Witch Craft Works – 06
Good morning, Honoka!
Even with the Olympics, I can’t miss Witch Craft Works! Last week was faster than a 4-man bobsled. Did this week slow down at all?
Ludicrous Speed, Go!
More crazy locations.
Did I say that last week moved things along quickly? Well, this week made last week feel almost like an episode of Non Non Biyori by comparison. So many characters and a great many of them so angry! There may not have been any characters that have been introduced that weren’t present this week (although on rewatch, Chronoire didn’t show up, so she was probably the only one). I’d explain, but in the words of Inigo Montoya “There is too much, let me sum up.”
Honoka takes over the Student Council, by edict from Ayaka
So Honoka is now the seitokaichou, the former one having been fired by Ayaka using her Hime-sama authority, second only to the Chairwoman, which was given to her from a school-wide poll in her first year to make her the personification of the school. Mikage-sensei, the science teacher / advisor to the student council, is some sort of science-based witch (“I swear to Heinlein” is hilarious) and is part of some other faction that’s not tower or workshop. Meanwhile, Ayaka seems to be running rogue from both her mother and the tower witches, hiding both the fact that Honoka unsealed Evermillion and that she’s harboring Medusa and the Ivory Quintet in Honoka’s house. At the same time, Kasumi insults her mother and puts her in a state of apathy, and also decides to kidnap Honoka and move him to some other town, only to be thwarted by Ayaka, who she thought she took care of.
How Many Factions Are There?
I think we’re definitely seeing Ayaka trying to close the distance to Honoka
So we have Tower Witches and Workshop Witches, and now we have whatever Mikage-sensei is, and even within the Tower Witches are multiple factions. Plus there’s Kasumi who is the whole of the imouto faction. And it seems like Ayaka is outside of all of them for some reason. Why is she hiding Medusa? And why is she hiding the fact that Honoka’s seal has been broken? The only reason seems to be that she really loves Honoka, even if that doesn’t really come through to him yet. If Mikage is to be believed, when Kazane finds out about Honoka she’ll seal him away and that will lead to him being separated from Ayaka. We’ve definitely seen that her depth of feeling for him is more than is evident, with the little Honoka dolls, breaking into his room (although I start to wonder if that was some sort of ritual that Ayaka was trying to reseal Evermillion and thus head off Kazane), and her absolute refusal to be apart from him.
Once More Into the Breach
Ayaka is a force unto herself
I wonder if this will be the end of the Kasumi vs Ayaka fights or if there’s more in store. This episode’s battle was hilarious, with Kasumi throwing almost everything she can at Ayaka and stealing Honoka in a Teddy-Powered plane. But that’s definitely not enough to stop Ayaka, who rides back on a dragon with beam weapons. And Ayaka has apparently gotten past her worries about Honoka seeing her in her transformed self, since this episode she turns into the red dragon multiple times to save him. I think it’s clear she’s not going to mess around any more when Honoka is threatened. Something good that needs to be mentioned, tho, is that Honoka is trying to have a little more agency on his own now. He refuses to play the part that Ayaka writes for him at the student council meeting, instead standing up and asking to be judged on his own merit. And he’s trying to bridge Ayaka and Kasumi to get them to be more friendly. I like to see him becoming a little less helpless and go with the flow.
Now he just needs to not get kidnapped
So much went on, but I think that I’m on top of most of it. It’s too bad: having this much action and plot development in an episode doesn’t leave any time in the post for noting some of the great lines and gags, like right off the bat Ayaka destroying Honoka’s door latch to get in with just an “oh, it’s open”, or Kasumi’s “Evil is driven out!” line to Ayaka, or Honoka feeling a chill from Touko, who’s obviously an ice witch (and has a huge obsession with Ayaka, who gets along with her like, well, fire and ice). I really don’t have any problems with the pacing of the show, because while I like a lot of character development, I don’t mind a show that keeps moving like this. Again, I think Mizushima is doing a tremendous job with the show, and I still feel like it’s got the same kind of feel that Garupan did. And oh, did anyone else notice the small changes that they’ve been making to the OP animation? Things like the lettering for Witch Craft Works being flamey, or more sparkles in the background, or full flowers blooming in the shot with Honoka and Ayaka near the end. I compared the OP from earlier side by side with the current one, because I was wondering if there were different shots, but everything seems the same, just with some parts embellished.
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: iLurker with 1 comments
Does anybody else find it suspicious that behind the chairwoman the white lab coat and teddy substitute are shown?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
My thinking there was that she was covering up for Ayaka… again, by hiding Mikage after he failed / was defeated.
POWUH: iLurker with 12 comments
The reason was mentioned by Mikage, when he said that due to the hiding of Medusa, Kazane is so focused on finding her that she doesn’t notice that Honoka’s seal was broken
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
I didn’t read that as the reason that Ayaka was harboring Medusa. I thought that was just a side effect. It could turn out to be, but it really seemed like there was something more to it, and Medusa is awfully compliant with being hidden for that to be the actual reason.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
Hmmm… Reverse rape prana replenishment.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Chemistry Teach seems more like an alchemist. I hope they show more of that soon. I dig background wrinkles like that. And what was up with that LOLi demon coterie?
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Gotta have random girls hanging around anchored to the ground, I guess.
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Amazon BD/DVD preorders ranking show Witchcraft Works is turning into a bestseller among Japanese otaku, and widely discussed on their forums.
Other top 4 include in order:
2)Mikakunin
3)Seitokai Season 2
4)Hoozuki no Reitotsu
5)Chuunibyou Season 2
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5007002&postcount=621
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Excellent news! It’s certainly my favorite show of the season by a long way (although Mikakunin is surprisingly up there as well). We’ll see how the actual sales come out, because my experience is that Amazon preorders are not necessarily completely reflective of reality.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
It’s about time I catch up to Hoozuki then.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
There are some things that should never be done and here, one of them is crossing a person who easily surpasses you in power like Kasumi did. It’s reckless of her to think Ayaka can be put down that easily after knowing what she’s capable of. And Ayaka seems more of a princess than a witch.
I like that what Honoka lacks in physical strength, he makes up with mental. It’s good to see he refuses to play Ayaka’s game despite it being for his benefit and stepping up to be a true student council president. If you let someone else do everything for you, then you’re not really your own person, just a puppet.
POWUH: Meta Team and Spammy Tamer with 7115 comments
Well, it took Honoka a while to find some gumption. I think it’s not overstating to say that he’s been completely overwhelmed for the last week or so of his life, so I can give him a bit of a pass for just going along with Ayaka until now. But now that he’s kind of getting his feet under him, he’s standing up for himself a bit more, coincidentally as Ayaka’s plans are getting more and more crazy.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Give me more Evermillion! Her glimpse of flying by is not enough!