Hey, Ghibli fans out there. Have you ever asked yourself: What would Kiki's Delivery Service be like if it were a TV show instead of a movie? I think I found the answer to that question. Take Kiki's Delivery Service, remove all of the more overt fantasy elements, change the setting to modern Japan, make Kiki into a teenager, and have the whole thing still be sweet, wholesome, and plain nice. I present to you Flying Witch, a short anime based on the manga by Chihiro Ishizuka, the latter of which is still running to this day. I didn't watch this when it first came out, as I was very deep into my anime burnout phase and I couldn't muster up any motivation to watch anything. But seeing as I've finally clawed myself out of it, I decided to give it a try, as some bloggers I follow said it was a great show. I finished it and I can wholeheartedly agree that it really is a sweet treat to watch.

The story centers on a young woman, Makoto Kowata, a witch in training who, alongside her cat familiar Chito, is sent to live with her relatives in the countryside town of Aomori. She just turned 15, and in her world, when a witch turns 15, she is made to leave home to become more independent and spend her time studying witchcraft. She is taken in by her cousins, the Kuramoto family, namely her cousin Kei and his younger sister Chinatsu. Every day is full of fun surprises, from her encounters with an anthropomorphic dog fortune teller desperate to become human again, to all the peculiar magic training she gets from her older sister Akane. For those of you wondering, Flying Witch doesn't have much of a plot, as the show is very firmly rooted in the slice-of-life genre, so you won't find any overt action, drama, complexity, nor conflict here. Every episode focuses on much more mundane things, such as the characters going herb picking in the forest, finding fabric to make witch robes with, or riding on top of a floating whale. So if you're the type of person who prefers blood pumping action, this isn't the show for you.

But what the show lacks in conflict, it makes up for in a lot of ways. For one, the whole tone of the show is very laid-back and down-to-earth, with very little in the way of exaggerated expressions or movements or zany comedy. Events and character interactions play out slowly and organically, like how real people would interact in real life. The pacing is deliberately slow, making you really feel like you're in a quiet countryside town where time seems to move at a more languid pace, and considering the tone the show is going for, it suits the feel of the show perfectly. Nothing is ever rushed or resolved too quickly, and while this may be a point of contention for those who prefer anime that have a faster pace, Flying Witch knows its sole focus is showing the characters in their daily lives and enjoying the things they do and the environment around them.

The animation is fairly good, with the characters having realistic character designs (With some exceptions but even those are relatively muted compared to other anime), detailed backgrounds, and any exaggerated expressions being much more subdued than in most anime. But it also has a lot of understated details that really sell the show's setting, like how Makoto puts her broom in a parking space for bikes, or how Inukai's hamster familiar shivers whenever Chito is nearby. The music is fairly nice as well, with a variety of instruments that fit the feel of a scene when needed. But I didn't like how everyone was highlighted green in the opening theme, and I thought the opening song was kind of obnoxious.

You can't have a good story or setting if you don't have equally good characters to back it up, and for a show like this, the characters can either make it or break it depending on the execution. Thankfully, Flying Witch's characters avoid a lot of the common pitfalls that give the slice-of-life genre a bad name. All of the characters' personalities and quirks are realistic, down to earth, and they behave like real people would, with no exaggerated or forced personality traits or archetypes oh so common in most anime, and the chemistry between all of them is also very well done. The show is filled with sweet moments between various characters that just make you smile, like how Kei and Chinatsu interact, seeing how different Makoto and Akane are as siblings (Yes, the silver haired, tan skinned woman is related to a pale skinned, black haired high school student. Don't ask, because I don't know either), Nao's interactions with Chito, and Anzu (My favorite character) gushing about anthropology with Kenny, a Siamese-ish magic cat who's said to be an anthropology scholar in his world. All throughout the series, we constantly learn new things about them, and the things we do learn about them never feel like the creators pulled them out of their butts, nor do these new traits contradict anything we learned about them before (Looking at you, Ni no Kuni movie!!). Having good characters and equally good chemistry between them makes the show very rewarding to watch, even if they're not the most complex. Really, most slice-of-life shows could really benefit from learning a thing or two from Flying Witch when it comes to characterization and character writing. Even the voice acting feels genuine, though, I won't lie, Chinatsu's Japanese voice can get really grating and shrill at times, to the point of sounding a bit forced.

So if you want to kick back, relax, and watch a slice-of-life anime that's full of heart but not forced or obnoxious as most other slice-of-life anime, then let Flying Witch take you for a low key ride. It's a great remedy for when you're having a bad day.