Forum - View topicWandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina (TV).
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Wandering Witch - The Journey of Elaina (TV) Genres: Adventure, Fantasy Plot Summary: Once upon a time, there was a witch named Elaina, who set off on a journey across the world. Along the way, she would meet all kinds of people, from a country full of witches to a giant in love with his own muscles—but with each meeting, Elaina would become a small part of their story, and her own world would get a little bit bigger. (from manga) ---------------------------------- Anime adaptation for the light novel of the same name. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23802 |
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Episode 1
I don't know what it is about witches that seems to result in good anime but it seems to be a trend. Little Witch Academia, The Flying Witch, Maria the Virgin Witch just to name a few off the top of my head. The Wandering Witch, if the first eppie is any indication, will join that happy parade. Very much looking forward to the travel adventures of the Ashen Witch! |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15481 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Yeah, I thought that the first episode was pretty promising.
Also, the Starlight Witch was there to see someone very important, my guess is that it was Elaina's mother. Her parents were able to somehow buy this also important witch that has big responsibilities to stick around to teach their daughter some humility. Elaina's mother also seems to be one who is well aware of the limits of one's abilities, and the need to be grounded. So I am going to make a guess that she was once a traveling witch who thought she was better than everyone else, until she met her husband who made her appreciate a life out of the way. |
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Animegomaniac
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I'm still mulling over what I saw as pretty much everything brought up is immediately contradicted by further information. It's a slice of life series ... but... Elaina's training and testing was fully combat magic. The series is about her traveling adventures... but... we're already three years into it after a time skip? Her family is fully supportive of her becoming a witch.... but... no, anything regarding her family doesn't make sense as it's like imagining 15 year old Line Inverse, sorceress supreme from the Slayers, telling her mother she''ll be safe and stay out of danger. That speech should have come before her initial training not after almost dying during her tests with Fran.
And why were all the earlier examples of witches the classic kinds when Witch Fran seems to be a combat wizard? And I'm guessing she's has a governmental position? I don't know anything about the series but it seems to be of the kind that's slice of life until it's not. So I can't say if it has potential until it decides what its tone is. The Flying Witch was fully slice of life while Maria the Virgin Witch was full on witch combat, which is fighting the way a witch would, using guile and enchantments, rather than a sorceress throwing fireballs. In short, the Wandering Witch has an identity crisis. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23802 |
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This show only has an identity crisis if you are the type of viewer who holds that a show must be all one thing. For myself, I have zero problem with a show that is a hybrid. SoL and combat? Sure, why not? Where's the rule that these two genres can't mix? To me, some of the most interesting shows come out of mixing things up, defying expectations. That's the beauty of anime, man.
Oh, something I forgot to note above but really dug was the theme of the episode: don't put up with crap. If you don't like something, don't silently endure it. Wow, what a completely unJapanese sentiment! |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15481 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 2
So, I don't want to look like the kind to just look through everything with yuri goggles, especially since there are actual yuri anime this season, but this episode had a whole heap of it. Saya was super crushing on Elaina. We know that that Saya was pretending to be worse than she was, but it was more than just being friendly or anxious when Saya seemed to visibly sweat when Elaina got closer and really lost her cool when holding hands. To say nothing of that intimate part in the bed, and that she literally wrote in the newspaper that she would want to visit the traveler that she loves. On another topic, Elaina is kind of super smug, it kind of felt like her mother specifically warned her not to become like she sort of is. If the show will continue like this, it kind of feels like Kino's Journey. |
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Bargain Hunter Posts: 23802 |
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Good eppie, but WAY too many panty shots! (You'd have to be aware of a certain thread in the Talkback Forum to get that joke.) Yes, the Ashen Witch certainly does not lack in confidence. I guess that comes with the territory when you are the youngest to pass the Apprentice Witch exam.
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3653 |
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Episode 3:
I assume this is the first "normal" episode. When the first episode came out, people familiar with the source argued that putting episode 1 first was a mistake, which I didn't understand, but I think I get it now. After starting off by showing "she learns not to take BS," she now travels from place to place looking at terrible things happening and thinks "meh," even if she's the cause. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23802 |
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Yeah, this show is DARK. Kind of reminds me of watching Vampire Princess Mayu where you thought that Mayu would be saving people from horror, but nope. I wonder which tone... episode 1 & 2, or episode 3 will predominate?
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15481 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 3 did take a dark turn. And it is actually kind of distressing that despite Elaina's self described nature of being a genius she can be so quick to turn a blind eye to horrible things. Starting off with the plants where maybe a lone she resisted signs of weirdness, maybe not looking at how strongly that guy reacted to her with the flowers, and after going back in seeing the situation for what it was, she did not burn it all down like she probably should. The ending of that segment seemed to hint that not doing so led to a disaster.
But the majority of the episode was with that creepy boy wanting to woo his household "servant". I was honestly surprised that Elaina was surprised when the father said that she was a (their) slave, there were plenty of subtle clues to the situation. The fact that the boy talked about Nino being gloomy which lined up oddly with Nino's reaction to seeing Elaina. Nino was fairly young, and every implication pointed that he was already laying his hands on her. And there was such an imbalance of power, even with the son, that there was absolutely nothing romantic with the guy who might well be a sociopath based on his abstract understanding of "happiness". The twisting of the knife is that you could see the shifting of power dynamics when Elaina held her wand at the man, that his demeanor seemed to change when he realised that Elaina held power over him rather than the other way around (mentioning her body). And yet Elaina left Nino there, Elaina had all that power and could have been the hero in the situation of actually helping this girl, and she left thinking that she would rather not think about it anymore. I can like a complex character, where some weight could be given for a world where someone would stick their neck out, but also goes to show that Elaina can do the wrong thing, especially through inaction. |
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Maybe Elaina comes from a land where there is no slavery in which case it's perfectly plausible that she wouldn't see those subtle clues. |
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DuskyPredator
Posts: 15481 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 4
When your desire for revenge is leads to pretty much wanting to burn the world down, also something about a woman scorned. This probably just a case of me being a dweeb thinking that all dark fantasy or something is like Soulsborne games, but the setting did make me oddly think of Cainhurst Castle or Dark Souls 3 Anor Londo. This is just me being the type of annoying fan of the franchise to have to bring it up all the time. |
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Animegomaniac
Posts: 4088 |
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Episode 2
So this is the point where they have makeup sex? "And then we spent the night together." - This was the reason I suspected they aged her up to 18 but I didn't want to say anything but, damn, they did not waste any time. And ending on the equivalent of having coffee in the piazzo del Marco is giving off massive ARIA vibes but without the things that made ARIA great such as the massive amounts of world building that went into having that coffee. ARIA literally copied Venice while Wandering Witch only figuratively copied it by literally copying ARIA. Also, I really can't stand Elaina; She calls out Sara for not giving her name out but then doesn't wait around for her to rectify it? If you can't stand people, places or things, why wander? You can be just as miserable at home. Episode 3A, Plants vs Zombies? I thought it was pretty funny, like Lovecraft's "Colour Out of Space" without a point behind it. Set up, interference, "Huh, that happened." Move on, leave behind a zombie apocalypse. Happens all the time. 3B Dorky guy: "She's a servant named Nino who works at my house who always looks gloomy." RED FLAG RED FLAG! And he's the village elder's son? REDDER FLAG REDDER FLAG! "Found in the East?" THE RED FLAGS ARE COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE! And our main character in addition to being vain and insufferable, is also a coward? Good thing she's choosing not to be affected by what she experiences, otherwise she may grow as a person. And please don't try to disagree, Elaine's already been doing this for three years so if it was going to change her for the better, it would have already started. So, awful show that looks great... my estimation from episode 1, neat. |
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Yttrbio
Posts: 3653 |
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Episode 9
Wow. Episode 3 would have made a lot more sense if it had come sometime after this one. It's possible to do stories out of chronological order like this, but they need to motivate the rest of the story. With effective writing, Episode 3 might have had us wondering "how did Elaina get like this?" But it didn't, because it spent no time with her thoughts. I wasn't curious in the least, it was just bad writing. And if that was going to be how it played out, they may as well have just put Episode 3 a few episodes after Episode 8 so Elaina's character would be at least somewhat coherent. Last edited by Yttrbio on Fri Nov 27, 2020 2:54 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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notthatguy
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It’s like he Kino’s journey, told out of order and the character even seems to be morally detached the way Kino it was. Clearly she is in different stages of her life in the different episodes, although this is harder to pick up on.
They haven’t made it abundantly clear whether she doesn’t always get involved because she doesn’t care, isn’t a good person, or feels she shouldn’t get involved. She does come across as petty and vain, which makes her an unlikable character. Feet episode was lulz, tho. |
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