Let me get the spoiler out of the way
first: there is nothing that happens in this show that could really
be considered a spoiler.
Flying Witch is, in a way, Slice of
Life in its purest genre form. There isn’t really a plot, or a sense
of progress, or even much of an overarching theme the way some shows
that get tagged ‘Slice of Life’ have some other genre. And when it
comes to storytelling genres, rather than world genres (of which
“urban fantasy” applies here), I don’t think any others really
apply to Flying Witch. I’ve heard this sort of Slice of Life
referred to as ‘Slice of Nothing’ and I think that’s accurate, with a
couple of caveats. First of all, it’s not a strict and absolute
nothing. The characters, at least, do grow over the episodes, and
that’s fine. Second, it should be stressed that even if the term
sounds somewhat negative, there’s really nothing wrong with it.
To me, Flying Witch is essentially a
wish fulfillment sort of show. The same way a fawning harem, an
average person finding they have amazing powers, or a mysterious
figure appearing to provide care and comfort to a relative loser will
each fulfill some wish of the viewer (at least given a certain level
of self-insertion), Flying Witch’s slice of life serves to fulfill a
wish. In this case, it’s for wonder and beauty in the world. Part
of what makes Flying Witch a show you watch, is because you’d like to
believe, if only for twenty minutes or so, that this is what the
world is or could be like. Rustic. Cozy. Friendly. Bright, and
full of wonders just the slightest bit out of sight. Flying Witch
seems made to let you imagine that there’s something beautiful and
just a little bit magical waiting out there.
To that end, there aren’t any really injurious encounters with the supernatural in this show. Even Inukai, who is stuck looking like a dog during the day (almost entirely her own fault) doesn’t seem really inconvenienced by the magical mishap, and her status is treated more as a quirk than a curse, even if it happened to be one she’d like to be rid of. The peaceful coexistence of the magical world’s strangeness alongside the mundane rural helps to center it in ‘our world’ and create a sense of peace.
For instance, several episodes are
centered around a cafe. It’s run by a witch, the main waitress is a
shy ghost girl, and several of the regular patrons are magical
beings. It’s wonderful to see, in that it contains wonders – not
dissimilar to magical places visited in other stories, like the bath
house that forms the main location for the film Spirited Away.
But there’s a difference between the bath house in Spirited Away and the cafe in Flying Witch. True, they’re both places where sometimes strange supernaturals gather for some rest and relaxation, leading to at least seeing a lot of colorful characters… but the bath house is always a little bit threatening. Chihiro has to be worried about turning into a pig, or fading from existence, or losing her parents, or facing Yubaba’s harsh management. The spirits that come to the bath house can be kindly, but they also just might not really care, going about their business in a way that makes them seem aloof or even imperious when we’re following a little girl way in over her head. And the bath house itself, while gorgeous, is a huge and labyrinthine complex. For all its wonders, it’s at least a bit imposing. Contrasting with that, the cafe in Flying witch is small and cozy. It’s a familiar setting in some ways; aside from the patrons, if you were lucky you probably could find a place with the same sort of interior décor and overall feel. And the supernatural patrons are all on their best behavior. They might still be aloof, since they’re there to get their orders and not to necessarily fraternize with humans, but they don’t have the same sense of scale or looking down on people, and in fact seem quite approachable.
And I think that’s the difference
Flying Witch would have wanted to have. It wants to be approachable.
It wants to be what someone looking for a little magic in their life
wished for, not what they’d get if they wished on a cursed monkey
paw.
That established, let’s talk about the
major characters.
Makoto is our lead character, a
high-school aged witch who’s moving in with relatives so she can kind
of leave the house (according to a Kiki’s Delivery Service-esque
tradition of witches striking out early) but still get in a full
mundane school career. She’s got a good deal left to learn about the
magic she wields and is kind of bad with directions and… yeah,
she’s maybe just a little bland? She’s nice, but I can’t really
think of much else about her other than the fact that she’s kind of
generally a good person that shapes who she is or her wishes and
desires.
Nao and Kei are Makoto’s classmates (the latter being her cousin and one of the family members she lives with). Kei is kind of a bland nice guy too, but Nao is at least a little bit of a character. She’s slightly sarcastic but also a hard worker, and is a little overwhelmed when it comes to witnessing magic stuff. Akane, Makoto’s older sister, is also fun. She’s a somewhat boisterous drunk who’s very good at magic, being able to teach Makoto a thing or two even if she uses her power in utterly frivolous ways.
Chinatsu, meanwhile, is probably the
best character in the show. I said before, when establishing my
rules for ‘Slice of Nothing’, that I didn’t require there to be
absolutely no motion over the course of the show. After all, it’s
distilled slice of life, and people change over their lives. In
Flying Witch, most of the change is focused on Chinatsu. She’s Kei’s
little sister and another new housemate for Makoto, and at first
Chinatsu is suspicious, even fearful of magic. Over the course of
the show, Makoto helps introduce Chinatsu to the magical world at a
comfortable pace, with activities like saying hello to the Harbinger
of Spring or paying a visit to the magic cafe, and Chinatsu becomes
enamored with the beauty of the magical world, to the point where she
decides that she also wants to become a witch.
And that’s about it.
It’s nice to spend a little time with
these characters and their friends, but… some can liken narrative
material (books, shows, films, etc.) to foods. Some are meant to be
scarfed down with little thought given to their actual quality, just
because they taste good at first. Others are supposed to be savored,
and given lingering attention to let all their complexity come to the
surface and be properly enjoyed. Some are easy to get through, while
others must be chewed on at length to be consumed and appreciated.
Out of all of that, Flying Witch is like Chamomile Tea – warm,
comforting, and inoffensive. It might put you to sleep, but if it
does it will be contented and with sweet dreams.
I kind of like chamomile tea, at least
now and again.
I think my favorite episode, though, is
the one that strikes me as breaking from the mold just a little. The
order of the day is that a great sky whale is going to be passing by
the town, so Makoto and company go out to see it. They don’t just
witness the show’s one grand apparition of supernatural glory as it
passes over them, though; the show is called Flying Witch, so they
fly on up to the titanic creature by broom and rest on its back,
where the moss-covered ruins of some unknown ancient civilization
still stand silent and unpeopled.
Seems like a nice picnic destination.
If most of Flying Witch is adding a
little magic to the mundane, this episode actually adds it to the
extraordinary. Rather than visiting a local cafe or going to school,
this is more like visiting a national park or historical monument, or
going out of your way to see one of the real world’s natural wonders
like a meteor shower, injected with the same magic that the rest of
the show injects into the more standard fare. It still gets the
slice of life treatment; there’s not really any reason why the sky
whale, it was never mentioned before, it won’t come up again. We
aren’t going to be exploring those ruins to find some world changing
secret, they’re just nice scenery. And that’s fine. If it broke the
mold too much, we’d actually have a problem, because I rather
appreciate a show that knows what it is and holds to an artistic
vision.
I don’t want the rest of the show to be
like that. Again, I think Flying Witch’s vision has value on its
own, but I like that we got that high note. It was a sequence with a
little extra wonder and beauty and even as low key as the show
remained, the sky whale sequence really did stick with me.
I’m actually going to decline to give
Flying Witch a letter grade. On a scale of Pass-Fail it’s a certain
pass, but how else do I rate it? I can’t treat Flying Witch the same
way I’d treat a show with an actual story, with plot and character or
action and drama. It’s lacking so many things by virtue of being
Slice of Nothing that it would receive a miserable total, and that’s
neither right nor fair. But I can’t exactly grade it on its own
either, since it’s tautologically the best execution of itself and
that isn’t fair to grant full marks for either. On the whole, I’d
simply say I enjoyed it well enough, and would recommend it if you’re
in the mood for a relaxing visit to a comfy and magical world.