Overview

I finally got around to finishing the second season of Little Witch Academia yesterday and the first thing I need to say is that I realize it wasn’t actually a second season, just a second cour. However, since Netflix broadcasts it in the U.S. and they decided to call it a second season, I’ll be referring to it as both a season and a cour.

The major difference between seasons one and two is the plot. While we started to get some actual main plot at the end of season one, for the most part, that season was episodic. Once season two starts, however, this changes.

Akko now has a goal to accomplish throughout the remaining episodes: find the seven words that unlock the Grand Triskellion with the Shiny Rod. She decides to work towards this goal after learning that her hero, Shiny Chariot, once attempted to do the same thing.

The other main difference from the first season is the introduction of a new character.

New Character(s)

Professor Croix joins the academy as the teacher for a new class on modern witchcraft. Since modern witchcraft is her specialty, her magic is more focused on technology similar to the student Constanze.

As it turns out, Professor Croix was the friend and rival of Chariot du Nord, later known as Shiny Chariot, when they were students at the academy themselves. Because of this, Akko is immediately interested in Professor Croix.

Although not really a new character, the second season also sees more of an emphasis on Shiny Chariot. While from very near the start of the show it should have been obvious that Professor Ursula was Shiny Chariot, she still tended to keep her identity a secret.

However, in this season, or cour, Professor Ursula more frequently appears as Chariot rather than just having her hair change color when she rescues Akko or something along those lines.

Finally, although again not necessarily a new character, we have Professor Woodward. She made an appearance in the first part of the series, but only briefly. While she still only appears briefly in this second part, she has a more important role.

Professor Woodward was the mentor for both Croix and Chariot when they were students as well as the one who introduced them to the Grand Triskellion and the Shiny Rod. However, even by the end of this cour, she’s still fairly mysterious and we may never really learn much about her.

Conclusion

While I liked the second part of the series more than the first, I still had an issue with it. My issue deals with the ending of the series, the final two episodes to be precise. I’m going to include spoilers in this next part, you’ve been warned.

A missile is fired by a rampaging magic robot at a neighboring country and Akko & the gang decide to stop it through the power of friendship and whatnot. While this ending is exactly what I would expect from Studio Trigger, completely over the top in every way, it didn’t fit the rest of the series.

I get that there are general overarching plotlines about wanting magic to be viewed as something good, and the separation of magic and state or whatever you want to call it, but even though this ending had to do with those themes, it just wasn’t the right ending for me.

I couldn’t say what would have been a better ending, but stopping a missile controlled by an evil magical robot from starting an international war seemed like a bit much. Maybe I just didn’t want a magical fantasy anime to be about themes as real as international wars fought with missiles.

In the end, I gave the second cour a 6/10, which I think is the same as what I gave the first (I could be wrong). Honestly, if the ending was different I might have given it a 7 because I really did like how the show was going until those last two episodes.

Overview

While I already have a post about the Little Witch Academia movies, this post is specifically about the first season of the series.

Little Witch Academia is about an academy for training witches (if you couldn’t tell from the title). Most of the students who attend the academy come from magical families; However, one girl, Akko, comes from a regular family, but dreams of being a witch who makes people smile.

Ever since seeing a performance by the witch Shiny Chariot, Akko has dreamt of being a witch just like her. At the academy, however, Akko learns that many in the magical community look down on Chariot and think she turned magic into a joke with her performances.

Despite constant failures and insults from her various classmates, Akko is determined to become a witch like Chariot and prove to the world that magic is something exciting that can be enjoyed by everyone.

Characters

Although I already went over the three main characters when I reviewed the movies, I’ll go over them again here.

Akko is the protagonist who doesn’t come from a magical family. She constantly fails at using magic, but never gives up on her dream of becoming a witch. As I mentioned in yesterday’s review of Love Live!, she’s fairly similar to Honoka.

Lotte is the bookworm of the group. Out of the three main characters, she’s the one who causes the least trouble, but she’ll do anything to get her hands on a new book from her favorite series. Her magic specialty involves talking to spirits inhabiting old objects.

Sucy is the third of the main trio. Her sole reason for being at the academy is to learn about and collect samples of various poisonous mushrooms that she uses to make potions. She tends to use Akko as a test subject while she sleeps.

Professor Ursula is the main role model for the girls at the academy as she’s the youngest professor. Specifically, she’s Akko’s guidance counselor and is in charge of giving Akko special lessons so she doesn’t fail out of the academy. As it turns out, she’s also the witch known as Shiny Chariot, although this is unknown to the students.

Diana is the star student of the academy who frequently fixes Akko’s mistakes. She comes from a very old and impressive magical family which is why she has such extraordinary natural ability. Diana is also frequently followed around by two other girls who act as her henchmen.

Another trio at the academy is Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka. Amanda is the sporty girl who often gets in arguments with Akko about which of them is more of a failure, Constanze is an inventor who creates various magical devices, and Jasminka just eats a lot. She’s basically ChoCho from Boruto.

Conclusion

By the end of the first season, I decided that it’s a 6/10 which is better than I would have rated it at the start. Originally the anime was fairly episodic, and it still is for the most part by the end of the first season. However, eventually is the introduction to an overarching plot and that’s why the series got better for me.

I’m hoping that season two ends up being even better than the first because I really like Trigger’s art and animation so I want the series to be good. Unfortunately, the only two characters I really enjoy are Akko and Professor Ursula.