The winding road
(This review contains
spoilers!)
One of the biggest mysteries we’ve
dealt with in the second cour is Croix, how she relates to Chariot, and what
her malicious plans are. Despite coming in and introduced as the main villain
early on in the second half, she honestly hasn’t done much aside from plot in
her secret laboratory and send out minions to try and disrupt whatever Akko and
friends are doing.
With the Diana subplot finished, the
time has come to get the second to last word out of the way before I assume we
begin gearing up for the season finale. The next word is supposedly something
you can find only when you stop looking for it, leading Akko to search for it
everywhere. Fortunately for her, she gets a tip from the most valuable of
sources: Croix!
According to Croix, the word is at the
top of a massive tree. The only problem is that that specific tree blooms
pollen that, when touched by a witch, removes all of their magical traits. Even
worse, the tree’s preparing to bloom again, meaning now is the perfect time to
not go there. While Ursula obviously forbids Akko from going, Croix is more
than happy to take her.
This episode is much darker in tone
than pretty much any of the episodes before it, and it fits really well for an
episode about Chariot and Croix. We get a further glimpse into their past, and
we see how Chariot first got her hands on the Shiny Rod. Croix wanted the Rod
so she could become the greatest witch ever, and was jealous that it wasn’t
given to her. But, considering the fact that we also got a flashback of the two
of them hugging it out towards the end of the episode, I’d say that this is
only part of why their relationship fell apart. My other theory is that Croix
lost her magic due to the pollen, and Chariot had something to do with it. That’s
why she’s so competent with technology, and, if memory serves me right, why we’ve
never seen her using traditional magic. Even this episode, she doesn’t use a
broom to go through the leylines, instead flying on one of her roombas.
Akko’s story was also really
interesting this week. She finally confirmed that she’s only interested in
finding the words because she thinks they’ll lead her to meeting Chariot, and
doesn’t actually care about the Grand Triskelion or reconstruction magic. While
one of Akko’s biggest character flaws has always been her selfishness, having
her say that (to Ursula’s face no less) really gave her an extra dimension of
personality as well as a much stronger reason as to why she’s doing all this
for Ursula.
The episode ends with the sixth word being
revealed after Ursula manages to save Akko before the spores go off, and the
two of them reconcile. Considering that Ursula still hasn’t revealed her true identity to Akko, even after this
episode with a lot of tension between the two of them and a massive focus on
Chariot’s origin, I’m guessing that Trigger’s saving the big reveal for the
final boss battle against Croix. While I’d also really like to see Akko work
with Lotte and Sucy to save the day in the end, this second cour’s been much
more focused on her relationship with Chariot (compared to the friends-focused
first cour), making the big reveal seem like a satisfying way to cap off their storyline.
Also, Croix is building a dark Shiny
Rod. That’s awesome. Moving on.
This episode was a big tonal change
for Little Witch, mostly trading in
the bright colours and goofy jokes for a darker look and feel, and it really
worked considering the subject matter. Seeing more of Chariot and Croix’s past
was really interesting, and I also liked seeing more of the darker side of Akko’s
character. And now that the sixth word has been found, it looks like we’ll be
getting a four episode finale as Croix prepares to take control. The only thing
I wish this episode had was the big Chariot reveal to Akko, but if it isn’t
here I’m guessing the writers are saving it for a big moment in the final arc.
All and all I really enjoyed this episode, and while I don’t want this series
to end, I can’t wait to see what happens.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
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