4mo ago

Once Upon a Witch's Death • Aru Majo ga Shinu Made - Episode 1 discussion

Aru Majo ga Shinu Made, episode 1

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11 comments

Emotional manipulation turned up to eleven without the expert story crafting of the likes of Violet Evergarden or Natsume's Book of Friends. This one just feels cheap to me.
- Yep. The frame story, character designs, etc. seem interesting, but the sob story of the day was cliche and predictable. Hopefully it will develop beyond this and have more range, but I’m not optimistic.
This show was never in my radar.
Looking at this discussion, then the MAL synopsis and discussions too, my heart wavers if I should watch this or not. Based on the stuff I liked best, it really feels something I might like very much. However, melancholy/drama shows similar to this tend to be absolute gems (A Place Further Than The Universe) or trainwrecks (The Day I Become a God—didn't see it yet, that's my impression based on what I read about it). There's no in-between.
Fellas, should I watch it and run the risk of dropping an airing show for the first time? Whatcha think?
- If your commitments are that resource restrained, I'd wait a couple of episodes and read comments to see how things are shaking out.
  I feel like this is going to be like a shoujou anime from the 70s: Girl uses her magical powers every week to solve the problems of people she meets on her journeys, is rewarded with a little token that puts her that little bit closer to her goal. i.e. "The real gift was the friendships she made along the way".
  Except back then the goal was aspirational, e.g. becoming The Queen Of Whatever Kingdom, and in this one, the goal is surviving the Curse Of Doom Death.
  How expectations have changed in Japan...
  
  Thanks for your input!
This was competently directed, and didn't feel slow at all.
The plot feels like it was stolen right out of a classic shojo manga, but the protagonist's attitude is very modern.
@rikka@ani.social
It wouldn't surprise me if it was revealed as all being a trick by the old witch as a character building exercise.
- didn’t feel slow at all.
  there were actually a couple spots I wished lingered a little longer (to sink in), but they were also trying to fit quite a lot into this first episode.
  competently directed
  There were lots of little touches I really enjoyed! e.g. Ms. Faust being framed in the bottle, the cloud (literally) coming over her face, Anna dissolving into younger Meg. One (subtler) parallel between Anna and Meg I noticed was: Meg is supposedly going to die from a curse, and her teacher ("the greatest witch") cannot save her; while Anna's mom died from an illness, and her dad is apparently a doctor/pharmacist.
  It wouldn’t surprise me if it was revealed as all being a trick by the old witch as a character building exercise.
  Even if we play along with Ms. Faust here, I feel like there's two layers (kinda) to the whole ordeal---one is she needs to literally collect tears (joy) in order to live the rest of her life, and the other is that she needs that joy to really live, in the carpe diem sense. ... I hope that made sense...
- Done!
Not a bad first episode that shows what to expect further on. I feel like it will be an enjoyable watch and curious to see which story turns to be my personal tearjerker.
The production team is basically showing their hand and saying "yeah, our goal is to make you cry every episode for the entire season". That's ambitious and I like it.
Maybe I'm just easily manipulated, but this first story got me (even with them having to take the time to establish the premise first). It could've hit harder, sure, but it (subjectively ofc) felt like a pretty promising start to me. If I have one thing to nitpick it's actually the soundtrack when she goes into town--it feels out of place? it doesn't mesh and feels frantic. It's entirely possible that it was intentional--I'm willing to trust the story for now.
I loved the cold open! It really efficiently establishes the mood, sets up the magical aspect with the single "tea brewing" shot, and shows us Meg's personality through how others (Ms. Faust and all the animals) interact with her. When people say "show, don't tell", this is what they mean.
I think this premise can work, but this feels very fumbled. A tearjerker-of-the-week format doesn't really need the buildup this got - just jump right in to Meg helping people out and fill in the why later (hell, that could be its own tearjerker episode). Instead it has this wonky tone that isn't really conducive to making me cry. I give the premiere a 2/5, but it's possible it could right the ship and end up being a great show (I'll check back in later in the season)
Also, 1000 tears in a year is WAY too many to take seriously if she only gets one per person. She's seriously supposed to average almost 3 people crying with pure joy per day?

11 comments