Little Witch Academia is the best way to spend half an hour
April 20, 2013 1:00 PM   Subscribe

Little Witch Academia is an accessible and gorgeous original anime about students learning magic and believing in yourself, available offically on YouTube.

The project is by Trigger, a recently formed animation studio, and was created through the Young Animator Training Project, a program funded by the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs to provide on the job training oppertunities for young Japanese animators in the interest of preventing the outsorucing of this kind of work.
posted by The Devil Tesla (16 comments total) 46 users marked this as a favorite
 
And here I'd dismissed it as another Lovely Cousin Lolita Big Boob Magic School anime. I've gotten so cynical about anime, it's all guilty until proven innocent.

But this is really cute so far. I'll have to watch.
posted by cthuljew at 1:22 PM on April 20, 2013 [4 favorites]


I've watched this short anime and I recommend the other Young Animator Training Project series too if you liked this one.
posted by chrono_rabbit at 1:40 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


Anime Mirai! Now with 90% less adorable spider-demons and madness!

But seriously, LWA is some of the best news the anime community has had in years. With the gradual collapse of GAINAX, it was beginning to look like the only game in town for the foreseeable future was going to be SHAFT. Glad to see that some of the old FLCL veterans are still kicking, and can still animate. (Inferno Cop had me worried there for a bit.)

For those with an eye for shout-outs: notice how the shots of Akko and the dragon mirror shots in the latter portions of FLCL, which in turn explicitly allude to GAINAX's famed DAICON opening animations. Now, if Tsurumaki Kazuya would just extricate himself from the trainwreck that is Rebuild of Evangelion and start doing original shows again...
posted by fifthrider at 1:53 PM on April 20, 2013 [3 favorites]


The GAINAX Creed: "Just One More Reboot"
posted by cthuljew at 2:21 PM on April 20, 2013 [4 favorites]


Ah, thank you so much! I had just come across a reference to this on the (new? New to me) Anime Backgrounds Tumblr, and had been meaning to look it up.
posted by The River Ivel at 2:42 PM on April 20, 2013 [3 favorites]


Ooo, I liked this!
posted by limeonaire at 6:28 PM on April 20, 2013


I'll check this out. I've been disappointed with quite a few animes over the last year as I tried to break back in and see what I've missed. The answer is "precious little." Apparently incest is in these days!

That said, the first half of Sword Art Online was pretty great. Then suddenly, incest!
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:44 PM on April 20, 2013


Maoyu was fantastic. It's like a freshman high school social studies course, but in anime form with demons.

I've been wondering - are there certain seasons that have stronger or weaker anime? Because last fall seemed really good and this winter wasn't bad and this spring seems *awful* based on what's available via Crunchyroll. But I don't know enough about the scene to know if that's Crunchyroll's fault or not.
posted by maryr at 8:50 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


(...There is a lot of useless flesh in Maoyu, though.)
posted by maryr at 8:50 PM on April 20, 2013


BTW, will there be more Little Witch Academia, then? Or is this a one shot?
posted by maryr at 8:51 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


Yay anime! I'm all excited they're rebooting Sailor Moon this year.
posted by IndigoRain at 10:52 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


And Ghost in The Shell.
posted by Brocktoon at 10:57 PM on April 20, 2013 [1 favorite]


I've been wondering - are there certain seasons that have stronger or weaker anime?

I generally get the impression Spring and (especially) Summer are weaker, though I could not tell you why. For a listing of what's airing you can google "anime charts" or check the listings on TV Tropes.

BTW, will there be more Little Witch Academia, then? Or is this a one shot?

I was under the impression the collection this was part of, Anime Mirai, was just one-shots.
posted by 23 at 5:44 PM on April 21, 2013


Geez, this was great! The character design and attention to detail were extremely impressive! Definitely was getting FLCL vibes too.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 11:13 PM on April 21, 2013


That was awesome. Really really great! Anime should be that pretty much all the time, forever. Great post!
posted by Poppa Bear at 9:08 AM on April 22, 2013


So besides being great as a story about magic, this is brilliant if you take it as a metaphor for working in the anime industry, or any other creative/inspirational field for that matter.
posted by 23 at 10:20 AM on April 22, 2013


« Older Everybody in fancy clothes   |   The water goes over the bridge; the ship goes... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments