English Dub Review: Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina “Royal Celesteria”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Elaina visits a city and spots a bookseller and Elaina takes a quick peek and one of the pages sees her mentor, Fran. She recalls her visit to Royal Celesteria where she reunited with Fran. During her visit, she enjoys the bustle of the streets and how people are using their magic to put on shows for the crowd. Elaina comes across the Royal Magic Academy however a guard stops her from entering even though she’s a witch.

Later she searches for a place to stay for the night as a group of students tries to catch her. However, they fail and Elaina is about to leave, but she hears a familiar voice, her mentor Fran. On the ground, Fran explains that she requested her students to bring Elaina to her. They chat for a bit and the next day Elaina teaches Fran’s students alongside the older witch. Afterward, Fran asks her about her hobby and if she would like flowers. The next day just when she’s about to leave Fran and her students giving Elaina her parting gift. Elaina returns to the city that has the book of Fran’s adventures and notices the merchandise based on Fran.

Our Take:

This week’s episode is a more lighthearted episode than the last one. In this episode, Elaina reunites with Fran as she gets to see her mentor teaching at the Royal Magic Academy. Furthermore, we get a few warm-hearted moments when they converse and when they’re teaching together.

Their conversation after finding out that Fran was teaching at the Royal Magic Academy was a lovely scene. It deepens our understanding of their bond as a teacher and student. Fran’s question about Elaina’s reason for traveling because her mother was a dead giveaway to Elaina’s mom being the Nike from Elaina’s favorite story. Their favorite story in the book about the apprentice witch Foula further cements the idea that Fran was the apprentice witch and Elaina’s mother was a traveling witch before she decided to settle down. Of course, the pictures made it more obvious but Fran’s reactions only added to my suspicions.

Additionally, Fran’s love for the Nike series inspires her to write a novel on her own experiences, but she ends up losing it. It explains how Elaina gets surrounded by Fran merchandise when we get to the present time in Elania’s journey. However, considering that the two have lived together during Elaina’s apprenticeship I’m surprised that we didn’t get a scene of them discussing the series. The series appears to be that important to them after all. Then there’s what Elaina likes, and while she enjoys traveling and books there’s gotta be more right? Fran addresses this issue to Elaina who considers her mentor’s dilemma. Quite frankly I wondered when the anime was going to address it. We know Elaina despises mushrooms and loves the Nike series but there could be more to her character than that.

The witches teaching Fran’s students and it was pretty amusing. From the game of tag to the Elaina helping the students with their practice of manipulating water to rise from the bucket. Even though we’re most likely not going to see them again, the anime did a good job of giving these students unique personalities. Fran’s method of teaching gave me a good laugh along with her banter with Elaina despite the long separation. Then there’s Fran and her students’ gift to Elaina when she departs and it was lovely with the flower petals. It was a good ending to send Elaina off to the next part of her journey.

Overall the episode was a nice change from the darker episode of the series. Perhaps we’ll get another joyful episode before switching back to the tragic and gloomy parts of Elaina’s journey.