While I am always very critical of shows released by Netflix, especially anime, I am also fair especially in regards to shows it produces that do work well, and I am the first to admit this is one of them. Little Witch Academia creates a very compelling world that can provide for a very interesting and enjoyable watching experience. That combined with interesting and unique visuals (which can be a hit or miss whether or not a Netflix anime will receive the "copy/paste" style or something unique), and a very competently made soundtrack provides a show with what I consider to be a slightly above average quality.
However, beyond it's pretty visuals and animation quality sadly lies a rather generic and shallow story, filled with plot contrivances, a weak protagonist, and a weak antagonist. And while I still enjoyed the show regardless and I think other people can too, it's important to understand before watching this show that you will not be experiencing anything deep. The motivations of the show tend to follow a "Believe in yourself" motto similar to the likes of other studio trigger shows such as Gurren Lagann. This is not necessarily bad... however it is something that Studio Trigger is unable to really develop past. It feels to me like their shows are refusing to innovate, perhaps because they know that this kind of story is one that will do well in the general public.
And similarly the characters are also quite off. Kagari, our main protagonist, does not actually go through any significant development through the series, and her progression with the story is often contrived in a way that makes her not actually learn anything substantial. For instance, the plot passes off mistakes that were her fault and assigs blame to other characters, and as a result she tends to not receive any direct repercussions of her actions on herself. And in fact, her actions sometimes directly result in the detriment of other characters. But the plot does not make light of this, it does not hold her accountable, she doesn't actually learn from her mistakes. Instead it makes excuses for her. It wasn't her fault, it was someone elses, she was being manipulated, she had good intentions. The show even at one point does a meta analysis of her entire character and literal calls her out for being self centered but this isn't something that she really works on developing. Another issue is that one of the things she was supposed to learn in the series was patience, and this was deeply tied with the plot progression, but she never actually learned patience. After the point where she was supposed to learn that lesson she was still as impulsive and impatient as ever. While not a Mary Sue, at times her lack of character development really damages her credibility to me as a viewer.
Likewise, the motivations behind our main antagonist, which mind you is not even introduced until halfway through the series, are not well baked and also ignored until the very end with a cookie cutter "I want power" jealous motivation type, which also establishes some rather major plot holes when it comes to their relationships with other characters in the series. Not to mention their ultimate plan was rather obviously a bad one at least in my opinion and I find it hard to believe that they, considering that they are supposed to be an intelligent character, would not have understood the severe problems with what they were trying to do.
Little Witch Academia is a good show for mindless entertainment and it is definitely worth the watch if you want something fairly generic and not too deep, but competently made when it comes to visuals, animation, and sound design. However I would not recommend watching if you are looking for anything with a large amount of substance.
Rating: 5/10
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