Little Witch Academia Episode 17

One thing that I can always expect from Trigger are awesome sword fights.

I forgot to mention this in my review for last week’s episode, but I felt that it had been rushed when Akko found the fourth word so easily. So I was glad when she didn’t find the fifth one today. This episode didn’t do much in the ways of adding to the story, but I still found it much more enjoyable than last week’s.

Amanda tells Akko about the Holy Grail and Akko thinks that will help her achieve in getting the fifth word. Croix comes in and tells them that it’s in Appleton Academy, but she intentionally forgets to mention that it’s a school where everyone hates witches. Amanda is sick of her time in Luna Nova and wants to go out in a bang so she doesn’t mind if she gets in trouble at the academy so she disguises herself as a student of the all-boy school, and Akko turns herself into a mouse. They get to walking around in search of the Grail but to no avail, and it’s then that Amanda accidentally bumps into the jerk of the episode, some guy named Louis. Amanda picks a fight with pretty much everyone so she also does with Louis, but when he spots Akko he freaks out and suspects a witch is on the premise as mice are familiars for witches. After not seeing him for awhile, Andrew appears and reassures Louis it’s a regular mouse but he can immediately recognize Akko.

I mean, she still has her bangs and ponytail as a mouse, which I barely noticed until now. That’s hilarious. Also, Mouse Akko is the cutest thing.

Ahh, more fuel for the Akko/Andrew ship. Yes please. I always love their interactions. The clash of ideas comes forth again. Akko explains that she’s looking for the Holy Grail so she can find the fifth word and all of the stuff we know, she mentions Chariot again. Andrew asks what if her dream fails, and Akko retorts that it won’t because she’ll just keep trying and trying. Again Andrew speaks of what he has to do as a Hanbridge, taking over his family’s business and having everything decided for him, so this guy basically has no sense of free will. And Akko’s not afraid to say that it’s not a life. They’ve had this conversation before, and each time it looks like Andrew takes something from it and admires Akko more and more. I’d like it if we got to see more of his character, like his family life, what possible dreams he has or had. We know he liked the piano, maybe that could be something. I really like this guy and to get more of him would make me happy. He seems like a jerk, but he really does care as he saved Akko’s and Amanda’s skins in the end. He’s a good guy. 🙂

But his school? Crap. Amanda gets herself into trouble and is outed as a witch, and these boys, wearing black masks were literally about to use torture devices on her as punishment. What the hell kind of backwards school is this to allow them to use medieval torture on witches?! Isn’t this the 21st century? I know they hate witches but that’s serious! Even Andrew was shocked by it all, goddamn. Why is this school still open?

Also, what kind of school makes their students duel on a narrow bridge 100 feet off the ground to prove a fucking point? As awesome as that duel was, that thought couldn’t leave my mind. Anyway, in the end the girls were led on a wild goose chase by Croix. I guess she was experimenting on her modern magic and I suppose tried to kill the girls while she was doing that? I still have no idea what she’s trying to do. The entire fight on the bridge was a joy to watch, but one thing I didn’t understand was why didn’t Akko transform herself back to normal so she could help Amanda? She knows enough magic to turn herself back and help fight, so the whole time she was freaking out and having Andrew throw the leyline router to Amanda made no sense because Akko could have done it herself. Either way, this was a fun episode. Akko and Amanda make a pretty good pair, and when they are together you can see that Akko is the more levelheaded person, which we don’t really notice because when she’s with her usual group, Lotte is the levelheaded one. Or maybe this just shows Akko’s growth. I’d like a lot more Akko/Amanda time because it was great.

Then again I’d also like an Andrew episode, but I’d also love a Diana episode soon. The Cavendish family is in a crisis! What crisis? I don’t know! They mentioned it for one second this episode and then immediately brushed it off but of course it’s going to have to be something they mention again in more detail. And finally….finally….FINALLY Diana can get the episode she deserves. Because let’s be honest here, Diana’s character is flat. She hasn’t done a single thing so far and having an episode dedicated to herself would help tremendously.