But he who sees a witch will not live long. © Chancellor Guy, "Witch III" “Harry Potter” is a work to some extent amazing: few books for children and adolescents have generated such a wave... not even imitations, they are just in any popular children’s series in bulk, but – rethinkings, obvious references, inspirations for conceptually similar, but ideologically different plots, and so on. Something similar was with “Star Wars”, “Lord of the Rings” and other works with an older CA – and this is an important clarification: you can argue a lot about the depth of the message and the artistic component of “Star Wars”, but it is obvious that even the very first film was designed for a slightly different audience than the first book “Harry Potter”; at least older in age and able to buy a ticket to the movies.
“Witch Academy” is not such an obvious brainchild of “Potterians” as the endless “Tany Grotter” or “Children vs. Wizards”: after all, the idea of a magical school is not an invention of JK Rowling, as fans of the book “The Worst Witch” kindly remind. This is true, but “Harry Potter” has a very recognizable figurative series, which, on the one hand, is easy to reproduce, on the other hand, is still specifically Rowling.
The short “Witch Academy” is not really about the Academy. It's about a dream - so strong, able to overcome clumsiness, disorganization and outright lack of talent. Training, however, is also present, but insofar as, in fact, I will not be able to recall any anime with schoolboy heroes now, where an important place in the narrative would be given to study: it is just that sometimes the characters seem to accidentally find themselves in a lesson, and this serves as a trigger for a certain plot collision - on a single scene or series, depending on the genre and scenario task. The Witch Academy is no different in principle from Rosario + Vampire in this respect, except perhaps for the central conflict, which is really not banal for works of this kind. The girl Acre wants to learn magic, this is her main dream, but by magic she means fireworks and tricks that she saw as a child at a show; however, the school itself, and the harmful aristocratic classmate Diana, are sure that magic is more than bright puff-explosives. Alas, in a short meter such a problem can not be solved declamatively; but, on the other hand, the “Witch Academy” is primarily a fun school adventure about magical girls, and not a philosophical dispute on the topic of serious attitude to their own dreams and a critical view of the nature of magic.
And in general, the main merit of the "Academy" is not the plot, simple and uncomplicated; "Academy" is insanely good in the way it looks. What can I say, good animation for anime is rare (for a number of reasons, mainly economic, but not the essence), but the footage of the Academy allowed it to be properly invested - and, God, they did not fail! Just one scene of a run on the tower from a dragon what is worth - but there are also flights, and battles, and elegantly solved household scenes! Well, the expressive characters of Masahiko Otsuka are worth it: of course, designs are exactly what continues to glorify the anime industry even in the era of its gradual death, but, in fact, it is really difficult to make expressive, charming and diverse female characters of the title about some magical school. Who would share this truth with the creators of Winx, and...
Honestly, I don’t really know what the Witch Academy should look like in a TV series. No, of course, the idea and the plot are designed for a much more global and long story than a cartoon of twenty minutes, but will the change in format affect the quality of animation? . .
If you don't look, you won't know.