#she also is implied to have no proper friends before meeting luna in the first episode (at which point they immediately become ride or die)

[greatgoddyke]

but i'm not supposed to scratch

[ofmagicblood-blog]

below the cut is a collection of headcanons and canon divergences for my portrayal that are important to know when writing with my particular luna.

on the topic of luna and sleepwalking:

         when luna was young, briefly after her mother’s death, she had horrifying and persistent nightmares about the day she died. the nightmares lasted for nearly three months, and every time she woke up she found herself back in the room where she died. this was also the first time that she sleepwalked (to the best of her knowledge) and after the third awakening she began wearing shoes to bed. the sleepwalking continued even after the nightmares stopped, and while she’s never spoken about them to her father, she has the distinct feeling that he knows.

         after the battle of hogwarts, luna’s nightmares began again, and morphed into far more intense night terrors. for the first three months she still mutters curses in her sleep, leading to the losses of several vases and framed photographs on the odd occasion that she’s somehow gotten hold of her wand. these sleepwalking episodes and nightmares continued well into her seventh year of Hogwarts, where she was found crying and screaming (often in the courtyard) in the middle of the night.

on the topic of emotion (crying and sadness):

         luna is a very emotional person when it comes to her enthusiasm and happiness, however it’s very rare to see her temper get the better of her, however even rarer is to see her cry. luna is not prone to loud wracking sobs or not-so-silent crying in bathrooms. if she has to cry, then it will be alone, and it will be entirely silent. she has not truly cried in front of anyone since her mother’s funeral when she was nine years old. even when she was a toddler she was not often prone to tempter tantrums. should she be pushed to that point, she would make a point of distancing herself from anyone and everyone. this serves as both a safety mechanism, as when she does have these fits she tends to leave a rather large blast radius of destruction, and as a sort of emotional distancing.

        if luna lovegood cries in front of you it means one of three things. one, she does not know you are there. two, she is completely and utterly heart broken to the point where she does not care who sees her cry (to reach this point would take a massive event in her life and even so she would still very rarely openly sob). or, three, you are one of her closest and most trusted friends— she will sooner trust you with her life than allow herself to cry in front of you. she prefers people to only see her unwavering optimism, and often will try to cover up the fact she’s been crying if caught.

on the topic of friends:

         luna doesn’t use the term ‘friend’ to refer to anyone unless they use it first. for example. in harry potter and the half-blood prince, she says

                    “ i enjoyed the meetings, too. it was like having friends. ”

       the phrasing of this statement is incredibly important because it does not just imply that she doesn’t believe that the members of dumbledore’s army are her friends. this is after publicly announcing her support of Harry’s allegations that you-know-who is back in order of the phoenix, and after co leading with neville and ginny (under the guidance of harry, hermione, and ron), that she still does not believe that she is a friend to any of them. it isn’t until half blood prince that she refers to anyone as a friend.

on the topic of garrick ollivander:

         luna and ollivander kept a close relationship following the events of Deathly Hallows, having had the shared experience of imprisonment below the malfoy manor. while hers was nowhere near as prolonged as his, they grew very close in that time. luna brought a much needed air of optimism and hope to their situation, and it was with no small amount of hesitation that she left him at shell cottage.

         they began writing letters back and forth when luna received a wand from ollivander, something that earned a prompt and earnest thank you. it quickly became a mutual practice to write each other at least once per month. luna’s postcards often come from the strangest of places, both magical and non, with strange tales of wrackspurts and nargles. she keeps every letter he sends, and when she finds herself in england, she usually stays in the spare room above his shop. despite having grown out of her schooldays and into a young woman, she still refuses to address ollivander as anything but mr. ollivander.

          because luna’s stays with him are often unannounced (and more often than not loses her keys), ollivander almost always leaves the door to his shop unlocked. while she appreciates the gesture, he often forgets to lock them when they’re both there or both gone as well. it often makes luna very nervous since they both have a past of being taken— what she doesn’t know is that ollivander has cast a plethora of enchantments over the flat to keep out those with malicious intent.

on the topic of touch (post war):

        luna doesn’t take physical contact lightly after the war. even things like hugs are very difficult for her as she has been well conditioned to associate touch with pain. this isn’t a conscious thought process, but it is still very difficult for her. even touching someone’s hand is a very large gesture for her after everything she’s been through. if she is willing to have any form of physical contact with your muse, especially in the first two years after the battle, then that is a massive show of trust on her part. how physically comfortable she is with your muse during that time is also highly indicative of how emotionally comfortable and trusting she is of them.

on the topic of children and fertility:

         luna is entirely infertile after her stay at malfoy manor. the human body can only take so much damage before it becomes permanent, even magic has its limits. aside from infancy, adolescence is one of the ages most susceptible to damage to still developing tissues. near continual damage and abuse, especially inflicted by magic, would cause irreparable damage. this includes permanent joint and bone damage, as well as a lot of internal damage. When she does eventually get the chance to see a proper healer (several months after the battle of hogwarts) they don’t know to look for that in particular, and there’s too much other unchecked damage for a more thorough examination. as a result, she will never be able to carry a child in the natural sense. any children she has must either be adopted, or carried to term by a surrogate.

         this is only different in her epilogue compliant verse, or in a pre discussed alternate timeline.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: Little Witch Academia

Finally, a Netflix Original I care about![1]

I’d been waiting for this dub since the first OVA earned itself on Article on io9. An adorable, all-ages anime about witches going to school? Count me in.

Though I let the Netflix release of the OVAs sit on my list for an embarrassingly long time, I made sure to watch them right before starting on the series proper.

So let’s step into yet another world of magic and wonder![2]

The first of the two OVAs was… cute. A lot of world building by showing, good general aesthetic for the monsters and magical artifacts, hint of mystery and potential story, and Akko and friends are endearing. It’s very clearly a proof of concept, but the first Little Witch Academia has it’s charm, and certainly deserves the franchise it started.

The second OVA, The Enchanted Parade, is my favorite of the Little Witch Academia stories. It opens with Akko and friends messing up in class, then landing in trouble, with dialogue establishing quickly that, 1. Akko and her friends are troublemakers, and 2. Akko carries the sort of innocence that leads to her listing her past infractions. Their punishment? Organize a parade for the local festival!

At first thought, that seems oddly light, however, the parade is traditionally a time for the townsfolk to mock and humilate witches, so being ordered to participate is not great.

Fortunately, our three heroines shall not be alone, as we’re introduced to the B-Team to our trio: Amanda, a burglarizing witch with flashy broom skills; Constanze, a technomancer (and Luna Nova dislikes technology); and Jasminka, who was eating in class.

I like Amanda and Constanze a lot, and they carried over the best to the series.

The Enchanted Parade implied a format that I would’ve liked to see a lot more: Akko and friends letting curiosity get the better of them, landing them in trouble with their strict Headmistress while Ursula tries her best to smooth things over, before hard work and inspiration solves an even bigger problem to the amazement of all. It’s a format that I wouldn’t have mind seeing run longer in the series proper, but, unfortunately, the Main Arc had to get involved.

Also, Ursula gets to use her skills as a performer to great effect during the titular parade, something I would’ve like to have seen more of. She is blatantly Shining Chariot, after all (even if the name makes her sound like a dang pony).

So, these two OVAs were so beloved, that a series was commissioned! Yay! But… I do have a few nitpicks.

Besides the slight change in tone from the more ‘world of wonder’ of the OVAs to the more casual magic of the series, there’s also been few character changes. My largest complaint being changes to two characters that are oddly opposed when compared: Sucy and Diana.

In the OVAs, Diana was prideful. She was talented and of high birth, and would actually rub it in Akko’s face. She had a mean streak, was kind of a bully, and it made sense she kept her two flunkies at heel to build her ego. It was a nice contrast to Akko’s own arrogance, since Akko was just hot-headed and ambitious, eyes cast higher than her current skill, while Diana was innately talented and knew it. Not to an irredeemable extent, but it was nice to see some immaturity and mutual rivalry between the two. In the show, Diana’s just… nice. She’s toned down and more mature, and that ends up making her boring. The rivalry seems entirely in Akko’s head, since Diana mostly views the girl as slightly annoying, but little else. I just would’ve seen more of her and Akko butting heads, instead of just… generic talented girl trying to solve the main conflict while Akko stumbles about.

On the other hand, Sucy’s now more actively malicious. In the OVAs, Sucy enjoyed potioncraft and poisons and used Akko as a guinea pig, but the OVAs portrayed it more as a gentle prank done to her friends, and that Sucy never meant any harm. In the series, Sucy has no care for safety, no regard for her friends, and attends Luna Nova by accident. She doesn’t feel like she’s Akko’s friend, and has few redeeming qualities in a show about cute witches doing their best. Sucy isn’t doing her best, she’s just a jerk who happens to share a room with Akko and Lotte. I actively dislike this version of Sucy.

Aside from those two, Diana’s two boring worshippers, and the villain of the second act, I liked the cast.

Akko’s an adorable protagonist that you root for throughout her whole journey; Lotte’s a cute nerd girl (even if she likes the Twilight stand-in series… that’s 365 volumes long…); and the B-Team’s unchanged from their debut OVA, and I love Amanda[3] and Constanze dearly, while Jasminka just suffers from never getting her own focus episode.

The teaching staff is also a good mix of overly uptight to overly lax, and I wish we got to see more of them outside of Ursula and Croix.

As for the plot, when it was a slice of life episode about Akko getting into trouble or exploring the world, I liked it. When the episode focused on the decline of magic and Luna Nova’s difficulties, I was less thrilled. Akko’s dreams and ambitious were more infectious than the adults fretting over the future of their job field.

So the first 13 episodes[4] were stronger in my opinion, when the ‘Magic versus Tech’ elements were more subtle. It’s a trope I’ve grown less fond of over the years. Placing the two in opposition seems overly restrictive, and I’d enjoy having Magic tied into modern technology, which we see in the second half with Croix, but she’s the main antagonist, so it’s still being touted as a bad thing.

Even then, Constanze is sitting right there, using magic and technology without being evil, so even that message is fractured.

I’ve heard a theory that the series is a metaphor for traditional animation versus computer animation, and how the old ways are being crowded out by technology. It’s an interesting take, but the show seems more focused on emotion and following your dreams than about the landscape of the animation industry. But I also tend to be resistant to over analysis and such English Class nonsense. Just let it be a story.

There’s also a running thread about Ursula hiding her true identity from Akko, who would so love to meet Shiny Chariot.[5] And… well, you know me and unnecessary secrets. To the show’s credit, they do give a plausible explanation for why Ursula’s hiding her past, and maintaining the secret doesn’t cause anyone much pain outside of inconveniencing Ursula herself, as she could’ve used her true identity to swing Akko against Croix earlier, but the secret’s harmless.

Still a stupid secret, but Ursula’s ashamed of the damage she caused by accident while on tour, so I’ll give it a side-eyed pass.

So the first 13 episodes spend time world building, character building, and culminates in Akko and her friends getting the shortest straw for an annual festival, and Akko’s resolve and practice turning being human sacrifices (they get better) into a grand event that ends with no one ever having to do the job ever again. It’s a big moment, even if the win Akko rightfully deserved got passed to Diana.

Then Croix does an ominous, last fifteen seconds thing, and…

Croix was a boring villain, made worse by the fact she came in when the show tightened its belt and decided to commit to the magic’s fading plotline. Also, Croix spends most of her time sitting in her lab, smirking nefariously, and just… hanging around? Yes, we see her dark cubes and evil roombas flying around causing problems, but Croix herself is so passive it’s hard to care.

Though evil roombas is a hilarious parallel to brooms.

Admittedly, my opinions of the last 12 episodes may be unfairly colored by what I had wanted out of the show, as opposed to what the show was providing. And it wasn’t a terrible plot, I just… preferred the episodes about Akko than the mystery about Croix and Chariot’s relationship.

And the ‘find the Words’ half of that main narrative fit with what I enjoyed. Akko always found the words when she was just having adventures with her friends. Akko joining the side of the striking monster servants was both in character and very amusing, especially since the teaching staff’s reaction amounted to ‘Akko joined them? Okay, sure, that tracks.’ Then Akko visits Lotte’s family, where she has to first help gather ingredients to cure a curse on the town, then ends up having to complete the project herself, and it’s all very well written lesson on patience and compassion.

Which is then followed by two episodes co-starring Amanda and Constanze! Croix’s influence do cause boss battles for them, and Amanda’s episode did split its focus with Andrew’s character development, but still, Akko becoming better friends with the B-Team is great.

And Constanze’s focus episode was just perfect. Akko nosing in where she’s not invited, gets rebuffed several times, but her tenacity and ability to relate to the school service staff wins over Constanze, and they build the ship from Enchanted Parade.

Which Constnze then retrofits into a transforming mech (at Akko’s suggestion), because it’s Studio Trigger, and they want to remind you they made Gurren Lagaan!

I kid. The entire sequence was fun, silly fun; Constanze, despite her apparent mutism, is given plenty of stoic personality; the Stanbots’ antagonism towards Akko is funny; and the show gives as a positive example of Technology and Magic working together.

Which undermines the whole ‘Mixing the two is bad’ thing Croix’s supposed to have going, but even the devices she introduces helps expand the magical capabilities of Luna Nova, so the show’s all over the place with the message.

So, Amanda and Constanze were given focal episodes, so obviously the third one must be about Diana!

Poor Jasminka. All she gets is a bag of chips. She’s content with the bag of chips, of course, but still, complete the trilogy, show!

Anyways, Diana tries to leave Luna Nova to take over as the head of her family, which Akko doesn’t want to allow, and tracks the girl down to her family estate, where Diana’s evil Aunt and her daughters are selling off family heirlooms and just generally being jerks. Lot of high class drama.

Also, we see Diana’s got the last Shining Chariot Trading Card Akko needs, finally establishing Diana’s own fandom of Chariot first hinted at by her Cameo during the opening sequence of the show.

These are elements I feel would be stronger if Diana was a little more of a jerk. Akko’s attempts to get her to return to school would’ve shown a lot more of Akko’s general compassion had Diana not been generically aloof and a little more antagonistic. The two would’ve had their differences, but gosh darnit, Akko needs Diana to measure herself against!

Also, the Cavendishs are descended from one of the Nine Olde Witches, and taking over as head of the family involves a ceremony initiated by a Venusian eclipse. Which begs the question:

Are the Nine Olde Witches the Sailor Scouts?

And does that make Rita Repulsa Sailor Moon?[6]

Such intriguing lore.

The final five episodes are just all Croix plot. She’s going to use technology and cause an international incident to get the Grand Triskelion, and that’s bad.

Well, causing soccer riots is pretty wicked, but my understanding is such things are normal in Europe, so shrug.

It’s all… fine, I guess. We get a fuller explanation for why Chariot disappeared, as she was ashamed of accidentally stealing magic potential from her audience (hence Akko’s inability to fly), but Croix didn’t tell her that’s what the power-up technique she created did, so Chariot is kind of absolved, even though she maybe should’ve double checked Croix’s research.

So, turns out Ursula was keeping her secrets because she was ashamed of her actions, and it caused little damage, so… I give it a begrudging pass.

Although, had Ursula been a little more open earlier, Diana could’ve stepped forward after Akko has a meltdown over it and been all ‘Uh, I saw that very same show, and my magic’s fine’, and everyone would’ve felt better about the whole thing, and Akko could go back to trying hard.

The finale was exactly what it should’ve been: Croix’s designs backfire on her, Ursula’s identity as Chariot is out in the open, and Akko’s general optimism inspires everyone to go beat up an evil magic missile. The important characters do their part, with Croix and Constanze collaborating on making a super broom designed as a multistage rocket, a team up I wanted since Croix was introduced. Then Chariot helps by… giving the seven girls fancier duds? That’s not really participating, Ursula.

So the broom fires off, everyone gives their inspirational efforts, using their talents to help as they fall away, leaving Akko and Diana to do the final battle.

Fueled by the power of the world’s dreams, hope, and belief in the Little Witches trying to save the day. Saccharine and very MLP-esque, but we do have a character named Shining Chariot, so what can you do?

Okay, I joked about Ursula not really helping, but Croix does nudge her into what she should’ve done during the Mecha vs. Giant bird fight: act as announcer and narrator ala Enchanted Parade.

Chariot’s showmanship finally, after 25 episodes, returns from the best OVA! She tells the world the general situation, and tells them to believe.

And it’s great, and Akko and Diana fire a magic arrow into a missile and blow it up.

Then the Shiny Rod vanishes. Because reasons.

For the final scene, Akko finally gets a broom to float. Yay!

It was a satisfying finale. And a satisfying series. I might not have enjoyed aspects of the main plot, but that’s more an issue of personal taste than actual poor writing. I’m glad to have seen it and, if I’m being honest, I hope Netflix doesn’t pressure the staff into making more episodes. Anime has usually been good about telling a complete story in a timely manner[7] and letting it speak for itself, but Netflix is an American company, where we tend to stretch series out as long as it gets good ratings. I wouldn’t object, however, to more OVAs. And if they do a sequel series with a new plot, that might be acceptable. I’m also totally getting that game when it comes out, and likely will throw it on the Stream pile.

Though, there is still one final mystery:

How did Salem Saberhagen get admitted to a girl’s magic school? What trickery did that cat play?

Thanks for reading my review. Look at my blog for other works and projects, send me questions and messages, consider my Patreon.

And, most importantly, believe in the Magic that believes in the Magic in you.[8]

Kataal kataal.

[1] Well, okay, A Series of Unfortunate Events was also good, but I didn’t do a review of that, did I? [2] Because there’s such a shortage of them… [3] Even though people keep saying she’s Ryuko from Kill la Kill. I still can’t get my hands on that series, so the comparison’s lost on me. [4] Because Netflix split the series into two batches, so there was a break between them. [5] It wouldn’t be such a horrible name if everyone had ridiculous names. But, no, everyone’s got freaking normal names. Except Chariot. [6] Pay attention to the hats behind the headmistress’s desk. Rita’s is present. [7] Shonen fighty-man series aside. [8] Really need to get through Gurren Lagaan one of these days…