Remember, a believing heart is your magic." Netflix's new acquisition from anime is the delightful Little Witch Academia, which is guaranteed to be an instant hit for kids. The story has just the right amount of fluffy exposition and equally the amount of magical adventure even for adults to enjoy and appreciate. Major influences from Harry Potter aside, this beautifully drawn animation tells the story of an inspired young woman who enthusiastically joins the Luna Nova Academy of witches to follow in the footsteps of her great idol, Shiny Chariot.
In truth, the story is burdened with overwhelming themes and messages about destiny and the importance of love, friendship and the will to succeed. But, also, the show has an endearing side that concentrates on the personalities of its characters and transforms them into relatable people. Akko Kagari is a passionate, energetic and all-round goofy girl who seeks self-definition in the academy, where she's discovered that magic is much harder to acquire than she first expected. She is a fascinating character, and credit to the writers and voice actress for creating such a complex person for the kids to look up to. Her two closest friends, Lotte and Sucy are also brilliantly portrayed, but only four episodes into the story, Sucy's character still needs a bit of life instilled. The most interesting character yet though, despite only appearing in episode two and three is Diana Cavendish, a fully-capable witch attending the academy who has so far had a love-hate relationship with Akko. At times she appears humble, but being surrounded by friends who glorify her as the greatest witch of her age, you find it difficult to easily praise her skill and prowess. There's also a whole host of other characters who have reached made a small mark so far in the story, but will probably appear more frequently later on. Professor Ursula especially seems to be a mysterious identity in the midst of many others. Each individual story is rather self-contained, but I like how the episode are all simultaneously connected as we see the characters develop. Even though a lot of the concepts are borrowed from other works of fiction, there are a few imaginative ideas present - especially the idea of using a crystal ball as a means of the witch's equivalent of Twitter. Also, the individual stories, whilst not ground-breaking, are clever in their own right. Night Fall, specifically, had a cool twist in the middle as it was revealed that the author Annabel was actually twelve individual authors over a period of a hundred and twenty years, and a fountain pen was the emblem of the author's power. Indeed, most of the series is childish and aimed directly at kids, but there's still some enjoyment to be had from adults - especially those who loved watching anime and fiction like Harry Potter when they were younger. It is more of a nostalgia trip rather than a new venture into entertainment, but it's a successful one with vivid characters. There's clearly an overarching story brewing in the background that hasn't quite reached fruition yet, but it will no doubt be plain and clear soon. Episode 1: Starting Over - 7/10 Episode 2: Papillodea - 7/10 Episode 3: Don't Stop Me Now - 7.5/10 Episode 4: Night Fall - 7/10
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AuthorA very passionate Welsh nerd... Archives
October 2017
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