Tired of explosions, giant robots, and stupid ass tsundere girls who hook up with the main character? Well you can take a break and still watch a good anime. So I present to you, Flying Witch!
Flying Witch is the story of 15 year old witch-in-training, Makoto Kowata. Who comes to live with her aunt in the small farming town that her aunt, uncle, and their two kids live in. In the world Flying Witch witches still existent and so does magic to a certain extent. Only a small handful of normal people know they still exist and the witches generally live normal lives, only practicing magic to help others and improve or keep their own skills fresh. At the age of 15 all witches must undergo a training journey where they leave their home and begin their personal training somewhere away from home in order to broaden their horizons and improve their skills.
While Makoto is a witch, she is unfortunately not a very skilled or dedicated one. She can basically fly on her broom and communicate with her familiar, a black cat named Chito. In fact the anime really isn’t about her learning new spells and potions. It is about the every day life of Makoto in her new home. Almost every episode shows the daily life of Makoto and her family as they go about their every day lives, and not much magic is shown. Such as in one episode Makoto and her cousins go out to the forest to pick herbs that go well with dinner. And in another episode Makoto learns about farming when her older cousin Kei decides to plant a garden in the back yard. Yeah its seems to be typically boring stuff.
So why am i writing a review about such a seemingly boring anime? Because when I started watching it back in April 2016 i didn’t expect much either. But i was quickly blown away by it and watched the entire series. Flying Witch and other animes like it are in a genre referred to as Slice of Life anime (SoL). Or as the many American otakus call it, “Comfy” animes. Both terms sum up what the anime is about and how the anime makes you feel. SoL anime is generally quite tame, and has little to no action, romance, or drama to it, but it does have some humor. Since its just a anime about every day life and every day life is generally pretty tame. And yet i could not wait to get home from work every Sunday during 2016 to download and watch this anime. It helped me relax, got rid of a lot of stress, and made me smile. From the opening theme to the ending theme i enjoyed every last minute of every episode.
Flying Witch and a number of other SoL animes that i have watched have been my biggest enjoyment over the last year. The characters are interesting and the stories in each episode draw you in with not only curiosity, but when you learn things about different facets of life and even farming. The animation is top notch in my opinion and to make things even more interesting the town that Makoto lives in is based on a real life town in Japan. So often each episodes have scenes of buildings and environs of the real life town. Its gives you a few moments to take it all in and enjoy it.
Now if this type of anime isn’t your thing then you won’t enjoy Flying Witch in the least. But if you are looking for something different and you have a open mind then you might enjoy Flying Witch alot. I suggest you look it up on Pirate Bay, Nyaa, or Youtube.