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| Little Witch Academia (TV) OP 1 Studio Trigger |
Which brings me to the work in question, Little Witch Academia (TV) -- and I'm not necessarily here to give a cumulative history of the anime, or how it came to be so popular, thought that's definitely important. With that said, please accept my very hurried, unspecific telling of events.
Little Witch Academia's Origin Story
(Abridged)
In the words of Bill Wurtz ,"In the year negative a billion Japan might not have been here, [but in the year 2013 Studio Trigger released Little Witch Academia.]" then there was a sequel, then the reboot (which spawned a PS4/PC game). The reboot is what I'm concerning myself with for this piece.
For the actual ill-informed, Little Witch Academia was an original animation project for Anime Mirai. For clarity sake, the event is also called (by English-speakers) the "Young Animator Training Project" which is basically what it sounds like. The short -- approximately twenty minutes long -- was released in theaters soon after and streamed on YouTube within a couple of months after that.
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| Amanda and Constanze drawn by Visqi Sigar |
I wouldn't be writing this however if that were the way of things. Little Witch Academia received a two-cour (25 episode) TV anime scheduled (and released) in Winter 2017 and Spring 2017. For a lot of the fans however, at least out west, we weren't really sure what we were getting with Little Witch Academia (TV). Eventually, after a short period of confusion: clarity. The TV series was a reboot.
*The funds from the Kickstarter campaign were supplementary to the studio's own budget, so the campaign itself was not the sole monetary source for the movie.
A Single Person's Preconception
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| Ryuko (KLK) Akko (LWA) & Luluco crossover by Luluco character designer MAGO |
I'd like to reiterate that I am and was very biased about Little Witch Academia, because I've come to adore Trigger's style. Even with series of their's that I don't particularly like (for example, Kill la Kill) I can point to any number of things and say "This is what I want more people to do; that is what I want from anime. I want more things like this." I bring this up because Little Witch Academia, the original OVA, was very unremarkable in most aspects. There's nothing I would point to off the top of my head as bad, but any consumer can tell you that things don't have to be bad to be not-great. And of course, I liked it enough to give the sequel a shot, which I enjoyed much more so, though that's not necessarily the common consensus.
What kept me coming back to Little Witch Academia was the charm, and it's unfortunate that I can't think of a better way of explaining that in short, because at this point, it's definitely a cliche to express something as "full of charm."
Little Witch Academia is probably best expressed by what it (glaringly) is and isn't. For starters, It's absolutely gorgeous, your stylistic opinions allowing. All of the animation is incredibly expressive, and it's fluid when it should be and otherwise when it shouldn't. There's a lot of personality in the directing and animation, and that goes such a long way.
However, it's not that original; as Demo put it, "It's predictable, and there are some scenes and terms lifted straight from Harry Potter that might feel like less of a reference and more of a plagiarism to some," which hits the nail on the head, but I digress as to not get ahead of myself before making this point: I didn't necessarily expect a lot from Little Witch Academia (TV).
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| Little Witch Academia [Left] & Little Witch Academia (TV) [Right] |
I expected gorgeous animation that seemed to be stylistically created specifically for me, and I expected it to be easy to watch. To some degree, I expected that to be the end of it. In my mind, it was stuck in this binary situation where it would either be like the two proceeding Little Witch Academia animations where the story was (overly-)simple and trivial, or it would follow in Space Patrol Luluco's footsteps, being outlandish to a near incomprehensible degree. Even with a two-cour run, I couldn't see a scenario where Trigger could stay true to the source (pre-reboot, as it were) and still strike that balance. I'm still not sure if I was wrong or not.
That Same Person's Perspective
For example, for much of the first episode, Sucy isn't a friendly character. She's sinister, in fact. after coming to understand who she was supposed to be, I suddenly faced this confusion -- "Am I supposed to discard what I know about her? Will there be Easter Eggs from the OVAs? Are they just using her likeness but creating a different character?"
I just had no idea what was going on.
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| Akko -- Part of an album 落書きまとめ by Pixiv user ビスマルチョ |
Note: It's not that I didn't expect this from the animation, either. I understand producing a single OVA and a full TV anime are two completely different beasts. But I was still really disappointed in what I figured would carry me through the series.
Again, this is a very negative way for me to say I was generally unimpressed. I actually waited a few episodes (wherein I learned that it was in fact a reboot) before I allowed myself to really dwell on what I had watched to draw conclusions. What I learned by doing that was invaluable.
It became really obvious that Trigger was not going to play it's cards close to it's chest, so to speak, with Little Witch Academia (TV). They weren't trying to hide anything, and all of the characters were telegraphing how they would progress as characters through the show. By the end of episode two, for example, you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who didn't put together that Diana was going to be an all-out supporter of Akko in the end. You had to not be paying attention to be surprised by Ursula's being revealed as Chariot. Like many things, the show was going to be about the journey, not the destination.
I do believe this was intentional, and I think it was really bold. What amazes me most is that the moments that Trigger was sculpting before our eyes -- where they were seemingly laying out how they were planning on making a weighty moment -- how they managed to still seem so fresh and satisfying despite their predictability and telegraphed nature.
So anyway, on to the brunt of this piece --but as to lay a foundation, I'd like to make my opinions on Little Witch Academia (TV) very clear. This series surpassed all of my expectations, especially the ones I was fighting off from the first episode. I came around to the series' own quirks in the art and animation styles, and I fell in love with the narrative. I think the latter half is much stronger than the first half for sure, but it was the first half that I came to know as a pleasure to watch. I feel sorry for anyone who didn't watch Little Witch Academia (TV) while it was airing because I'm afraid one of the best parts of the experience was the feeling of it being a journey. Regardless, this is a new favorite.
Akko & Diana
and the Extra Pulp
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| Little Witch Academia (TV) OP 2 Studio Trigger |
I'm very tempted to call Diana the best character of Little Witch Academia, and that was definitely not the case in the original short(s). What I like so much about her is how it doesn't even seem like she changed all that much from beginning to end. That change happened more on Akko's end.
During episode two, the episode in which she's introduced, I think Trigger wants you to flirt with the idea of Diana being an antagonist by showing you her hubris, but I think that's the extent of it. "Just entertain me," the show says. "Look at her as if she's the antagonist," as it hands you scene after scene of Diana being snobbish. I think, as a retaliatory thought, we then begin to counter that suggestion. This gives you a chance (that you unknowingly run with) to see Diana as a multifaceted character; a chance to view her from a number of perspectives -- not just the protagonist's point-of-view -- in the same moments we're being introduced to her. Because nothing is being hidden from us, we have this freedom to put ourselves in anybody's shoes we need to -- again, without ever even realizing we're doing it because the story is so simple and without baggage.
We're shown Diana's hubris, but we also see her capability, which I don't know if the majority of viewers are ready to accept this early. In such a simple story, I think we want to believe that Diana can be overcome and bested. So whereas we see Diana completely outclass everyone for the next couple of episodes, we also see her hubris get the best of her at the end of episode 2, but it's not as if she wasn't doing something impressive, she was just too full of herself.
In that same moment however, we see her grace. She doesn't want to accept the praise from her peers and superiors for an act that she wasn't responsible for (saving the Jennifer Memorial Tree), but she also doesn't intend to embarrass those jumping to conclusions.
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| Larger Version Little Witch Academia (TV) Episode 23 Studio Trigger |
That's what fuels this tension between the two. Akko thinks Diana is completely disassociated with the ideals she wishes to uphold, and Akko handles herself in a way that Diana recognizes as a liability to Akko's potential, and what she wishes for her to be so dearly.
Again though, there's Akko's side to the debacle. Never for a second does Akko forget that Diana is an impossibly talented witch. What frustrates her so much is that Diana walks the (seemingly) easy path laid before her. If Akko herself were as impressive as Diana, who knows what the limits of her dreams would be? And yet she's stuck, struggling, watching Diana seemingly squander all of that potential following arbitrary rules religiously, refusing to be helpful in a practical sense. This sort of pseudo-rivalry pushes the both of them to grow until one can tell the other "Look! I was right! Quit wasting your time and help me."
On a side note, with Diana, we have to imagine most of her struggles for a while. Trigger nearly flat-out brings this to our attention is one of the later episodes (14) when they have Akko tell Diana "You're always looking down at others; you have no idea how hard [people] are working!" This really brings that point forward, that Diana is either reaping the benefits of having all that she needs and wants to learn available to her with minimal effort, or she's silently struggling by herself -- whereas Akko's only option is to humiliate herself in a public setting until she gets it right. Absolutely, by what we're shown, Akko's path is much more difficult to walk.
Possibly my favorite scene in the TV series is in Episode 13 when Akko is outside practicing by herself, failing over and over again to the point that she breaks down in tears. Before this, a number of the characters (and surely most of the viewers) see Akko's steadfast and driven nature as a one-dimensional trait. "Akko keeps going because she's Akko." "She doesn't get discouraged because that's not who she is." In Sucy's case, "Akko can keep going because she's an idiot."
When Akko's friends finally bring up to her that she's just not capable of doing some things, every single one of them reaches a crossroads. They have to ask themselves "why does she continue to try when it's so obvious it won't work?" and the answer hurt me when I realized it.
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| アッコとダイアナ② by Pixiv user た.ま |
Ursula/Chariot brings this up at the end of the show too, "Akko doesn't believe in miracles," she says, "but she's always believed in herself." Akko has seen herself overcome things that even she understands is so improbable you can't see it as anything but impossible -- She's never denied that she can't see a way out. She just says "We can't sit here and do nothing though!" and tries. And when you've seen that lead to solution after solution, how can you deny it works? How can she believe in anything but herself?
So again, Akko tells Diana exactly what has been the case so far: Diana has no idea how hard people are working. Ironically, from this point in the show forward, that seems to completely flip. Everyone starts working with Akko, and Diana time and time again has to rely on herself... except when Akko doesn't let her.
Backtracking a little bit to that scene in episode 13, at that moment's climax, Sucy and Lotte approach Akko as she's at her most vulnerable. If you'd allow me to draw a parallel, Riyoga (Riyogaa on YouTube) made a point that's always stuck with me about crying in a review of Toradora! years ago. In short, he says "If a spectacle is going to be made of a character crying, there needs to be a reason for it," and that reason has to be more than "because they're sad."
In that scene in Toradora!, one of the main narrative reasons Taiga cries is so Kushieda can see her, confirming what she already believed about Taiga and Riyugi's relationship -- possibly changing whether or not she would accept his confession.
In Little Witch Academia, Akko cries in this moment so that Lotte and Sucy can see her vulnerable. To reiterate, up until very close to this point in time, both of these girls took Akko's strength as a given, and it wasn't until recently that they had the thought of why she's able to continue. Lotte and Sucy have to see this, But Diana isn't there.
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| 信じる心があなたの魔法よ by Pixiv user 煎薬ジジィ |
What I choose to believe is B) that Diana doesn't need to see that Akko is struggling because Diana already knows from experience what Akko is dealing with. She's knows what it means to want to follow in Chariot's footsteps, and she's been unable to perform any significant magic in the past -- for the same reasons as Akko even -- and she overcame it.
Lotte and Sucy need to see Akko cry to learn things Diana already knows. Again, I think it's fine to simply believe Diana doesn't belong in the scene, but I think understanding why she shouldn't be there is enlightening.
Diana is such a good character.
And Akko was the perfectly executed protagonist. Especially Han Megumi's performance of her.
Those two things carried this show a long way.
What Did Little Witch Academia
Get So Right?
A lot. I'm not so one-track minded to ignore everything else this show had going for it. Akko's back-burner growth as a witch was handled phenominally. The episodes focusing on side characters were loads of fun. The nods to TTGL and other works were great. The animation, though perhaps not on par with quantity of Quality as the OVAs (but even that could be debated) was outstanding in it's own right, and I definitely found it more memorable.
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| Little Witch Academia (TV) Episode 24 Studio Trigger |
Some of the characters didn't get enough screen time; I would have loved more Sucy or Constanze -- maybe a better reason for Andrew to exist. But every episode was a blessing. For half a year, Little Witch Academia was a light in my life.
Diana and Akko's dynamic was a big part of that.
Akko is best girl.
