Little Witch Academia Episode 10 Review: Bee Commotion

I can always truly count on an episode of Little Witch Academia to give me a good laugh, especially when I need it after a stressful day! Plus, when you mix comedy with a little bit of romance and second-hand embarrassment, you’re really bound to forget your worries, even for just 24 minutes. That’s why I enjoyed this week’s story quite a lot, and I was left feeling happy afterwards!

Japanese Original Episode Title: 蜂騒ぎ

Plot

It’s safe to say that everything was Hannah and Barbara’s fault, since they were the ones who provoked Akko to go to the party! If they didn’t let her know, then our trio wouldn’t have been there to cause the whole fiasco! But then again, if it weren’t for that, Akko wouldn’t have inspired Andrew to step out of his father’s expectations of him and go for his dreams! So, I guess it’s also thanks to Hannah and Barbara, as well as thanks to that fallin lovelove bee let loose by Sucy as a prank on Akko!

Episode Highlights

Hanna and Barbara: I’m always wondering why someone as noble as Diana would let herself hang around these two snobs? They say ‘tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are,’ so is Diana actually as snobby as them? I mean, the two girls aren’t the nicest of people. They intentionally stopped by to tell her about Andrew’s party! They just love seeing her be annoyed and jealous of them, especially of Diana. Served them right to see Andrew going crazy over Akko during the party, and even their ‘idol’ Diana acting so crazy.

A Lovey-dovey Party: When you’ve been to tons of formal parties in your life, they can become quite a bore (excluding the delicious food, of course). Good thing Sucy’s cupid bee was there to liven it up, even if it did bring chaos. I laughed so hard seeing all the shoujo-fied characters whenever the love-struck victims looked at them! We even got to see people acting in ways they normally wouldn’t! I thought it was bad enough that Diana fell in ‘love’ with Akko, but afterwards she fell in ‘love’ with herself in the mirror! Then at the end of it all, Akko unintentionally got to take revenge on the Earl of Hanbridge for insulting witches behind their back, since she got to hit the bee on his forehead! Guess the fiasco wasn’t all bad! Lotte even got an admirer, which made me incredibly happy for her! I thought Frank only aimed for looks because he liked Diana, but he’s actually a good judge of character!

Andrew chasing Akko: When Andrew first appeared and went with Akko to look for the Fountain of Polaris in Episode 6, I tried seeing them as platonic friends, though my shipper heart was saying otherwise. However, thanks to that whole hullabaloo during the party, my shipper heart screamed with delight! Sure, the second-hand embarrassment of an out-of-character Andrew was intense, but after meeting his father he seemed quite normal! I’d love to believe that deep inside he’s really that thoughtful and fun! Hopefully, some of his feelings for Akko remained after the spell was broken, even if it’s just amusement and curiosity!

Aspirations: I’m pretty sure a lot of us are hoping for Akko to ger more mature and less impulsive as a protagonist, but you’ve got to admit the girl is amazingly hopeful and determined! She shines brightly whenever she remembers her dream of becoming the next Shiny Chariot, especially during the part where she told Andrew about it by the fountain! And Andrew’s response to her monologue was the reason I’m hoping his soft side indeed exists. Other people never took her dreams seriously, but he told her she was ‘truly bewitching.’ I also do hope she really influenced him to go his own way as a person, more so because he has actually has different views on witches than his dad!

Themes & Trivia

Fitting Expectations: Some people have the luxury of becoming whoever they like to be! Others, sadly, do not. Ironically, these are the ones who have material luxury, but have their lives decided for them by their parents or society, thinking they know best. They have to look and act as society demands them to, that’s why most of them are pretty stiff. Andrew was born a noble and had everything he needed, but he was to succeed his father’s job as a statesman, and everything that wasn’t going to help him become one wasn’t needed in his life. He couldn’t even express himself properly, so seeing him smile and be relaxed was truly refreshing!

Cinderella: Just like Episode 8’s Sleeping Sucy that referenced to Sleeping Beauty, this episode was loosely based on the famous fairytale Cinderella, at least for the first half. Hanna and Barbara could be the evil stepsisters, while Diana was the stepmother, and they were all going to attend a party that our Cinderellas, Akko, Sucy and Lotte, couldn’t go to. But then they got ahold of the Cinderella set which gave them beautiful clothes that only last for a set amount of time. So they went to the venue riding their pumpkin carriage—and that’s it. It all went haywire from there, not even a glass slipper fitting and all, but the premise was the same. Even Andrew could be the prince who fell in love with Princess Akko, but the spell lasted only for a while.

Kabedon: This is a popular scenario seen in the usual shoujo anime and manga, where the guy pins the girl he likes, or hates, on the wall (kabe means wall) by placing his hands there – plus points if it’s loud (don is the sound effect when you slam your hands on the wall). I laughed so hard when Andrew did it to Akko, because I immediately remembered all the memes involving this. It wouldn’t be a surprise if there are a few of it popping up now.

Comments

I’m glad I thoroughly enjoyed this episode without worrying about the story and the art. And I didn’t have a reason to, because everything was back to the usual gem quality! Hopefully it won’t degrade again, and they won’t leave us hanging regarding Andrew and Akko’s relationship, as well as on the matter of his father’s stand against witches.

It takes a bee-witching girl to chase your dreams!

Little Witch Academia is such a treat to watch that I’m definitely looking forward to next week’s stress-relief story! It makes me excited thinking about what it’ll be about! How about you? What impact did this episode leave on you? Looking forward to hearing about it in the comments section below!

Do read our other anime reviews for Winter 2017 as well! You can also take part in our new Otaku Survey about your favorites of this season: