Forum - View topicREVIEW: Once Upon a Witch's Death Anime Series Review
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Aerodynamic41
Posts: 274 |
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The anime only covered the first 2 volumes of the LN. Volume 4 will be the final volume and it's scheduled to release this September. So a Season 2 would theoretically be enough to conclude the story.
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TouristGally
Posts: 8 |
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I am aware it may be dickish to mention this, but I've created an account solely for the purposes of posting a response to this one line, which I disagree with so thoroughly I can't just let it stand. That story - episode 6, if I recall correctly - is not lovely, it is representative of the entire problem with this series and the premise. Meg has a death sentence hanging over her. She has a year, only one year, to complete this fetch quest. Not even a normal fetch quest of gathering X herbs, skins, tails, whatever. She has to 'harvest' moments of emotional catharsis from people, which sets her task well above traditional fetch quests in terms of challenge and opportunity. She's not gathering items, she's playing therapist/psychiatrist for strangers. Then you add the specifics of a one year deadline and the necessity of gathering 1,000 tears - so about 3 each day, give or take - and what the writer has done is set up a ticking clock element where each tick of said clock should have the cacophonous weight of an iron bell tolling. It should be looming over every scene in every episode. Because failure means death. Not a missed opportunity to, random example off the top of my head, get into a prestigious magic school or even to keep her magic. If she had been told she has a year to make this potion or she becomes a normal human that would make this premise so much easier to get behind, especially when we have episodes where Meg is not acting with any sense of 'my life is literally in danger' urgency. (And it would makes concepts like 'Does Meg take magic for granted' resonate stronger.) That is why I hated episode 6, I hated Meg's teacher scolding her for bragging about how she's on track with getting the 1,000 requisite tears. Because this was never an exercise in making connections with others or learning to help people for 'the right reasons.' This is about Meg trying to NOT DIE. Who cares if she's making an emotional connection to someone when she helps them, I don't know, find a misplaced heirloom? She still needs to get 999 more tears, which means she needs to find 999 more people, in less than a year, to help. If the premise had not been so over-the-top this series could have been a wistfully melancholy tale about a young woman learning lessons about life and herself. It might not have been exceptional, but it would have been fine. But the writer had to go so extreme from the start. Again, I know I'm a jerk for coming down so hard, but after watching this series across the season my disdain for it became so insistent. |
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theEugAbides
Posts: 41 |
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I wasn't impressed by this series I kinda wished it took itself and that Meg kinda took her predicament a lil more seriously, I felt seriously annoyed by Meg because of this like her not listening to Faust about not looking for trouble with that devil worshipping family man and caused her to loose her hand almost maybe a finger or two but her insistence to butting herself in instead trying to focus on her problem at hand , this series is so cheesy by watching it all the way I lost hours of my life following this story that already feels like it's gonna end with her saving her own life cause it doesn't take itself seriously infact as we got through it half a year just passed now she's going on a journey too find out her past herself, so I have no hope for this series which is why I give this a c - c-
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Calathan
 SubscriberPosts: 9117 |
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TouristGally, I totally disagree, and I think you've misunderstood Faust's motivations and the purpose of episode 6. The main intent of that episode is to make clear that this isn't actually a quest to gather 1000 tears of joy, at least from Faust's perspective. Instead Faust is trying to train a worthy successor. Why this is so important to Faust isn't immediately made clear, but is filled in during the following episodes.
Episode 7 gives some important information when Eldora says that Meg will lose something important to her when her curse is lifted. The speculation I've seen online (from people who haven't read the original work, which I've also not read) is that spoiler[removing the curse will kill Faust. In other words, Faust is trying to make Meg into someone worth giving her life to save.] The episode also raises the question of if the 1000 tears of joy are even needed at all (my guess is yes, but I'm not sure). Perhaps gathering them is just a way to train Meg both in compassion and in using her magic. That would explain why Faust seems unworried that Meg will actually manage to get the 1000 tears of joy (though then again, it could just be confidence in Meg's ability to help people). As for why Faust is so insistent that Meg become a compassionate person, that is made clear at the end when we learn about Eldora. Faust's previous "daughter" ended up destroying a country out of revenge. While Faust clearly still cares for Eldora, I think Faust considers how Eldora turned out her greatest failure and sees raising Meg as a compassionate person as a means of penance for failing with Eldora (again, speculating that spoiler[Faust will die in the process]). To Faust, Meg being a good person is just as essential as her surviving, to the point that Faust is willing to risk Meg's survival if that is what it takes to make her a good person. So overall I though episode 6 was well written. It gave a lot of insight into the characters and raised a bunch of interesting questions that the further episodes could then answer. |
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BaronViolet
Posts: 503 |
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In response to The previous comment I agree that being a compassionate person is important but trying to stay alive is just as important. I say it is more important. I understand the reasoning but she basically risked Meg dying prematurely just to prove a point! Without the context it makes faust look very unlikeable.
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TouristGally
Posts: 8 |
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TL/DR: Life lessons are of secondary importance when life itself is endangered. Longer: Introducing, or even hinting at, the idea that there is a deeper real meaning behind the 1000 tears quest does not negate the fact that Meg is operating under the belief that her life is in danger and that the potion using the tears is her only way to stay alive. Whatever 'real' lesson to be learned in all this - just the idea that there is a real lesson - is unknown to her, and holding her to a standard beyond 'Is trying to preserve her life within the very limited time she has' is unreasonable. Faust's assertion that Meg isn't collecting tears the 'right' way is bull given the severity of what failure would entail. It would not be so out-of-left-field that there might be a cost to the potion on top of the extremely difficult task of collecting the tears in the first place. There are plenty of examples of stories where a character undertakes a challenge or quest to achieve something, only to learn at the last step that they may have to cross a line they didn't expect, raising the questions of how badly they want what they sought, what really matters to them in the end. But when the ultimate goal is self-preservation, one of the fundamental impulses of all lifeforms and not just an achievement or prize that would be nice to have but isn't, you know, necessary to stay alive, then you've undermined any future revelation about what the real theme of the story is. I said previously the 'one year, 1000 tears' challenge is too extreme. It sets up a situation where quantity absolutely has to trump quality in Meg's eyes; she must get as many tears as possible as fast as possible to even begin to entertain the hope of living past 18. And in such a position it's to be expected, if not wholly defended, that Meg is going to see the people she helps as means to an end. That doesn't make her a bad person; she's a person in a bad situation. But if Faust knows that there's supposed to be a deeper meaning to the quest but doesn't tell Meg, she only scolds her for focusing on the immediate issue, then Faust is a bad mentor. 'You're losing sight of what makes life worth living' can be a valid lesson when a character is, for example, so focused on mastering a skill or winning a contest that they push away friendships or obligations. But it doesn't work when one is trying to stay alive in the first place. And it doesn't help the story as a story, because are we supposed to entertain the idea that after collecting 1,000 tears Faust is going to say spoiler['Yeah, okay, but to lift the curse I have to kill myself, and I don't think you've matured enough to deserve that.'] When you say Faust needs Meg to become a compassionate person you're implying that if Meg fails to experience sufficient growth, if she doesn't become a 'worthy successor,' then she'll be left to die, but this series is nowhere near dark enough to go that route. So there's no added tension from that. (And this is long enough as it is, but the whole thing about a frivolous but otherwise pleasant 17-year old needing the threat of death to teach her a lesson is overblown on its own right for my tastes. Meg is nowhere near a horrible enough person to justify being sentenced to death at 18, and thus there is no lesson so important she needs to be endangered to learn it.) |
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<('_')^
Posts: 186 |
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Dropped this show early on because of how the MC was acting like a creep. Idk why a lot of these cute and wholesome looking anime feel the need to include unsavory bits of fanservice or jokes.
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Juno016
 Posts: 2588 |
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I haven't watched the anime, but only read volume 1 of the novel. In it, Meg herself doesn't take the task very seriously (she's early introduced to the audience as someone who is incapable of dwelling on hardship for long), Faust tells her the task is pretty much impossible for her (though Faust seems unconcerned about this), and the pacing and framing constantly suggest that the task is more or less a false hope. Nonetheless, the last line in volume 1 has Faust spoiler[declaring with certainty that Meg will live and take over her position]. Not to mention, the first two tears she collects spoiler[are the wrong tears, but Faust notes to herself that they are more special than normal tears and seems secretly pleased.] From all this, I think it's really obvious that the task is intentionally impossible by normal means and anyone who focuses on quantity over quality will not be able to complete it. Meg's personality thus fits the bill of someone whose outlook on life will help her achieve the goal the same way she does other tasks: by thinking outside the box and staying true to herself. She's not special because she's capable of collecting 1000 tears in one year's time to save her own life. She's special because despite this challenge that would normally require someone to focus on self-preservation, she still takes her time and does her work diligently with empathy and care, all while constantly challenging norms and moving forward. I haven't seen the anime yet and don't know if it captures this feeling well, but that's the vibe I get from the first novel. It's a simple life lesson, but effective. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 20109 |
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"some viewers may take it as mock-queerbaiting on the show's part." - Feels like it comes pretty par and parcel for these female-centric witch shows.
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TouristGally
Posts: 8 |
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I honestly don't want to keep harping on this series. I watched the last episode a few days ago and was fully prepared to just let it vanish from my memories. I only read this review out of mild curiosity, not because I have a legit hate-on for the series, and I doubt anyone appreciates me coming in to rain on something they like.
But I want to bring up one point and then I'll let the matter rest: If a doctor, under false pretenses, told their patient they have one year left to live they would be stripped of their medical license. It would be unquestionable malpractice, regardless of whether they thought they were imparting some life lesson through it. How is Faust, in her capacity as Meg's teacher and a highly respected witch in general, not in the same position as a doctor presenting a diagnosis when she informs Meg of the curse? How is this not malpractice, telling her ward/student that she needs to complete a challenge in order to save her life, knowing that such a task is impossible and/or will not save her should she even carry it out? 'But she needed to help Meg learn this lesson or grow more mature or something.' Doesn't matter. It's inhumane, a violation of her position as Meg's teacher and guardian, on a level impossible to overstate, to deliver false information about a matter this significant. But ultimately it's bad writing, and that's what bothers me so much. I was going to go into this in a previous comment but that was running long so I nixed it, but let me try to be brief here: the writer chose to come up with such an extreme situation, the threat of death, and apparently they did not think through what that would actually be like for someone in Meg's situation. In their rush to get to 'Meg grows up and takes things more seriously' they did not stop and ask themselves if this was an appropriate way to get to that point. There were countless other ways to to have Meg forced out of her flippant, immature character without violating her trust or giving her false hope. Just because things played out as they did in a work of fiction does not mean that was the only way they could have. The writer is omnipotent, they can make happen whatever they want. Even if Meg ends up at a better place at the end of the series, a more mature, more fully formed and realized person, it does not justify these particular steps to get there. |
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Juno016
Posts: 2588 |
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Don't worry, I'm not upset about your criticism or anything. It's a discussion. I'm curious to see whether the adaption does the books justice or not. But to critique your last post: Faust cannot remove the curse. There is zero indication that she is lying about the method needed to remove it. Faust can also see the future. Even if her future vision is not perfect, she can probably tell the true path for Meg to save herself. She sees Meg walking down that path. At the end of book 1, spoiler[she is absolutely certain Meg will live and take her place.] It is also one of those kinds of tasks where if you tell someone how to complete the task, or tell them that they are already destined to complete it, they'll likely fail it instead. Besides, the final intention of Faust appears to be to have Meg replace her. She is uniquely the only person who knows what it takes to be in her position, and she herself also completed the same task to make it to her position long ago. All that said, this is a fictional story set in a fictional world about fictional magic and curses and characters. This idea that stories or characters need to be completely sanitized to be considered "good writing" doesn't make sense to me personally. Witches aren't doctors, Meg isn't Faust's patient, and if you pay attention to each indivisual chapter, they all teach specific lessons Meg needs to learn on her ownーFaust says as muchーto be one of the most important and powerful witches in the world with a domain over time. Think of it as the difference between learning life lessons at school with a pen and paper vs learning them in person with your own two hands. Especially if you're writing a story with some form of determinism/fate where the future is already set in stone, the latter is far better story-writing material and there is at least a fictional reassurance that if things go wrong, the heroes will still overcome the worst. I don't mind your perspective itselfーif this was a real account of real people, I might agree with your same criticismsーbut I do think it lacks a bit of media literacy. You can't treat everyone or everything in a fictional story as if they are real people. |
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Cardcaptor Takato
 Posts: 5979 |
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On the subject of episode six I always assumed there was some not yet explained magical reason for Faust's actions like the spell wouldn't work if Meg didn't collect the tears in a specific manner.
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DolFun The Dolphin Vtuber
 Posts: 83 Location: Phinland/Australia |
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The best anime of the season for me.
I really enjoyed every episode. I really like how Meg tried to help out everyone that she could. |
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Glordit
 Posts: 1201 |
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Enjoyed this more than I thought I would, it got dark at times, which was great!because it shows you the darker side of magic and that not everything is going to be easy and happy.
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2561 Location: Online Terminal |
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Is it? Different people react to a terminal diagnosis differently. Some may fight back, others may decide to not wait, some may ignore it, and still others may choose to live differently. If the speculation is in this thread is true and spoiler[Faust also knows that this will end in her death] then we already have multiple, competing viewpoints on how to approach the end of one's life. At least that's my argument based on the text. My argument outside of the text is that the premise is merely an excuse to justify the story, similar to however many 80's shows in the US or (imo) something like Samurai Champloo from the anime world. |
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