“Witch Craft Works” (January 2014, J.C. Staff) is about a witch protecting a high schooler that’s known as a “princess.”

Honoko Takamiya (voice by Yusuke Kobayashi) was a normal high school student till one day the prettiest girl in class, Ayaka Kagari (Asami Seto), protected him from a witch from a magic tower. The two must overcome many obstacles, such as Honoko’s obsessive little sister, students hounding him for breathing the same air as Ayaka, and witches who have come to take Honoko away. 

There are a few things that this show pulls off well, like the story. The basic premise is that Honoko is special in some way and must be protected by Ayaka, a workshop witch, from the witches of the magic tower is a decent idea.

Honoko’s voice actor, Yusuke Kobayashi is quite a notable name within the anime community, working since 2009 and appearing in many recent anime, such as Senku from “Dr. Stone” (July 2019, TMS Entertainment), and as the father of Rudeus’ teacher in “Mushoku Tensei” (January 2021, Studio Bind). 

The 2D animation looks rather smooth when in a casual setting, but becomes rigid during a comedic scene which adds to the comedy. As for fight scenes, it uses a mesh of both 3D and 2D, the 2D looks visually stunning, like when Ayaka bursts into flames in order to save Honoko. 

The backgrounds within the show are rather nice, although exclusively put in an urban setting gets rather dull, it occasionally makes up for it by showing the viewer different areas like the dream realm. 

There really isn’t much else to say about the good aspects of the show, however, there is plenty to talk about in regards to the poor qualities of the show.

The CGI (Computer Generated Image) or rather the 3D animation just didn’t fit well with the art style whatsoever. It felt janky and looked like it was slapped on top of an already mediocre product, look at the snakes on Medusa (Miyuki Sawashiro) it just looks like they put in something they found on the internet that wasn’t the same style as the show.

When compared to other shows of the same genre, the show’s pacing feels rushed and artificial, just getting from one plot point to the next. There wasn’t any filler at all, like a school trip, festival, or beach episode, the show is basically just action.

The sound design was okay at best, and jarring at the worst. During the first episode when Honoko was walking outside on bricks, his footsteps sounded like they were walking on glass. Aside from the sound mixing itself, the sounds that are used sound like they’re from a stock sound library.

Then there’s the character design, while it’s well done there isn’t any variety outside of Ayaka changing forms, which is never explained or questioned, as there’s actually quite a lot the show just brushes past. There’s also the issue of the show looking generic, and it’s not as a stylistic choice, but more as said style has oversaturated the industry, making a lot of the characters look like carbon copies of each other.

Overall, the show is very flat, the characters are bland and had no depth or intriguing motivation, and the product felt rushed and janky. If a viewer is alright with a rushed product about witches and action, then they might find some enjoyment from the final product.