Anime Impressions: Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina

<p>I have to admit there is surprisingly a good amount of<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anime-impressions-higurashi-when-they-cry-gou&sol;"> intriguing anime this season<&sol;a> that set out to be different than the rest&period; However&comma; many of these anime pale in comparison to Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina in terms of both quality and premise&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i2&period;wp&period;com&sol;www&period;s1e1&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;WW09&period;jpg&quest;fit&equals;1200&percnt;2C675&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;"Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center"> A Magical Ambition<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina takes place in a fantasy world where witches are revered for their brilliance&comma; elegance&comma; and magical abilities&period; The story starts in the peaceful land of Robetta with our heroine Elaina&comma; a young girl who&&num;8217&semi;s always dreamt of becoming a traveling witch&comma; much like a heroine she read in books&period; To achieve this&comma; she trained and studied hard and became the first person to pass the witch exams at age 14 and quickly became an apprentice witch in training&period; However&comma; due to jealousy&comma; her excellence also prevented other witches from taking her on as a pupil&comma; that is until she meets Fran&comma; The Stardust Witch&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Viewers can easily tell Fran is quite peculiar and separate from other witches&comma; yet despite this&comma; she agrees to take Elaina on as an apprentice&period; Unfortunately for Elaina&comma; Fran&&num;8217&semi;s teaching methods are unorthodox&comma; to say the least&comma; and she receives lessons mister Miyagi style by becoming a housemaid rather than a witch&period; After weeks go by without any proper magical training&comma; Fran decides to hold a test for Elaina in the form of magical combat&period; Elaina tries her best&comma; but she unsurprisingly loses and is demeaned by Fran&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Frustrated and in tears&comma; she realizes the fight was to teach her a lesson on being a humble witch&comma; a trait Elaina is notably missing&period; Afterward&comma; Elaina undergoes proper training and is finally able to finish her apprenticeship and attains the title of The Ashen Witch&period; After finally becoming a full-fledged witch&comma; she then leaves home to live off her dream of being a traveling witch&period; The first episode did well enough to draw the viewer’s attention and make them to grow an interest in the anime&&num;8217&semi;s world and its fantasy elements&period; The episode was also quite an emotional one for Elaina and one that surprisingly showed a lot of growth despite its short run time&period; However&comma; it doesn&&num;8217&semi;t give us a full glimpse of her arrogant but soft character&comma; an aspect that was later touched on in subsequent episodes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i&period;ytimg&period;com&sol;vi&sol;UZRgZEr7zlE&sol;maxresdefault&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Elaina&&num;8217&semi;s Adventures<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>The next few episodes give us the wandering witch in action and her surprising mix of grim and wholesome adventures&period;  While on her travels&comma; Elaina has encountered a variety of strange occurrences&comma; as well as several peculiar individuals&period; From encountering a village with a toxic cursed plant to meeting a family with a slave girl as a worker&comma; Elaina has proven on many occasions not to mingle with the affairs of people&&num;8217&semi;s lives whenever she can&period; Yet&comma; she&&num;8217&semi;s also one to help a lonely girl pass her witch exams&comma; help a strange witch defeat a cursed dragon in a desolate kingdom&comma; help teach a class of training mages&comma; and now more recently&comma; mingle in the affairs of a kingdom that cannot tell lies&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>While she&&num;8217&semi;s ran away from things most brazen protagonist cannot overlook&comma; she&&num;8217&semi;s also helped several&comma; but mostly when she&&num;8217&semi;s forced to&period; This proves Elaina has a sense of cautiousness&comma; unlike most traditional heroes&comma; despite being a capable witch&period; Though it&&num;8217&semi;s not all her fault&comma; as some viewers would recall from the first episode&comma; before leaving home&comma; one of the rules Elaina&&num;8217&semi;s mum gave to her was to run whenever she is in trouble&period; Which might be the reason she does just that&comma; perhaps even when she doesn&&num;8217&semi;t want to&period; Yet this doesn&&num;8217&semi;t stop her from undergoing many antics as&comma; after all&comma; what is a wandering witch without adventures&quest; Luckily not all of Elaina&&num;8217&semi;s travels were filled with grim adventures&period; In fact&comma; many of them so far have been quite humorous and fun to watch&comma; especially her interactions with others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;xenodude&period;files&period;wordpress&period;com&sol;2020&sol;10&sol;wandering-witch-the-journey-of-elaina-ep&period;-4-temp&period;&period;png" alt&equals;"Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Magical Animation<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>What makes the viewing experience all the better is the anime&&num;8217&semi;s spectacular animation&comma; which is perhaps the best anime this season in that regard next to Adachi to Shimamura &lpar;another anime airing this season&rpar;&comma; and<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anime-impressions-jujutsu-kaisen&sol;"> Jujutsu Kaisen<&sol;a>&period; The character models are crisp&comma; the lighting is fantastic&comma; and the magic is surprisingly well animated save from some CG fire I spotted in the first episode&period; Regardless&comma; the incredible animation really enhances the feel of the anime as well as its fantasy elements&comma; making it a complete package&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;"aligncenter" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;xenodude&period;files&period;wordpress&period;com&sol;2020&sol;11&sol;wandering-witch-the-journey-of-elaina-ep&period;-5-temp&period;&period;png" alt&equals;"Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h4 style&equals;"text-align&colon; center">Final Thoughts<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p>Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina is by far among the best anime airing this season and one of my close favorites&period; After six episodes&comma; I can confidently say every minute of the anime is worth the watch&comma; and I can&&num;8217&semi;t wait to see more of Elaina&&num;8217&semi;s intriguing adventures&period; I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention the anime’s excellent opening by Reina Ueda&comma; an opening that is now my<a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;anime-impressions-tonikawa-over-the-moon-for-you&sol;"> second favorite<&sol;a> this season&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>If you haven&&num;8217&semi;t seen Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina&comma; its available to stream right now on <strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;funimation&period;com&sol;shows&sol;wandering-witch-the-journey-of-elaina&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">Funimation<&sol;a><&sol;strong>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><strong>Are you a fan of fantasy&quest; have you seen Wandering Witch&colon; The Journey of Elaina&quest; Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;