Little Witch Academia: The Series Part 1 Episodes 1-4

Ever since she saw Shiny Chariot’s magic show, Atsuko "Akko" Kagari has always wanted to be a witch.  Though she possess no magical skills of her own, Akko has been granted admission to Luna Nova Academy, the most prestigious school of Witchcraft in the world and the school her idol once attended.  Akko’s ready to make her own legend but finds herself outclassed in every subject.  But when she and her roommates: Lotte and Sucy, discover a magical item that once belonged to Chariot herself, things are about to get very interesting for Akko, the little witch that could.

Studio Trigger hit true Anime gold with their original Little Witch Academia short films.  The first one is easily one of my all time favorite Anime ever: 25 minutes of magical wonder that really spoke to my inner Anime fan and made me remember why I fell in love with this medium in the first place.  I still cry a bit cause it’s so inspirational.  I didn’t feel quite the same way about the follow up, “The Enchanted Parade” but I still enjoyed it.  Well it looks as if the demand for more was something Trigger was more than willing to meet.  So we’ve gotten a full blown series and so far, it’s off to a fantastic start.

Right away, one might notice that The Series isn’t picking up where “The Enchanted Parade” left off.  We’re starting completely fresh and at the very beginning when Akko, Lotte and Sucy first met and began their studies at Luna Nova Academy (the first episodes even titled Starting Over).  There’s even an amazingly animated prologue featuring Akko seeing her first Shiny Chariot show.  In minutes, the magic and success of the short film is recaptured and any doubts about starting this way are relieved.  Best of all, the three leads are all still the same loveable witches in training.  Since this is a series, we’ll have plenty of time to delve into their character.  Sucy is hilarious comic relief with her morbid obsession with potions and poisons and of the three she doesn’t get an episode to herself just yet.  Most of the opening episodes focus on Akko bumbling her way into Luna Nova and failing to grasp magical lessons until she ex machina’s her way to a solution using the Shiny Rod.  It’s repetitive but that feeling of heart swelling hope and excitement never gets old when Akko does pull off a miracle.  As for Lotte, she gets one of my favorite episodes so far: getting to go to a fan convention for a popular romance novel.  Yes, it’s a riff on Twilight meets One Piece (aka the Manga that will never, EVER end).  But it’s fun looking into a convention for witches and their fandom and feels like a proper take on any kind of convention for the average Anime fan.  Lotte even manages to inspire the latest author of the series to keep going with it as they bond through their love of the story…im sure many Anime fans can say they’ve had a similar experience.

The world of Little Witch Academia can easily be summed up as Harry Potter with a Studio Trigger twist.  Gone are the sexy uniforms, swords and nudity of Kill La Kill.  Here, Tigger goes for an aesthetic that is way more family friendly while still retaining their tongue and cheek love for all things Anime.  One minute youre in the middle of a potion making class or a flight class and the next someone is making a reference to Gendo Ikari from Evangelion.  In short, casual fans of magical fantasies and Anime fans will be well take care of (even if references are lost to both sides).  Most of the Witch faculty does tend to blend together, mostly made up of the same “old hag” design one would associate with old school witches.  Two that do stand out are a Top Gun fighter pilot style instructor of broom riding and the young and clumsy Professor Ursula.  Let’s just get this out of the way: Ursula is Shiny Chariot, they are not trying to hide that in the slightest.  I’m guessing she’ll become the Dumbledore to Akko’s Harry Potter as the series goes on.  It does raise questions as to why she’s at Luna Nova and why she abandoned her inspirational magic show.  There’s also Diana, the popular cute girl at Luna Nova who is destined to either become Akko’s biggest rival or greatest friend, or probably both, as the series goes on.

While the mystery behind Shiny Chariot’s “disappearance” and Akko building her magic set will be the throughline of the show, at least in the beginning, Little Witch Academia gets off to a great start with four great but also well executed stand alone adventures.  Sure you’d want to start with the first episode but the subsequent ones felt very independent and not as connected as with most Anime.  This isn’t a drawback, it just gives plenty of jump on points and you can enjoy the stories without real context.  I wonder if this will stay the same throughout the entire series but for now, I’m glad Little Witch Academia is getting a chance to stretch its legs and expand its…God I’m gonna be using “Magic” a lot in these reviews aren’t I?  Great start, great feels, Little Witch Academia is just getting started.  See ya Friday for more everyone.