Izetta: The Last Witch

Episodes 1-3

As I mentioned in the Preview Guide, I am pretty biased toward this series, since it almost could have been made specifically for me. Heavy historical context (even if aspects are fictionalized)? Check. Lots of period detail in the artistry? Check. Strong, pretty, capable, and proactive female co-leads? Check. Interesting action sequences? Check. Good production values? Che--well, mostly check there. Izetta would have to stumble pretty badly in execution for me to not like it, and it doesn't come remotely close to doing that in these three episodes. However, even setting my fanboy predilections aside, I still think this series is off to a very good start.

The biggest key to success so far is the show's lead protagonist. The witch Izetta may be the title character, and the original intent was probably to make her a co-lead with Princess Finé, but the first three episodes make it quite clear that Finé is the one with the real star power. The first episode shows her as tough and charismatic, the kind of person who earns the right to her status and the loyalty of those around her rather than just inheriting it, and the second and third episodes show a more caring side without sacrificing one ounce of that toughness. (Some of the credit for that definitely belongs to her voice actress Saori Hayami, whose proud and strong tone fits perfectly.) By comparison, Izetta is a much weaker character, even if her powers are no joke. Her personality is softer and she seems less sure of herself and her goals, especially compared to Finé. That's perfectly understandable, as she is both the last of a line of witches and the most powerful one in generations, but her grandmother cautions her in a flashback that her powers don't have a place in the modern world. So where does she fit in?

That seems like it's going to be one of the series' major themes going forward. The end of episode 1 shows that Izetta is powerful enough to hold her own even unarmed against modern weaponry (when she doesn't have weapons to manipulate, she can use her blood to turn things like snow into weapons), but even knowing that, Finé turns down her offer of help later because she doesn't want Izetta fighting for a world that isn't really hers. After all, it was the people of Elystadt who apparently tried to mob Izetta many years earlier, an incident that Finé stopped at the cost of being permanently scarred, so Finé doesn't want her feeling obliged to fight for people who once wanted her dead. Finé's one big flaw so far is that she underestimates the impact that she has on people. She has missed that Izetta might not fight for the country but would go all-out for her, an outsider who accepted the witch for who she was from their first encounter. Izetta has decided that she wants her place to be the princess's weapon against the invaders, so the intrigue will come from how everyone else reacts to this resolution.

The action scenes so far don't disappoint in terms of shot selection and choreography, whether Izetta is using ice lances to take down Germanian bombers or telekinetically throwing around tanks. However, the animation sometimes struggles to keep up, making these scenes not look fully smooth for as involved as they are. In addition to Izetta's feature moments, episode 3 places great emphasis on realistically depicting conventional battle scenes, to the point that Izetta and Finé aren't integrally involved with the events of the war until more than halfway through. These scenes give a good impression of how nasty this kind of fighting can be, whether it's the jarring scene of a corporal who gets bluntly shot through the head as he looks above a trench or the bombing run that results in one young recurring soldier being covered by a Master Sergeant who dies in the attack, without getting a chance to make a death speech. This makes the action graphic but not exceedingly so. The detail work on the period military equipment is also very fine; there's a separate animation director just for the mechanical elements, and that focused expertise shows. The musical score makes some unusual choices, especially during the battle scenes, and I'm not quite sure yet how well they work.

Some concern has been voiced about the series because it has the same writer as another more infamous original production: Guilty Crown. The warning signs that were present early on in the latter are not apparent here though. Despite a couple minor touches of fan service, this is a far less sexy and sensationalistic work than Guilty Crown – or most of Hiroyuki Yoshino's other works, for that matter. Any possible yuri subtext so far is at a “read into it what you will” level too. Ultimately, what we have so far is a solid, entertaining effort that still shows a lot of potential going forward.

Rating: A-

The English dub for the first episode is now available on Funimation's streaming site. Mallorie Rodak's interpretation of Finé could maybe be a little firmer, and Skyler McIntosh doesn't have enough lines to get much of an impression from her, but this is the first leading role for both of them and so far it sounds like their vocal qualities will fit pretty well. Male roles so far are a mix of long-time veterans and regular newcomers, and they uniformly hit the mark. I think episodes 3 and 4 will be the real tests for the English dub, but we'll have to wait a couple of weeks on that.

Izetta: The Last Witch is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.