Witch Craft Works – 05
One of these days, Honoka will realize what she doesn’t want him to see
The full ED for Witch Craft Works is out now, so go pick it up for some bounciness. Also, the B-side is the song that the Ivory Quintet keep singing in their “Strategic Planning Sessions”
Holy Plot Moving!
Engaged to the Unidentified?
Yeah, this week seemed like it moved everything along pretty darn quickly. First we finally get the revelation about Honoka’s mother. She and Kazane were in love, but couldn’t get married. So when they each had children, they decided they should get married to each other. And it really seems like mom couldn’t be happier that Ayaka and Honoka are getting along, although it’s still unclear how much she knows about witchcraft (although she deals with an animate stuffed bear pretty easily). And thankfully she also takes the opportunity to knock Kasumi down a couple notches in her broconning, telling her to quit drooling after her brother, and showing us some of the more egregious transgressions she’s had.
Quite the change from one house to the other
So Mom is more than ready to help Ayaka take Honoka away to a life of married bliss (while holding Kasumi back), although that’s not exactly what they’re headed to. And for all her seeming obsequiousness, Mom deals with Kasumi and Honoka pretty strongly, even if she has a reputation as crying and being not very robust. And I wonder if the hearts she sees between Honoka and Ayaka are real or just “mom glasses”. It’s pretty obvious that Ayaka definitely has a thing for Honoka (including little Honoka dolls in the limo), but we still haven’t gotten to a point where Honoka can get over his either his self-deprecation (“There’s no way that someone as cool and awesome and pretty as Hime-sama would be interested in useless old me”) or his gallantry where he tries to ‘protect’ Ayaka, even though he is supremely unsuited to the task as yet.
O Ye of Little Faith
Medusa gets to be the badass this episode
And that gallantry actually gets them in trouble in the second half of this episode, much more than it usually does. I’ll say this: When it comes to moving the plot along, Witch Craft Works does NOT screw around or dilly-dally. Medusa escapes from Rotenburg last episode, this episode it’s battle time! Even in Kazane’s 41-story skyscraper house (did Honoka never notice this giant skyscraper on the hill in the town he lives? Or is this more witchcraft to hide Kazane’s house?). Once again, faced with a battle situation, Ayaka gives Honoka instructions, very clear instructions, and he screws them up. What part of “Go to the 12th floor” do you not understand? Honoka’s repeated second-guessing of Ayaka, which to this point has just made more work for her by prolonging battles, this time has more dire consequences. You have to think that Ayaka realizes how close she needs to be to Honoka to draw power from him, and she’d correctly tell him what to do. But instead, he dithers and ends up impeding Ayaka’s fight against Medusa.
Finally what the ‘white stuff’ is
But again, that high speed plot keeps us going. Instead of waiting the entire series to find out what Chronoire’s ‘medicine’ does, it’s time for Honoka to take it, summoning White Princess Evermillion who is apparently the ‘white stuff’ inside Honoka-kyun (and who ends up destroying Kazane’s house fighting Medusa). Mamiko Noto was just brilliant as Evermillion here, with a perfect playful lilt to her voice as she lightly trolls Honoka, asking for his eyes to save Ayaka, and telling him the truth when he readily agrees: It’s his fault Ayaka ended up petrified, because he stopped believing that she’d win and that damaged her will to fight. But with just a kiss, faith is restored, and soon Medusa is defeated.
First kiss, soon to be repaid
Aside from being a lot of fun, this series is really turning into a showcase for some great talent. So far we’ve had standout performances from Rie Kugimiya as Chronoire (episode 2), Ai Kayano as Kasumi (3), and now Mamiko Noto as Evermillion (4). I had heard that Miyuki Sawashiro was voicing Medusa, so I was expecting more from her this episode, but perhaps they’re saving that for later. And there’s also Aya Hirano coming up as a later character (shown facing off against Kazane in the OP). And we’ll likely get more from Sayaka Oohara as Kazane and Kana Asumi as Touko. They’ve been using the talent well so far, so I expect that to continue.
Maybe they can all be friends?
This show just doesn’t let up. Another really great episode, and a lot of story. Now we’re going to have Ayaka and Honoka living at home (keeping Kasumi in the picture for sure) and maybe we’ll get some more romantic development after kisses in both directions between those two. I really do hope that Honoka will get past his “Hime-sama” image of Ayaka soon, but that’s probably not too likely. He does need to get past his chauvinism tho, since he’s not an asset, he’s a liability in most fights. Maybe he’ll even start to do what Ayaka tells him to do sometime, too. That’d certainly be better than screwing things up.
About Highway
Proving that you don't have to be young to love anime, I enjoy all genres and styles of shows. If it's not hurting anyone else, you should never be ashamed of what you like!
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Loved the Noto Mamiko character (Honoka’s familiar?). This series is really doing great. I only cringe at CG though.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Obvious CG was obvious. Jezz it stuck out like a sore thumb.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Hmm, none of the CG really bothered me this episode (as in, I didn’t even think of it at all). The only CG I’ve really taken note of as especially bad was Honoka’s solo flight in episode 3.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
The whole Medusa thing was an eyesore.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I rewatched it at lunch today, and the only CG that I noticed was Medusa when she was hovering, and to me that didn’t really look bad, because the textures matched really well. Not like Tokyo Ravens which uses a completely different texture for the CG and the drawn animation.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Your new Meta Team name should be lover of bad CGI~
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Her line at around 15:58 was just brilliant, I must have gone back to listen to that line about 10 times:
“ahou! nanimo torishinasai yo. saki wa uso da yo.”
“Moron! I’m not taking anything, I was lying.”
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Yep, one of her best for this role. I’m sure she was just having a kick out of scaring our princess to death. I really hope to see her soon!
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
So now we know why Ayaka addresses Honoka as princess–it’s because of Princess Evermillion residing inside him. Is that also why he has what is normally a female name? And if so, does that mean his mother is aware that he’s the host for Princess Evermillion? Or did Kazane tell her he should have a female name?
So Kazane and Honoka’s mother couldn’t marry. But are they still lovers on the side? I don’t know how true it is, but somewhere I read that in Japan that gays and lesbians marry members of the opposite sex, but nothing is said if they have a same sex partner on the side.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I kind of think that Komachi is just focused on girls, so even if Honoka is a boy, Komachi treats him pretty much like a girl (and he’s a pretty girly boy, anyway) down to a name that’s usually given to girls.
It’s pretty obvious that the men aren’t really much of a factor in this story. Who knows if Honoka’s or Ayaka’s fathers are still around, even. Basically, they’re in the story to be baby daddies, and then not important otherwise. Heck, Honoka hasn’t even mentioned something like “He’s working overseas” or any other of the usual dodges used to conveniently get parents out of the anime.
I don’t know if Komachi and Kazane are still seeing each other. The impression I got from Komachi talking about hearing about Kazane and Honoka’s meeting was that she regularly talks to Kazane, but who knows how often they see each other. If they do, I don’t even know if that would be characterized as ‘on the side’, since neither of their husbands is in the picture.
POWUH: 600-699 with 691 comments
Evermillion was a great addition…in general i don’t have anything bad to say…aside from Honoka being stupid…again
and
Honoka’s mother is the best…my favorite character in this series as of this episode, she just said that since she couldn’t marry with her friend she decided to marry her kids…and she said it with such a nice face…she’s great
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I just caught up…Man, I did not expect a show with such a formulaic set-up to be so good. I can’t even describe quite why it works so well. It’s just charming the socks off of me and I don’t mind at all. The cute ED helps. Hooray for the full version!
The witches aren’t exactly the strongest foes thus far so I’m glad they busted out the big guns with Medusa (and Evermillion!). That should make things a little bit more difficult now. Although it’s pretty cute that no matter the foe, they always end up casually chilling together at some point. Medusa just sitting pretty in the other hospital bed was such a nice scene.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I’ve been giving a lot of the credit to the director, because he did the same thing with Girls und Panzer: Take an amorphous concept that’s not particularly noteworthy and make a really engaging show. Neither show does a lot of in-depth characterization, both have huge casts, and both have quite a lot of action.
There’s a reason we’ve been calling them Team Rocket to this point, and they sure didn’t shed that at all. I don’t know if there’s a bigger gun than Medusa, perhaps only Medusa with her powers unsealed.
They’ve referred to limited amounts of power for all of the witches except for Ayaka / Honoka together. So I’m guessing that’s why they have the time just sitting around. I’m sure that will get explained later, because Ayaka said she would.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
I just CAN NEVER skip the ED, it’s too cute and addictive for words. >>;
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Unlike Mikakunin de Shinkoukei’s Kobeni, at least the one Honoka is engaged to is identified. But seriously, having the children marry because the parents couldn’t. That’s messed up yet funny at the same time. Which brings me to the question of whether or not the mothers are currently widows. If so, they might go ahead and finish the job. 😀
For Ayaka’s sake, she should tell Honoka whatever’s necessary as soon as possible and do it often if his mental state is enough to bring her down. She still manages to hold her own and looks good doing it. Out of curiosity, how many forms of hers have we seen these past five episodes?
Evermillion is a more than welcome addition to the group but I’d tread carefully with her. In a hypothetical situation, she’d give you a gun to shoot someone then turn on you with the same gun.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Do we know what Ayaka is? We know some characteristics, but we don’t really know what she is. She’s been the green dragon and the orange dragon, I know, but don’t know if that’s something else and a question is what is the dragon if it’s beside her? Or is that a snake? And why what seems like a ball-gag?
In Ayaka’s defense, Honoka just doesn’t listen, and she doesn’t really have time to explain a whole bunch of stuff. I do want to see what happens when Honoka gets a good look at her in her full on battle mode, tho I’ll be disappointed if he freaks out about it. I mean, he’s seen her stabbed, shot, petrified, all sorts of things, but hopefully he won’t freak out because she turns into a dragon.