Little Witch Academia

For young witches everywhere, the world-renowned witch Shiny Chariot reigns as the most revered and celebrated role model. But as the girls age, so do their opinions of her—now just the mention of Chariot would get a witch labeled a child. However, undeterred in her blind admiration for Chariot, ordinary girl Atsuko Kagari enrolls into Luna Nova Magical Academy, hoping to someday become just as mesmerizing as her idol.

However, the witch academy isn't all the fun and games Atsuko thought it would be: boring lectures, strict teachers, and students who mock Chariot plague the campus. Coupled with her own ineptness in magic, she's seen as little more than a rebel student. But when a chance finally presents itself to prove herself to her peers and teachers, she takes it, and now it's up to her to stop a rampaging dragon before it flattens the entire academy.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kagari, Atsuko Main

Han, Megumi Japanese

Manbavaran, Sucy Main

Murase, Michiyo Japanese

Cavendish, Diana Main

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Jansson, Lotte Main

Orikasa, Fumiko Japanese

Callistis, Ursula Supporting

Hidaka, Noriko Japanese

du Nord, Chariot Supporting

Hidaka, Noriko Japanese

England, Hannah Supporting

Nakao, Eri Japanese

Parker, Barbara Supporting

Akasaki, Chinatsu Japanese

Avery Supporting

Minotaur Supporting

Nomura, Kenji Japanese

Tsutsumi, Naoko Producer

Yoshinari, You Director, Key Animation, Character Design, Animation Director, Original Creator

Imaishi, Hiroyuki Script

Ootsuka, Masahiko Script

Reviews

Feb 29, 2024

Drakestalker

Recommended

The story of the making of Little Witch Academia is quite compelling in and of itself and an inspiring example to other studios in the industry. Much like how Ryan Reynolds managed to get Deadpool made by leaking some of Fox's test footage and goading the public into bullying the studio to make it, Trigger published a 25 min OVA in 2013 simply called Little Witch Academia. They expressed a desire to turn it into a proper TV show and opened a Kickstarter fund for it.

Once they got into some money, they released a proper hour-long movie, Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade in the ... year 2015, after which they got proper funding and the TV show aired from the winter to the summer of 2017. One can only hope more studios will follow their example of actually crowdsourcing the funding for their shows, rather than relying on the cynical decisions of high-ranking executives who would probably rather just greenlight another cash grab light novel adaptation for some easy shekels.

As far as the original OVA is concerned, it's fantastic. It's pretty much anime Harry Potter featuring exclusively cute girls. Our protagonist, Akko, is inspired as a child by the magic show of a world-famous witch performer, Shining Chariot. In pursuit of her dream, she enrolls into the same school Shining Chariot attended in her youth, Luna Nova. Again, Luna Nova is a type of all-girls Hogwarts. Naturally, like Harry Potter, Akko quickly learns that magic school isn't all about flashy spells and waving one's wand around. As such, our heroine must learn to deal with various kinds of friction inside the school, from the boredom of classes to the interference of a classic Draco Malfoy bully character. Things happen, excitement ensues.

The characters are all perfectly lovable, if perhaps not overly original, and the plot isn’t exactly revolutionary, but it doesn’t have to be. There is simply so much content jam-packed into this 25 short film, that you will not have a single dull moment to contemplate any of its faults. The characters and plot are exactly as complicated and well-developed as they need to be.

The Little Witch Academia OVA is perhaps Trigger's animation style at its absolute best. It's fluid. It's bombastic. It's colorful. It's flashy. It's always moving. There aren't ever 2 consecutive seconds where something isn't happening on the screen. It is truly beautiful to behold. The entire OVA is worthy of being posted on Sakuga Booru. What's more, in the entire LWA franchise, I couldn't detect a single CG element, at least none that were visible, which makes it stand in stark contrast to their most popular show, Kill la Kill.

I feel supremely confident in suggesting that you absolutely must see this original OVA. Matter of fact, I am no longer suggesting. Watch it!

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Aug 4, 2019

ToastMyGhost

Mixed Feelings

Finally decided to pick up this short film. It boasts great animation and good sound, but it's really rushed. Imagine having to watch Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone condensed into the length of a half-hour TV show, that's what it's like. But it shows promise, and thankfully it gets expanded upon with an hour-long movie and an anime series (which I will definitely have to check out). But as a stand-alone piece of media, it's biggest flaw is the super rushed pacing, plus the whole loser vs stuck-up popular girl cliché, which I think is really overdone in these kinds of anime.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 14, 2021

Ciaran_Zagami

Not Recommended

I mean,
it looks good.
Like really good.

But the characters are flat and annoying, the plot barren, the world is derivative and uninspired

I managed to stay awake through it all, somehow. But thats not really praise. It feels like a pilot for an actual show (which it basically is) but if this pilot was shown to me I can't honestly say I'd green light it.

Sure there is quite a few cute scenes and the characters clearly have some decent dynamics worked out, maybe the comedy is lost in translation.

Then again everyone else likes it so maybe I'm just a weird outlier? I really don't have a lot ... to say.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Little Witch Academia Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) bippo - Mar 29, 2013	278 replies	by Softhenic03 »» Jul 23, 12:24 PM
	LITTLE WITCH ACADEMIA TV SERIES CONFIRMED DatRandomDude - Jun 24, 2016	12 replies	by alshu »» Jul 11, 2022 7:05 AM
	Should I watch the movies? Chrngb - Oct 16, 2019	3 replies	by Kursan »» Nov 23, 2021 3:10 PM
	Poll: Who's the best witch? n0000ne - May 8, 2013	14 replies	by OfficialEimee »» Mar 28, 2021 1:18 AM
	The "Other" section Steph - May 25, 2020	2 replies	by gappasaurus »» Jul 5, 2020 1:06 PM

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