Little Witch Academia - OVA

[Ryllharu]

Little Witch Academia

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/8844/127679.jpg

Description: Akko has been fascinated with magic from the moment she had seen her first magic show. Now, she is enrolling into Luna Nova Magic School, a famous school for magic in Europe. However, contrary to her expectations, she is finding that lessons are boring. Magic lessons are staid and conservative, and not at all exciting. One day, an emergency occurs which threatens to destroy the school, and it is up to Akko to save the day!
[Courtesy of AniDB]

AniDB (http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?show=anime&aid=9250) | ANN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=14940) | MAL (http://myanimelist.net/anime/14349/Little_Witch_Academia)

1 Episode

This series is a part of the Young Animator Training Project. A company, in this case Trigger, is given a grant by the government to give aspiring animators on-the-job training.

gg: 720p (http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=418802) | 1080p (http://www.nyaa.eu/?page=download&tid=418800)

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I loved the hell out of this short OVA. It's just...fun.

The animation style and tone of the OVA has a Studio Ghibli/Panty and Stocking Gainax feel to it. That meshes very well with the tone of the simple and slightly comedic story.

The story isn't anything special, really just a generic fantasy story about witches at a school and a few mishaps along the way. But it is just pure fun. Toward the end, I was smiling non-stop.

The cast is a pleasant surprise. There are just a ton of short roles filled by some major VAs over the years:
Hidaka Noriko (Noriko in Gunbuster, recently the Dominators in Psycho Pass) playing Akko's idol
Akko herself played by Han Megumi (Sumire in Chihayafuru, Gon in HxH)
Orikasa Fumiko (Rukia in Bleach, Shirley in Geass) as Akko's friend
Hikasa Youko (Mio from K-ON, Seraphim from Zombie desu ka?!) as Akko's stuck-up rival
Takayama Minami (Nabiki from Ranma 1/2, Envy from FMA, and of course, Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service)
...and I'm pretty sure I heard Kyouda Hisako (the best old lady VA ever) too, but couldn't confirm.

I know there are more, but I didn't recognize them immediately.


Give it a watch, it is only 25 minutes long. If you've enjoyed Kiki's Delivery Service or Mahou Shoujo Tai, you'd definitely be interested.

[Kraco]

Agreed. This was a very nice short film. While the plot was unarguably very simple and traditional, it still worked exemplarily. I've always been impressed by short story writing, the ability to focus on the essential and cut away everything extra, and this was a very good example of that. Impressively much was told in less than 30 minutes.

I don't really need to comment on the VA work after Ryll's praise, so I'll just say it was spot on in my opinion as well. The characters were as varied as you could have in a story this short; there were no extra minutes whatsoever to build them so they just had to make a strong first impression and then stick to that.

I do pity the dragon, though. Who knows how long the poor creature had been sealed, inside an iron maiden of all things. Upon release it was immediately ridiculed and attacked. When it finally tried to have its first real meal after possibly decades of forced fasting that had diminished its body next to nothing, it was turned into fireworks with no remorse, let alone mercy or understanding.

[vejita613]

I heard of this, but I was under the impression that because it was a special project, it was very unlikely that anyone outside Japan would be able to watch it. I'm glad that's not the case. Wasn't there two or three other projects that were funded by the government as well?

So, after watching this, I have to wonder: is it bad that I want to watch more of this? As in, an entire series? Like, I want to see more of Akkos adventures going through school life with her friends. I want to see the after effects of the event, such as what kind of punishment (if any) Diana and her crew get for their hand in the release of the Dragon. And, what Akko will do with the shiny rod or if she's even allowed to have it. Infact, what the heck is up with it anyways? Is it like a super wand or something? Maybe Chariot will teach her how to properly use it? On that note, will Akko find out the real identity of her teacher?

Is it sad that we will probably never get the answers to these questions?

[Archangel]

So, after watching this, I have to wonder: is it bad that I want to watch more of this? As in, an entire series? Like, I want to see more of Akkos adventures going through school life with her friends.

I'm perfectly fine with this being it. A long running show would struggle to keep this standard of animation and the story would probably tend to become repetitive and episodic, with no clear goal for the characters to reach.

I just enjoyed a well made albeit short story which was simply, as Ryll pointed out, fun. I like the aftertaste it left, i wouldn't want to chance ruining it.

[Archangel]

The company uploaded it to youtube with eng subs


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBlqxEIJ_Cg

Apparently if it gets enough interest there may be a TV show as well.

[Ryllharu]

I "Liked" the shit out of it and added it to my favorites just for added effect.

That said, I don't think it would make that good of a series. Maybe 10 or 11 episodes at the absolute most. I'm honestly a little confused where they might go with it after this event.

Akko would still kinda suck at magic, and maybe inspire a few younger girls like Chariot did for her, with the eventually reveal that her teacher was Chariot. What's in between all that?

[Archangel]

I "Liked" the shit out of it and added it to my favorites just for added effect.

That said, I don't think it would make that good of a series. Maybe 12 episodes at the absolute most. I'm honestly a little confused where they might go with it after this event.
Probably magical slice of life. Add a couple episodes searching for some supplies, beach episode, helping that one guy/girl episode with a 2 cour ending where they have to fight some other magical beast.

[Ryllharu]

The challenge would be keeping it simple fun, which is why it was so great in the first place.

That's harder to achieve when things start getting dragged out.

[Uchiha Barles]

They'd just need to make to approach it more like an cartoon, say, teenage mutant ninja turtles, or mlp. Make the show mostly episodic, and you can enjoy it for its charm. It could have the occasional multi-episode storyline. The OVA was definitely nice, but you really shouldn't expect more from that. If somehow you get it, then just be pleasantly surprised.

[Ryllharu]

DS linked me to this:

Little Witch Academia 2 Kickstarter (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1311401276/little-witch-academia-2)

I am all over this shit. The more of this, the better.

edit:

gg Fansubs backed it for $300 (http://www.ggkthx.org/2013/07/little-witch-academia-2/) to make sure they get in the credits.

Donate if you can. The first was such damn fun.

[Y]

This is really good. It's fun and simple without being stupid. Gorgeous too. The sequel deserves like 10 million dollars.