Nico is a witch. At a young age, she depended on her friend, Morihito (whom she dubs “Moi”), to protect her from bullies and just generally from the scary things of the world. But then Nico moved away with her mom to the Witch’s Holy Land to train and learn. Meanwhile, Morihito stayed behind, growing up while masking his own supernatural identity, which he began to hide after pulverizing a child his age. But Nico’s return is about to change that and everything else. A prophecy by Nico’s mother states that a disaster will befall her within a year and that only a familiar can protect her—and that’s where Morihito comes in. He is an ogre, and it’s his duty to keep Nico safe as she transforms from a novice witch to a more experienced one. But will Nico’s secret be revealed as she helps people in danger and starts attending school? What about Morihito’s? And then the even bigger question—will Morihito return Nico’s affection for him? Nico has been in love with her childhood friend this entire time, but he’s a bit dense. Maybe her magic can help along their relationship! Certainly living with each other will help, right? Right?!
The first three episodes of Witch Watch hit the big screen this past weekend, bookended by interviews with the seiyuu for Nico (Rina Kawaguchi) and Moi (Ryouta Suzuki), and director Hiroshi Ikehata. I’m appreciative of this bonus material, because it helped explain the approach for this series—one fitting for the manga, I think, which is a mix of slice-of-life and shonen rom-com (with a dash of action mixed in). Ikehata describes the anime as a manzai-type series, full of fast dialogue and quick quips. That’s a great description of the humor, which is focused on the shtick between dry, straight man Moi and bumbling, spirited Nico. And there were a lot of funny scenes in the first three episodes; of particular note is when Nico uses the “light weight” spell in episode two, which led to some hilarious out-of-character moments (which included ad libbing by Suzuki, according to the concluding interviews). Other humor is derived from the magic itself, which always leads to some sort of blunder at Nico’s hands, and the frequent dream-world sequences where Nico imagines how her relationship with Moi ought to be. But not all of the humor hits. Admittedly, that might be because—as Ikehata notes—he intends for the series to be a very Japanse version of a “witch comedy,” but even so, I think I caught most of the references (I certainly enjoyed the nods to Demon Slayer, Dragon Ball Z, and especially Hunter x Hunter); some of the comedy just elicits smiles, though, rather than the intended laughs. If the audience members I was among are any indicator, viewers may find it even less funny than I did; I laughed at quite a few moments where there was silence among the rest of the crowd.
The manga has a strong emotional foundation rooted in the characters’ sweet and kind personalities, and though the anime leans into that as well, the shifts from the basic rom-com setup to more heartfelt moments felt abrupt and thus not as moving as they should have been. There are also hints at bigger action and more sinister things to come which, to me, are by far the weakest parts of the manga. Of note as well is Kawaguchi’s voicing of Nico; it’s very infantile and often screechy. She’s perfect for the younger Nico, but is overall miscast for the role of a teenager. Despite these weak aspects, I still found the first three episodes of this adaptation to be cute and entertaining. The animation was good and the ending music was merry and joyful (though we didn’t get a full ED or hear the opening in the theatrical presentation). This is the type of series that is so warm and energetic that it can break your mood and raise your spirits if you’re having a rough day. And while there was really no reason for Witch Watch to get the theatrical treatment, as a fun, high-energy offering to stream during the spring season (and one that’s already set for two cours), I would say it’s worth checking out.
GKIDS screened Witch Watch in theaters through March 18th. It is now streaming on Netflix and Crunchyroll.
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