Tag: Little Witch Academia

Walpurgisnacht: ‘Little Witch Academia’

Witches get stitches.

Little Witch Academia, directed by Yô Yoshinari. Written by Yô Yoshinari and Michiru Shimada. Music by Michiru Oshima. Studio Trigger, 2017. 25 episodes of 22 minutes (approx. 9 hours and 10 minutes).

Available on Netflix.

Today is Walpurgisnacht, the second most important day in the magical-girl calendar, so now is a good time to discuss one of the most popular cute witch franchises of recent memory, Little Witch Academia.

This title first made its appearance in 2013 and 2015 as a duo of short films that were generally well received. The original film once had its home on Crunchyroll (if memory serves), but a quick check reveals it is there no longer.

The concept was adapted into a 25-episode television series in 2017, and it found a home on Netflix shortly thereafter, where it still resides. A mostly pleasant and sometimes silly coming-of-age story, Little Witch Academia is basically “Trigger does Harry Potter.”

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Happy International Cute Witch Day

Once again, it is Halloween, the second most important holiday in the magical girl calendar. Tonight, magical girls can go abroad without calling undue attention to themselves.

This year, I am dedicating International Cute Witch Day to Little Witch Academia. I much enjoyed the short film (it came out in 2013) some years back, but I admit I’ve not seen the widely popular television series that came after it and became available in the U.S. last year. It’s on my list.

art from Little Witch Academia

For some reason, I barely remember what the short film was about, though I remember enjoying it. It was was an obviously Harry Potter-influenced story of quirky girls going to witch school, and it had some high-flying broom scenes with the kind of creative yet jerky animation for which Studio Trigger is known.

art from Little Witch Academia

Speaking of Trigger, I finally got around to watching Kill la Kill about a year back, and it completely blew my mind. It might be the best skewering of the magical girl genre I’ve ever seen, because it not only mocked it mercilessly, but unlike the slew of grimdark shows we’ve had lately, demonstrated in the process that it actually understood what the genre is about. So I trust the studio to know how to handle magical girls.

screenshot from Little Witch Academia

If they could do magical girl warriors so well, they could probably do cute witches well, too, and the popularity of Little Witch Academia tends to confirm that.

Screenshot from Little Witch Academia