© 佐竹幸典・講談社／ 「魔女と野獣」製作委員会
The Witch and the Beast is a dark fantasy film about the adventures of a charming chain-smoker with a coffin backpack and his feral sidekick who wants to slit the throat of every woman who rides broom in sight. The characters are crass and uncomplicated, the action is disjointed and edgy, and the presentation has obvious cracks. I also really like this show and I can’t wait to see where it goes.
So far, my appreciation for The Witch and the Beast has been based almost entirely on emotion. However, since vibe is the most elusive and ephemeral component of any work of art, I believe this series has the potential to be greater than the sum of its parts that we currently hold. It’s in the balancing act. For example, the writing compensates for its lack of information about witches and magic with the familiarity of modern and ambiguous European metropolises. I love seeing fancy security guards with riot shields trying to subdue a giant monster. The gore also hits Goldilocks levels with just enough grossness to be disturbing (in a good way). Too little will look dull and tried, too much will look boring and fun. The movie certainly knows when to have a silly B-movie, but I was really unsettled when that girl woke up to find her arms and legs gone. Good job!
The person who attracts me the most right now is Guideau, who is introduced furiously chewing on a straw with their powerful fangs. What’s not to love? At first glance, they are a blonde girl with a sailor’s mouth and a penchant for quarrels. This tomboy archetype is nothing new, but Guideau is especially delightfully vulgar. We later learn that they were cursed by a witch and that their true form is a muscular monster man with a metal snout. Not only was it a pleasant surprise, but it also made Guideau a more interesting protagonist. While their magic-induced fluidity doesn’t exactly reflect any real-world gender issues, it does hint deeply at their backstories and personalities beyond their obsession with finding and killing witch. I also like characters with queer sexuality (see Kiruko in Heavenly Delusion), so I’m excited to see how they develop.
So do the strong character designs that support The Witch and the Beast so much. This is most clearly shown in our two main characters. The Guideau’s small body reflects their strength, their ferocious eyes and sharp fangs further hinting at their true monstrosity. Ashaf is the opposite. He was tall, dark and handsome, and his well-cut appearance matched his calm demeanor. Together, they have interpersonal chemistry and the image of a classic police couple. Opposites attract. And speaking of attractive, I like that both are quite clearly designed to be sexy but in subtle and fashionable ways. For example, the premiere took a lot of effort to draw all the outlines of the ears and the corresponding piercings. Ashaf has long eyelashes and lights a cigarette with a magical spark. Guideau wears a long coat and necklace in girl mode, and shows off her chiseled abs and fur-lined cape in beast mode. Both are hot! I’ve seen other viewers call the film a bisexual delight, and I see no reason to disagree.
The whole production process is less hot. It’s not bad, but you can see it’s working with constraints. The adaptation relies heavily on static close-ups of the characters, opting for detailed portraits instead of fluid animations. While not an invalid approach, it could quickly fall apart if restrictions become tighter as the season progresses and it is certain that the second set is a downgrade from the first. Firstly. However, that is the nature of the beast in the current industry. Of more immediate interest is the overall flatness of the storyboard. The individual shots aren’t bad, and the show finds flexible ways to frame scenes, but there’s a lack of three-dimensionality to the structure and volume. Director Takayuki Hamana is experienced, so the anime still retains the cool element of the original manga. I don’t even mind the muted color palette, which matches the imagined dark tones. But I like the staging to be less rigid and more creative.
The plot is also nothing outstanding. Was there any serious doubt that the witch in the first episode would turn evil? The second episode had better results by bringing a hard-boiled detective in for revenge, but any payoffs were carried over to next week’s episode. However, I don’t think this is a big problem. These basic stories do a great job of familiarizing audiences with the setting and characters, and the real appeal of Witches and Monsters lies elsewhere. There are weird monster designs of the city shark and the platypus dragon, and I appreciate that they’re hand-drawn. Even when the animations are stiff, they still look more natural than they would if they were CG. I love the opulence of the restaurants and villas our heroes visit, which contrasts starkly with the horrors of their cases and the grotesqueness of Guideau’s behavior. And most importantly, I love our main characters. Their chemistry shines through in every one of their interactions, but let me pick my favorite example. Ashaf succeeded in calming Guideau down by giving them a stripped chicken bone to gnaw on like a dog. The randomness now meant they had made this exchange many times before. That’s how you write a compelling relationship.
I’ll end by revealing that I haven’t read Kōsuke Satake’s original manga. I plan to read at least a little bit in the future because I like talking about adaptation choices/changes and because I like what I’ve seen of this anime so far. Witches and Monsters is flawed and doesn’t offer much new, but I’m still drawn in by its charismatic leads and its potential for greater and weirder growth.
Ranking episode 1:
Episode 2 rating:
Witches and Monsters is now streaming on Crunchyroll.
