Monday, April 29, 2013

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Little Witch Academia

What goes up…

Little Witch Academia

Official Site: Anime Mirai Page, Trigger Page
Additional Links: ANN Entry, MAL Entry
Video: YouTube, Crunchyroll

In the very same month that GAINAX announces a film version of its 2011 magical girl ONA Houkago no Pleaides/Wish Upon the Pleiades, Trigger--a new studio formed by former GAINAX staffers--streamed its own worldwide. The effort, Little Witch Academia, is its first full feature, which is part of this year's Anime Mirai slate, a government-backed initiative aimed at funding projects at anime studios that train and foster new talent in the industry.

The feature is also the first full directorial debut of veteran animator Yoh Yoshinari, who created both the story and character designs, and it follows a young girl named Akko Kagari, a spunky, but not too proficient, witch-in-training with aspirations of becoming a grand practitioner of magic, just like the witch that amazed her so much when she was younger. One day, however, things go terribly awry during an exercise and now Akko may be the only one in position to do anything about it.

The one-episode OVA is roughly 26-mins. long, but after it's done, you may find yourself wishing there was more. It's pretty impressive and very well-animated for a debut title, particularly with aspiring animators in the mix, and it can be watched in as high as 1080p resolution on either YouTube or Crunchyroll (membership required for HD playback for the latter, unlike YT, although CR's quality is a little cleaner…).


P.S.: While LWA doesn't have a website of its own, you can find some nice production pictures on Trigger's Facebook page [1] [2] [3] [4]

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