I wanted to like this one, but the final action scene kinda killed it for me. Ultimately I feel like witches have a bit too much political baggage rooted in actual real-life history for this story to work the way that it wants to, and the lore doesn’t seem to want to shy away from those associations.

Witch hunts historically were invoked in order to reinforce patriarchal systems, punishing women who stepped outside of their assigned roles (for example, you often see witches flying on brooms because it’s meant to be a perversion of the cleaning they were meant to be doing). The show even brings up that the grandmother witch saved the town and then was burned at the stake anyway, drawing connections to the real history of prejudice and cruelty.

Because witches are historical symbols of female autonomy and power, I think stories about fighting evil witches really only work with a female lead. It allows you to tell a story about the correct way to achieve liberation and equality rather than if liberation and equality is worth fighting for (though the latter story can still be told with a female character if you do it wrong).

That brings us to Guideau. At the start, I sort of assumed they’d* be filling that role in the story for us, but the twist is that they are not the teenage girl we thought they were. Let me tell you, when my mind was primed for explorations of feminism and the cycle of violence, only to watch someone who appears as a large buff man physically beat the woman who had been associated with symbols of patriarchal victimization… I just couldn’t engage anymore. It’s not in the text, but they made so many deliberately choices that ended up constructing (I assume by accident) a metaphor of a man violently beating a woman for stepping out of her assigned role.

Maybe people who haven’t engaged in as much feminist media analysis as I have won’t get the same impression. The animation seems good and the fight scenes will probably be fun (real-world symbolism aside). I really can’t keep watching though. I give the premiere a 3/5.

* I use they/them for Guideau because I have heard that the author has said their gender is meant to be ambiguous/undefined.

Surprisingly big budget action animation with a touch of horror and gore, but our 2 protagonists are both cringey.

One is cringey smug, the other cringey angry, and neither are likeable.

Even the powers themselves aren’t that interesting. One of them literally goes into beast mode.

About the cleverest thing is the horror the writers are trying to set up, but it feels like there are TV censors that won’t allow them go nuts with it.