WITCH WATCH – Episode 1

What’s it about? Otogi Morihito, descended from a long line of ogres, lives a pretty mundane and perfectly ordinary life. That is until his childhood friend, Nico, comes to crash at his house. A witch-in-training, Nico is in need of a familiar: good thing Morihito’s around! Together, he’ll play paladin to her mage, protecting her from a prophesied calamity and her own supernatural hijinks.

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I’m not new to WITCH WATCH, at least not completely. Once upon a time, I read a good chunk of the manga, falling off because of the inevitable deluge of media that comes each season, month, and year. So in many ways, this premiere feels fresh on the surface, down to its comedic plot about Ogre Boy re-meeting Witchy Girl and living together to fend of the claws of a catastrophic prophecy. Question is, will this stand out as a shounen title, or it is doomed to, once more, fall to the bottom of my TBR Pile? Time will tell, and so will a watch.

A witch watch! (Please laugh at this joke. Please. It’s very funny in my head and I need validation.)

Episode 1, “WITCH’S RETURN!” starts of with Nico and Morihito in their childhood on the eve of Nico’s departure to start her studies as a witch. Hard cut to the present where Morihito, once a sweet young boy, is now one calm, collected, and very sarcastic high schooler with a deep sense of justice and a lot of bullies that can’t stand his perceived attitude. Good thing he’s descended from ogres and quite nimble, letting him handily defeat any bullies who stand in his path.

…If only he would stop intentionally losing to others.

His “why” stems from childhood, when he accidentally wounded a kid with his strength. Morihito is in solid control of his skills now, which is great when Nico returns from the Witch’s Holy Land and declares Morihito to be her familiar, thus setting this magical odd couple down the path to a very interesting school year. 

Comedy is subjective, and WITCH WATCH is definitely a comedy. Primarily so, even; while there are some relatively quiet moments, the dynamic between Nico and Morihito is, first and foremost, that of a physical comedy balancing her skills as a witch with high school hijinks, as well as multiple repeated spit takes and sight gags. Whether or not you’ll like it depends on how quickly you like Nico and Morihito, who she calls Moi and very clearly likes.

For me, I liked this just enough to want to pick it up as something to watch so my brain doesn’t need to work too hard. That’s not saying this isn’t good, but rather, this has the vibe of an after-school cartoon that I watch purely for fun and not say, feminist critique or further review. I think this is the perfect “don’t take it too seriously” anime, though I might be speaking preemptively. Who knows where it will go over the course of this season?

Still, I think it’s pretty fair to say that this is going to remain largely a comedy, in part due to Nico’s magic skills being…not so perfect. Sure, she can perform really big feats of magic like repairing a glass window, but it comes at the cost of Morihito’s favorite mug. Sure she can fly, but it terrifies Morihito to be on her broom. Magic, in this world, has a balance, and Nico hasn’t struck it quite yet. But therein lies the comedy: the hilarity of life and being a bit too eager to perform every magic spell you know.

I imagine that many people will watch this series because it’s pretty darn funny. Whether Nico’s turning herself flat as a sheet of paper, shattering mugs, or generally trying to balance her feelings for Morihito against her studies as a witch, this premiere goes down easy enough that it’s one of the better adaptations this season. Even with the subjective element, I think WITCH WATCH isn’t polarizing to the point that you’ll either flat out love it or completely hate it. 

I sit happily in the middle ground: I’ll probably keep watching because I like to just watch something for what it is, but I don’t know that I’ll ever become a diehard fan. And in the end, I think that’s alright. Not every anime I watch has to be the best of the best: in fact, there’s a need for anime that satisfies a specific desire and nothing else. Verdict? Give it a watch. 

A WITCH WATCH! (Did you laugh this time?)