Anime With Popcorn

Anime First Impressions

WITCH WATCH is a classic rom-com where the girl, who in this case is a witch, is so overly in love with the boy but the boy is oblivious to it, mainly because he’s so focused on his mission he can’t let his guard down. The characters become reunited under some unusual magical circumstances.

Nico, is an overly affectionate, head over heels in love, impulsive witch with an affinity for poor judgement and objectively useless spells.

Otogi, on the other hand, is a determined, kind but blunt protector with so much physical power he’s worried he will hurt people.

Both of them get caught up in some mayhem while trying to cope with their new living situation.

With that being said, here’s everything you need to know about Episode 1 “Witch’s Return”

What Happens in Episode 1?

This episode crams a lot into the 24 minute run time, probably too much, but we get a solid intro to the world and the characters.

It opens with an overly emotion scene that almost made me turn it off. Nico crying about going off to be a witch in her painfully babyish voice is grating. Thankfully, Zeno Robinson’s character thrusts us into the present. His loud, voice cracking “YOOO!!! DUMBASS!!!” from his kelpfish-styled haircut bully character immediately drew me back in.

Otogi, our blunt but kind protagonist, avoids violence at all cost due to his ogre heritage. We learn he’s basically a human ogre hybrid, bound by ancestral contract to be a witch’s familiar — and surprise, Nico has requested he be her familiar. Oh yeah, and his dad goes away on a trip so he’s going to be moving in with Otogi alone.

Probably my favorite scene in the episode is when Nico arrives on her broom… through the window. The face Otogi makes is so funny. I love when animators/writers use those scenes. Lily Ki makes Nico sound much better now that she’s older. I just couldn’t handle the child voice.

Nico has great magical potential, just terrible judgement. She fixes the window she broke through by destroying Otogi’s favorite mug, turns herself paper thin — promptly flying away with the wind, and falls in a crack in which Otogi needs to save her before the spell wears off and she gets “smooshed.”

Along the way to save her Otogi has another run in with the previously said bully, who’s real name is Momota, and they get into another dispute. Otogi decides that its best to use his ogre powers to punch open the wall and get Nico out of the crack. The animation for this power usage was pretty dang good.

They cant just leave the wall busted like that though, so they decide to use the same repair spell, with the bully’s hair as the sacrificial precious item.

Just when I thought the episode was over we dive into what feels like Episode 1.5 — a shopping trip that turns into a rescue mission. Nico explains that she has to use her magic to get better at it, and that witches can only do that by helping people. Otogi, on the other hand, wants to keep her magical powers a secret for her safety.

We find out that’s just not going to happen as Nico flies both her and Otogi up a burning building to save a woman. This backfires as they’re too heavy for her to fly on her broom, so she casts “Superlight” as spell for making things lighter.

This moment is hilarious because they both become airheads due to them being so light. Their personality changes, Otogi becoming the opposite of who he was, and Nico just becoming more ditsy than she already was.

They eventually make it home after saving the woman, only to find out that the spell has a backlash of making things heavy — including their personality. The crach into gloomy monologues was a great comedic moment.

Finally we end with Nico attempting to seduce Otogi with her cute pajamas. It obviously goes over his head as he tells her to practically screw off to her own room.

We end with a flashback to Otogi’s father explaining to him that Nico has had her future read by her mother. It was stated that Nico will succumb to something terrible in a year’s time — and that the only thing that can save her is her familiar.

Then we jump into the opening song. This is pretty standard location, so it’s not surprise here. The animation for the opening is really good. I like the amount of effort it seems they put into it. The song is catchy as well; I’ve had it in my head for a few days now. It’s called “Watch Me!” by “YOASOBI.” Linked below.

Animation, Soundtrack, and Voice Over. Is it any good?

Short answer is, its decent. There isn’t anything to fawn over. It does about as much in these categories as other shows do now so I’d say its relatively average. There’s some good animation scenes, like the magic glass repair, the wall destruction, and the glittery love moments, but they are for a short time.

The comedy is great. I laughed several times to multiple jokes. Specifically the slapstick of their derp faces when certain things happen, I love when writers use those.

The voice over could be better. Specifically, Nico as a child. I know Lily Ki was probably asked to do this voice, but I don’t think it quite matches the original intent for the character. The present versions of the characters are much better than the flashbacks.

The soundtrack was pretty good. If it wasn’t for the music in some moments I would have been lost on what emotion to actually feel at the time. The show moves so fast that its almost required that the music and sound effects help the watcher along.

Final Thoughts

Despite the voice over for Nico and the fast pace, WITCH WATCH Episode 1 has quite a bit of laughs, lovable characters, and great scenes. The episode sets up a decent show and I’m excited to see more. I give it a solid 7/10.