English Dub Review: Witch Watch “Freshman Witch and Her Familiars”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Nico’s class uses her magic to make a haunted house for the festival, but while Kanshi and Keigo get wrapped up in a comedy routine, an anti-magic student threatens to ruin not just Nico’s reputation, but magic as a whole.

OUR TAKE

After another inexplicable two week delay (apparently due to sporting events for the Japanese release but why should that affect how the dub comes out?! Even the French dub of this came out last week!), we are finally back to watch and talk about the season finale of Witch Watch. And yes, thankfully it is just the SEASON finale, as it was confirmed some time ago that we will be getting a second season at some point, which is good not only because this is a pretty dang funny show that I would love to see more of, but also because this episode barely feels like much of a finale. It’s still plenty fun, don’t get me wrong, but aside from a few things in the second half, it doesn’t feel much like a strong way to close out the last six months of adventures with these characters. It’s not a sudden dramatic shift like the episodes in the middle of the season, it doesn’t pay off any of the ongoing character arcs or plot threats, and it for the most part feels like business as usual. It kinda feels like it could have been plopped any time in the past ten episodes and fit just as well.

But again, it’s not a bad episode by any stretch, and definitely highlights the unique strengths this series has when it comes to its character chemistry, shown best in the first half where Kanshi and Keigo find sudden success as a comedy duo while Morihito gives VERY specific pointers, but they eventually get in their own heads about the act and it ends up imploding during a show. It’s a good example of why I’ve enjoyed this show so much and will miss it while it’s gone. The second half, however takes a slight turn into seriousness when there’s a threat of a student wanting to cause magic to be seen as a threat, and while it gives a bunch of characters a last chance to show their stuff, it also feels wrapped up a bit too quickly and cleanly to really deal with the implications. Still, again, it’s a perfectly good episode of Witch Watch, I just wish that the finale felt more like a finale. No idea how long we’ll be waiting for the second season to come, but in the meantime, let’s look back at how this show started and how I came to really like it over time.