English Dub Review: The Dawn of the Witch: “The Beginning of the Adventure”

Overview: Sayb (Travis Mullenix), Hort (Kimmie Britt), Kudo (Joe Cucinotti) with the aid of Zero (Amanda Lee) and Lo (Monica Rial) fight against the Church’s forces. 

Our Take: The war begins with the gang establishing their power against the Church’s army. How quickly the village proves their dominance, especially with Priest and Mercenary clobbering fools, is a fun way to kick things off. The fallen beast soldiers present a real challenge while the gang takes on other forces at the village’s doorstep. Unfortunately, despite going for a cinematic look, even sporting a 21:9 aspect ratio later on in Zero’s forbidden spell, these scenes suffer because of the flat animation and ugly CG. However, it also nicely shows the uglier side of going down the wrong path as a mage so thematically it is a strong tutelage moment between her, Saybil, Kudo and Hort. The action is visually uninspired as a result. 

Lo flushes out the true culprit behind the remnants implanted in people and Kady. The identity of the man behind the curtain is underwhelming in it just being a random crusty old bishop. However, it is ingeniously executed with Lo’s smart plan having a good misdirect. It was extra vicious in Lo making him swallow a remnant to earn his forgiveness. With Sayb, Hort and Kudo having now graduated, they say their goodbyes to Zero and the village. It delves into how the book is read through swapping every thirteen in the book for zeroes as he talks the book with him. Zero and Sayb share a sweet aunt and nephew moment before he and the gang depart and he dotes over his friends adorably. Hort makes a joke about how Sayb is just teasing her, especially when he knows how she likes him and he doesn’t. 

If there’s any hope I have for their future, it’s that Sayb wises the fuck up and gets on that. Sayb realizing his feelings for her would be in line with him understanding his emotions and prime for a future storyline so I am crossing my fingers. The only weird aspect to their departure is that it is oddly devoid of any farewell with Professor Lo with only a reference, making it odd and half-baked. However, it sets up the next adventure in uplifting fashion in them going off together, gaining some independence as they investigate the forbidden library. This finale has various shortcomings, both visually and narratively. With that being said, it’s proven its strengths well in the gang’s comradery and the exceptional character building in such a short amount of time. Hopefully, we get to see more of their adventures in anime form somewhere down the road when there is more source material out in the wild, because I love these three mages and would enjoy more time to watch them grow in their divided world.