Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina
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Sisyphusson66
Posts: 96 |
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Almost everything about this episode screamed "look at me and how dark I can be" without any actual substance.
That was the one minor redeeming quality of the episode. Although, only time will tell if that humility actually carries over in some form into the rest of the season. Last edited by Sisyphusson66 on Mon Nov 30, 2020 7:04 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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harminia
 Posts: 2011 Location: australia |
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I believe the situation was: Estelle is a little older than Elaina. Estelle started studying magic a little earlier than Elaina and got her apprenticeship at a younger age than Elaina did. But Elaina became a full blown witch at a younger age than Estelle, because Estelle took a while to become an actual witch (either due to her apprenticeship going for a long time, her struggling with the exam or so on). So Estelle did beat Elaina at one thing, but in terms of being the youngest person to pass the exams, Elaina achieved that. Re: The discussion about Elaina showing humility, I bet she goes back to being her same old self next ep. While I do enjoy the show, I have no hopes for proper character development. Of course, it's always possible that next ep is set prior to this, which will justify her still being a stuck up jerk. I like Elaina's arrogant personality but can't help whenever I think of the show title, my brain says "Wandering Bitch". |
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Yuvelir
 Posts: 1594 |
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Afterall in ep.4 she already admitted that she was far weaker than the witch princess and that she was powerless to help in any way, even if the situation wasn't as melodramatic.
Elaine bursting out felt a little weird since in other situations she never got that emotional, just slightly disturbed. And did she just leave Estelle to bleed out? |
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
Posts: 1011 |
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as if he's ever had any credibility lmao Also Talentless Nana (most of the time) knows exactly what it's doing and has more of a discernable point and themes to it's storytelling. Wandering Witch has neither of those things, and in fact has no real identity except when it's being laughably schlocky, which is a real shame. Talentless Nana can also be a little schlocky, but rarely to the point that it's distracting. I'll take a bit of contrived writing here and there over something like Wandering Witch. And I wouldn't say the former is tone deaf, it's pretty consistent in that regard. Moreso than Wandering Witch, a show that apparently can only have two radically different and clashing tones to it's stories despite being an anthology series. Talk about utterly wasted potential. also nana >>>>> elaina but that's beside the point
Elaina actually says in this episode that she's to turn 18 that year, implying that she has yet to turn 18, so I think this tale is meant to take place before all the others. Maybe as a reason for why she refuses to involve herself in other people's problems? But it's such an afterthought for what is presumably a cornerstone of her characterization, completely glossed over, that I'm not surprised so many people aren't picking up on it. It also doesn't even come close to justifying how poor and mishandled the entire episode is otherwise. |
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ThrowMeOut
Posts: 260 |
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I may not be big on Talentless Nana but it is, at least, tonally consistent. We're not swinging from wacky lighthearted hijinks to literal child murder. Who is Wandering Witch even for? Some episodes are light and fluffy like whipped cream, then the next episode you're slapped in the face with a man murdering his newborn grandchild. People who want dark and edgy will be bored, and people who want light and fluffy will be skeeved out. I also thought it was going to be more woman-positive but it's got too many weird fetishy moments and all the women are either unpleasant or completely off their rocker. But at least we don't get up skirt shots. Whoo.
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Charou
 Posts: 123 Location: Sydney, Australia |
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Agreed. 1 star for that episode? Zero credibility. I suspect the reviewer is struggling to come to terms with the fact that the show isn't what they signed up for given the first few episodes; too bad, pal. Review what you're given, not what you want to see. And you've been given a perfectly well animated anthology show charting the journey of a wandering observer who has to decide whether or not she can remain just a wandering observer despite connecting with people, albeit from a stance of greater agency thanks to her witchcraft. 'Elaina' is tonally consistent in that light. the world's a big, beautiful, scary place, and she set out to see it all. And not all of us watch Higurashi, Mr Dupree. Not all of us are desensitised from being exposed to the medium's most infamous yandere murderfest. Your review needed a serious injection of relatable perspective. |
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Malsang
 Posts: 53 |
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Yea, no, this show is bad. 1-star bad? Eh, I'd give it two, but that's saying more about the REALLY bad stuff I've watched and can compare it to. This is coming from someone who was hoping this anime would be the pick of the season, even after watching episode 3. This wasn't even the worst episode; that honor goes to either 7 or 6 with its complete banality in both content and theme. What a great example of how directing can be great at capturing small details but completely trip over itself when it comes to the bigger picture.
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1406 |
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See that's a cool idea in theory, but the problem with telling stories in anything besides the abstract is that you have to actually execute those ideas in a manner that's intelligible, emotionally effective, and actually communicative. Whatever themes and ideas this show is trying to explore with the blood-soaked murder toddler, it's exploring them badly with clumsy-at-best writing and hilariously poorly considered visual framing. Being well-animated doesn't make the sight of a crazy 9-year-old calming explaining that parental abuse turned her into a slasher movie villain on bath salts who madly cackles in the face of her own decapitation any less hackneyed from a writing standpoint. I am reviewing what I've been given, and I think I've been more than fair to the show's uneven episodic writing and thin storytelling in the previous weeks. But when a show swings for the fences and strikes out so hard it hits itself in the face with the bat, I'm going to point out its black eye and cracked helmet.
The 1-star is for this episode, which while very entertaining as a viewing experience, fails on pretty much every level it attempts to succeed at. I don't really know yet how I'd score the show itself - I honestly don't put much thought on the ratings since they're the least interesting part of a review, and mostly just go by my gut - but this episode was a culmination of every bad or poorly considered writing choice in the series so far, and a showcase of its worst creative instincts in a way that I really can't find much merit in. Last edited by lossthief on Mon Nov 30, 2020 11:29 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Random Name
Posts: 646 |
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I really wish the returning characters such as Saya and Flan were in more episodes. I feel like every episode without them is mediocre at best or in the case of episode 9 a train wreck. I do enjoy the show and characters when on screen but these week to week characters we never see again just fall flat for me and quite frankly I dont care about them. Also she felt bad at the end about not being able to stop her from killing her friend again but left her to die alone and bleeding? I mean its not even like she remembered her friend right? So all good now.
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
Posts: 1011 |
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This is funny because almost nothing in Higurashi is close to being the comical edgefest this episode was. Higurashi has real and grounded portrayals of abuse and the equally real and grounded impact it can have on victims, as well as the complicated circumstances surrounding such situations that can make fixing those problems difficult, especially during the time period it takes place in. Wandering Witch has "My parents were awful to me so I'm an absurdly evil serial killer and I love it lmao oh im dead now". And that's more or less all we get from the victim's perspective. If you didn't wanna make her predicament an entirely realistic one and focus more on how Elaina and Estelle react to it, that's...fine, but, don't do it like this. |
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Uchay
Posts: 78 |
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Maybe, *just* maybe, you should watch that "infamous yandere murderfest" before making any judgments, and you might be surprised by what you see in there, instead of parroting what other people say without having ever seen it for yourself. Just sayin'. Anyhow, as for the episode, I'm gonna be honest, I was paying too much attention to weird little details to be shocked, or terrified or laughing. Like, why the hell did the girl have so much blood in her mouth? Did she bit her victims to death? No, that can't be right, the show says she stabbed them. Did she drink their blood after killing them? Dammit, show, tell me how all that blood ended up in her mouth! You can't possibly tell me it's to make her look edgier! Where did all that blood even come from?! I get it, she killed people, but how the hell some deep cuts create a freakin bloody waterfall in that alley in such a short time? How the already anemic Estelle, who has been literally using large portions of her own blood to create the time travelling spell, even survives that for that long while losing so much blood? Or how did a non-witch, little girl manage to survive for that freakin' long the nonstop attack of a, as the shows seems to imply, decently powerful witch? The first attack should have killed her dammit! and yet that things goes on for forever with Selene tanking attack after attack like a champ with her nine years old body. Mate, I'd love to her as the tank in my table rpg party 
How the hell did she realize a witch went to get her parents and had time to go after then and kill everyone? Is that how that happened? Or did Estelle decide to face off against the "thief" while having to protect two people alone? Also, Elaine being shoked that Estelle killed her friend, but not at the fact said friend was a nine-years old unhinged, sadist psychopath who had just murdered people and was on her way to transform her into ribbons too was the cherry on top
Maybe it will sound like nitpicking or too tongue-in-cheek, and I know I should be suspending my disbelief for the sake of the show, but heck, there were so many glaring problems my attention got diverted somewhere else. The moment Estelle was talking about saving her friend's parents to avoid her descend into madness, I realized the murderer was Selene. It really wasn't an amazing or shocking twist, and in these cases execution is key, and I honestly think this show failed horribly at that. It was too over to the top and had little to no suspense. I wouldn't give it 1 star because I do think the first half was okay, and I enjoyed Estelle's character and motivations at that moment at least. I also liked that they were going to create a second parallel timeline instead of changing theirs, as a way to protect itself against those sorts of plotholes (because any show with time travel powers are gonna have problems hoo man) but man, the second half was just...gory porn and shock for the sake of it. Maybe the novel handles that scene better, it's probably the sort of thing that is more scary if you reading and imagining it for youself, but the show for sure failed to convey that. |
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Lotus Viridis
Posts: 44 |
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Episode 9
I'm sorry, If higurashi gets a pass while this doesn't, then I just can't agree. Especially if we're talking about the new season. Higurashi has had so many tonally deaf brutality scenes interspersed with kids playing weird ass games and random suggestive lewd content. It also uses the same old singular method of making them sound creepy by cutting the music, zooming in on their face/mouth, and make them speak with a deep voice. I also literally laughed out loud when the main character and the brown-haired girl started stabbing the shit out of each other in episode 4, I think it was. I can't way which one was better, as I think that's fairly subjective, but I wholeheartedly feel like Higurashi is just as guilty of poorly presented shock content as this anime. And nieither of them feel like a 1 star review is justified. |
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Florete
Posts: 364 |
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Did you come to the review to have your own opinion parroted back at you? The review didn't agree with your perspective, therefore the reviewer has no credibility. Right. Because you're the authority. I don't even fully agree with the review myself, but he explained himself properly and made it clear he knows what he's doing. Different people see things differently. That's called life. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1232 |
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spoiler[That was the only on-screen death/gratuitous violence in all 9 episodes so far. And this is coming from someone who just got into the series(i.e. not a hardcore fan), so that's kind of a flimsy argument.] |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16941 |
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Here's an idea, people can have a different opinion than you. That doesn't mean they have zero credibility just because they don't think exactly like you. If you want things to be parroted back to you just how you want it then go talk to yourself in front of a mirror. If you don't agree with the reviews on Wandering Witch then simply don't read them. That goes for everyone else as well. If you disagree with the reviewer then explain why, without the trollish comments. |
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