Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Journal with Witch
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 875 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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This one surprised me. I thought it would be a mellow, pleasantly paced, relaxing show about not much. Time well spent, but nothing mind blowing; a solid 3 out of 5. I really didn't not expect to enjoy it as much as I am. I think it's how REAL it feels. Real situations. Real solutions. Real, NORMAL adult relationships. If this keeps up for the entire run, this could be my anime of the season. That's with a lot of heavy hitters this season too.
I also really like how Makio makes no illusions about how she felt about her sister, however she doesn't transfer that dislike to Asa. That just because she hated her sister doesn't mean she hates her niece too, and that she stepped up when no one else would because regardless about how she felt about her sister, regardless of how unprepared she was for it, she believes Asa deserves a chance at a happy life. And there's the flip side to that too. That even thought Makio is quite clear that she hated her sister, Asa doesn't hold that against her. I was happy that in episode 3 we started to get to see Asa's perspective of her mother and how it differs from Makio's. Not only that, but Makio got to see that perspective too, and that some of the things Asa says about her mother surprised her. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 19136 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Series like this don't normally make my viewing list no matter how good they supposedly are, but this one has fascinated me with how much it bucks normal anime characterization and narrative trends. I very much like how we're allowed to see from the viewpoints of both Makio and Asa, how the series doesn't needlessly over-dramatize, and how both are allowed to be individuals without being outlandish.
This will never be among my favorites for the season with the likes of Oshi no Ko, Frieren, and Fate/Strange Fake around, but it'll be among the best series of the season if it can maintain at anywhere near the level that we've seen so far. I'll definitely be around to find out. |
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Errinundra
Moderator
 Posts: 6692 Location: Melbourne, Oz |
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When my mother died a few years ago, my sisters and I cleaned out her unit in preparation for its sale. It took several days and, all the while, I felt I was disassembling her life item by item. The 3rd episode captured that feeling so well.
The feeling became most acute when I cleaned out her wardrobe. There's a much admired photo of her as child in her first communion dress. At the back of the wardrobe I found the dress - almost 80 years old - folded carefully and wrapped in tissue in a box. It was an astonishing and emotional moment. Journal with Witch captures these sorts of moments beautifully. |
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Gina Szanboti
 Posts: 12733 |
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I think I first knew there was something really special here when Makio and Asa are eating in the hospital cafeteria and Makio absently goes to tie her hair back, only to realize she has no hair tie. That one simple gesture illuminated how preoccupied she was as well as how unprepared for all this. An economy of "show, don't tell" you rarely see.
There's just so much that resonates with me in so many different areas that I can't even begin to list. I can see so many ways this could've been melted down into a melodramatic, or worse, boring slice of life, and I am so grateful the staff behind it didn't fall into any of those traps. Even only three episodes in this is already a masterpiece. |
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meiam
Posts: 3674 |
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Personally I've found cleaning up the house to be much harder than actually learning of their passing, even when sudden. Something about all the little projects forever left unfinished and all the momentos that possibly meant something to them but don't to anyone else now, and how we inevitably can't keep all of them. Also, its quite a lot of work, its no exaggeration that it can take over a week, especially if its to be sold afterward, there's a lot of stuff, and inevitably we don't want to just throw it all in the trash. I'm quite enjoying the series, but I wasn't crazy about the big musical sting in episode 3 during the teacher lounge scene. I think the scene carried itself quite well and the bluntness of the musical cue felt too much like the show going "BTW this is important!". |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2653 |
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This is normally the sort of title that I'd put on my watchlist and wait on until I can read people's opinions of the whole season, which has served me well with the likes of Wonder Egg Priority. But people have been raving about this one enough that I'm considering making an exception.
(One thing that'll surely factor into my decision: I had a death in the family less than three weeks ago. I'm not sure if that makes it a better or worse time to watch this.) The way "Ikoku" is written as 違国 instead of 異国 seems to be unique to the title of this series -- anyone have insight as to why it's written that way? To emphasize a sense of "wrong country" and not just "different country", maybe? |
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Thesarum
 SubscriberPosts: 775 |
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My sincere condolences to you and everyone else in this thread with personal experiences to draw on in relation to this show. I really resonated with Asa this week (and more generally). When I lost my mother a couple of years back, I also found myself not really wanting to tell people. I didn't want to be burdened by their consideration, or feel their expectations. I wanted to be left to decide for myself how I felt. Healthy? I don't know, but it was what it was. I love that Makio is trying to give Asa the space for that. I like the portrayal of the complex and undefined nature of Asa's relationship with Makio. She's not, and doesn't try to be, her mother. (Let's face it. She's probably not really cut out for that anyway) They're not friends, and it's not really mentorship either, though that's perhaps the closest thing. It doesn't seem likely there was much contact before this, so there's really no existing "aunty" type familial relationship to build on. They're building fresh from here, and it's messy and hard, and beautiful in it's raw humanity. |
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Otohiko
 Posts: 42 |
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This show absolutely gets it. As someone who's gone through a sudden loss of someone close to me followed by family complciations and an unconventional grieving process... this show GETS it. I've cried repeatedly watching the 3 episodes out so far in a row, and not in like a loud or dramatic way or anything, or cause it made me sad - no, it's more because I felt seen. I think the end of ep 3 was especially cathartic on that front. It's wonderful and heartbreaking at the same time to see good, well-intentioned people hurting each other - and then doing their best to repair from it. I feel like that's not the last time we're going to see that theme in this show.
This is such a masterful production, though it's definitely not for everyone. Props on the translation, too - considering how much nuance there is in the word play here, they've done a really good job conveying it. |
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Clarste
Posts: 445 |
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Oddly enough, the anime cuts out a lot of telling that was in the manga. Like, in that exact same scene with the hair tie, there's a little "oops, forgot I don't have a hair tie." And for another example, there's a scene in episode 2 where Makio's friend starts talking about an old boyfriend or whatever, and Asa's face briefly lights up. In the manga, that scene is accompanied by a little arrow saying "she loves love stories." To be fair, a lot of that is probably just because it's easier for the anime portray these things than it is in the manga. In a lot of ways the manga is drawn like it's trying to be a storyboard for an anime (the same sort of artsy transitions between scenes), and it doesn't quite work when there's no motion. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 12733 |
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Why would the anime need to overtly express that unless it thinks viewers need to be hammered over the head to get it? Her actions clearly showed what was going on, including her looking at her hand. It was more eloquent than any spoken words. Cutting such "telling" was a wise choice, not an odd one. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 12733 |
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Makio is me, right down to having a sister I hate and a niece I could never warm up to because she's the spitting image of her mother. Fortunately we live in far-flung states, rather than the same city, so I don't have to interact with either.
I'm surprised there was no mention by Asa that the tall girl in this new group is a ringer for Makio. I wonder if that will come into play later, or if it's just coincidental character design. It's hard to think it's the latter, given the attention to detail elsewhere. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1303 |
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I got a different vibe from the exchange about Asa calling her aunt Makio-chan. When Asa mentions that her mother used to call her that all the time and specifically said that she would tell people "Makio-chan is a novelist", I got the impression that Makio didn't recognize the woman Asa was talking about. The flashback she had was about her sister telling her how unrealistic her career was, yet her niece is saying that she used a term of endearment and, it sounds like she bragged about her sister the novelist... I took that as a WTF moment for Makio.
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EmeraldSaucer
 Posts: 931 |
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Yeah took it to mean that Asa's mother's viewpoint had changed and she was genuinely proud of Makio (either because Minori grew to realize her own failings in ridiculing her sister or because Makio's accomplishments became external validation that changed her viewpoint from "this is a useless pipedream" to "this is something I can brag about to others"). Which in turn serves as a contrast to Makio's inability to move on and fully heal from that trauma point that Makio must then confront in that moment of realization |
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TJ_Kat
Posts: 875 Location: Saskatoon, Canada |
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This was also my take on the reaction - Makio looked more surprised that anything - since adding -chan to your younger sister's name is a term of endearment, not belittlement. It's not the first time either that we've had Asa talking about her mother and Makio being surprised because it sounds like a completely different person than the sister she knew. I have a feeling that Makio's arc is going to be about coming to terms with and forgiving her sister. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 19136 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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This was also my impression. Makio having to come to terms with the ghost of her sister being based on an outdated understanding (don't remember if the first episode explicitly states this, but the impression is that they were estranged for years) sounds right in line with this series' approach. |
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