Burn the Witch – Countdown to Halloween

Production

Burn the Witch is in fact 3 short ONAs that all together come up to roughly one hour. So it’s a very short series. Moreover, it’s by a couple of studios that aren’t very well known. Team Yamahitsuji has only done this show. So you, and I, would be forgiven for not expecting that much out of Burn the Witch’s production.

And you would be pleasantly surprised! The visuals were great, granted I particularly like the art style and designs but I think they have general appeal and they played a bit with styles for interest. There are some really stunning city backgrounds and the colours are fantastic. I loved how different but aligned the night and day palettes were.

Finally, the voice acting is dynamic. What I mean is that there was a lot of chemistry in this cast. A surprising and striking amount for how short the show is. I don’t know if these are characters that exist in Bleach and the actors are in fact reprising roles. That would explain a bit. If these are veterans used to their characters and t working together then the chemistry makes sense. And they came back just for a fun little project, that’s why they sound so relaxed and like they’re having fun. I’m saying it was a really good cast!

Story & Characters

So Burn the Witch is a short story. And short stories have very different narrative structures that may not appeal to everyone. I love them and tend to gravitate towards collections of short stories more often than to novels but I can understand why someone would not be as inclined towards them.

For one, as in Burn the Witch, the stories often start in medias res and in fact tend to ends in medias res up to a certain point, as well. This isn’t great for people that like a sense of closure to their fiction. We meet Ninny and Noel well into an established relationship, each with their own goals and motivations that we never really get specifically told because why would they talk about that at this point.

Likewise, Burn the Witch takes place in this elaborate urban fantasy world and we just have to pick up whatever we can about the rules and details of this universe as the story goes along. You can tell there’s more but that’s your problem. Burn the Witch is telling the tale of this specific adventure and isn’t too concerned about anything else.

Of course, this is going to affect the characters. It has to. So no one in Burn the Witch has much chance to develop or get an arc. I would say Marcy is the one that shows the most growth. However, they are all very well fleshed-out characters. Everyone has very distinctive and consistent personalities that make sense with their backgrounds and context. So the characters feel like real and complete people, we just don’t have time to get to know them that well.

As for what we do get to know, like I said, Burn the Witch is one adventure. In many ways, it feels like a classic Fairy Tail with some bells and whistles. We get to see Noel and Ninny help a few friends and battle one dragon. That’s more or less it. And I admit, the end feels a little deus ex machina as the final obstacle gets resolved unexpectedly quickly by an outside force. It’s fair enough if some people don’t like that.

I did! I did a lot. In fact, it was a strength for me. It was a way better way to wrap things up than having the girls pull off some completely unbelievable superhero stuff. And this is an ONA with a lot of humour in it so that ending fed into the comedic timing and slapstick of the series.

In many respects, it felt like a mini arch or filler episodes of a great fantasy epic or maybe one story of a fantasy slice of life series. I went into it expecting something kind of o.k. at the best and really only decided to watch it because it wasn’t very long. My fellow bloggers and AniList friends didn’t have very positive things to say about the show so I was thinking, meh I guess I’ll kill an hour.

I quickly got roped in by the visuals and the pretty urban setting. I got charmed by the comedy and started enjoying the characters a lot by the end of the first ONA. Into the second I was fully in and just having a grand ol time to the very last minute. I plan to buy the one-volume manga as soon as it comes out. I had a blast with this show.

You might like this anime if:

You want a fun little fantasy romp. You’re not trying to relive the nostalgia of Bleach? (I don’t know if that’s true but I can guarantee I wasn’t and I liked it a lot more than most people)

I save all my screencaps on my Pinterest and you can find more there if you are interested. But I still like to show you a few in the post. If you’re like me, screencaps are something that really helps you decide to watch an anime or not.