© 佐竹幸典・講談社/ 「魔女と野獣」製作委員会
The prodigal coffin carrier and notorious witch-hater are back! I had a great time hanging out with the necromancer duo, and I wouldn’t mind if Witches and Monsters continued to explore other members of the Order dealing with magical shenanigans. Still, it’s nice to have Ashaf and Guideau back, especially since Guideau’s reintroduction puts some distance between their perpetually grumpy looks and their adorable heads. It makes me want to ruffle their hair, which may not be medically advisable.
Their kicker this week is the true witch Helga Velvette. While her name certainly fits the witch bill, she is different from the past traitors mentioned in the series; she is weak for a witch, and she does not seem to be as inclined to kill indiscriminately as her other sisters in the field of magic. Along with her childish personality, her presence makes us question even more our stereotypes about these magical ladies. Are they the same entities that plague the globe or are they being pursued for different reasons? By far, her most endearing trait is her relationship with the talking demon Ashgan. Like Ashaf and Guideau, the two of them have opposite personalities and play off each other in humorous ways. The demon sword is hilariously blunt (ironically) and quickly angers her. I like the confidence with which he declares that swords can talk (true Thunderbolt Fantasy fans already know this), and I like his frank admission that he wants to ally with Ashaf and Guideau because that would be funny. It’s a blade that fits my heart.
The real enemies in this story are twofold. First, we get an introduction to the Paladin Corps, aka the church police. Based on their introduction, they perform peacekeeping functions that ostensibly parallel the Order of Magical Resonance. The main differences will be the size, strength of the Paladin Legion, and backing from the Church, making them an international paramilitary force to be reckoned with. The Order seems to prefer darkness and deception, and there doesn’t seem to be much love lost between either organization. I like the visuals created by the vast floating castle and the ugly green force field set up around the activity area. They are powerful and noble, but along with that comes corruption and cowardice. We see it in their method of attack, in which they project magical avatars to scout and fight for them. This is a far cry from Ashaf and Guideau getting down to business and getting their hands dirty.
The other source of opposition is the Universal Holy Church itself. As a rule, mistrusting the church in dark fantasy stories is a smart idea, but this episode tried to make them look as shady as possible. Their messenger had the scheming air of a vizier as he stood next to Cugat’s throne and smirked. While the Paladin Corps worked for the Church, it was clear that the Church kept them on a need-to-know basis. They are instruments of the Church, not of the Church itself. These hostile interactions endear us to the Paladins a bit, whereas otherwise we might see them as mere fodder for the Guideau to overcome. Cugat, in particular, seems arrogant and violent, but if he’s not giving orders, there’s something more sinister going on behind the scenes.
It looks like this will be the first storyline to run longer than two episodes and It’s a good time for The Witch and the Monster to tackle something more multi-faceted and complex. The first three seasons did a great job of establishing these characters and their world, and now we can get into something meatier. A better story is good news because the adaptation doesn’t look any better. This week’s off-model characters were especially egregious, although I found most of them to be quite cute. Of more interest are the action scenes. There are truly bad moments, such as Guideau getting a sword stuck in his teeth, which are undermined by laughably bad animation and direction.
However, I still enjoyed my time watching and writing about The Witch and the Beast. It looks lovely despite its edgy looks and melty production. I’m scratching that itch and I’m eager to see how Guideau behaves working in tandem with a wizard for a change.
Rating:
The Witch and the Beast is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Steve is on Twitter while it lasted. He can be your wizard or your beast. Or none of the above if that’s interesting. You can also see him chatting about trash and treasure on This Week in Anime.