Blossy Two: Analysis of Little Witch Acdemia

    The show that I decided to watch is called Little Witch Academia, I chose this show because I have happen to have Netflix and I googled what anime shows are on Netflix. As I’ve said in pervious proboards post, and my last Blossy I am not one who is really knowledgeable in the world of anime, so this one was one of the first that came up and I went with it. The first episode of the show titled “starting over” on Netflix but the and was originally published in Japan on March 2nd, 2013 by Studio Tigger.  The show was written by Masahihiko Otsuka, produced by Naoko Tsutsumi, and directed by Yoh Yoshinari. The intended audience is for young adults. It was published as a part of their young animator training program project. Which is this annual project that started in 2010 that is funded by the Japanese Government that supports training young animators. Each year the project prosecuted various of animations by students (citation). This project is still continuing today. The manga version of the show was published in Japan in August 19th in 2013 by Shueisha in the magazine Ultra Jump. It was written by Terio Teri. 

The first episode, “starting over” starts with a child who is enchanted by a magic performance of a witch named Shiny Chariot. The scene ends and you see the child now as a young, teenage girl that had just shown up at this town.  The girl is named Atsuka “Atkko” Kagari, and she had just enrolled in the Luna Nova Magical Academy. It has been her dream since watching the show to become a witch, but in order to get to the school one must fly a broom to the ley line terminal, which is a magical highway that will lead to the school. She does not come from a magical bloodline, like most of the other girls at the school, she is unable to do this on her own she does get made fun of by girls at the terminal. But she ends up getting a ride from Lotte Jansson, and they end up falling into the forbidden Arcturus forest along with another girl, Sucy because the keyline doesn’t like salt and she had pickled plums in her possession.  In Sucy’s attempt to lure a giant cockatrice Atkko finds a Shiny Chariots Staff, and with her faith and want to be a witch she is able to save her friends from the cockatrice by repeating the first world of Arcturus the staff turns into a bow and arrow and once shot opens a portal that allows one to travel through ley line and they make it to the school just in time for the opening ceremony, and later learn that they will be roommates for their reaming time at the school.  Overall it was a cute first episode with the idea of friendship being very prevalent. This shoe being meant for young adults seems to fit correctly because it seems to be a coming of age story.  Start of a new school, and the older girls are making fun of you, have to overcome diversity. Seems like this is something I would watch if I were younger. 

As a comparison to the shows about magical girls that we have watched in class, Atkko isn’t born with her magical powers, like all the other girls that have seen. There is this idea that you can learn magic in this show, which I font remember seeing, but it makes sense, in today world magicians just learn their tricks. And yes, it's obviously not the same but I like that it’s not outside the realm of actually life.  In the magical girl genera, the main goal of the show is for to go on a journey and to learn lessons along the way.  Here that is seen, her journey in the first episodes is attempting to find their way out of the forest and make it in time for overaction, they also learned some lessons, but it was more about things in the forest. The basis of the shoe, moving to a new school, and having to navigate a new world if a journey in and of itself, and there are going to be many lessons learned in her time. One thing that I noticed that was drastically different was the way the girls were dressed as well as the color scheme. The first scene with the witch that she looks up to, she was dressed in a little less clothing than what one would consider normal, but after that scene there is no more over sexualizing of the girls. Akkta is seen wearing a red shirt and shorts. The other girls are seen wearing school uniforms, that consist of a robe that completely covers them. The color scheme isn’t pink and sparkles similar to other magical girl shows seen in class. I believe that there is not as much over sexualizing is because the target audience is intended for young adults, not the older teenage group. Overall this show was very cute, and if anyone has a 11 or 12 year old sibling or niece I would recommend it.