Tag: Studio Trigger

Little Witch Academia – 13[Samhain Magic]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

While the episodic structure still lingers I can say that this is an episode I can get behind. There was at least progression in that Akko revived another word and a hidden villain at episodes end. But what makes it work is that unlike the more lackluster episodes previously, the story didn’t return to zero once the episode ended. In the zombie episode or bee episode, by the time the episode ended the characters were right back in the same position that they started. But then episode ended with good developments. For one we have Diana who has been rather harsh on Akko as of late. It’s quite understandable when you take into account that Diana was at first intrigued about her but over the series became frustrated at how Akko refuses to improve or take things seriously. In a way Diana’s feelings mirrored that of audience as she had lost any real faith in Akko. When this episode ends with her actually feeling conflicted and dissatisfied. Diana followed the rules and performed a impressive feat of magic but both the audience and her know full well who stole the show. Much like episode 2, Diana gets the kudos and becomes the moonlight witch due to Akko being disqualified for not following the rules. When comparing their fats, Diana summoned a unicorn and Akko broke an ancient curse to save the soul of a princess. Akko’s approach was clumsy and awkward but she nonetheless accomplished what Diana couldn’t or even dared to think of. I think on some level Diana does see Akko as a rival and may even dream of performing magic like Shiny Chariot. But Akko seems far closer to Chariot than Diana could ever be.

It’s nice to see that Sucy and Lotte were at first reluctant to go with Akko’s plan and Lotte even mentions that they can’t keep following along with her. Akko has often dragged the two along with her regardless of what they think so it was nice that they refused initially but decided to help in the background once they seen how hard Akko was practicing. It is a wonder as to why the school never tried to break Vajarois curse before but seeing as they are such a stickler for tradition perhaps they never even thought of it. But why is it that this was tradition in the first place? Well if the end of the episode is to go by, perhaps there was a good reason as to why this princess was kept cursed. Maybe to prevent something from escaping. Akko’s little show clearly took inspiration from Chariot as she attempted transformation spells in a similar manner. Of course due to her lack of skill these transformations became comedic rather than impressive. The audience enjoyed it regardless after the entire festival was a bore for everyone due to sticking with tradition.  While looking at them, I do wonder if those which judges might be playing a part in future events. One of them looks far too well designed to just be a one off character.

We have hit the halfway point of Little witch Academia so perhaps Netflix will finally put the series up on their service. Even better if they dub it. My overall impressions of the show is that it is overall great despite having a weak episode or two. This show is still indeed fun and when it gets it right it usually knocks it right out of the park. It’s possible now is the time when the series shrugs off the episodic structure and moves for an ongoing narrative but if they can keep a string of progression like in this episode I would be fine with the episodic structure remaining. Even the anime greats have a weak episode or two but for this show to be considered great the second half has really got to bring out all the stops. Amanda and her crew haven’t been present all that much so I think they are getting their due and it’s clear an antagonist is coming by the premonition Akko received and the mysterious figure at the end of the episode.

Little Witch Academia – 11[Blue Moon]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

I don’t mind the lighthearted shenanigans of Little Witch Academia but in my opinion it’s episodes like this that will truly make the show memorable. After ten episodes of mere hints as to the state of magic and it’s history we get a truckload of answers. Why is magic being considered antiquated? Because magic is declining and less witches are being born into the world. What is Ursula’s past? Much like Akko, she chased after her own Icon in the form of professor Woodward, one of the great witches. What is the plot of Little Witch Academia? Akko must activate the magic words of Shiny rod(Claiomh Solais) and bring back magic to the world. As it stands Akko has activated two of the words, strangely the spell she said in the second episode doesn’t seem to count. We even get a small glimpse of an antagonist and strangely it wasn’t the horned woman who turned out to be Professor Woodward. It’s nice to see Ursula get some development though rather silly that Akko is too oblivious to notice her connections to Shiny Chariot. Even the Bird in Ursula’s room should have been a massive giveaway. Though perhaps I don’t give her enough credit as in her dream it showed at first Ursula from behind before switching to Chariot while repeating Ursula’s words. At least on a subconscious level, I think she’s beginning to catch on. Either way, with a task given to her by Woodward I think Ursula is going to buckle down on Akko’s training. If so I hope they go further with the bond the two have in this master student relationship.

Can I just say just how refreshing it is to see anime make references to Irish Mythology? I admit that as an Irishman I am biased in that regard but it’s just so refreshing to see something referenced that isn’t bloody leprechauns. Today we know the real name of Shiny rod and that is Claiomh Solais which strangely enough translated to “Shining Sword”. Considering that it has the ability to transform into a bow and an axe I say that it is highly likely that it also has the ability to transform into a sword. I also really loved the celtic theme that played when Ursula was talking to Woodward. Quite marvelous. This episode was a bit of a retread of the fountain of polaris as Akko once again seeks out something detailed in her Shiny Chariot cards. Though with the fountain she was seeking a quick path to becoming a great witch, here she is just trying to see if she has the potential to become Shiny Chariot. While the reason for seeking it out is different, the lesson is more or less the same. In a way it’s sort of regression that Akko needs to learn that there are no shortcuts for her a second time. It is understandable that she is losing patience with her constant failures with magic though she has made progress. The weakest part of this episode was the choice that Akko was presented as giving up her past in exchange for being Shiny Chariot was out of the question from the start. There was no tension in the choice because the choice was obvious. Otherwise I consider this a great episode of the show and one it sorely needed at this point.

My biggest worry at the moment is that with the story laid out this will mean we return to the more episodic nature of previous episodes. After this development I don’t think people would have the patience for the show to sideline it so that we can see Akko have some  one off adventure with little consequence. One of the things that could suggest this return is that while Sucy and Lotte have gotten their own individual episodes, there’s still Amanda and her whole crew that have yet to get the spotlight. Not saying I wouldn’t want an Amanda or Constance episode but if we are going to get one I would wish it would push forward some kind of plot. Diana may have gotten a large amount of screentime but I feel she has become a Mary Sue with the antagonistic aspects of her removed. I originally applauded this change as I thought this would put more focus on her contrast with Akko but unfortunately she just has been disconnected with the stories so far. So in order for this show to really shine we need Akko to work towards finding these words while developing the side cast of characters. One last thing, was Sucy meditating at the start of the episode? That’s a pretty interesting detail.

Little Witch Academia – 09[Brightonberry’s Undead Travel Log]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

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.

Little Witch Academia – 08[Sleeping Sucy]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

After Lotte got her own episode I did think it was a matter of time before Sucy got the spotlight. However I did not expect her episode to be so…weird. Personally I consider this the weakest episode of the series so far as it didn’t really push the plot forward and was more focused on being wacky rather than charming. The end of the episode essentially pulls the “It was all a dream” twist and despite not really being so, this episode felt like filler. Enjoyable filler but well filler nonetheless. There are a considerable amount of references this week with shoutouts to Akira and Sleeping Beauty being a few of them. If there’s one thing to take out of this it’s that Sucy does genuinely care about Akko despite her pranks. The theater in her head does replay their first meeting often which does show that she cherishes that memory.

Animation got fairly creative and having the episode take place inside Sucy’s head allowed Trigger to get more silly that they usually does with Little Witch Academia. This is purely speculation on my part but I think that Hiroyuki Imaishi was more involved with the creation of this episode than You Yoshinari. Mainly because the tone was kinda similar to the likes of Hiroyuki’s Kill La Kill or Luluco. Now I am all for having fun but from what I seen of Trigger’s animation studio online, those people need some sleep and having this much effort go into an episode which is essentially fluff has me worried about burning the animators out. Passion is beautiful but for the love of god guys don’t kill yourselves with overwork. But what else can I say about this episode? I don’t really know as I don’t think I really learned anything new about Sucy despite being in her head for an entire episode. The most telling thing was the movie theater and a lot of that could be surmised by her normal behavior. She does have parts of herself like her mild interest in reading nightfall but really everyone has whims such as those.

Other than that I don’t have much to add here, this episode was madness from start to finish and while I liked it I felt it missed the distinct qualities that make Little Witch Academia so different from their other original works. There is a wackiness to the show but it’s the heart and charm that truly make it memorable. We saw a glimpse of that here with the movie theater but the rest was more or less comedy chaos with little rhyme or reason. Seeing as we have a two cour season I don’t see any real harm in spending an episode in manic oddness and cultural references. As long as Little Witch Academia doesn’t forget whats important it will remain high on my watchlist.

Little Witch Academia – 07[Orange Submariner]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

It’s good to see that the strides Akko made last episode are still in effect as she is not making an honest effort to improve herself. She’s taking lessons from Ursula and paying attention in class but despite this her improvement is minimal. That’s good as I don’t want to see Akko become a top class student just because she’s trying now and her development is likely to be a main driving force for the series going forward. What this episode highlighted well though was that Luna Nova clearly hasn’t made an effort to accommodate for Akko. Akko is one of the first student to attend the academy from outside a wizarding family so it is natural to assume that she would need to be taught from the very basics of magic. However the teachers of the academy never took this into account and have thrown her into the deep end without anything to guide her. Akko’s difficulties with magic are not necessarily her own fault but also the fault of her educators who quite frankly never made an effort to incorporate her into the school. This is what makes the teacher’s rant against her at the end of the episode so utterly infuriating. For the teacher places all the blame on Akko without considering her own failings in teaching her.

After all one of the teachers required her to understand fish language for crying out loud and this woman is complaining about why she can’t keep up with the other students who clearly have had plenty of preparation before entering the school. You didn’t even tell her that she was going to need to be able to ride a broom to even enter the school. By all accounts, Akko isn’t a bad student. It just seems like she is being taught wrong. She seems to learn quickly when people are depending on her which allows her to get a grasp of fish language and movement spells in one fell swoop when she is needed.(Though the fish language thing I find a little too convenient) Which brings me to something I didn’t expect which is that Ursula is also learning while teaching Akko. The two have really started to be bond and Ursula in turn needs to learn the right way to teach Akko. So Ursula will be growing with Akko and I think there is something there when Akko remarks on childhood dreams. By teaching her Ursula looks to be regaining the fire she had in her youth and seeing her stand up for Akko at the end of the episode was immensely satisfying

My previous theory about the sorcerer’s stone being the only place one can use magic in the world looks to have fallen through as Ursula remarks about numerous magical professions around the world. I admit my theory didn’t really account for just what the students do upon graduation but just how is magic considered useless by the modern populous? There are things that only magic can do so I have a hard time understanding just how this could be considered antiquated. The only other ways i can see this mindset being logical is if magic has much greater limitations outside of the school or if the traditional mindset of the community has made the world ignorant of magics true potential. This is an issue that needs to be addressed but I have a feeling trigger isn’t going to let this be some plot hole to overlook.  Lastly it’s nice to see the shooting star mentioned in the paper detailing Akko’s marine adventure. Looks like it’s still flying around. Theres also the matter of Diana’s prediction that Akko would leave the school which seems to have more meaning than Diana worded it.

Little Witch Academia – 06[The Fountain of Polaris]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

I should start having more faith in Trigger. Just at the point when Akko’s mentality was starting to become a problem, she gets an episode dedicated to fixing that. After gaining shiny rod Akko was under the impression she was something special but now after failing in magic again she is finally acknowledging her shortcomings. I was getting worried as she began looking for a quick fix by finding the fountain of Polaris but the fountain itself only showed her that Shiny Chariot was once in her position. Thus Akko is ready to truly begin working hard at magic and accept Ursula’s help which I think could be the beginning to a real mentor and student relationship between the two. One thing I find interesting is that Ursula took away Shiny Rod when she rescued Akko and Andrew only to return it once Akko acknowledged her weaknesses and decided to do better. Also it truly is set in stone that Ursula is Shiny Chariot. Her hair has changed to red and she clearly knows far too much about the nature of Shiny Rod, the cards and Polaris’s protector. I am curious was to what prompted her to disappear and hide as a teacher in Luna Nova but there’s another moment I am quite looking forward to. Since the first OVA I always wanted to see the reaction Akko and Diana would have to Ursula revealing herself as Shiny Chariot. I don’t really expect it to happen until the very end of the series but I would love it to be a great epic reveal before facing off against the main villain.(If this series has one) It’s cliche and predictable maybe but I always did have a weakness for that kind of heroic reveal.

With the introduction of the Duke’s son comes a new concern. Romance in Little Witch Academia. Actually let me rephrase that. Plausible romance in Little Witch Academia. I know you Yuri shippers are shipping hard and I certainly have seen that Akko kissing Diana comic strip more times than I can count but come on. We both know the truth. Most you guys will get is slight insinuation if you are really lucky. As far as straight romances go it seems like Diana and Andrew doesn’t look likely as both know each other from childhood and don’t hold each other in high regard. Akko seems to have caught his attention though the two aren’t staring into each others eyes with deep red blushes. Truthfully I am not truly fond of the idea of romance in this show, be it gay or straight. If it’s featured it would need to be a very minor addition as I don’t want a Kiznaver situation where the plot grinds to a halt so characters can get shipped together. I highly doubt Little Witch will go down that route, for one it’s not written by Mari Okada, but yeah as far as romance goes I say keep it minor or keep it out.

It was around episode 6 that Kill La Kill dropped it’s episodic format for a more ongoing narrative so we may be seeing the birth of an ongoing plotline. The Duke himself seems fed up with Luna Nova himself and is looking to close it down. It has been repeated by now that magic is seen as out of date and useless by the modern populous but why is that exactly. By all accounts the magic shown in the series could have several uses and even as the duke berates it he is driving through a magic portal. Technology is undeniably useful but it seems odd for so many people to dismiss magic outright. So far the biggest problem with using magic is that you need to be near the Sorcerer’s stone in order to use it. That in fact may be the main reason why people consider it useless. I mentioned before that Luna Nova has a rather diverse student body but perhaps the reason for that is that Luna Nova quite literally is the only place on the planet where one can learn magic? The Sorcerer’s stone may be only one of a kind and in that regard magic certainly would be considered rather useless as even if you can perform miracles within school grounds. Even if you can transform rats into horses, the magic would likely wear off the minute you go outside the stones field of effect. Coupled with this is the Teachers traditionalist views and aversion to technology which could very well hamper any use magic has. Only thing I would could see magic having a use for is as an energy source but as already shown the stones effect radius is small and I doubt it could power the world. It’s still up in the air just how Akko is going to prove that magic is still needed but it’s clear that this will be one of the major themes of the series. So what I wonder is, where might we be going with this? Somewhere fun, I hope.

Little Witch Academia – 05[Luna Nova and the White Dragon]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

Well there goes my character focused episodes theory unless the purpose of this episode was to introduce Fafner the dragon. I think only trigger can manage to turn a situation with dragons stealing a magic stone into a tale about the academy trying to pay off a debt owed to to a dragon who works in the stock market. Dragons in particular are known for hoarding treasure with Fafner being a dwarf who turned into a dragon and guards his treasure hoard. So a modern interpretation of this being a dragon who acts as a loan shark while working digitally with the stock market is a stroke of genius. I certainly wasn’t expecting that after a powerpuff girls reference at the beginning of the episode. The Dinotopia reference with dragonese being essentially footprint alphabet I didn’t catch until reading discussions. Also found out that dinosuar show I watched way back in 2002 was called Dinotopia and was based on books. I will be damned. Other than that this did give the troublemaker trio of Amanda, Constanze and Jasminka some time in the spotlight, especially Constanze who has likely won more fans with this.

In my book any character than can pull out a Spaz shotgun and shoot down dragons is a character worth remembering. The diversity of nationality is pretty unheard of for an anime as well with Akko being Japanese, Lotte being Finnish, Sucy is from southeast Asia, Amanda being American(Considering her second name is O’Neill, she’s most likely part Irish too.), Constanze is German, Jasminka is Russian, Diana is British and even the announcer from the broom race looked Africain. I can’t think of many anime with a cast like this other than maybe Jojo and that anime that represented each country with an anime character(Helalia was it?)  Considering that Little WItch Academia appeals more to a western audience than a japanese one this could be fanservice on Triggers part and boy do I love them for it.

It’s a little early to call this a demerit to the show but if not remedied soon Akko’s attitude could become a problem. Akko’s main gimmick is that she is a girl with incredible passion and daring which will most likely cause a change in the magic world. Right now however when Diana was laying into her about her faults I found that I agreed with her 100%. Akko doesn’t think about how her actions affect others and despite talking up about how she is going to be the best that ever was, she never makes a real effort to try. Ursula is more than willing to give Akko the help she needs but she is getting shunned or ignored fast by Akko. The big factor in this episode is that Akko placed her friends in real danger just by butting into a problem which would have been resolved without her. As I said it’s a little early to call this a flaw as Akko’s development is clearly going to be a big part of the series but she is going to need to at least start changing a little. One thing that constantly had me wondering while watching this is that Akko and her friends went to take on dragons and for some reason Akko did not bring along Shiny Rod. She was lucky in this case as the dragon in question didn’t intend to hurt them but to go up against a dragon without the deus ex machina stick isn’t bravery, but pure foolishness.

Fafner does bring up a point which is likely to play an important role in this series, namely that magic has become outdated for the modern world. The luna nova teacher state that there is a decline in students and it doesn’t help that they have proven themselves fairly incompetent so far in the series. Magic does look to have great benefits like with Diana reforming the potion that broke during Akko’s and Amanda’s fight. However those benefits come with an immense downside as the witch’s can only use great magic within the grounds of the school. In that regard just what does one gain from studying to be a witch? Constanze has proven it well enough that technology can not only do what magic does but it can do the job better. So the big question is what caused of the decline of magic? For Shiny Chariot could once use great magic outside of school so what exactly changed? Could it have anything to do with that star shaped scar on the moon? For that scar doesn’t appear to be on the moon in the very first episode during Chariots show. Perhaps the fall of magic could be related to why Chariot gave up being an entertainer and lost the power to wield Shiny Rod.

Little Witch Academia – 04[Night Fall]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

No legendary items or Shiny rod antics this time as we have an episode focusing on Lotte and her particular fascination with a book series called Night Fall. A series spanning 365 volumes(Oh my god, this thing must be as worn out and tired as The Simpsons.) which seems to be a Twilight like story that somehow evolved into Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure levels of ridiculousness. Just hearing fans talk about it makes the story sound completely insane, so much so that I actually would be interested in reading it. After all there’s a chapter where the main heroine catches a nuke with her bare hands and after hearing that all I can say is where do I start reading? Out of the episodes so far I would call this the weakest but still a fairly enjoyable episode. For one I noticed that Diana’s two cronies are called Hanna and Barbera which is clearly a reference to the Hanna Barbera cartoons. Pretty amusing how one of them was a closet Night Fall fan getting the other girl to check out the event to “see how stupid it is”. Yet at the first Night Fall question her hand to shot up right away. I think it’s the little touches like that which makes this series so charming.

Lotte’s admiration for her idol did bring an interesting contrast to Ako’s admiration for Shiny Chariot. In Ako’s case she really wants to be Chariot and perform great feats of magic in front of an audience. Lotte on the other hand doesn’t want to write Night Fall like Annabel and instead wants to enjoy the books she writes while cheering her on. It reminds me of a time when I was trying to get a career in the Video Game industry as I love video games and couldn’t think of anywhere else I wanted to be. However after getting a taste of what making games is actually like from college I realised that I didn’t really want to make games, I just wanted to play them. If video games were my job then could I really enjoy them as a hobby? Lotte hit the same conclusion when given the opportunity to become the new writer of Night Fall. I find it funny that she spent so much time encouraging Annabel when later it’s revealed that her main reason for doing that was that if she wrote Night Fall then she would know what happened and thus couldn’t enjoy reading it anymore. I feel a bit for Annabels dilemma in that she was tired of being bashed by the internet. As they say, Haters will broadcast your failures, but whisper your success. Or to put it another way, people only have a reason to speak up when you stop doing your job right. Lotte brings up a good point that the most vocal on the internet don’t really represent the opinions of the majority and that’s pretty well evidenced here as Night Fall has fans from new to old who are still passionate about it at the unveiling of Volume 265.

Otherwise this entire episode is likely what happens when ordinary people listen to anime fans. We know absolutely nothing about Night Fall and yet what little bits we hear of it just sounds outright insane or nonsensical. Really goes to show how fans can have their own internal logic which can only be understood by other fans. After all if I talked to anyone who did not watch anime about tsunderes, yanderes and likewise then chances are they wouldn’t have any idea what I was talking about. Regardless neither Ako nor Sucy attempt to badmouth Lottes hobby despite finding it impenetrable and just respect her passion for the series. Lotte did good here as well by not attempting to force the series on Sucy or Ako like your more stereotypical fan would. Ursula can’t seem to catch a break and it’s a little sad that Lotte recognised her idol immediately when Ako has no idea when Chariot is standing right in front of her. Considering this episode it’s possible we will be getting character centered episodes from now on so Sucy is likely next up followed by the girls from Enchanted Parade like Amanda. Or we shall be returning to Ako and her antics with Shiny Rod. Finally the only thing they eat at Witch Academia is potatoes? Guess there’s no house elves in this dimension.

Little Witch Academia – 03[Don’t Stop Me Now]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

What’s a witch without a broomstick? Today’s episode deals with Akko’s troubles with flying and considering how terrible she is at nearly all facets of magic I am really beginning to wonder just how she got into this school in the first place. For the most part it’s not her fault as other witches at the school have clearly been trained in magic from a young age. Meanwhile Akko is just being introduced to it. I appreciate that this episode didn’t feature the shiny rod solving Akko’s problems and was instead about her troubles getting to grips with flying and trying to win a broom relay race. They almost did win the race through the magic of cheating so in this regard I am rather glad Akko didn’t get an unjust victory. Instead we have a excellent episode about a legendary broom and Akko’s hilarious training to fly a broom. I laughed pretty hard when she tried to intimidate her broom by snapping a twig in front of it.

It wouldn’t feel right for Akko to win after Sucy was sabotaging the other racers. Not even accounting that Akko wasn’t so much as flying a broom but instead trying to wrestle the legendary Shooting Star broom into submission. With that broom I now count three legendary artifacts at the school. The shooting star broom, the shiny rod and the philosopher’s stone which powers the Academy’s magic. This is merely an inkling at the moment but I think these items will play a part in the finale of Little Witch Academia. I certainly believe that we haven’t seen the last of the Shooting Star broom. Animation continues to be perfectly executed with flair and fun. So far the story has a episodic structure with events being brought up and resolved in the same episode. There doesn’t seem to be an overarcing plot so far and personally I am fine with that. As long as the series continues to be a barrel of fun there’s no real need to force in an overarcing plot. Otherwise it could make the same mistake as Death Parade and forget just what makes it’s concept work so well.

We have an introduction to many of the characters from the second OVA. Also are a number of cameo’s in this episode with a urn referencing Nonons hat from Kill la Kill, Inferno cop on the television of the room Akko flew past and even a very strange cameo of a man referred to as Chumlee from an American reality tv show called Pawn Stars. I don’t think it’s a spoiler to point out that Ursula is probably Shiny Chariot as the series has given several hints to that effect. It’s clear that something happened which pushed her to adopt her current persona and she seems jaded when Akko repeats her catchphrase back to her. She obviously lost her power, perhaps because the rod requires the childlike wonder that Akko has. Over time Ursula and Diana look to have gotten disillusioned by the technical workings of magic but both seem to yearn for the view of magic they had in their younger days. If this is true then it really is a matter of time before Akko can no longer use the shiny rod which may be the main conflict of this series. Though the opening does show some sort of antagonist who could act as a triggering factor for Akko to mature and potentially lose Shiny Rods power. Purely from a personal standpoint I think the best person to play antagonist for this series would be Shiny Chariot herself. Who better to crush Akko’s faith in magic and dreams? So on to episode four and I hope it isn’t effected by an old trigger curse, that being that episode four is where there is a huge animation quality drop.

Little Witch Academia – 02[Pappiliodya]

by AidanAK47, posted in Currently Watching:, Little Witch Academia

I may regret choosing to cover this series as what makes it great is a quality that cannot really be held up to professional scrutiny. Much like Triggers other works, it’s not what’s being presented that matter but rather how it’s presented. You can make the argument that Trigger doesn’t necessarily innovative but rather take old tried methods of storytelling and polish it with great animation. Though one has to wonder if that might be actually enough as to capture the feeling of the old and perfect it is no easy task. It’s difficult to call their works original but there’s no denying that they are fun. I like to see them as the Nintendo of the anime industry in that they stick close to old sensibilities and in doing so keep the simple enjoyment and wonder that seems so rare nowadays. Little Witch Academia so far still has the magic and with hope they can keep it for it’s full 25 episode run. The opening of this series was mixed for me as it is a much more mellow tune when compared to Triggers other works. However it’s growing on me and I happen to like the starting buildup and imagery. For a series like this it is rather suitable that the opening is more easygoing.

I often see Little witch compared to Harry Potter which does seem like a flimsy comparison. Sort of like that joke where you say it’s like Skyrim with witches. Harry Potter is the obvious popular example for comparison but the two actually hold not much in common. Really both have a wizard school and if you ignore actual personality and gender you could compare Diana to Malfoy. This is more a feel good magical adventure when Harry Potter was more written like a mystery with the three often trying to figure out some incident going on at Hogwarts. If we want to play the comparison game then Little Witch Academia holds much more in common with a book series called The Worst Witch. Admittedly I primarily know it from the TV series that aired in 1998 but it certainly is surprising the parallels the two have. Also before you go saying the Worst Witch is a knockoff of Harry Potter it’s important to note that the first book was published in 1973 so if anything Rowling took inspiration from them. This may be a moot point but I wanted to point out that just because Rowling popularised the idea of a wizarding school does not mean she invented the idea. I seem to remember before Little Witch that people referred to Familiar of Zero as anime Harry Potter too.

Based on these past two episodes it does seem like there will be a certain formula which I hope doesn’t become stale. My biggest fear for this series is that it’s predictability could water down it’s charm. The big issue would be the deus ex machina stick, Chariots wand, which can do pretty much whatever the plot requires it to. It does seem to have conditions for its activation which look to involve being charged with magic but I say that later episodes shouldn’t rely on it’ too much. Though it might not be a detriment as Gurren Lagann essentially solved all its battles with fighting spirit and yet didn’t become stale. Diana so far has been made a lot more reasonable as in the OVA she was a lot more confrontational but here she was a lot more reasonable. Still prideful and standoffish but not obnoxious. Her lackeys took to be filling in that role. I particularly like how she noticed Akko’s hair that Susy cursed with a potion and while showing off with the bringing the statue to life she uses it to dispel the magic on her hair. As well as trying to admit that she wasn’t the one who saved the tree. Akko and Diana’s relationship in this show could have a lot more to it here and really could become quite interesting. After all I believe Diana is still a closet Chariot fan and I wouldn’t be surprised if she has the last card Akko was missing from her collection.