Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina

This anime series was not easy for me to rate. If I was going to just share my basic impressions, I would probably write about how it all looks very nice and that this anime series certainly was not a chore to watch, as it was often definitely quite interesting. I could walk away stating that I saw something that was pretty good, sometimes great, give it around 7/10 and go watch something else. However, it is just not that easy for me! There are lots of little bits and pieces and stories trying to form a coherent whole that I can mostly understand, although I would have to make some assumptions regarding what I think most of it is about. Some of the stories stand up by themselves, with their own interesting subject matter, and provide food for thought, and I am happy to think, naively, that I have figured most of them out and I believe I can understand some of the messages they were putting across. I even went so far as to defend this anime series in some discussions (something I normally do not do). However, on the other hand, all the bits and pieces are scattered around and thrown at the audience without any kind of coherence, and so I have to agree it seems to have been put together a bit randomly and I find it is rather lacking in consistency. Why does the main female protagonist’s behavior keep on changing all the time? Why are the parts which could result in some significant change in her character or some kind of character development just so unexpectedly sandwiched in between other episodes that could be described as, say, just ordinary stories about traveling, and do they actually have any effect on her character? For my part, I think I would have preferred to see some straightforward continuity so that I could better understand the main female protagonist’s decision-making processes. As it is, the last episode shamelessly and blatantly exploits the fact that I am going to be more confused and make assumptions, and they made it challenging to work it all out! Unfortunately, I also think that sometimes the screenwriters are bad at creating a good atmosphere and so, for example, many encounters happen too early on in the story, and so have almost no effect (there is no sense of nostalgia). At other times too much is revealed so, for example, after a few episodes I have pretty much worked out exactly who the renowned witch Niké is, and so a big revelation, later on, is not going to have the desired effect really. Sometimes it is amusing, sometimes it is dramatic, at one point it even tries to be a horror. In other words, the moods change like they do in real life. Sometimes it turns out OK, sometimes it turns out badly, and sometimes it turns out ambiguously - which I think is quite a positive thing, because sometimes even I never know what I am going to get in life next (why am I thinking about box of choccolates from Forrest Gump again?). Most of the episodes always seem to have a point and yet there are moments where I did not get it or it just felt very conventional. The world it is set in is interesting, magical, and also not utilized as much as I think it deserves. The fight scenes are beautiful, dynamic, colorful, and there are just a few of them because this is not a shonen (which is not a criticism, just an observation). I like the way the screenwriters created the main female protagonist who is a well-written complex character with her own distinct character flaws, like her selfishness, pride, self-consciousness, and many other observable traits which influence her decisions. It is good that the main female protagonist has some of those negative characteristics to balance the positive ones, however, for someone so used to tropes and clichés, it is quite a lot to take in (which is not the show's fault, it is mine). All in all, this anime series is definitely not as simple as I first thought, or rather, I found it quite complex (because I sometimes probably overthink everything), and maybe I just see things that are even not really there... Anyway, if the next season comes out, I am going to continue watching it, continue challenging my poor brain, and looking for answers, symbolism, and allegories - all the things I could see that meant the anime series made sense to me. I found it entertaining, intriguing and I definitely cannot say it is average (or below). (18/12/2020) (less) (more)