The now all-too-familiar glut of high fantasy entries in the realm of anime has forced animation studios and novel writers alike to experiment with strange, ostensibly different incarnations of a painfully saturated genre, amalgamating anything and everything in their attempts to freshen up the playing field. From amidst all this experimentation has sprung a story that, in almost every way, subverts expectations not for the sake of creating something original but for the sake of subversion in itself. The result is a bumpy and stop-start ride whose desperate attempts to throw viewers for a loop only serve to bring any previously built-up excitement to a screeching halt.
The Dawn of the Witch is a fresh mix of many good ideas and characters, and the lead-up to the finale feels like fertile ground for a grand conclusion to an admittedly spellbinding start. As with each twist in this long and winding trek, however, the only thing that ever awaits at the end of the road is a pervading and lingering sense of disappointment.
(Ratings for each aspect of the anime are given in brackets.)
Premise (3/5): The Dawn of the Witch is meant as a sequel-slash-spinoff to Grimoire of Zero, a series that looks just as uninspired and cookie-cutter as this one at first glance (though you should never judge a book by its cover). Nevertheless, there’s no real need to catch up with the original story in order to follow what’s going on here, although such is the haste and superficiality with which the setting is explained that one may feel the urge to do so in any case.
Following a devastating war between magic people and holy people, an amnesiac boy with a hidden past is plucked from a life of wandering the post-war wastes by the headmistress of a magic school, who enrolls him in her school as a student. His lack of magical control leads him to join two other academy misfits in an attempt to rescue their poor grades by going on a field trip to a remote village where all is most definitely not as it seems. Along the way, the trio and their self-appointed instructor befriend a masked priest, a talking mouse, a Church enforcer with a penchant for violence, and an annoying kid who has nothing better to do on his days off than to pester the main character from time to time. An array of deadly trials are thrown at them by the mysterious witch who watches over the village, but they pass all of them with flying colors… mostly.
All in all, it’s actually a pretty fascinating premise on face value. The backdrop is not really explained with much detail, a problem that is only compounded when the number of different characters increases to beyond tolerable levels and the narrative starts rushing towards its inevitably insipid end. Even so, with better execution and a few more episodes to really flesh out the background information, this anime might’ve conceivably delivered on its impressive potential.
Characters (4/5): The main character, Cervil, is by design an awkward and wooden personality with no idea how to deal with the emotions, memories and suppressed magic that constantly threaten to bubble up from inside him. Ultimately, it’s hard to figure out how exactly his character changes from start to finish, which takes away some of the color from the story, though his sudden, unprovoked deadpan confessions of love to his friends can be amusing to watch at times. The other two members of the trio, an antlered buxom girl named Holt and a humanoid lizard called Coudeau, are much more well-rounded and well-developed by comparison in a lot of different ways: Holt learns to put aside her meekness and passivity in order to take charge of both her abilities and her past traumas; Coudeau, initially unwelcoming and reticent, warms up to the others and lets his more vulnerable side show as he continues to pursue the path of the healer.
The minor characters – though understandably not as fleshed out as the main cast – have their own parts to play, and play them surprisingly well. For instance, Roux’s carefree and whimsical personality is a great foil to the seriousness of the situations the trio face, especially when she lets loose with her own formidable powers; meanwhile, Zero remains an enigmatic presence throughout, yet her cool demeanor is always complemented by a deep affection for her peers and for her brethren. Overall, the camaraderie amongst those who inhabit the village is entertaining and heartwarming, and there can be few complaints about the ways in which their interactions are portrayed. Perhaps the only gripe one might have about the cast is the abrupt and unwelcome influx of random names and faces near the end, but that is really only symptomatic of the show’s poorly-done resolution, and not an indictment on the core members themselves, who more than earn their keep in an unforgiving and ever-changing environment.
Audiovisuals (2/5): Like the progression of the series as a whole, the quality of the audiovisuals seems to stagnate as the show goes on. The magic scenes, which were intricate and meticulously carved out at the start, become unfocused messes of arbitrary flashes and jagged lines; the battle animations, which were once smooth and visceral, descend into lazy, half-hearted glimpses of blood and gore that regularly suffer from “single-frame syndrome”, where vital skirmishes are transformed into little more than Powerpoint slides on the big screen. The character designs are satisfyingly varied and fit each character well – though one wonders what compelled Cervil to wear a halter top instead of something more befitting a wizard – and the fanservice is tasteful where it appears, but even they cannot rescue the clusterfuck that is the low-budget mess of stills and transitions that make up the visuals during the finale.
Aurally, there’s also not too much to write home about. The soundtrack is of an average quality and applied appropriately throughout, and the voice-acting brings a lot of flavor to the dialogue – particularly Roux’s, whose archaic manner of speech is always a delight to hear when combined with her high-pitch, boisterous squeaks. The opening theme is excellent, as one might expect from fripSide despite their recent change of vocalist; on the other hand, the ending song is just… alright. And that’s really all there is to say.
Execution (1/5): The execution of a story is, despite its importance, often also one of its most overlooked aspects. It’s easy to miss when a show is executed well, but when a show is executed badly, it’s both immediately obvious to viewers and instantly fatal to the series’ prospects, despite any otherwise excellent features. The Dawn of the Witch has an interesting premise and great characterization, but both of these facets fall victim to a narrative that repeatedly falls flat on its face and a pacing that utterly ruins what might have been a fulfilling close to a riveting climax.
Chief amongst the series’ problems is the utter lack of stakes and subsequent dearth of tension that suffuses through the show. The build-up to the trio’s first meeting with Zero felt like a final boss fight all on its own, but just when all hope seemed lost, the façade was lifted to reveal the cheap excuse of a “test” to see if the main characters had what it took to stick around. Then, when the shark-tooth bruiser known as the Tyrant returned for a second bite of the apple, brutalizing Cervil in the process, it too was discovered that he was only there as part of another “test”, this time by the aforementioned headmistress’s right-hand man (or wolf). Finally, when the actual climax (and final “test”) came around, it was concluded within a matter of minutes in a flurry of badly-animated cries and screams, with the demonic leader of the invading army summarily dispatched without any fuss or fanfare. Every time it seemed like something might get my blood pumping, it was immediately quashed and buried by circumstance, substandard plot twists, or just plain old overwhelming power. It didn’t help that healing magic in the story had the ridiculously convenient capacity to regenerate and repair any part of the body as long as the victim was still alive, which took all the fun out of watching a limb get sliced off or a longsword pierce all the way through a person’s ribs.
Like most light novel adaptations, The Dawn of the Witch may just be a victim of its status as an offshoot, a glorified advertisement for its eponymous novels (which, ironically, I have no intention of chasing now that I've seen the anime). It may well have benefited from a 24-episode tenure, an opportunity to expand the world surrounding the tiny village in the middle of the forest, and to provide much-needed answers to the burgeoning volume of questions that pop up as more of Cervil’s personal history is revealed. But an anime ought to do as well as it can with what it has, and regrettably that simply cannot be said of this show.
Maybe I was expecting too much. This series certainly did enough to make me believe that it could’ve been much more than it was. Yet even if I did enjoy a decent swathe of The Dawn of the Witch, its horrible conclusion and regular deflation of suspense meant that its ambition ultimately amounted to no more than another generic fantasy effort in a world chock-full to the brim with them.
Which, really, is a shame. But not necessarily a surprise.
