Witch Craft Works – 02 & 03

Witch activity.

As I admitted in my review of Witch Craft Works’ first episode, the only reason why I picked up this series was because it happened to be one of the first Winter 2014 anime to debut (thanks to it being pre-aired). Well, that and Buddy Complex. Whilst Buddy Complex has failed to maintain my attention, mainly due to it being a very by-the-books Sunrise mecha series, Witch Craft Works has managed to keep me interested. How so? Well, it turns out that this series may actually be quite good. Episode one was pretty average, but the following two installments have proven to be far superior by introducing us to an interesting cast of side characters and by fleshing out the world of WCW in an enjoyable manner.

Witch Craft Works – 01

Gender-flipped sworn service.

From MAL: Takamiya Honoka is a regular student whose only problem seems to be that he sits next to Kagari Ayaka, the school’s #1 beauty. They have never spoken to each other before and any small interaction between them immediately results in her fanclub beating him. Yet when a falling part of the school’s building is about to send him to the afterlife, it’s Kagari that comes to his rescue. Only… she’s dressed as a witch, carrying him in her arms and floating on a broom?! Kagari tells him it is her mission to protect him and that now she can finally protect him openly rather than undercover.

The idea of a mysterious, good-looking character appearing out of nowhere to save the protagonist and then profess that it is their mission is to protect them is a trope found in countless anime. What sets J.C. Staff’s Witch Craft Works apart, however, is that the usual gender relationship has been quite thoroughly reversed. Generally speaking, it is an enigmatic male who ends up serving a female master (bonus points if said man is a bishōnen Shinto deity) in these sorts of stories. In WCW, it is the opposite.