Everyone makes mistakes
(This review contains
spoilers!)
Since this series has been basically
laser-focused on Akko and Akko alone, one of the issues with it is that we
haven’t seen much of some of the side characters. While Amanda and her crew
from Enchanted Parade have made
sporadic appearances, we really haven’t seen them in a major role since Episode
5.
This week Amanda took the starring
role for the first time ever in an episode with a much more serious tone than
those before, but ultimately it turned out to be a Little Witch first, being an episode that was actually kind of
boring from beginning to end.
The next word is on the horizon, and
it has something to do with magical history. Croix suggests checking out a
local boarding school that apparently came into possession of the Holy Grail
(insert your favourite Monty Python
reference here), which seems as good a lead as any.
Akko and Amanda are the only main characters in this episode
(excluding Ursula and Croix in the cold open), but unfortunately they don’t
play off each other that well. While Akko is still great even without Lotte and
Sucy backing her up, Amanda definitely struggles as a character when Constanze
and Jasminka are absent. She just comes across as the stereotypical “cool girl
who doesn’t care about anything” type of character, even in an episode where
she’s supposed to have some development. If the lead character in the episode
doesn’t grow or change, it’s hard to stay invested.
Upon arriving at the school they learn that Andrew goes
there, but all he does this week is get the two of them out of tight spaces
with the other students several times. I feel that his inclusion is only
because he hasn’t done anything in a really long time and they didn’t want us
to forget that he’s still a thing.
Because of Amanda’s recklessness they get in all sorts of
trouble, including being captured and sent to the school jail, a fencing duel
with one of the other students, and an encounter with an evil knight controlled
remotely by Croix. Just a side note: we still don’t know what Croix’s master
plan is, just that she’s definitely not on our heroes’ side. I’m assuming we’ll
be learning more in the coming weeks (rumour has it that Episode 19’s going to
be a big one), but I really would like more development on her earlier instead
of doing stuff like this.
At the end of the episode they don’t
find the word and fly back to Luna Nova, making you feel like you just wasted
your time. But still, even if they did get the word I’d think this episode was
a waste. Last week worked because it managed to be a hilarious and heartfelt
one-off with the main trio, with the added bonus of it pushing the plot along.
This episode had barely any humour or magic whatsoever, making it feel like
what Little Witch Academia could’ve
been if it had been made by anyone but Studio Trigger.
Every show has an episode or two that
isn’t up to snuff, and this was definitely a misstep for Little Witch. Amanda just isn’t entertaining or interesting enough
to carry an entire story by herself, and the lack of humour and magic really
made everything feel dull. Unless some elements of it come back later on, I’d say
this is the first episode in the series you don’t have to worry about if you
give it a miss.
FINAL SCORE
4/10
Mediocre
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