Review - Little Witch Academia

How fantastic is this little OVA?  Made by Trigger, a small studio, with less money than your average TV episode, the 26-minute OVA follows Akko, a young magic school student.  She has no natural talent for magic, but as a child she was inspired by Shiny Chariot, basically the rockstar of all witches, and she decided to become one herself.  She spends her time with classmates Lotte (the smart one) and Sucy (the creepy one who uses potions; she's my favorite).  Their class decides to hold a competition in which the students are to explore the dungeons below the school to look for treasure and kill monsters (one of them even jokes "What is this, some kind of dungeon crawler RPG?").  They soon find they're in for more than they bargain for when one of their classmates breaks the seal on a magic-absorbing dragon, and it finds its way above-ground to the school!

This movie is sort of like if Harry Potter was turned into a magical girl anime.  The characters are charming and unique, and even in the short time you get to see them, you really get a feel for them.  The animation and direction is just spectacular, fluid and expressive. The story is just perfect for the time they have to tell it, a simple premise that unfolds naturally, starting off small and unfolding into something epic.

Maybe my favorite part about all of it is that there's no 3D in it.  All the backgrounds are hand/drawn, a look I've sorely missed as more and more studios start implementing 3D backgrounds.  This doesn't mean the studio holds back at all when it comes to dynamic shots, either.  They just suck it up and do it right.

If you want to watch it for yourself, you can find it on YouTube, from Trigger's official channel (in Japanese with English subtitles):