Mary to Majo no Hana

Mary Smith is a clumsy girl with wild red hair who can't seem to do anything right. After moving in with her Great Aunt Charlotte, Mary finds herself lonely and bored, until one day she spies a cat which seems to keep changing color every time she sees it. Curiosity gets the better of her and she follows it into nearby woods. Deep in the forest, the cat takes her to a clearing with dead trees and brown grass, where the only sign of life is a cluster of mysterious blue flowers that Mary has never seen before. The gardener of the estate later tells her that the rare species is called "Fly-by-Night," and is said to be sought by witches for its incredible magical power.

When the strange cat returns to her one night, Mary is led once again into the woods, but this time to an old broomstick hidden by a gnarled tree. After she clumsily squashes some Fly-by-Night against the broomstick, it begins to glow, whisking her off into the sky. Her wayward journey ends at the Endor College for Witches, where she is mistaken for a new student. And so, Mary must learn to look after herself in this marvelous new world of magic, where things are not always as they seem.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Smith, Mary Main

Sugisaki, Hana Japanese

Peter Main

Kamiki, Ryunosuke Japanese

Tib Supporting

Ootani, Ikue Japanese

Flanagan Supporting

Satou, Jirou Japanese

Red-Haired Witch Supporting

Mitsushima, Hikari Japanese

Gib Supporting

Lynn Japanese

Banks Supporting

Watanabe, Eri Japanese

Doctor Dee Supporting

Kohinata, Fumiyo Japanese

Madame Mumblechook Supporting

Amami, Yuuki Japanese

Zebedee Supporting

Endou, Kenichi Japanese

Nishimura, Yoshiaki Producer

Yonebayashi, Hiromasa Director, Script

Kimura, Eriko Sound Director

Nakazawa, Shintarou Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 2, 2018

Bajar

Recommended

Mary and the Witch's Flower is on par with the Ghibli classics. As the first work by Studio Ponoc, Mary serves as the default flagship of the studio. As such, a lot of expectations were placed on this movie. Given Studio Ponoc's unproven nature, I wasn't sure what to expect from this movie. I feared that I would perhaps find this movie to be lacklustre and uninspired. Instead what I got was a film that rivals some of the best works from Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki.

Similar to my favourite Ghibli films, the best part of Mary's story is how her character grows throughout. ... The story starts with the protagonist Mary Smith, having recently moved, living with her Great Aunt as well as a maid and a gardener. Her attempts to help with housework and gardening go poorly and to add insult to injury she is teased by a local boy, named Peter, for her frizzy red hair. It's very apparent by the end of the movie that Mary has grown as a character. Originally she views herself as useless and talent-less, this is symbolized by her hatred of her own hair. When magical talent is thrust upon her by means of the titular Witch's Flower, she gains confidence. This gained confidence is perhaps undeserved as Mary only gained her powers by chance. Later, after her talent is stripped away by losing the Witch's Flower, is when she has to face her greatest challenges. Instead of relying on the gifted talent from the Witch's Flower, Mary has to overcome these challenges using her newfound confidence as well as other positive traits such as courage, ingenuity, and staying true to her convictions. Watching the main character gain confidence over the course of the movie is a super satisfying experience that is reminiscent of my favourite Ghibli protagonists; Chihiro from Spirited Away and Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service. They both have similar character growth in their films.

If you want to teach a lesson in a children's film, it should not be too blatant. Any themes should flow seamlessly with the plot and should avoid becoming too much of a focus at the risk of making the film seem preachy. Mary and the Witch's Flower does not have this problem. The primary theme in Mary is probably the dangers of recklessly pursuing scientific advancement. Endor College's experiments on animals are shown as being reckless and unethical. Although these experiments use magic instead of science, it is still easy to make this comparison given that magic is compared to science in the film. Mumblechook, the school's headmistress, explains that electricity is just another form of magic and the character of Doctor Dee is very reminiscent of a mad scientist. It's important to note that the villains are not portrayed as maliciously evil but rather as misguided and with good intentions. The villains are very obsessive over the Witch's Flower which reminded me of Gollum's obsession with the One Ring in Lord of the Rings. As the villains are somewhat transformed by their obsession with the flower it becomes easy to empathize with them. It also adds some moral ambiguity to the story and themes which I prefer rather than having a blatantly unapologetic evil villain.

When commenting on his character design for Mary, Director Hiromasa Yonebayashi expressed that he wanted Mary's outward appearance to reflect her inner feelings. He achieved this by giving her large bushy eyebrows and a large mouth. Those physical characteristics are a great fit for her tomboyish personality. However the best and most obvious characteristic of Mary is her bright red messy hair. As stated earlier, Mary's hair acts somewhat as a metaphor for her own character growth. At the beginning of the film she hates her hair and the teasing it causes her. To mitigate this she ties her hair back with bows. Later, at Endor College, she is praised for her hair's uniqueness and rarity with Madame Mumblechook claiming red is the ideal hair colour for a witch. Near the end of the film she removes her bows and lets her hair down in a beautiful shot that is a metaphor for her confidence and conviction that she has gained. In addition to its symbolic qualities, Mary's hair is just really beautiful and nice to look at. Throughout the film I found my attention drawn to her hair. Some of the best moments in the film feature Mary's hair prominently. Mary's hatred of her own hair is absolutely adorable and reminded me of the protagonist from the classic novel Anne of Green Gables. It's very clear that Peter likes Mary's hair despite his teasing of her. The interactions between Peter and Mary are just adorable to watch. Peter also humorously compares Mary's appearance to a monkey. This joke is brought back later when an actual red haired monkey appears leading to one of the funniest moments in the movie.

The animation in Mary and the Witch's Flower is comparable to that of Ghibli's works. If you are not familiar, Ghibli is well known for its very high quality. Ghibli has a unique style and feel to their work that Mary and the Witch's Flower also possesses. The studio that made Mary and the Witch's Flower consists mostly of former Ghibli staff so the similarities are not unexpected. My favourite part of the animation are Mary's facial expressions and hair.

It is hard to find a weak-point in the film. Every frame seems to fulfill a purpose. Nothing in the film felt like a waste of space or time. In fact my biggest complaint about the film is that I wish it was longer. At the movie's current length it is absolutely packed with content. There is not a single dull moment. The limitations of the kid's movie format means that Mary and the Witch's Flower is probably at its maximum potential length as is. It certainly feels to me like content had to be cut to get down to the 102 minute run-time.

From black cats to broomsticks, everything you expect from a witch themed anime is present here. Despite the fact that I am an adult male and the target audience for witch themed things are young girls, I still find myself a huge fan of the witch aesthetic. Ghibli has done witches before with Kiki's Delivery Service and Endor College seems inspired by Little Witch Academia's Luna Nova or Harry Potter's Hogwarts, but whatever Mary and the Witch's Flower lacks in originality it makes up for in execution. The design of Endor College in particular is very whimsical and fantastical. Endor College is comparable to some of the best settings that Ghibli has created such as Laputa or the bathhouse from Spirited Away. On the other end of the spectrum the design of the real world is also very well done. The movie is set in rural England in the 1960s or 1970s and they did a wonderful job of recreating that. Mary's home has the aesthetic of a grandmother's house and it is just so well crafted that it fills me with nostalgia. The voice acting also goes a long way for the setting. All the characters speak with British accents. This movie may be better to watch dubbed due to the fact that the movie has a British setting and that the English language cast includes 2 Academy Award winners. Despite my praise for the English version, I haven't had the chance to watch the movie with the Japanese audio, so I'm not confident in saying which language this film is better to watch in definitively.

Overall the strongest thing I can say about Mary and the Witch's Flower is that it made me feel the same emotions that I've felt when watching my favourite works from Studio Ghibli. Mary's character growth is extremely satisfying to watch unfold and reminded me of my favourite Ghibli characters. The themes in the film are not overly preachy and I appreciated the moral ambiguity of the central conflict. Mary's character design is Ghibli-esque but her adorable yet fiery red hair sets her apart. The animation quality is excellent and really pleasurable to watch. The film is thoroughly entertaining throughout all 102 minutes. The worlds featured in the film are both whimsical and fantastical on one hand, while being down-to-earth, quaint, and nostalgic on the other. Studio Ponoc completely succeeded in making a film that contains all the things that made me fall in love with Studio Ghibli.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jan 19, 2018

Jex

Mixed Feelings

Mary and the Witch's Flower was produced by Studio Ponoc, formed by former members of Studio Ghibli and directed by Academy Award-nominated Hiromasa Yonebayashi. It is based off of The Little Broomstick by the Scottish Mary Stewart, which is why it has a very Nothern atmosphere. Though originally released mid 2017 in Japan, Mary and the Witch's Flower only reached Australia on the 18th of January with dubs and subs both available.

Quality

As to be expected from former Ghibli staff, the production quality is excellent. The character designs are well done and modern, the artwork and animation is very impressive and the soundtrack, by Takatsugu Muramatsu ... who also did the music for When Marnie Was There and Yuasa's Lu Over the Wall, is appropriate and grand. The soundtrack and visuals contribute greatly to the atmosphere and the impression we have of magic. The mark of a well directed movie is if it's easy to follow what is going on. An example of this concept done poorly is The Last Jedi, which was difficult to follow and was not exciting when exciting things were happening on screen. Mary and the Witch's Flower doesn't have any of those problems; the movie flows well and everything is clear.

The character of Mary is the polar opposite of Anna from When Marnie Was There (the Academy Award-nominated Yonebayashi film). Very energetic, tries to do everything, doesn't give up even when she's being a burden, etc. This works well to tell the story, especially since Mary is thrown into a place that she doesn't understand whatsoever. Willingness to try new things and having no earthly idea what is going on is a smart writing technique to introduce the world and important characters since it doesn't have to be preachy or on-the-nose with exposition. However, there is an exposition scene towards the end which didn't need to happen and opened up holes in the plot in the build up to that exposition. Unfortunately, although Mary works well as the lead, none of the other characters seem to have much to them. There are the generic antagonists who want more power but are technically not evil, the boy who will inevitably become important and befriend Mary, a plot convenience talking fox thing that shows up at suspiciously optimal times and solves too many problems for what little character he has, and Mary's grandmother who has two scenes and does nothing useful. Peter, who is an important plot point but a relatively uninspired character who didn't get enough screentime early on, has too much emotional payoff around him for how little he has to his character. This makes the climax slightly awkward.

The writing is on and off. Most of the plot is decent enough, but magic is poorly explained. This shouldn't normally be a problem, because magic isn't supposed to make sense, but the magic academy has some form of magic-infused science which has clear rules. Poorly explained magic in a world where there are rules and scientific principles is not excusable. Inconsistent uses of magic happen a fair amount in the latter half of the film and can detract from the immersion because of how noticeable it is. The motivations of the antagonists is directly related to the theme of the movie, which was that progress at all costs is a bad thing. The film deals with the antagonists in a goofy and whimsical way. There is quite a lot about the film that is whimsical, including character interactions between Peter and Mary, a joke which takes 45 minutes to finally get the punchline, any time Mary uses a broomstick or when there is an escape sequence. It's never a big issue but it wasn't balanced too well with the substantial parts of the movie, which were lacking.

Entertainment Factor

This movie is primarily aimed at children and young girls. For that audience, Mary and the Witch's Flower will be a blast. The magic, thanks to the visuals and sound, is impressive and wondrous. The opening scene of the movie is exciting and the lighting is well done. It starts of the movie well, though it's a big tonal shift going from exciting magic to watching an ordinary 12 year old girl do ordinary things. There's enough going on in the plot that you probably won't get bored.

The problems come with the inconsistencies with magic and the plot holes accompanying them. They can ruin the immersion, take you out of the scene and annoy you. The exposition scene towards the end is another mistake because it involved telling us things we already knew. The exposition is likely necessary for children to understand how scenes connect, but the exposition didn't tell us anything we didn't know or anything we needed to know. As far as exposition goes, it was poor. The most fun parts of the movie are where magic is being used to do all sorts of cool things. Luckily, this is the entire second half of the movie.

Overall Message

The core messages were along the lines of "progress at all costs is not worth it" and "you shouldn't change yourself for the sake of change". The messages were clear and shown visually in the latter half. They are well executed because they aren't preachy about it and don't monologue about what the message is and what they learned. For the intended audience, the messages are appropriate and could apply directly to them.

There are some smaller messages, like that you shouldn't abandon what you care about, not to ab use power and that you should take responsibility for the things you cause, but they aren't emphasised at all and are off cuts of the main meal. Of course, there is that one scene where a cow-person is carving up some meat to serve as food, which is quite morally reprehensible. Mary and the Witch's Flower is simple and you shouldn't expect anything else. It does enough to be engaging and somewhat impressive, but not enough to be fantastic and has too many flaws to become a classic or cult-classic.

Should you really watch Mary and the Witch's Flower?
Yes. Yes you should.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jul 12, 2018

TakaCode

Not Recommended

As a fan of both Kiki Delivery Service and Little Witch Academia OVA + TV, I was really forward for watching Mary and the Witch Flower because I thought it was going to be another magical experience based on the trailers that I saw as well constant advertisements on many Local Underground stations across London.  When the movie came out in cinemas in the UK I immediately went to my local cinema and decided to watch it with a big smile on my face. However, as soon as I left the cinema I was not smiling at all. I was pretty sad and disappointed about ... it. At first, I was shocked at how sad and disappointed I was because I really wanted to love the movie. Then on the following day, I decided to watch the movie again but online this time because why in a hell should I blow another £10 pounds to watch the same movie again. Anyway, I finished watching the movie the second time just to see why I was not smiling by the film and I got a clear answer in the end. The clear answer is that the movie was not that good at all. While it’s not the worst anime movie I have ever seen but its strong contender of being the most disappointing anime movie I have ever seen in a long while.

With that said hello everyone this is Shawn aka KurataLordStage and welcome to my review of Mary and the Witch's flower and with that out of the way let’s get started.

Story and Characters.
The story of follows a girl who moves into the British estate with her great-aunt Charlotte. The bored friendless girl tries to make herself useful in the place that she is living by doing everyday chores but repeatedly keeps making mistakes in the process. Because of this, a local boy named Peter would often tease her for both her clumsiness and her wild red hair, which she hates. She follows a cat one day and finds a flower that she doesn't recognize and upon of breaking one of the bulbs of this flower this substance gets all over her and she suddenly has all of the theses magical abilities. Soon she gets transported to a different realm and this leads to a fantastical adventure where she has to decided to be her old klutzy self or become a new powerful witch.

When the legendary director Hayao Miyazaki originally said that he is going to retire after The Wind Rises he has since said he will make one more movie named Now do you live. Members of Studio Ghibli left and formed Studio Ponoc which is now a spiritual successor to Studio Ghibli. When I found about this on the I was really excited because while Studio Ghibli has become a dead studio at this point they still live on under that new name and I hope that the following films are much better than Mary and the Witch's Flower because outside the visuals and soundtrack the movie suffered from having a very predictable plot that barely had any charm and passion and overall weak characters that don't develop at all.

Let’s start with what I liked about the story and that is the opening scene of the movie. The opening scene of the movie perfectly captures what the movie should have been from its tone, setting, and character introduction

Unfortunately, the best thing I can about the story because the movie literally goes downhill from there.

For starters, the movie is very predictable and I know your guys are thinking right now. It’s a kids movie what do you expect out of this. Am not trying to say being predictable is always a bad thing because I have seen anime movie are predictable in nature however what makes separates this movie from the other predictable anime movies that I have seen is that they were actually fun and have a lot of good elements in it. Mary and the Witch Flower was not fun at all, in fact, I was bored out of my mind watching due to how awfully predictable it was. The moment I saw Peter the second time in the movie I knew how the movie is going to end and it clearly didn’t help that the pacing for the second half was rushed and speaking of the pacing. The pacing in the first half was decent overall as it had a slow start that did an alright job as establishing Mary as a character. The problem comes with the second character Peter as we only saw him in the first half as a generic annoying brat who severed no purpose to the plot however as soon as he appeared in the second half of the movie just speeds up to a point where everything in the second half becomes rushed.
The world-building was serviceable at first but once again after Peter appeared again in the second half of the movie as a plot device the movie flush its world-building right down the toilet where the movie became inconstant with magic system as well all the plot holes surrounding it.
Now that I think about it Peter appearance alone completely killed this movie as it movie devolved into stops the villains and save your lover's life type of plot. It was honestly sad because the movie could have been more than your typical children’s flick that you have seen before in many children anime movies.

The characters were not much better.
Mary despite being a likable person is honestly a meh character who doesn’t gets much character development. I could easily forgive her shortcomings if she actually learned something through her journey in the film but no at the end of the film there was a piece of dialogue which I won't spoil completely went against the overall message of the film
I honestly refuse to call Peter a charterer because he is just a god damm plot device just to move the plot along. Plus he is just a one-dimensional shit show with no personality thanks to him being an empty husk of a character.
As for the other characters they are just disposable moving bodies on screen who are easily forgettable.
The one thing that I hated about this movie was how half fasted the relationship between Peter and Mary was. At the beginning of the movie, the movie establishes that they don’t get along with each other to a point where they will never be friends ever. So why in the hell do they suddenly act like they are really close friends at the end of the movie? That was terrible writing 101.
Overall the story and characters in Mara and the Witch’s Flower were very lackluster and had no charm at all.

3/10

Visuals and Sound.
If there was two thing that I can praise about the movie it would be the visuals and soundtrack.
The visuals were pretty great overall that contained a lot of amazing scenery and visual flair.
The animation is great, smooth and still has that Ghibli feel to it.
Like with the visuals the music of the film is pretty great and well directed for the most part.
As for voice acting I personally found both the sub and dub to be pretty good overall but if I had to say which is better I would say the sub because the audio quality and some of the voice actors sounded better.
8/10

Final Thoughts.
Ah Mary and the Witch Flower you had so much potential to be great but instead we just got an another children's flick that barely has any charm at all. The story is boring and generic, the pacing especially the second half was terrible, the characters are forgetful and the dub was mediocre at best. The only good thing I can say about Mary in the Witch Flower was the visuals and music everything else lackluster at best and at worse it’s a magical train-wreck that has no charm at all.
If you want to see a movie that involves witches go watch Kiki Delivery Service instead of this.
Hopefully, the following Studio Ponoc movies would learn the mistakes that were made in Mary and The Witch's Flower.

Final Score: 4.5/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Why the low score, relatively speaking? raspberris - Jan 18, 2018	30 replies	by Saki_xxiii »» Nov 1, 9:53 PM
	Poll: Mary to Majo no Hana Episode 1 Discussion Kisaragi - Jul 8, 2017	47 replies	by micky2020 »» Jul 6, 5:18 AM
	Framerate "problems" TetsuoXIII - Apr 12, 2019	3 replies	by Rei_III »» Jun 5, 2019 11:04 PM
	Saw it - not very good Angry_Anime_Nerd - Jan 19, 2018	1 replies	by zamandzoe »» Jan 20, 2018 12:05 PM
	DVD and Blu-Ray release date. Katsu-kun - Jul 22, 2017	1 replies	by kamigawa »» Jan 4, 2018 2:13 PM