Anime Club: Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade

LITTLE WITCH ACADEMIA: THE ENCHANTED PARADE

DIRECTED BY: Yo Yoshinari

GENRE: Fantasy

YEAR: 2015

COUNTRY: Japan

Akko, Lotte and Sucy, having gotten in trouble yet again, are forced to team up with three other troublemakers – Amanda O’Neill, Constanze Braunschbank Albrechtsberger and Jasminka Antonenko – to make the school’s annual witch parade a success or else flunk the school year. Not content with how the festival revolves around the mockery and subjugation of witches, Akko becomes determined to make the festival a spectacle that would show off how awesome modern witches are and dispel their negative reputation. As Akko’s ambitions for the parade grow, however, she ends up arguing with her friends, who do not share her ideas. However, Akko remains determined to prove Shiny Chariot’s ideals of magic to everyone, using the Shiny Rod to borrow some magic from the Sorcerer’s Stone for the parade.

Even though it may look childish on the outside, Little Witch Academia has a bit of charm to it that ensnares plenty of those who watch it, including us. The second short film in the series, The Enchanted Parade gives us an interesting story example of “Murphy’s Law” or anything that can go wrong will happen. The Enchanted Parade gives our little witches a simple story on the surface, but deep down provides plenty of much needed character development. Stylistically, The Enchanted Parade is beautifully animated (just like the rest of the series) and has a superb score that sets the atmosphere perfectly.

Unfortunately, The Enchanted Parade suffers from “sequel-itis” pretty badly. The story seems too familiar to the original film, especially it follows the same path to the climax. We understand that this is a way to make both the original Little Witch Academia and The Enchanted Parade separate stand-a-lone films and fit loosely in the same franchise, but it still feels odd that we are almost watching the same movie. Thankfully the formula has been changed up for the series.

PROS:

• Beautiful animation.
• Score +++.
• Plenty of needed character development.

CONS:

• Follows the LWA formula.
• Similar story to original film.
• “Sequel-itis”

SCORE: 6.5 / 10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_CunVEqEYE

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