well, this is the first episode of Little Witch Academia that I truly didn’t enjoy and I think the prime reason is that bang of bones. This could have been a really good episode if approached differently but instead it was this zombie running around causing trouble until he remembered what it was he wanted to do. Essentially the same gag over and over. Zombie runs off and causes trouble, Akko and crew try to stop him, once stopped he runs off again to cause trouble, Akko and crew try to stop him, wash, rinse, repeat.
We at least got some worldbuilding as we learned about the golden age of magic in which before technology, witches helped with everything. Again the big question of “If magic is so useful then why is it considered outdated?” looms over the series but we haven’t got an answer for that yet. I am a little disappointed in Akko trying to once again solve her mistakes with magic as it feels a bit like a regression after her character grown before. I think it’s safe to say that the episodic nature of the series has become a little worn out and i am not the only one craving a little more progression. It’s nice to learn more about the headmistress and it’s a interesting touch that when heading out to town each girl must leave behind an object they care for. As it mirrors the very thing the headmistresses father did with the bell wand.
But if we were going to do this episode I would have preferred that the zombie wasn’t trying so hard to be funny. When you introduce a character and said character does nothing but constantly unapologetically cause trouble for the cast then it’s difficult to find them endearing. If they changed his personality and maybe went for a less manic persona this tale could have hit right in the heart. As it is now I am glad I won’t be seeing this character again. Animation seemed on the lower quality today but after last episode I am not too surprised. I have heard word that this was outsourced a bit and I suppose if we are going to do that it’s better done with one of the weakest episodes of the series.