Raikoh Reviews - Little Witch Academia

This review is mostly done to keep the blog active, and probably to help get it out there since I've been writing reviews mostly of really obscure stuff so far. So, Little Witch Academia, the first (technically second) major production of Studio Trigger. You know, that studio everyone goes nuts over since it has some of the crew from Gurren Lagann in it. It's a thirty-minute hand-drawn short, and has met with rousing praise from the anime community (though it's a lot more popular in the West). Is it worth the praise it gets? Well, yes and no. Let me explain.

STORY: 4/10

The basic idea is about a young witch-in-training, Akko, who wants to be like her hero: the flashy magical girl esque Shiny Chariot. Though Chariot is looked down upon for giving the public weird ideas about magic, she's still a hero to Akko. This particular short deals with a student competition that takes the form of a scavenger hunt that rapidly gets out of hand.

Unfortunately, the short runtime doesn't give the plot enough elbow room. The premise is fairly stock and the whole thing plays more like a pilot episode of a TV series than it does a short animation. When you only have thirty minutes to work with, I think it's better to not keep your fingers crossed for a sequel (though there's going to be one).

Pacing is fine, but it squeezes too much into the short time. The scavenger hunt could have been its own thirty minutes, Akko learning to fly could have been its own thirty minutes, the ideas with Chariot could have been their own thirty minutes, and having a lot of different characters try and share the screen ends up making it so that everything in the plot sort of crams together to fit the running time.

The setting is a pretty basic school of magic one, though I'd give it some points for originality in that magic is known to the general populace. Normally magic is under a masquerade, so it's sort of refreshing to have it be known throughout the world.

The themes are basic but there's nothing wrong with them. Sort of tried and true themes. There's not really any complexity in the plot, no crazy twists or subtle plots going on. Again, thirty minutes (I'm going to be saying that a lot in this review).

Premise: 0/2
Pacing: 1/2
Immersion: 1/2
Setting: 1/2
Theme: 0.5/1
Complexity: 0/1

ART: 9/10

Let's admit it: everyone who watched this watched it for the art. It's really good, and easily the best part of the short. It really shows the reason Trigger is popular, highlighting the stylistic choices that people loved in Gurren Lagann. While I think the character designs are just a bit lackluster, the rest of the art is spot on.

Backgrounds are beautifully detailed, it's really colorful and the animation is energetic and smooth from start to finish. The art style matches the tone really well, and the fact that it was mostly done by hand is really impressive. My personal favorite parts are the magic effects, which are absolutely enchanting. There's not really any reason to go too deep into the art other than by just saying "It's good."

General Presence: 2/2
Visual Design: 1/2
Backgrounds: 2/2
Animation: 2/2
Attention to Detail: 1/1
Visual Effects: 1/1

SOUND: 6/10

 The sound is a bit tough to judge, since it's sort of middle of the road. Everything fits just fine, I guess. The voice actresses to okay jobs, but not really anything that blew me away. Though, as a side note, I do think it was cute that Hidaka Noriko came to play Chariot, since she's mostly known for her role in Gainax's best work (Gunbuster) and everyone knows Trigger is trying to be "Gainax II."

Music was okay, I guess. It never stuck out but that's sort of a good thing. It at least sounded nice, just that there weren't any tracks you'd want to go out and listen to on your MP3 player or anything.

Sound effects were pretty awesome. Lots of booms and the Foley guys probably had their hands full trying to come up with noises to match all the crazy stuff that goes on in the animation. Works great.

Voice Acting: 2/4
Music: 2/4
Sound Effects: 2/2

CHARACTERS: 3/10

As I mentioned before, this short plays out more like a pilot episode than it does a self-contained story. The characters, unfortunately, had to take a hit. It's not that you can't characterize well in thirty minutes, it's just that there are too many characters for the writing to do so, and that the short itself isn't trying to be a character study, it's just trying to be pretty.

So pretty much every character with a name can be summed up in one or two sentences. There's the incompetent but determined witch-in-training, her shy best friend with glasses, their third friend who is comedially creepy, the smug jerk who is the idol of the school, etc. Basically every character has been done to death, but there's not really anything wrong with it. Just don't expect to be winning any awards.

I'd think that if they had more room to work with, these characters could easily become more fleshed out and three-dimensional, just that thirty minutes rears its ugly head in once more. For what it's worth, the characters keep your interest during the running time.

Presence: 1/2
Personality: 1/2
Complexity: 0/2
Memorability: 0.5/2
Development: 0/1
Pathos: 0.5/1

FINAL JUDGMENT : 7/10

Let's not kid ourselves: the only real reason to watch Little Witch Academia is for the visuals. It's a good reason, but it's hardly a short that makes a real lasting artistic impact or anything. If you ever have a half hour to kill, it's definitely worth your time, but if you expect anything more than eye candy then you might be walking out of the thirty minutes a bit underwhelmed.

Recommended Watch List:
-Yama no Susume
Both are simple stories that can be viewed in one sitting about a group of friends with smooth animation. While Yama no Susume doesn't have as fancy animation, it makes up for it by having more focus on character development with the runtime.
- Houkago no Pleiades
Which was basically Gainax doing the same thing as Little Witch Academia, only with a license tie-in with Subaru.
- Aim for the Top 2! Diebuster
Even though neither have the strongest writing, both Diebuster and Little Witch Academia have the feel of 2000s Gainax, as well as similar characters and themes.