Witch Watch

Episode 25

We're at the end of the season for Witch Watch and it seems as though I've once again underestimated how much comedy it has left in the tank. Even if we weren't going to see a return to the subjects of Warlocks or Nico's prophecy, I at least assumed that last week's stinger would provide enough stakes to have this episode lean more towards drama than gags. There is a little bit of tension to be had, but this finale is mostly just here to provide a few more laughs while we wait for the second season. While that makes the result less dramatic than I was hoping for, it does at least provide a few good jokes in the meantime.

As the gang prepares for their school festival, Nico's classmates decide to set up a haunted cafe in their classroom and to use Nico's magic to make it feel more authentic. Meanwhile, Kanshi and Keigo decide to put on a comedy sketch for the festival, and it's here that the episode pumps out most of its humor. With their contrasting personalities, Kanshi and Keigo seem like they'd make for a great comedy duo, but as the world's biggest nitpicker, Morihito can't help but get involved with coming up with their jokes since he knows how dangerous it is to underestimate the work that goes into good comedy. At first, it all goes without a hitch when the duo decides to test out their routine, but as soon as they get compliments from girls, they start letting it go to their heads and assume they're talented enough to go on stage without a script. This amateur mistake costs them dearly, as when the time finally comes for them to be on stage for the festival, their usual banter fails to get any laughs out of their audience, least of all Morihito. We've seen his eyes glaze over whenever he's unimpressed with something, but the visual metaphor of being consumed by a black hole speaks more about how hard he's cringing at their pitiful attempts to salvage this fiasco than words ever could, and makes for the perfect gag for this to end on. It all just goes to show that comedy is no joke, and no matter how funny you may think you are, you should never tread into those dark waters without the right degree of preparation.

That's basically where this episode peaks, as the rest shifts to addressing the mysterious threat of using Nico's magic to commit a crime at the festival. Being a worrywart, Morihito assumes the best course of action is to simply stop Nico from using her magic at the festival altogether, but the others recognize how much doing this for her classmates means to her, and don't want to stunt her growth, so they decide it's best to deal with the threat themselves. Despite it being the main reason they're all living together, we haven't had too many opportunities to see the boys functioning as actual bodyguards, and it's nice seeing them come together for Nico, even if the actual threat they're dealing with isn't particularly menacing. It ultimately just ends up being a disgruntled kid mad that Nico is hogging all the spotlight. While I'll give the show points for having it turn out to be a different kid than the one who's spent the last couple of episodes loudly complaining about his dislike of Nico, the twist doesn't make this any more exciting. The lead-up to catching him does at least provide a few extra animation highlights, but besides that and an obligatory title drop once Morihito points out how he and the others are watching over Nico, this isn't a very spectacular season finale.

Even if we didn't exactly get a showstopper to close out on, I'm still pretty happy with how this season turned out. A lot of what makes Witch Watch work comes from its ability to juggle several genres at once whether it be comedy, drama or the occasional bit of action, and no matter what the series was up to for any given week, Bibury Animation Studios's adaptation rose to the occasion to deliver on whatever style it was aiming for. I do wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of the Warlock sub-plot within this season, but there should be plenty of that when the show makes its eventual return, and when it does, I'm looking forward to watching more of this wacky witch and her friends.

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Witch Watch is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Sundays.