Monday, 5 June 2017

Little Witch Academia Episode 22 Review

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(This review contains MASSIVE spoilers!)
(Seriously, if you haven’t watched the episode yet and you wish to do so, stay away from this review. There’s some “Luke, I am your father” level stuff here)

          The biggest question since the first episode of Little Witch has been if and when Ursula would reveal herself to be Chariot to Akko. We’ve known the two were one and the same ever since the first short, so with the big reveal kind of inevitable as the series shifted gears much further towards Akko and Ursula’s relationship in the second cour it became kind of a guessing game for how the answer would be given.

          This episode gave answers to not only that question, but to multiple others as well, as Croix’s master plan began to unfold. Despite all this, the writers still managed to create an episode packed with Little Witch’s trademark brand of sweetness and humour.

          Honestly, it’s hard to tell where to begin with this episode. The seventh word is on the horizon, but before that can happen Andrew stops by town to return Akko’s hat. I love how Andrew’s finally had stuff to do these past few weeks aside from bail Akko out of some wacky situations she can’t fix herself. The chemistry between the two of them is just fantastic, as we can see in the scene the two of them share where he encourages her to stop trying to be Chariot and start trying to be herself. It’s a lesson she’ll probably be taking to heart after the events of this episode.

          The weird soccer game controversy that’s been popping up these last few weeks also finally got some explanation. It’s the result of a growing animosity between two competing countries, except amplified by Croix. Her master plan is to harness people’s negative emotions to forcefully break the seal on the Grand Triskelion, while at the same time guaranteeing a future for magic even when the old style fades away.

          Croix finally decides Akko is interfering with her plans too much, and targets her with her evil robots. Ursula swoops in to save her, and while doing so lets her disguise slip and reveals herself to be Chariot.

          Now, for most shows this would be a good place to end it. But here’s where Little Witch decided to go full-on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D on us, leaving a cliffhanger that changes literally everything about the overarching plot of the series.

          After Ursula apologizes to Akko for not telling her sooner, Croix decides to explain why Chariot stopped performing. Similarly to how Croix is currently using magic to control emotions, Chariot used to harness the power of dreams to fuel her magic. The downside is that everyone who she used the dream magic on could never use magic themselves later on.

          This explains so much about the series that most of us never gave a second thought. Why Akko spent so much of the first cour being the worst witch ever and why she can’t ride a broom? Chariot stole her magic. Why Diana grew up alone and friendless because she was so dedicated to relearning magic and becoming a witch worthy of the Cavendish family name? She attended the same Chariot show Akko did. It even explains why Akko, a witch not from a magical family, was accepted into Luna Nova in the first place. Wizarding children are vanishing by the hundreds because Chariot stole their magic.

          This episode also ruined that adorable opening scene in the first episode forever. So there’s that.

          Obviously Akko is more than a little distraught to discover that the idol she’s been searching for for years is the reason why she’s so much worse than all the other Luna Nova students, and the episode ends on that note. Honestly, it’s anyone’s guess where it’s going to go from this point, but considering this is Little Witch Academia, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all smiles and magic again before long.

          While I’ve been a little frustrated about how wishy-washy Trigger seems to have been over the Chariot reveal since the second cour started, this episode absolutely made it worth the wait. Everything from the writing to the animation to the music to even how everything was lit was just perfection, and it really gave the episode a stake nothing else before it had.

FINAL SCORE
10/10

Legendary

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