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I like the slow burn effect Akko is having on Andrew. I don't think I want to see them end up as a couple or anything, but I do want them to be trusted friends, and the series keeps giving them reasons to keep interacting. Obviously her influence will be instrumental in his freeing himself from his father's constraints, and I'm going to enjoy that.

Yeah, good idea to become a mouse with snakes afoot...so to speak. Elephant and turtle were much better ideas.

Weirdly enough, this series is telling essentially the same story as Starmyu, although doing a thousand-fold more creative and engaging job of it. The awkward, genki MC chasing a dream of being like a once-glimpsed performer, who just happens to be their mentor at school, albeit unbeknownst to MC (Hoshitani finally found out this season, and I keep wondering when the other shoe is going to drop for Akko). Lacking in natural talents, making up for it with sheer effort and never-say-die-ness, gradually acquiring friends from among more gifted rivals and winning over everyone with pure heart. No magic wands in Starmyu though (except maybe in doujinshis... >.>). Basically, while they're not in the same row, they're both in the same column.

Episode 21

That was a good one. I was getting nervous that where the story was going was that Ursula would save Akko but get affected by the pollen and lose her ability to use magic - which, of course, would make Akko feel horribly guilty. It would appear that things didn't go there, although I would have like to seen Ursula use magic after going through the pollen, just to be sure.

It was nice to see Hannah and Barbara thank Akko for bringing back Diana. Especially nice when you discover what the meaning of Lyonne is.

Blood- wrote:

It was nice to see Hannah and Barbara thank Akko for bringing back Diana. Especially nice when you discover what the meaning of Lyonne is.

I did not think about that, but it is a really good observation.

I think the episode had a number of good nuggets in it, which would have been the Hanna and Barbara bit, some more solid information on what the deal could be between Urusula/Chariot and Croix, and that the emotional part of this story was for Akko. It might sound like the second part takes away from the third, that what Chariot and Croix mean to each other, that Croix is apparently now messing with Akko to get at Ursula, yet does not want her rival to get killed would take away Akko's agency. Ursula even apologises that she might have pushed some of her wishes onto Akko unfairly, right along with Akko thanking Ursuala for keep on coming to save her. But this was a lot on that Akko is doing this because she wants to do it, she might even be doing it to want to meet Chariot, that this is her big wish beyond anything she could consider that she could rewrite the world or something with the magic.

Akko's dreams and desires are kind of based on trying to be like her hero, but at this point I think that it is beyond clear that Chariot is not even a person to her, she is an idea that if I had to guess Ursula might have become a bit disillusioned to, that she could not live up to it. Some of the best episodes in the series I would say has been when Akko acted as supporting character to one of the other girls, because these generally felt like moments Akko was not about saying she wanted to be like her hero, Chariot, instead she kind of lived it by cheering someone on. The first step of Akko to move forward was to really make the decision to put in effort, and despite all these mini lessons of the words, I think the second has been this earnest side of Akko that really appreciates the other people, regardless of how she might clash with them.

And from what we learned about Croix. She wanted to be the best witch, something that sounded like she might want it for the betterment of others, but utterly it was for herself as evident in the jealousy she held for Chariot who apparently wanted it just to help others. And it also seems that Croix plans to circumvent the rules by brute force of harnessing collected rage to increase magic, something she mentioned was apparently the strongest emotion. But in spite of all of this, Croix is not all bad, she also does actually care about her friend. It is not clear, but I was somewhat getting the thought that perhaps Croix lost her magic due to the pollen then, and at that moment she probably had a "nothing makes a man more adventurous than an empty pocket" moment, appreciating the effort when she had little. Perhaps from there Chariot felt too guilty to get the last word, and part if what annoys Croix is that Chariot did not finish.

DuskyPredator wrote:

And it also seems that Croix plans to circumvent the rules by brute force of harnessing collected rage to increase magic, something she mentioned was apparently the strongest emotion. But in spite of all of this, Croix is not all bad, she also does actually care about her friend.

I'm not willing to accept Croix as a good person, yet. She did send Akko up the tree knowing the pollen was about to be released. If Akko got caught in the pollen cloud it would have wiped out what little magic she does have, destroying her dream about becoming like Chariot. That doesn't seem very nice to me.

dvls_advocate wrote:

I'm not willing to accept Croix as a good person, yet. She did send Akko up the tree knowing the pollen was about to be released. If Akko got caught in the pollen cloud it would have wiped out what little magic she does have, destroying her dream about becoming like Chariot. That doesn't seem very nice to me.

And I think that is why Croix was not chosen. She wants power yet looks down on those she thinks are weak and or have no talent. At this point she sees nothing really lost in a no talent witch losing her magic, probably since she sees that she is about to fix the entire world as a genius with clear goals, so is just using Akko to throw her frustration at the person who could not finish what they worked together for and wasted her potential. I do think Croix has some good points as she actually does care about her friend, and she could make things to help people, could solve conflict. But in the context of the show, despite how cool she is and able to get students involved, she is kind of a bad teacher in the sense that she does not believe in say the crazy dreams that even the most powerless students might have, I don't think she actually sees the value in it. She is not pure evil, but as much as she has and the path she takes, she sees her methods being justified by their end for hard work, while Akko's hard work.

I think Akko gets drawn in by the dreams of others after her own. She is keen to go with Lotte over Nightfall despite not understanding, she goes along with Amanda's sense of rebellion somewhat butting heads how they are similar but different, is enthusiastic over Constanze's ship project, and quite strong in the whatever Diana's dream may be. She was even literally pulled into Sucy's dreams, one of my favourite moments being when she joins in the laughter at her own silly/demeaning representation. Akko might not be perfect, and I think it is the same for what is making Croix who she is, and it is what makes Akko "Akko" that makes her villainous. Whether that makes Croix a "bad" person, I think it might even be up to interpretation, there are even others who see the way Akko acts as proof she is bad. That she often does not learn things from mistakes, like forgetting patience and not seeing things that others might, perhaps acting rashly, but I think that it is Trigger's way of saying not to give up on that sort of person, and perhaps that moment with Croix genuinely worried means we should not give up all hope that she could turn around with the proper prodding.

Yeah, I suspect the groundwork has been laid for some kind of Croix redemption (especially given that the English version of her name is Cross Wink

). LWA doesn't seem to trade in out and out villains. Even Diana's aunt and two cousins clearly changed their attitudes after Diana saved them at the cost of not being able to do the "Become Head of the Family" ritual.

Episode 22

Whoa! Shocked

What we found out is a really big deal, it shakes things up quite a bit and goes a length to explain why Chariot has gone the way she did and a lot more. To be specific, Ursula standing against Croix for absorbing emotions for power is spoiler[actually pretty hypocritical, that is because she did something fairly similar, she took the magic of people through dreams]. Chariot's pretty display show that this and the OVA start with holds spoiler[another secret, the fairy that pops up from Akko rather than being cute was actually Chariot collecting Akko's magic], this was why Diana apparently spoiler[lost her magic, and it is why Akko has struggled so much]. Perhaps Diana spoiler[got off fairly easy because she could already use magic or something], but Akko has had nothing but an uphill battle spoiler[because Chariot taking something without asking]. It is actually kind of funny in a sad way as I remember thinking it kind of cute that it came from Akko, like showing the magic inside her.

Kind of thematically you could maybe compare it to a celebrity exploiting their fans, the appearance of selflessly giving dreams, while doing it for themselves. Another thing, why did I oddly find the giant lizard that attacked Akko and Ursula in this episode look familiar? I don't know if I only just picked out the memory, but I just re-watched the Chariot show of the first episode, but Croix actually interrupted the show, either to take the energy herself or just trying to get in her way. It is actually rather interesting that we now know that it is much more than trying to look good since we know the context now. And also really put a question on the star scar on the moon we have had visually focused on, but was not there at the start of that episode. Actually, this reminds me of KlK made me watch through the series differently the second time after learning information.

This all has the sad addition that almost all I can talk about is the end of the episode, while there was a number of other good moments. Notably the cute interaction between Akko and Andrew, how although Andrew is struggling to stand up for himself he might actually be being inspired by Akko. And the advice that she should not just rely on her "hero", but try to do the job herself, feels like something that might come into play in the final acts, along with Diana, and perhaps her relationship with everyone.

Yes, that was a doozy of a revelation. However, my impression was that Chariot was not actually aware that she was absorbing people's magic. Ursula said at one point that she hoped it wasn't true. I'm assuming that once she did realize what was happening, that's why she stopped doing her shows. Naturally, she would still feel guilty even if it wasn't something she did consciously.

Anyway, I wonder if this is setting up an ending in which Akko gets her magic back. If she is able to activate the seventh world I guess that would trigger world magic reconstruction which means she might be able to use magic properly for the first time. Anyway, I'm glad Akko finally knows who Ursula is. I was getting impatient with all the bogus interruptions that were preventing Ursula from spilling the beans.

Episode 23

If the week was not enough, seeing Chariot's honest heart, being tricked into using the magic, and frustration of doing anything more grand sure did cool down negative feeling towards Chariot. One almost forgets how hard Akko was hit in what she found out, and the earnestness everyone has in looking for her because they what this must have done to her. Seeing her emotionless when Diana finds her is again heartbreaking in what we know about our little witch. But what followed with Diana taking the stand of being fully honest, the smile. Diana was the one who could pull Akko out of this, or really the push for her to do it herself. That remark though about being disappointed in Ursula.

At this point, I think that the failure of the last word may have been in that Chariot was doing it alone, and she is doing it again in the end, while Akko has all her friends. Which again just noting the search, with Sucy especially it brings up memories of her pretending to look for something while actually looking for mushrooms, that she was properly searching this time along with others like Constanze being loud with her robot, it shows her worth.

Well, it took a movie, an OVA and 23 episodes of the TV series, but we FINALLY have the full Shiny Chariot/Professor Ursula backstory. Yeah, that Croix is a real turd, actually.

Interesting theory about why Chariot may not have been able to activate the final word, DuskyPredator. I don't have any theory myself that is more persuasive.

I think Chariot missed the mark because she started letting pride taint her pure desire to make people smile. At first it was totally about giving something to others to make them happy, but then it started becoming a star turn, especially when the promoter got involved. Her feeling wasn't, "this isn't making them happy anymore," but "I'm losing my audience and they won't like me anymore unless I do something more spectacular."

The staff didn't choose Croix for the same reason: Croix wanted the power to become important and famous for restoring the world's magic, and was jealous that someone else was chosen, rather than just hoping for her to succeed and benefit everyone.

I wonder if the reason audiences kept demanding more was just because that's how people are, or if Croix's draining them of dreams through Chariot made it harder for them to feel happy.

Actually, I didn't get a sense there was any personal pride involved with Chariot and her performances at all. I got the sense that the show was saying that it's the nature of audiences, once they get over the initial excitement of something novel, to require ever bigger and more spectacular things to remain interested. Chariot was driven by a desire to have people feel the wonder of magic, to make them dream and when they started getting bored, it was more of a concern over her mission as opposed to any personal sense of pride.

Actually, it may have been Croix who indadvertantly ensured that Chariot didn't activate the seventh word. It's possible that the activation is tied into promoting the wonder of magic to the outside world and Chariot was on the way to "discovering" that, but threw in the towel after the Dream Fuel fiasco.

Episode 24

And the final word is..... it is a doozy, you are never going to guess what it is. It is something so complex, that you are never going to foresee an anime throw it in as the most important part. It is spoiler[love]. Laughing

Yeah, got me thinking way too much when it should have been obvious.

There are a few things to in particular like with the episode. The first might the series referential part, that the monster the machine turned into the dragon from the original Little Witch Academia OVA which had the power of absorbing magic.

Next may be the simple fact that Chariot had a lightsaber. Following that up, would probably be Croix's sanity slippage as she was just about to get exactly what she wanted, only to get a stick that could only do party tricks. How Akko was able to take it and do a huge amount difference, I think shows it was a reflection of the heart, that Croix's was so much weaker. But she was not all bad, the parts where Chariot would not give up on her was nice.

The crowning part has to be Akko, that there was so much she could say to Chariot, like the pain she went through, but Akko did what she always wanted to. With a smile she walked up to Chariot and said everything she wanted to, the things that had been her dream for so long, that she truly appreciates all her friends who helped her along the way. And that now that she has this dream done, she will be herself, and work to make others smile. There was the team group hug dogpile too with Akko, which is something when you consider that it included Sucy, and I don't think Constanze is a big hugger either.

But things are not fully resolved yet, and that ending feels ominous.

That was a pretty cool penultimate eppie. At first I was a little bit disappointed that Akko and the others weren't part of the action, but that eventually got rectified in a really satisfying way. And how cool was it to see Chariot wield a light saber and look kinda super hero-ish? We also got confirmation that she WAS affected by the pollen a few episodes back. Obviously not enough to lose all her magic, but enough that she has limitations (can't fly).

I thought Akko's exchange with Chariot was very moving and I do believe a little moisture managed to squeeze its way out of my manly, muscular tear ducts.

I agree the ending was ominous, but I'm sure THE POWAH OF LURV will save the day. LWA has certainly brightened the first half of my 2017. Gonna miss it. (Until I eventually buy it, of course.)

Episode 25 (finale)

A little depressing to be saying this, but I have been dreading this day, the last episode of Little Witch Academia, but it is also hard because there was so much happy in this episode. I was a getting a little worried that the broom rocket would be the real exciting part of the episode, but what Akko and Diana had towards the end totally stole the show. The frantic dodging of missiles that transformed before Akko transformed them into helpless, it was totally Trigger but with Akko's Little Witch Academia flare. The magic with big smiley face with the giggle could come across tacky in anything else, the shiny rod disappearing, reminded me too much of Kill la Kill spoiler[with Senketsu said farewell]. And yet the very end, can't understate how happy I was seeing all of the girls at that picnic/tea party/broom session, including Amanda, Hannah and Barbara. To summarise the finale, I actually was kind of comparing this to other stuff because of course I am, hard not to think of other finale which are amazing like Luluco or Kill la Kill, was thinking it was not matching up, but right when it mattered they made me forget all of that with wonderful Trigger magic.

I have to be honest, and say that the show was not perfect, there were times it bogged down with the story it set, and things that did not live up to the huge expectations I had in this series because of course I did. But despite all of that it was filled with a bunch of surprises, from what felt like actual character development of Akko making changes. For all the kind of forceful or cliché emotional moment there felt like there were some that were very strongly done, like the thinking Akko just failing being followed by a pretty heartfelt her really upset, the twist of Shiny Chariot, and the very end happy moment with everyone. Just to talk about the twist, it was something that addressed a lot of what one might think the show would only have for contrivance's sake, having you readdress a number of things. And also great were the episode that Akko acted as supporting character to another, notably the Amanda and Constanze episodes. I had heard that the creators had not got everything they wanted into the season, so I kind of hope we might at least get an OVA with more.

In the spirit of the show, I think that I can say that the up in Little Witch Academia make up for the any of the mistakes it had. I give a rating of Excellent (9/10), overall pretty fantastic, really liked this, really would like to by it on BD. And hope the next Trigger anime will be as good.

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