"Little Witch Academia" is Netflix-exclusive Anime that's worth watching, and for a handful of reasons.
Mainly, the best parts of it are the characters. They're vary. Akko, i.e. the main character, is the optimist, Lotte is an average girl with glasses, Sucy, although a good person, is a goth-like character that can be malicious to Akko for the fun of it... and has a thing for mushrooms. And yet, these three are close friends and roommates. In season one's episode, "Sleepy Sucy", while in Sucy's consciousness, in an attempt to wake her up to prevent a catastrophe, Akko learned that Sucy, despite pulling that snake trick over the bridge, on the first day of school, appreciated meeting Akko that day. It's a subtle moment, and one of the show's many.
This doesn't include supporting characters like Amanda, Constance, Diana, Andrew (a son of a politician who doesn't like witches), or even some of the teachers, and how Akko interacts with them throughout the show's run. It was especially interesting seeing how Akko became friends with stick-in-the-mud characters like Andrew and Diana, to the point of knowing a lot more about them.
Another charm to LWA is Akko's journey as a fellow student of Luna Nova, with fans wondering how good she'd get in magic, and if she'd ever find her childhood idol, Shiny Chariot.
(Spoiler alert!) Akko's closest teach and mentor, Professor Ursula, is actually Shiny Chariot in disguise the whole time. On the other hand, viewers should have realized this since the first episode, since only Chariot could have possessed a unique wand called the "Shiny Rod", which Professor Ursula magically handed over to Akko, in an attempt to save her and her would-be roommates.
With that being said, apart from Akko, it was interesting to watch Ursula/Chariot, since she was throwing hints that she had self-doubts, despite what she told her audience, including Akko, 10 years ago at her shows. This is also made interesting when you realized that she planned to tell Akko everything, not to mention the events of season two.
This is probably why S2E10, "Yesterday", is my most favorite episode of the entire series. Following Akko and Chariot's journeys from the first episode, adding Akko's feeling of betrayal by Chariot, and Chariot's backstory on trying to get the Shiny Rod to work as intended, you'll feel the emotions, from when Akko's classmates worrying if she'd ever return to Luna Nova, to Diana yelling at Chariot for not stopping Akko from running away. The whole episode, and what Diana revealed about her childhood to Akko, to even Lotte breaking down in tears over Akko's disappearance, it felt sad, but ultimately heart-warming.
Overall, add all the characters, their interactions, and journeys together, with a good mix of action, comedy, drama, and suspense, LWA is worth watching.
And before I forget, the English voice-acting, since I prefer English dub, was really good, along with the music, soundtrack, and the rather unique drawing style of Anime characters. The art style wasn't like any Anime I saw, which got me getting used to eventually, but especially liked the season one credits because of this, plus the coloring.
But, I also do have some minor complaints. Not of anything that ruins a show, but still worth mentioning.
Firstly, season two sets a different tone to LWA from what we got used to with season one. Season one, in most parts, is about Akko trying to learn magic at Luna Nova... and sucks at it, while salivating over the name "Shiny Chariot". We also got to see her interact with her classmates, even Diana and her associates who can be described as being "mean". Season two, on the other hand, puts more emphasis on the new teacher, Croix, doing something sinister within Luna Nova, and Akko going on misadventures outside Luna Nova with her classmates... from entering an all boys' school that'd gladly kill a witch in an instance, to finding out more on Croix's schemes. This is not to mention the rivalry between Chariot and Croix, with Chariot making the start of S2E11 feel like I was watching "Star Wars".
Overall, these things make season two feel like I was watching a very different show, probably due to its nature as rounding up the entire show's plot about Akko being a witch in-training, and meeting Shiny Chariot at last.
Another issue seldom mentioned, was that, other than witches being "obsolete" compared to today's tech, they didn't properly explain why witches were hated that much by politicians, or why their kids had that anti-witch club at their school.
Shiny Chariot, under pressure at one of her shows ten years ago, fired a projectile to the moon with the Shiny Rod, but it wasn't explained well what that was, what that tend on the moon was about, or why the younger Croix proceeded to erasing people's memories. If an explanation was given earlier, a reminder would have been appreciated.
Speaking of Chariot, how come, under her alias "Professor Ursula", she didn't just tell the other teachers and the headmistress about Croix's plot sooner?
Andrew was supposed to have returned Akko's hat, but a commotion in town distracted Akko from collecting it. I assumed that we'd see Andrew try again, or if he and Akko would get closer. Neither got addressed by season two's finale. (Update: Apparently, Andrew returned it in the final seconds of the last episode, but it happened so briefly that I didn't notice the first time.)
Speaking of which, if the show really ended with season two, it felt rushed. As soon as we understood Chariot and Croix's rivalry better, and saw Akko finally unlocking all "seven words", with Chariot, Croix, Akko and her classmates abruptly chosen as the "New Nine Witches", season two ends.
And speaking of finale, season two ends with a rescue mission out of nowhere. Because Croix wanted to find the "world-altering magic" through science, she accidentally created an artificial monster that turned against her. A bit of her tech, without warning, hijacked a government missile and fired it, presumably, towards Akko's home country. This was because of the negative energy, which were collected by Croix, from British football fans who thought that they were robbed of their victory against said country. I admit that it was epic seeing Akko and six of her classmates merging their brooms, the Shiny Rod, and the life-altering magic into a space vehicle, which they used to go after the missile. Each student, due to limited magic, breaks away, relying on the remaining students, till Akko and Diana were the only two left, to stop it. With people seeing live broadcast of the students chasing the missile, everyone, much to the displeasure to said politicians, gave the students their support, implicitly restoring magic all over the world as the younger Shiny Chariot originally intended. In fact, present-day Chariot, with help from Croix, hijacked the broadcasting frequently to rally people to show the students their support... in order to stop the missile successfully. Random strangers, and even characters that Akko and her classmates came across since season one, watch the broadcast.
The only problem, although LWA tries to keep quiet about it, is that: wouldn't people suspect that witchcraft was somehow responsible for firing said missile in the first place? In an alternate scenario, this should have made things harder for anyone studying witchcraft in the modern society that considers witchcraft "obsolete".
The flaws I pointed out, plot holes, and minor story bits left unaddressed are among the reasons why I think that LWA is a great anime, but not too outstanding. Despite the flaws, the comedy, action, drama, and the character developments, from seasons 1 to 2, will keep you engaged. If you aren't already doing so, consider LWA as your next favorite from Netflix.
