Witch Watch

Episode 14

So unfortunately it seems as though we somehow only ended up with half an episode of Witch Watch this week. I don't want to deprive the people of good content though, so fortunately I was able to tric-I mean “convince” my editors into letting me talk about peak fiction (let's all just promise not to tell Lynzee since I'm pretty sure she won't be reading this anyway). (You forgot about me! -R) With that out of the way, it's time to talk about the premiere of the long awaited fourth season of Uron Mirage. This supernatural shonen battle anime has been the talk of the town ever since its debut a few years ago, and has somehow managed to unite casual anime viewers, seasoned critics, shonen hype fans, diehard otaku, and fujoshi in singing its praises, propelling it to a whopping 100,000,000,000 in current lifetime manga sales. Last season's Mutant Bees arc in particular was met with near universal critical acclaim, as even the most diehard shonen haters within the ANN Editorial Department were left sobbing at its exploration of the costs of fascism and the toxic yuri romance between the Mutant Queen Bee and Honoka that sadly ended in tragedy. Why, even Hayao Miyazaki himself was caught shedding a single tear after the finale in theaters, and muttering “maybe anime is good after all” before promptly telling reporters to get out of his face. With that kind of fervor behind it, I was shocked to hear production was moving over from Studio Sakuga to Bibury Animation Studios but the results so far seem to be worth it.

Right away the new OP, "Bitter-End" by Who-ya Extended does a good job of setting the atmosphere with its moody visuals. The opening shot of Oboro and Utsuro in the beginning might seem like a basic yin-yang deal, but the use of red and white symbolizes the contrast between Utsuro's purity, and Oburo's quiet but violent passion, which just makes it all the more striking when we see Utsuro later soaked in blood, driving home how much he was shaken by the events of the Mutant Bees arc. The sequence with Zack in the park surrounded by animals was also great at highlighting how his gentle demeanor hides his savage nature, and the shot of Honoka in the bathtub with the gun really captures her fractured mental state after losing her rival/lover. Given that this was a half length episode, there was really no need for the folks at Bibury Animation Studios to even bother with an OP at all, but just like with the work they do on Witch Watch, it shows that this team is nothing if not dedicated to their craft, and I have nothing but respect for their commitment to making quality art. The start of the episode is nothing to slouch at either as we get plenty of exchanges between Oboro and Utsuro that captures why the internet just can't stop shipping these two (don't think I haven't seen all of your spicy fan art you heathens), and there's plenty of their obtuse one liners to go around.

Now, some critics have accused the dialogue of being vague and confusing to the point where little about the plot makes sense, but it just shows their complete lack of media literacy. Those who've been paying attention know that being able to read between the lines and pick up on all the subtleties in the writing is what makes this series so effective, so when Oboro gets punched the face by a Phasey only for the others to look on in shock as he claims to have no clue what's happening, it's clearly supposed to be an allegory for how certain acts of violence during wartime can seem random and needlessly cruel to their victims. However, while I'd love to discuss this show's fascinating politics or the appeal of OboxUtsu, there's only one reason I decided to sneak this review in. We've gotta talk about my boy Zack. Ever since this lion headed warrior made his way on screen, he's stolen my heart, and his vaguely cool one liners about the strength of lions puts anything the rest of this show's pretty boys have to say to shame.

I was pretty hyped when it looked like we were finally gonna get the reveal of his special attack after all those fakeouts, but I guess the writers couldn't help but pull one last fast one and he gets eaten right before it happens. Still, I know we'll see it sooner or later, and when we do, it'll make all of Jujutsu Kaisen season 2's action scenes look like amateur hour in comparison. As far as the rest of the episode goes, I imagine there'll be some criticisms about some of the casual sexual harassment going on in the exchange between Honoka and Commander Fuwa, but this too, hides the show's actual level of nuance. In reality all his talk about her measurements is likely just his way of helping her take her mind off her trauma, and proof that he's the father figure we could all use in our lives. Our girl has been through a lot after last season, and it looks like she has even more on her plate now that she has to see her students potentially running off to their deaths. That overly dramatized shot of her symbolically chasing after Oboro and Utsuro was nothing less than pure cinema, and nearly had me in tears. Plus it also dropped some hints of what's to come, with the Commander getting ready to plan his long awaited rebellion against the morally dubious machinations of the Elders…or maybe not, since his actions are simultaneously both and neither. That might come off as a negative, but that's just the level of clever misdirection I've come to expect from Uron Mirage's writing and I'm happy this adaptation is doing everything it can to nail the details of what makes this such a rich series.

As always though, if you're just here for some solid shonen action, this has plenty of that too. Sure it doesn't look as polished as your Demon Slayers or My Hero Academias, but for a studio that's been working on a wacky witch comedy the past few weeks, it's a remarkable effort, and I'm confident they'll be up to the task of tackling the long awaited Yokohama Incident in all its glory (all you starved Sagiri fans complaining about his lack of screen time last season are in for an absolute treat). If anything feels off here, it's that this premiere introduces the concept of Phantoms which feels a bit hasty since it sometimes feels like the show has barely explained what Phaseys are, but having read the manga, it could be some foreshadowing for the climax ongoing White Continent arc and what happens when the boys finally get off that boat.

There's also bound to be some folks confused by the stinger of Zack on a cross but with all the religious allegories the show keeps making with him, it was only a matter of time, and it helps build up tension for next week's rescue arc. Even at half-length, this premiere was a master class in battle shonen storytelling from top to bottom, and you don't have to just take my word for it. It got complete applause from the entire main cast of Witch Watch, with our girl Nico praising it as a true believer. The sole exception was that buzzkill Morihito who just seemed equally parts confused and unimpressed by what he just witnessed. He's just a hater though, and there's no need to acknowledge anything people like that say. Uron Mirage is the great savior of anime that we've been long hoping would save us from the scourge of generic power fantasies, and now that it's back, we should all take the time to bask in its presence for as long as possible.

With so much crammed into that Uron Mirage premiere, the Witch Watch episode we got for the rest of the timeslot feels quaint in comparison, but still plenty adorable. In fact it actually ties into that premiere perfectly as we catch up with the two biggest Uron Mirage fangirls in the series, Ms. Makuwa and Ureshino. Where we last left these two, they were beginning their budding friendship over their shared love of manga, but Ms. Makuwa is still the type who likes to hide her nerdy hobbies and hasn't taken the step of revealing her social media account to Ureshino (though to be fair I'm pretty sure most teachers would rather not have their students on their non-work socials). Ms. Makuwa still sees her as her favorite fan artist first, and her friend second, so that just makes things all the more awkward when Ureshino reveals she's been making her own Uron Mirage doujins and wants Ms. Makuwa's feedback.

Ureshino's manga turns out to be as mediocre as you'd expect from a teen's first fan work, but not wanting to crush the possibility of her favorite artist becoming a manga author, Ms. Makuwa instead offers the most sugar filled praise she can muster before later taking to her phone and offering more constructive criticism under the anonymity of the internet. It's funny to see play out, though also kind of frustrating since it feels like Ms. Makuwa's need to maintain a self-imposed professional persona is just hurting herself. Thankfully Ureshino puts two and two together pretty much immediately, and rather than being annoyed by Ms. Makuwa's criticisms or secrets, she just sees it as proof that the two of them should become even closer friends. So close in fact, that they should get in the business of making manga together with her as the artist and Ms. Makuwa as the writer. I'm pretty sure that in real-life, a student and teacher getting into this kind of business relationship would be cause for all sorts of ethical concerns, but I thought it was a cute way to cap this off. There's also plenty of future comedic potential to be had with this, and anyone who says they aren't at least a little curious as to how far the series is willing to take it is probably lying. I suppose if I were being critical, a couple of Ms. Makuwa's inner monologues were a bit long in contrast to how funny they were, but this made for an overall nice palette cleanser to recover from all the hype of the premiere that preceded it. Pairing these two shows together this way was pretty smart of the team at Bibury Animation Studios, and it just goes to show that even in an entirely different series, Uron Mirage is truly inescapable.

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Witch Watch is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.