Witch Watch

Episode 11

With how much this show has been indulging in its fun weekly shenanigans, it's been pretty easy to forget that there's been a dark prophecy about Nico looming in the background. While last week's stinger suggested that things might start getting a bit more serious, it's only here that the prophecy is brought back into the limelight, and we get a better idea of what might lie in store for our favorite ditzy witch girl. Of course a big tonal shift for a series that has largely been a comedy may not necessarily be a welcome or effective one, but seeing as Witch Watch has already demonstrated how well it can do things other than comedy, nothing here stretches too far outside of what it's already done up to now. This shift mostly works, and not only does it help set the series in a few new directions, but also successfully manages to recontextualize a lot of what it's done up to now.

As Morihito mulls over the prophecy Nico's mom gave him and remains cautious about anyone suspicious, it doesn't take long for someone suspicious to find him, when Nemu walks right up to him and announces she's a witch. In the process of introducing herself to Nico and Morihito (while also trying to hide that she's “met” them twice already), she warns Nico about the warlock she encountered, and we learn a little more about what that means. Whereas normal witches use magic for the benefit of others, warlocks are witches who are willing to use their magic without restrictions, and have been largely driven out of existence by other witches. However, some warlocks have still managed to lurk within the shadows of society, and the only thing preventing a normal witch from becoming one is being able to control their emotions, as suffering from too much anxiety can corrupt a witch's magic and cause it to go out of control. We've seen a few brief hints of this in regards to how Nico's been trained to use her magic and how doing things for others helps to keep it “pure,” so it's nice to see that all of that ended up being more than an excuse to set up the show's usual comedy as it helps to make its world feel a bit more fleshed out.

Speaking of Nico, the most interesting revelations here actually end up being less about the existence of warlocks and more about how all this connects to her. Up to this point we've been trained to think that she's a ditz who can't help but cause problems with every spell she tries, and while all of that is still very much true, the fact that she can cast so many spells in the first place is considered abnormal compared to the average witch. According to Nemu, Nico is a prophesied figure of her own, known as The Witch of Thousands, who can wield a thousand spells and use them to save just as many people. This, however, also makes her a prime target for anyone looking to abuse her magic for their own gain, and the Warlock currently after Nico is looking to do just that. Unfortunately since normal witches are trained not to use their magic to cause physical harm, there isn't too much Nico can do to ward off the threat by herself, but this inability to fight directly is also the reason why most witches have familiars in the first place and why Morihito was placed at her side.

Admittedly, it is a little weird that Nico needs most of this lore dump explained to her, as a lot of it does feel like things she probably should have learned during her training, and makes it feel more to the benefit of the audience. However, we've also seen that her mom has been willing to hide this kind of information from her for fear of giving her additional anxiety that could negatively affect her magic. It helps that we get an idea of what could happen if Nico can't control her emotions, as Morihito reveals that the incident where Nico destroyed half her house and caused her dad to walk out on her was caused partially by anxieties she had over not being able to make friends as a witch. With that in mind, it does make sense why those around her would want to keep her out of the loop on anything dangerous, but she certainly doesn't deserve to be treated like she can't be trusted to handle herself either. Hopefully, having all this dragged out into the open will force them to be more honest with her going forward. It's all a lot to digest and ponder for the future, but seeing as this is still Witch Watch we're talking about, I'm glad there were still a few quick gags stuffed in between all this that help to keep it from getting too bogged down by drama. That said, it's still impressive the series was able to recontextualize so much of itself in the span of a few minutes, and even with how much Witch Watch has been willing to step outside of comedy before, it feels like it's only now that the show is starting to show its hand.

While all this is going on, Kanshi gets caught in some high stakes of his own when he learns about a new candy called Drops that frees people of their inhibitions. It doesn't take long for him to realize a magic user is involved, and he soon discovers that the one giving out these candies is a guy called Wolf who looks like as much of a bad boy as that name implies. When Kanshi tries to confront him, he's hopelessly outmatched, and everyone soon realizes he's the dangerous figure from the prophecy. More specifically, he's connected to the Warlock targeting Nico, and the Warlock has been having Wolf distribute Drops to create an army that can capture her. As everyone tries to track Wolf down, Keigo decides to lend some assistance, and we discover that he hasn't always been the loser hipster we know and cringe at. He used to be a figure skater until he got involved in an accident that damaged his leg and prevented him from skating, and ever since, he's been retreating into his own shell. Morihito and the others have been the first people to reach out to him, and despite how much he wants to pretend he enjoys being a loner, he admits that he values them as friends.

That makes this episode's final twist all the more harsh when they all go to confront the Warlock, only for Keigo to separate Morihito from the others. From there, we discover that Wolf and Keigo are the same, as Keigo is also from a bloodline of familiars and is a werewolf who's been made into the warlock's familiar. On top of this being a solid twist, I also liked the bit of lore we got with it as we discover that much like how ogres and tengu have changed with their diluting bloodlines, werewolves no longer transform into beasts, and instead become someone more aggressive when exposed to anything that has the shape of a crescent. It helps keep this show's take on these classic monster archetypes more interesting, and given how much of a nerd Keigo has been portrayed as up to now, it's both surreal and funny that the moon turns him into a violent bad boy.

We also see that while Keigo might have been willing to throw his new friends under the bus, he's not exactly on board with everything the warlock is up to. Although he agrees to help the warlock in exchange for an elixir that can fix his leg, he's otherwise been forced into servitude, and the fact that we see him briefly asking Nico if she knows any restoration magic shortly before betraying her does suggest that he was looking for a way out. Even Wolf doesn't seem quite as dangerous as his design, as when Nemu ends up re-discovering his hideout, he decides to spare her life, despite his master being all too eager to kill her. All that suggests that there is a chance Morihito could reach him, and it adds some extra stakes to their fight for next week.

On that note, if I had any real complaints to throw at this episode, it's that we get a few animation shortcuts during the brief fight between Kanshi and Wolf. None of it is egregious enough to distract from the rest of the material, but it does make me worry how well everything will fare when we get a longer fight next week. Still, the show has offered a few solid-looking snippets of action before now, and seeing as this series is largely a comedy, I don't think it would be reasonable to come into this expecting fight scenes on par with a Demon Slayer or Jujutsu Kaisen. I'll be content so long as we get something serviceable, but part of me hopes that the staff chose to be a bit more conservative so we can get something more impressive next week. The show has so far handled its transition from comedy to a larger story pretty well, and with how much groundwork this episode laid down, I'm excited to see where it's going from here on out.

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Witch Watch is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.