Little Witch Academia is a currently-airing anime by well-loved animation studio Trigger. The first half of the series has aired to much acclaim, and the second cour is going to be aired during Spring 2017! To commemorate this milestone, the main cast of Little Witch Academia held an onstage talk at AnimeJapan 2017 on 26 March, followed by a mini-concert by the opening and ending artists.
Ever since seeing Shiny Chariot’s magic show when she was a child, it has been Atsuko Kagari’s dream to become a witch. In the hope of fulfilling her dream, she enrolls at Chariot’s alma mater, the traditional and prestigious Luna Nova Magical Academy.
A new town, a new school life, and new friends too.
At the witch’s academy, she gets involved in all sorts of marvelous classes, such as how to ride a broomstick and using magic. However, with her friends Lotte and Sucy, she gets involved in all sorts of boisterous antics that are only possible at a school like this!
Lotte’s first step to becoming the witch she dreamed of starts here at Luna Nova!
Guests:
Megumi Han (Atsuko ‘Akko’ Kagari)
Fumiko Orikasa (Lotte Yanson)
Michiyo Murase (Sucy Manbavaran)
YURiKA (OP Artist)
Yuiko Ohara (ED artist)
The event began with the voice actresses being introduced one by one. Megumi Han, who plays the protagonist of the series, was very energetic and waved to the audience when she came on stage. The voice actresses told us their favorite scenes from the first half of the show, with a clip of each playing in the background. Megumi Han said that it was very difficult to decide.
Han’s pick was the scene from Episode 1 where Akko first sees Shining Chariot’s show as a child. Han said that this scene is the real start of Little Witch Academia, and it also connects the TV series with the very first Little Witch Academia movie, which was released 4 years ago.
Orikasa’s pick was the scene from Episode 3 where Akko tries to tame the wild broom, Shooting Star. Orikasa said that she was in awe of how much energy the scene had, including Han’s performance in this crazy scene.
Murase’s pick was the scene from Episode 9 where the Principal’s father returns to the afterlife. She was touched by how people can work hard not for just themselves, but for other people.
The audience were then shown the trailer for the second half of Little Witch Academia:
‘Little Witch Academia’: New Visual and PV with OP/ED Themes
The second half of the series will become a little more serious, and there will also be the introduction of a new key character, Croix (voiced by Junko Takeuchi).
The mini-concert then began. Opening artist YURiKA came out on stage to perform Shiny Ray. She was wearing silver boots and a black dress with witch-like sleeves. She almost looked like she belonged to Luna Nova Academy! Her performance was very energetic, with audience members clapping and waving their hands.
After her performance, YURiKA introduced Yuiko Ohara to the stage. Ohara was wearing a long blue dress and holding a guitar. She performed the ending song Hoshi wo Tadoreba. The whole audience was transfixed by her beautiful singing.
After the mini-concert finished, everybody returned to the stage to say their goodbyes and reminded us to look forward to the second half of Little Witch Academia, which starts on 2 April 2017.
Official Website: http://tv.littlewitchacademia.jp/
Official Twitter: @LWA_jp
© 2017 TRIGGER / Yoh Yoshinari / ”Little Witch Academia” Committee
The first season of the new year is just one month away from its finale. It was a great start with many amazing titles that made these past months worth the extra hours we put in front of our sets. Now, it is time for the cold wind to give way to the pink hues of the sakura tree and for the Winter 2018 season to give the anime baton to Spring 2018.
