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REVIEW: Little Witch Academia Episodes 1-13 Streaming


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Batknight94



Joined: 16 Nov 2015
Posts: 22
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:45 am Reply with quote
Actually that Jack Black looking character is suppose to be ChumLee from Pawn Stars. Which is way weirder honestly but hey Trigger gonna Trigger.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:59 am Reply with quote
I really love this franchise. I didn't find the OVA as fun as the original movie and I really enjoyed the 2-cours TV series (sorry, Netflix, I have a sub with you but there was no way I was going to wait). Personally, I found the first cours stronger than the second (where an overarching storyline did kick in), but still highly enjoyable over all. Would definitely buy a home release if one becomes available.
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Raebo101



Joined: 17 Mar 2010
Posts: 792
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 10:34 am Reply with quote
Quote:
and Rachelle Heger doing a wonderful job as Sucy.


I completely agree. Rachelle Heger's performance was the best thing about the dub of the original film, and it looks like the same will be true here. Smile
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Sahmbahdeh



Joined: 05 May 2015
Posts: 712
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:31 am Reply with quote
I think it should be said that this show has arguably the best character designs of the year so far. Everyone is immediately identifiable, expressive, unique (including background characters; seriously, look at the background characters, everyone is distinct), and charming, finding that perfect balance between looking good in a still shot and also looking good in motion, which is something that the folks at Studio Trigger (and before, at Gainax) honestly excel at. For additional examples of this, see also Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill and Kiznaiver, to name but a few.

The amount of animation is also impressive; the show is almost constantly in motion, even when slight, drawing the eye and maintaining interest over the course of each episode. Seriously great job, Trigger.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:45 am Reply with quote
I really enjoy the show, but I don't really get why it get such high praise. Aside from the art nothing feel out of the ordinary. The story is one we've seen a millions times (it's practically the same as MHA), the character are the usual stuff (there well done, but nothing exceptional). The reference are interesting but hardly transformative. The humor is funny, but jokes are few and far between, with very few hitting very hard. It just seems like a slightly above average show among plenty that'll struggle to remember anything about next year.

I get I just don't really get the trigger hype, was the same for KLK, fun show but I feel it really didn't deserve all the praise it was getting, with again interesting art but little else to back it up.
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MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5294
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 11:48 am Reply with quote
I'm enjoying it so far, I think the next episode I am watching, the next one looks like a 2 parter. I love how everything in the show is hand-drawn; the effects, the mosnters, the cars and even the 3D shots are all faked with 2D.

I had to drop the dub, Erica Mendez is really not very good, especially when compared to Megumi Han(even though she seems to do just as good job as her as Gon). Also is it just me or does she sound like she had a cold for the first episode?
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:05 pm Reply with quote
I just finished the first 13 episodes. Very tempted to cave and watch the rest illegally. Not sure why Netflix has to do this to me, especially since they sent out that "all episodes available June 30" email. Confused
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Giolon
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Joined: 16 Jan 2009
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:24 pm Reply with quote
Yeah, that's not Jack Black at the magic shop. It's Chumlee from Pawn Stars.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1544
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:25 pm Reply with quote
LWA is exactly the type of show anime needs more of. It's smart, expressive, has a unique artstyle (the now-famous "Trigger style," but tweaked to be a bit softer and more European-influenced) a fantastic and endearing cast of characters, and a really wide appeal. I loved how, for once, there was an anime with an almost entirely female cast that never stooped to turning its characters into moe bait and never sexualized anyone (especially given that this is the same studio that made Kill La Kill!) Don't get me wrong, I love some good fanservice, but when it's forced or out of place, it's borderline painful to sit through, and it would have felt very out of placed in LWA.

I do wonder if the episodic nature of "season 1" will help the show's fortunes on Netflix, given that serialization tends to be more popular on that service. The first half of the series is great, but it's so episodic that it almost feels like the show has no central plot at all, whereas the second half is just the opposite. In any case, I'm really happy the show is getting some more exposure outside of Japan. It really deserves it!
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luisedgarf



Joined: 02 Oct 2004
Posts: 656
Location: Guadalajara, Mexico
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:43 pm Reply with quote
MarshalBanana wrote:

I had to drop the dub, Erica Mendez is really not very good, especially when compared to Megumi Han(even though she seems to do just as good job as her as Gon). Also is it just me or does she sound like she had a cold for the first episode?


If you think the English dub is bad for you, you should hear the Chilean Spanish dub: To say it's bad is an understatement, and I'm not talking just only about the dub of the TV series: The Spanish dubs of the movie and the OVAs are awful as well. Just to give you a small list of all the problems that dub had:

1-Thick Chilean accents with some characters
2-Gratuitous Japanese in a series that takes place in England
3-They cannot pronounce Akko's last name correctly.
4-They cannot translate the name of the Twilight's parody book "Nightfall" right. Heck, they even used the name Twilight outright.
5- Among other long list of problems.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 12:57 pm Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
I really enjoy the show, but I don't really get why it get such high praise.


I've had non-anime fans describe the show as

"it's like Sofia the First but anime!"

and

"it's Harry Potter except every character is Hermione!"

and while neither is really that accurate, is it really that astonishing that a (relatively) family-friendly anime with a predominantly-female cast would do well in the post-Frozen world? There's also the fact that we don't really get too many shows about girls who excel (or want to excel) at academics... point is, it's right in the strike zone for younger parents who remember watching anime as kids, and want to share the experience with their daughters.

Also, I didn't really think about it when the show was coming out week to week, but in many ways it's the perfect "ambassador show" for non-anime fans, which makes it a very good fit for a general-purpose streaming service like Netflix.
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Jose Cruz



Joined: 20 Nov 2012
Posts: 1767
Location: South America
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:16 pm Reply with quote
I think they are understating the show's strength. It's really masterpiece level animation: it's very visually creative, has excellent art that's also very creative as it doesn't look like your generic "how to drawn manga" art style, yet certainly looks Japanese. The animation is top notch for a TV show, really excellent overall.

The show has a strong and dense atmosphere. And the way the fantasy is handled is great because it feels familiar yet original. A lot of the atmosphere reminded me for some reason of western RPG videogames.

And I loved the soundtrack, it's simple but very effective in adding to the show's atmosphere.

And finally, it's writing is also very good: the characters feel very much alive and I strongly identified with them. It's way above your average show. The characters also have creative roles, they are not "protagonists" and "villains" but instead it feels more like reality where there is no clear cut "bad and good people".

Overall, it's a show that succeeds on all levels. I haven't watched an animated show that good since Madoka in 2011. Yes, I think it's perhaps the best anime of the past 5 years or so. It's even better than Ping Pong the Animation (which I my top pick for the whole 2012-2016 period), From the New World, Kobayashi's Dragon Maid or Shirobako.


Last edited by Jose Cruz on Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:21 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
Posts: 2091
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 1:19 pm Reply with quote
BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
There's also the fact that we don't really get too many shows about girls who excel (or want to excel) at academics...


I'm only four episodes in, but I get the sense that for Akko, it's more a desire to excel in the arts than in academics. (The whole franchise is kinda built around a witchcraft = animation metaphor, after all.)

Side note, this show is really good about not doing panty shots at points where so many other anime would.
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dm
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Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1346
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 2:15 pm Reply with quote
I caught a number of references while watching, but the only one I really remember is that Diana's two minions are named "Hannah" and "Barbara", names that are a little infamous in the animation world.
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meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Fri Jul 07, 2017 2:26 pm Reply with quote
BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
and while neither is really that accurate, is it really that astonishing that a (relatively) family-friendly anime with a predominantly-female cast would do well in the post-Frozen world? There's also the fact that we don't really get too many shows about girls who excel (or want to excel) at academics... point is, it's right in the strike zone for younger parents who remember watching anime as kids, and want to share the experience with their daughters.


Well my first though was that I just wasn't the target audience and that's why I wasn't going crazy about it, but even people in similar circumstance to mine are also singing its praise, so I'm not sure.

Part of the reason is probably because none of the character are endearing to me. Akko just come off as a fan girl who doesn't actually care about magic but she's just into it because of her idol (ie she care more about Chariot than magic). She mention that she tried to self learn magic and immediately gave up and she mention multiple time that she's uninterested in the steps needed to get good at magic and just want the final results so she can be like Chariot. Magic seems more like a phase she going trough, but once she hit puberty she'll just get over it and move to something else. She get un-precedently admitted into the academy using... her parent's money, not exactly an inspiring start. Normally I'd like that, because I'm really tired of the "chosen one shtick" but then she's also the chosen one since she miraculously get the shiny rod, so it's kinda the worse of both world.

Diana is a bit more interesting, but she feel underdeveloped as most of her scene end up being exactly the same. Susy is probably the only character I really like since it seems like she's the only character who's at the academy because they really like magic.
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