- (There are a few minor spoilers included in this review, but nothing major or specific about the plot, the characters, or the world)Prefix: I went into this anime completely blind, I did not watch any of the trailers, I did not really read any of the general reactions to the series, all I knew before stepping into this world was that it is made by trigger, and that the dub is really good, that is all I knew, and while I was a bit nervous after watching the train wreck that is Darling in the FranXX, I was pleasantly surprised by this overall upbeat story about accepting one’s self. Really, if I had to write an oversimplified description describing this series it would be, a more streamlined version of Little Witch Academia, with significantly fewer side stories. In essence, this series is exactly what I wanted Little Witch Academia to be, a series that is focused, that does not faff about inside stories land for too long, that ultimately makes it feel like they are using each episode to the fullest to help the story develop, that is what I was hoping for, and that is exactly what I got. - Pacing: The pacing in this series was absolutely fantastic, they were able to balance between building this world out enough to make it feel real, but also not fleshing it out too much to make it feel overwhelming and out of place for a simple 12 episode series, with each episode giving just enough detail and back story about this world so that by the end you really understand the circumstances surrounding the end conflict. Every episode in this series really felt like it was helping develop our main character, while also developing the overall story of this series, with certain episodes leaning more one way or the other, but never forgetting the other goal. This leads us to another major aspect of the series the characters. - Characters: Our main character in the series is Michiru, a tanuki girl who is trying to solve a mystery from her past, with her upbeat and bright personality honestly being contagious throughout the series. From the moment you meet her you really hope she can succeed in her goals, and the more you learn about her the more you can sympathize with her. In fact, I liked every single character in this series, which is a very rare thing for me to be able to say about any show.

There is not a single character in this series that I do not like, from Shirou who’s wisdom and coldness always as a nice contrast to Michiru’s naiveite, to the mayor who always provides a nice calming to the storm of opinions, the mink who is always up to interesting schemes, the head of the Sylvasta Corporation who is always the right amount of menacing, knowledgeable, and mysterious to make you always want to be on guard around him, and yes even Nazuna, who’s relationship with Michiru mirrors relationships I think many of us have experienced with childhood friends as we grow up and become different people. I really enjoyed every character in this series, no matter how little time we were able to spend with them.

- Audio/Visual Elements: Finally, let’s talk about the aspects of the series that off the bat already made me fall in love with the show, and that the audio and visual elements. Seriously guys, the art style they chose to use for this series is just so beautiful, and I never get tired of it over the almost five hours that it takes to watch this series. In fact, the art style and animation of this series is so appealing to me that it was the main reason why I even attempted to watch this series with the English dub, just so I could have a few more seconds during each scene to admire how beautiful this show really is.

Then there is the music, and actually I do have one correction to make about my previous statement, there is one more aspect of the series that I was aware of before watching it for the first time, and that is the music for the OP and ED. In fact, these were actually two of the only songs that stayed on my anime playlist for the past four months that this series has been out, and ever since the first time I listened to these songs I knew this series at least had good taste in music, and when I finally was able to see the visuals that accompanied these songs, I would even more pleasantly surprised.

- Conclusion: In conclusion, when I said in my previous episode reaction that this is now my favorite Trigger series, this is why, because all of these factors on top of the fact that the story unfolds in a way that felt believable to me, is why this series is now my favorite Trigger show. The message this series ends on about needing to accept yourself for who you are and accepting each other for who they are is always an admiral one to spread, and while this idea is not new, I always love seeing a new story about this message. This series ends in a way that makes me content with the story, while also leaving the door open for a season 2 if one was to ever come, the series really was able to check all the boxes for me when it came to what I was hoping this series would be able to accomplish.

If I had to rate this series, it would easily get a 90/100 for me, with their actually even being a possibility of me raising it to a 95/100 after a few rewatches, to see if this series can hold up to being experienced again. Of course, this series is not perfect, but for me at least, the flaws that I noticed, seem minor when compared to all things I loved about this series. So in the end, that is why this series is ranked so high for me, because it was able to accomplish so much in such a small time frame, so it is really an example of what a 12 episode series can accomplish if it sets its mind to it😊