Little Witch Academia (2017)
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Little Witch Academia Review
Little Witch Academia is a 2017 fantasy anime series which is most definitely a very unoriginal show, but still very endearing and a lot of fun.
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“My name’s Atsuko Kagari.
It’s a pleasure to meet you two!
Let’s be friends“
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Speaking of unoriginal, yes, this story is basically a giant rip-off of Harry Potter, from the magic school to the friendship of the main characters to the various classes, creatures and potions. But that’s why I really liked the series because I am a huge fan of Harry Potter so if you give me anything similar to it, I am bound to love it.
I actually really liked, even loved the first half of this show. Around ten of its first episodes are simply great and hugely entertaining. The storytelling is episodic and I loved that along with its charm and memorable adventures of the characters. But once the show moved from episodic to a villainous, high stakes storyline, then I lost some of the interest and thus the second half did not appeal to me personally. Certainly not as much as the first half did.
We’ve all seen naive, big eyed and endearing protagonists such as Akko many times before, but she’s so likable and yet at times bratty that she worked for me and was easily the heart of the entire show. Lotte is also very likable and Susy is very memorable and amusing. The character of Diana Cavendish is also very good and with an excellent backstory to her.
The voice acting’s also strong here as is the emphasis on the charm and eccentricities of its characters. I also adored its animation as it is very colorful and incredibly appealing in designs and imagery. The word building is fantastic here and I loved the school and its grounds so much that I was thus disappointed that the second half focused so much on the real world besides the school.
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The overall emphasis on the politics and the real world is troublesome and excessive and I wanted more magic here, though I did love that this world looked on magic as outdated. That was an interesting new approach in the fantasy genre. But the pacing of the show is so bad as the second half definitely lost me as it was quite boring at times and I just wish that it was better scripted in that part.
So in the end, Little Witch Academia is a highly flawed anime with excellent first half, but boring second half. I did find it unoriginal and at times dull, but it also has terrific characters, a lot of charm to it and terrific animation.
Worst Episodes: Pohjola’s Ordeal, Amanda O’Neill and the Holy Grail and Stanship Take Off!
Best Episodes: Starting Over, Akko’s Adventure in Susy and Blue Moon.
