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「くじら、空をとぶ & 魔女のローブと日々は十人十色」 (Kujira, Sora wo Tobu & Majo no Roobu to Hibi wa Juunintoiro)
“A Whale In The Sky & Witch’s Robe & Different Ways to Spend The Day”
Yes, there were two episodes this week! And yes, the show is truly over ):
But before I jump into the final impressions for a second time (I have this great story about Game of Thrones and how it literally blew up my computer), let me take a second to comment just how amazing the final episodes were. Because when you take the two and combine them, they provided just enough of everything to send the series off with the perfect Flying Witch type of bang. And with that, let’s jump straight into the final impressions!
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Final Impressions
As I’ve said time and time again, Flying Witch has been one of the best slice-of-lifes that I’ve had the pleasure of watching. Embracing the genre completely and adding its own flare with a bit of magic (both literally and metaphorically), the series went from a slow awkwardly paced mess and turned into something almost perfect. And as subjective as that claim is, I’m sure anyone who’s given the show an appropriate amount of time has found something they just love about it.
Because in this genre, where people tend to complain about things being too boring or too slow, Flying Witch does a fantastic job of keeping your attention without straying too far from the show it strives to be. Dropping jokes and bits of humor before you even realize you needed it or having certain characters “push” things along in a rather sneaky way, the show’s pace manages to keep your mind engaged with even the simplest of plot points. Sure, it may not always work our perfectly (the first few episodes are big offenders), but when it does it truly does feel like magic.
And while we’re talking about magic, can I just say how much I loved how the show managed “magic”? Never shoving it down our throats and always keeping things to a minimum, the magic in the show never lost that “magic” feeling. Or rather, whenever magic occurred it was definitely something to pay attention too. Something that tends to get lost when you overload the viewer with flashy spells and too much reality breaking.
But the best thing about the show, even if you took out everything else, has to be the characters and the genuinely hilarious situations they end up in. With a quirky cast that all has their own unique personalities, there’s no surprise that there’d be some good chemistry between them. What is surprising though, is just how well done all the side characters were. With all of them getting ample time to do whatever they needed to do, it almost felt like they were a part of the main cast while they were on screen. In terms of humor, the funniest joke had to be when Makoto tried to remove that awkward spell on Inukai. Because after such a huge build up, I truly learned what it meant to “bust a gut” when we saw the majestic Inukai staring back at Makoto with some true sadness in her eyes.
Overall, Flying Witch is for sure a show you should watch if slice-of-life is on your radar. With its wide cast of characters, truly funny jokes, and genuine “slice-of-life” moments there really isn’t much more you could ask for. In addition you also have some genuine magic that tends to spice things up just enough before you even knew you needed it. So, if all of that sounds appealing to you, what are you doing? Check out the show and let me know how much you liked it!
P.S. Chinatsu, Inukai, and Anzu were my top three. :’)
I loved this too – and agree with everything you wrote. Also, it was beautifully animated – especially the last two episodes with the whale and the ground fish. If this is an example of ‘healing anime’ – I’m certainly feeling better from it. And, even better, there’s a new series of Natsume starting to carry on my rehabilitation..!
You’re… not even going to talk about the last two episodes? 🙁
Episode 11 is one of the best episodes ever, and you’re just going to skip reviewing it? Sad Wanderer is sad. 🙁
So remember how I mentioned that story about GoT and my computer dying?
I had this awesome post written on Sunday and I lost it all because I didn’t back things up.
And so I made an emergency trip back home to get my actual computer.
So, maybe I’ll go edit the post once my heart stops hurting 🙁
Aw man. I feel for you. That sort of thing has happened to me enough times I know how much it sucks. 🙁
This is a really great show. Episode 11 made me want to be a witch and I am a guy.
Yer a wizard, wolfey.
Stop it. He’ll be an excellent witch.
#dreamscancometrue
I’d say another one of the best things about the series is that they didn’t attempt to just force in some kind of romance between Makoto and Kei (the whole common “cousins falling in love” trope) or Nao and Kei and such, just keeping things smoothly moving along and just living life. Similarly, I loved how they made the girls look so lovely without having to exaggerate bodily proportions and/or make them dress up in skimpy/provocative outfits and whatnot, just letting their personality speak for themselves.
And that whale was awesome. Definitely gives that fantasy feel and also a show of how the world of witches and magic and such is much bigger than what we’ve seen.
Chito and Kenny are best cats.
Biggest surprise of the spring season and one of the best slice-of-life – I can’t agree more. 🙂
So gonna get the manga…
This was a really good slice-of-life, it never failed to put a smile on my face. It’s sad it’s over, but alas, all things come to an end.
PS: I also agree with Wanderer up there, it’s a shame you didn’t comment on these last two episodes Takaii, please do consider adding then if you find the time/patience (I know how heartbreaking is to have a PC dying on you…).
Truly one of the best slice of life anime ever.
Lovely series, I hope it gets a sequel series later on. The anime pretty much caught up close to the manga, right before that rabbit appears. Sighs, I really hoped the rabbit chapters might make the cut, it’s was my favorite chapters so far.
Nice pure SOL “something different/change of pace” type of show. For me clearly Chinatsu was the best character and made a lot of things work/work better than if she wasn’t around. Really have to give credit to her seiyuu and the director because her character was absolutely just spot on IMO. Rest of the cast was pretty good as well. Some are better than others/”YMMV”/etc., but can’t think of one character in which I had an issue. Agree 100% with HalfDemonInuyasha’s post above – kudos to the show for the show not forcing some romance angle.
Perhaps memory fails me, but I don’t recall the show early on as a “slow awkwardly paced mess”. Sure some episodes might have been better than others, but personally, I found this to be a pretty consistent anime in general including pacing. Agree that magic/witch element brought another aspect to the story vs. pure “RL” SOL though personally could have integrated even a little more. That was a bigger draw for me vs. say the cooking scenes.
This was a good series. Hope it gets a second season
Really loved the series.
By the way, the flying whale just reeks of Shadow of the Colossus feel.
Yup, The Aomori People are well urbanely mannered than the sendai People. This is one great SoL show i could say i kinda proud for them….
And…Sorry Girl, I fear that she needs council from these people…Really Bad!