Burn the Witch

Well, this movie was nice to watch. It really brought back that Bleach nostalgia.

While I can't even to begin to express how glad I am that I could experience Burn The Witch immediately as it released, it wasn't a flawless masterpiece. It tried to tell way too much story that could naturally fit in a one hour movie. The world building wasn’t as strong as it could have been. If only this movie had an extra 20-30 minutes to its runtime, like a normal length animated feature, it would have flowed a lot smoother and could have fleshed out the characters and world a bit ... more. Some things weren't explained fully and the characters didn't have enough time to become fully developed. This is especially true for Balgo, who is easily the flattest and least interesting character in the movie.

There is a moment at the end of the movie where two characters hug (sort of), and it feels so random and comes so out of nowhere, that you would think that there actually was a prequel movie to this, since nothing in the movie made it seem like they were on hugging terms.

Another flaw I would give this movie would go to the animation team at studio Colorido. While the fight scenes were well animated for the most part, a lot of the still frames felt stiff. While that may seem like an obvious thing to say, it felt stiffer than most still frames feel. Some of the CG was off-putting as well, but most of the CGI was integrated well.

Now for the positives, as I said before, the action scenes were well animated for the most part. They were very slickly and stylishly animated and the CGI was integrated well most of the time. The Marchen (legendary dragon) was animated nicely as well. The entire backstory scene with Macy and Elly was presented wonderfully. The ED song was nice and the soundtrack fit. The voice cast was all solid as well.

Most of the cast had great designs. The character designs were very Bleach-like and they looked great in this setting. Also, it is just nice to see the Bleach references and to just be back in the world of Bleach. The main characters, Noel and Ninny, are really likable (even if not fully developed), and they really had a natural and believable chemistry between them.

This movie was enjoyable, although I went in to the movie already loving it, so I have a bias. That being said, I think that non-Bleach fans will have a harder time enjoying it than Bleach fans.

There will probably be more animated Burn The Witch content down the road, so it will be interesting to see where the series goes from here.

All in all, an 8 out of 10.

Holy mother of kino. I completely expected a soulless cashgrabbing garbage to fund Bleach 2021, but I was absolutely surprised. Burn the Witch is the only anime I didn't drop at episode 1 in 2020, and not because other shows this year were absolutely horrible, they were, but Burn the Witch is so god damn good.

Let's get this out of the way. I am a fan of Bleach, been one for some 12 years now. But these 3 episodes, or should I say, 1 movie, took me in way faster than anything Bleach EVER did.

Interesting characters? Check.
Amazing power system? Check.
Amazing animation? Check.
Bleach references? Check.

Kubo once ... again showed why he is a master of character design, if not story telling at least. But BTW GENUINELY has a great premise. The series fully deserves to be completely adapted, and I can easily see it overcoming Bleach, in both quality and popularity.

To keep this short, it's an amazing watch, doesn't even matter if you saw/read Bleach or not. This movie is absolute quality of the highest standard, and it is surprising it comes from a hack like Kubo, who butchered the ending of Bleach. Give it a watch, for sure.

What you need to know about this movie is that this is only season 1, which most people seem to not be aware of. There will be a season 2 for the manga which will more than likely be animated as well.

On the production side, there is nothing to complain about. The animation is totally smooth and nowhere does it ever drop in quality. The ED theme is beautiful. The sound designer didn't do that annoying thing where they just added a ton of bass to every explosion/hit and crunched it. The comedy was on point, the character designs are all unique, the voices fit ... every character to a tee. Good job Studio Colorido.

The plot for this first arc was very clear and concise. Every character had a unique personality nor did they seem cookie cutter. Season 1 did an excellent job of providing a foundation for the chapters to come. The viewer immediately gets a sense of the world the characters live in and its rules. Despite its short run time, I totally felt the emotions of certain characters and have become attached to quite a few that aren't the protagonists.

There's just too many good things to say about Kubo's BTW and Studio Colorido.

Stan Noel.

Man, people out here judging this anime for being a lackluster "1 hour montage" judging it as if it was a one shot movie. This is not the end of the story, the manga is getting a continuation and I'm totally into this story and hoping for way, way more.

The fantasy dragon bleach-esque setting is really cool, the characters are all very enjoyable to watch and they have so much depth to the character design. The author has obviously put a lot of thought into this world and I'm looking forward to see much more of it. Studio Colorido did a great job with the ... animation, the art style is fantastic as well. Really hope they make more of this!

For those of you - like me - who have never watched Bleach, I wouldn't pay too much attention to the fans who are saying "non-fans might not enjoy it." Perhaps Burn The Witch makes some references that went completely over my head as a non-fan, but there wasn't a single moment that I felt like I was out of the loop.

Sure, the story suffers from being so short - time constraints mean having to dump the viewer right in the middle of the action. I agree with the criticisms that say this feels like a 12 episode show and we're starting on episode ... 4, but I think overall they did a good job of establishing relationships, each character's personality & motivations, and a pretty significant amount of worldbuilding in just 1 hour. Everything left me wanting more, and I PRAY that one day this gets picked up as a full series, even if it gets handed off from the author to a studio for them to make their own thing out of it. (Maybe it wouldn't be as good then, maybe it would be best to keep the author on as a director/helper in the script department or whatever, I'm just hypothesising here after all...)

Animation was top notch, and they really got the "feel" of central London down pretty well. In fact the only other show I recall getting it close to spot-on is Princess Principal. (Even Magus Bride's rendition feels kind of one-dimensional and fictional/idealized, though that one gets praised a lot. But I mean that's just my own opinion.) The OST was pretty sparse overall but what *was* there was great. I actually need to do a quick re-watch because there was one song in there somewhere that I liked a lot...

My overall scoring:-
Story: 8
Art: 10
Sound: 9
Character: 8
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 9

I gotta say,Kubo sensei really did a solid job with this one.

Being a Bleach fanboy,anything from Tite Kubo goes into my watchlist without me giving it a second thought. "Burn the Witch" was no exception in this case. When the one-shot came out,I didn’t really feel the urge to get into it. But after the serialization,I got the drive force to give the manga and the adaptation a try and it sure as hell didn’t disappoint me.

In simple terms,I would say,"Burn the Witch" felt like an anime version of J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts(Hey,Harry Potter fans! Did I catch your attention with that?). But,firstly,let me clear ... up the confusion you’re in right now of whether this is a sequel to Bleach or is it a seperate story. It doesn’t directly involve the characters from Bleach but it does occur in the same universe.

Ok.Let's get into it. The show does feel a lot like Bleach as the characters are a lot similar. But it actually works and doesn’t feel like a repetive out of place setup. The basic concepts are pretty much the same. MC is a human,he gets involved with an other worldly girl with powers and the girl is a part of a police force that supervises the control of other creatures in her reality. It does have fun characters and the story itself is interesting. Although,I would've loved to see more of the story as a one hour movie kind of felt short as it's set up in the universe of a long running anime. The animation wasn’t top notch throughout the whole thing but it's still pretty solid. The fights were perfectly done with great animation and amazing sound effects.

Athough,One of the negative points this show has is that it might not be appealing to someone who's not familiar with stories from Kubo as this one attracted Bleach fans the most.

If you haven’t watched it yet,step back as I'm about to spoil the story now-
Earlier in the review,I did mention about this show being a lot like Fantastic Beats. So,let's look into that. Instead of the Obscurus,we have a featherless chicken that turns into a disney princess after losing contact with it's owner(I said that because it's name was Cinderella after the transformation). In case of the characters,Balgo feels like a blend of Ichigo and Kon,Noel feels like a fusion of Orihime and Unohana,Ninny feels like a combination of Hiyori and Yoruichi and Bruno is like a mixture between Grimjow and Bazz B. I liked Noel's tsundere act at the end and the Bleach logo inside the Burn the Witch logo was definitely clever.

In conclusion,it's a solid and entertaining show and I would definitely recommend giving it a try.

I will keep this short and pretty spoiler free, I'm not the best at reviews but I hope this helps :)

Overall 8/10
I would say overall, give it a go, the story was lacking in some parts and the ending was a bit of a let down, but it was still fun to watch. I think the art was amazing and really suited the story, I would've liked it better if it was a longer (and more 'fleshed' out) anime but we can enjoy what we have got, so I say give it a go, its not bad at all, although there is room for improvement.


Story ... 8/10
To be honest, the story was a lot different than what I was expecting, but it was enjoyable except for the few plot holes and things that just didn't make sense. I feel like the story was a bit underdeveloped, but in the end it was pretty good. I will say though, the ending was a bit of a let down, it was very different to what I thought was going to happen but I personally think the ending was a bit eh

Art 10/10
I absolutely adore the art, I think it is super pretty and it created a nice atmosphere, I would watch it again just for the art

Sound 7/10
I dont have much to say here since it was mainly just sound effects and stuff, but they were good

Characters 9/10
I really liked most of the characters, they were enjoyable and I liked watching how they interacted with each other, especially ninny and noel. I liked their personalities for the most part and they made it much more enjoyable to watch the anime since they weren't very dull

Enjoyment 8/10
I did enjoy watching it, I feel like this would've been much better if it had been longer and more fleshed out, as the story felt like it was missing something, but overall pretty good to watch and its not long or anything

(This is the first time I write a review)
The anime has a low rating on MAL mainly because the reviewers aren’t aware that it’s an ongoing series. The creator has confirmed a second season.

The plot is concise and to the point. There weren’t unnecessary dialogues between characters meaning that the forward button isn’t tempting. The characters’ designs fit their personalities. The pacing was great, it wasn’t too slow nor too fast. The art style and animation are terrific. The soundtracks are God-tier.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first season and I’m eager for the second.

I'd recommend it.

- igottheonepiece

I'm not the type of person who gets into every single detail and I'm also not really good at writing reviews so please don't come at me (pls).

Story: It just has your usual find a problem, fix it, then there's another problem and at least one character has the desire to fix it all on their own but is backed up by the main crew later on. Also has your typical higher-up people who are like, "We're gonna take care of it, stay out of our way!" and one of the main characters (or just one, but we have a duo) is like, "Nope, can't ... do!" and goes all out to be a hero in the end. I think we've all seen these scenarios and the anime directors seem to can't get enough of it, so they don't wanna try to be original. If you're gonna use this scenario, I always hope it's at least interesting and unique from the others and this anime got off the hook with it, but barely passed.

Art: It looks like a typical anime design (and it is), but they kept it clean and consistent, even during the fighting animations. I really like how each character looks the best rather than the scenery. The scenery barely changed throughout the movie anyway. But I like the designs and the dragon designs were nice as well. Job well done.

Sound: I don't really pay attention to OSTs, but they have to be unique and good for me to notice it and even start listening to it. If I like an opening/ending, it has to be good. The ending of the first two eps were okay, but the ending on the last ep really got me jamming. So my score is a 7 just because of that ending.

Character: This movie did a good job including all the typical characters: loud and determined one, reserved and follows the rules, the pervert, the one who cares about people, and the reckless with the most self confidence. I'm not gonna say who's which because I don't want to put any spoilers, but at least every character was likeable (for me, at least).

Enjoyment: I actually really liked it, even though it was such a basic anime. If a basic anime goes right, it actually turns out to be really good. The plot itself was definitely not interesting, but the animation and characters made up for some of it.

Overall: I'm not picky when it comes to watching anime and if you look at my list, you can tell I don't really give any bad ratings. Most of the bad ratings are in my dropped list, but when it comes to watching till the end, it shows that I enjoyed it some way. I know a lot of people thought it was just average and nothing special, but if you're looking for a refresher, this anime might just do the trick.

(This is my first review, so go easy on me...)

I see a lot of people giving Burn The Witch mediocre reviews, and I think that's in-part due to the of the way the film is organized.
Burn The Witch is split up into three twenty minute long "episodes", which ends up making it feel more like a mini-series rather than a film. As a result, it barely manages to offer up an hour of content, and viewers are left only wishing that there was more. Is that really a bad thing, though? For what content is provided, I feel as though the writers did an excellent ... job of answering most of the big questions, and left enough unanswered to make me wish it was a full series. In that way, this feels more like one really long pilot episode... which just happens to be split up into three episodes. Confusing, right? Is it a mini-series, a film, or a pilot episode?

In any event, there seems to be a lot of meat left on the bone. The world of Burn The Witch has a lot to offer, with an interesting magic system and dragon species galore. It feels like if Harry Potter was set in the Bleach universe. That description doesn't give it enough credit though, because Burn The Witch stands alone from Bleach. It's a spin on that universe so creative that I couldn't believe it was set in the same world.

The characters are endearing (albeit a little shallow on the surface), and their personalities mesh well with one-another. It's unfortunate that the run-time wasn't longer, because they didn't truly have any time to develop. This also leaves the characters being this film's weakest aspect. However, that isn't to say it detracts from the entertainment factor. I found it to be hugely entertaining, with fantastic visuals and a great score.

TL;DR - It's good. Enjoy it for what it is, and don't let people's negative opinions stop you from enjoying it.

Never have I seen an anime from a manga adapted from the author of Bleach that had turned out so good. Burn the Witch is without a doubt one of the best animated films/anime (regardless of the three-episode count) I have ever seen in 2020-2021.

---STORY---

Rating: 9

The story was set up very well with the concept on the setting of Reverse London which plays a huge part in the anime and its lore. The plot turned out to become interesting for the most part as the story advances throughout the story, though at some points may make viewers feel like the story has nothing special. However, ... besides the speed bumps that had underwent in the plot, I do think there are some parts in Burn the Witch that may be special in particular. The set up of Burn the Witch even reminded me of the Little Witch Academia series I watched a while back, which they are both some of the great witch anime as well. The character development here and there was evermore interesting, especially for characters Ninny Spangcole, Noel Niihashi and Macy Baljure. One scene particularly in the first act and the climax was intense and had a ton of action that is worth entertaining for many.

---ART---

Rating: 9

The art direction in Burn the Witch was pretty spectacular with the landscapes, the vastness in the environment of London/Reverse London, and the production/set design in some of the settings in the anime. There were even some scenes with amazing art in particular that help play out some of the great cinematography/layout that the film has in some sequences.

---SOUND---

Rating: 10

The sound design (mixing/editing) was incredible in Burn the Witch, alongside the fantastic original score/music composed by Keiji Inai. Though the anime has perfect voice acting and the action sequences incorporate great dragon/magic sound effects, the film orchestrates a various array of using a mix of sound effects and voice acting in some parts in a wonderful display of sound mixing/editing in anime that immerses viewers into their world. The ED song, Blowing, is no doubt harmonious.

---CHARACTERS---

Rating: 10

Along with the major and technical specs Burn the Witch had to offer as well as its imaginative character design, the characters/voice acting was the main highlight of the anime for me. Asami Tano (english dub actress Olivia Hack of Avatar: TLA and Bratz fame) has brought humor, drama and passion to her role as Ninny Spangcole, in which her character examples ambition, beauty, magical and complexion in the anime. Ninny has a tour-de-force powerhouse anime performance that I believe that she is one of the best anime girls of the year and is one of the best animated performances in my opinion this year.

Yuina Yamada (english dub actress Allegra Clark) on the other hand also brought serenity, empathetic and splendor as the other main Noel Niihashi, who also brings sensitivity, courage and teamwork in every scene she's in.

Saori Hayami (english dub actress Brianna Knickerbocker) apparently has one of the strongest roles/performances in the anime, exemplifying shrewdness, emotion and even humor in her role as Macy Baljure, in which, alongside Ninny, is one of the best characters in the anime and has one of the best developed character developments and backstories, showing melancholy, dignity and/or comedy in many of her scenes.

Other major supporting characters in the anime, including male characters Balgo Ywain Parks (played by Shimba Tsuchiya (english dub actor Griffin Burns)) and Bruno Bangnyfe (played by Chikahiro Kobayashi (english dub actor Sean Chiplock from Re:Zero)), has shown promising and intriguing roles by playing crucial parts to the story alongside the other characters.

Osushi was at least pretty cute too.

---ENJOYMENT---

Rating: 10

Hands down, I have enjoyed every minute of Burn the Witch, if its not the best anime ever (since there's also Ghibli and other anime films/series out there that are animated masterpieces). If I made my own animation awards for films and series, I'd definitely contend/nominate it for one or some awards. I know some people don't agree that Burn the Witch is great, but I for one loved it. Ninny, Noel and Macy are the best characters in Burn the Witch, in my opinion. The director, Tatsuro Kawano, has made a mesmerizing debut in his first anime direction for Burn the Witch after his commitments to key animation in various animes.

---OVERALL---

Rating: 10
(96% as a percentage)

Burn the Witch was a splendorous, whimsical wonderment that's ever been adapted from a manga by the author of Bleach. I hope more of the story is told later on with a sequel in the near future, because I would love to see where their next adventures would take them next. The story was amazing with a faithful adaptation to the manga, the artwork is well done, the sound design is immersive/innovative with the use of magic/dragon sound effects, the characters along with its designs and developments absolutely shine in every scene, and the anime itself is impactful, especially for diehard Tite Kubo and Bleach fans. I'd recommend it to those who wish to see the Burn the Witch in anime form and to those who want to see this.

After watching burn the witch, it was like watching bleach again, but in the different universe, the vibe of bleach is really connected to burn the witch, and as for the bleach fan, it was amazing to watch it, it has great potential and I hope we are going to see a new season soon enough, because I have a feeling it is only just starting, and we will get more in the future, so let's hope for it

Now let's talk about burn the witch
It is the same as bleach, soul reaper/witch against hollow/dragon, and it is same mission for both of them, but ... burn the witch is way different than bleach when it comes to the mission, the selling, the handling and the connection, because burn the witch is in the future after bleach, the story is the most important and interesting part of burn the witch, and I hope we are going to see it more in the future

the art is absolutely amazing and beautiful, the studio did absolutely a amazing job
the sound was awesome it was really good music

The characters is the best one, it is very bleach character feeling right there, the characters development, they personally, the acting and the looks, it is amazing to the characters Noel and Ninny as the main character in the series, because it is not often we see the female character as protagonist, tite kubo did amazing job to make female characters to the main characters in the series, and also the support character bruno is side of grimmjow and it makes more exciting to watch the series

I really enjoying watching burn the witch, it is the same feeling when I watching bleach back then, and I really hope we are going to see more burn the witch in the future, because it really deserves it, so I hope we can support tite kubo for he's working and he's new series, he really needs supporting from us and I hope he gets it, tite kubo deserves it

Thank you tite kubo for this new series from your biggest bleach fan ^^

Where did this come from and how do I get more? Absolutely phenomenal from start to finish. I found it to be unpredictable, surprising, the art style complemented the story, the characters were interesting and had flaws and strengths.

The characters, the world, the story, given so few episodes I didn't think it could come together. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed the animation and all of it.

No notes. Give me more.

It is associated with the bleach universe, however, I am not that familiar with bleach, just a few Easter eggs. Not anything related to the main plot.

I think that people that give ... this a chance will really enjoy it.
Good vibes.

I truly enjoyed this anime. The story itself was good enough that I didn’t necessarily need to have any prior knowledge that it takes place in Bleach universe. Although with only 3 episodes, the story sets itself up with the potential that it could later turn into a full 12 episode series.

The artwork was amazing. When I think dragons, I think cute or total badass. Burn the Witch managed to deliver both. The fighting sequence was well done and didn’t feel dull. The main characters were enjoyable with the classic fiery witch being paired with the more calm demeanor one. Voice acting was on ... point. (Asami Tano's delivery as the classic fiery witch was amazing).

The background music was good in its setting. I really vibed with the outro song.

Quite obviously rushed. However, good concepts and great animation. Seems promising. Would want more of this, better written, than a revived Bleach.

As reviews need to be longer, just a few more words:

There being a law that those who have touched dragons are to be imprisoned/executed sounds completely unreasonable. But, this could lead to further reveals, and I wouldn't mind just assuming it as a premise. The greatest part of the short story for me: in the end the problem isn't solved by friendship and love between human and dragons. That the white dragon outright tried to kill its adoptive mother lays promising grounds for further ... dragon-human relationships.

Burn the Witch was a pleasant surprise to me. It appeared really bland and mediocre on paper. Moreover, I have never read even a single chapter of Bleach, forget about being a fan of it. But still, the movie did a pretty decent job at entertaining me within its span of an hour. I'll explain why.

Burn the Witch takes place in the city of London. It mainly revolves around two witches, Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole, who are a part of an organization named Wing Bind. Their job is to protect and cope with dragons that are invisible to most people and cause the majority ... of the deaths in London.

Needless to say, the premise of Burn the Witch isn't very unique. However, as I have always said, the story doesn't need to be completely unique in order to be compelling. If executed properly, even shows with the most unoriginal plots can be very entertaining to watch. Initially, Burn the Witch seems to follow that formula pretty well. Though, the problem with the plot becomes apparent as we move onto the second episode.

Burn the Witch can be a bit overambitious at times. It tries to tell way too much story than it actually needs to. It wants to narrate a lot bigger story, but fails at doing so because of its short span. If the movie had run for 30 extra minutes, it could've done a much better job at world building and storytelling.

But that isn't to say the plot is completely irredeemable. Despite not being particularly innovative or outstanding, it does a decent job at keeping the viewers engrossed in watching. But as I said before, just taking a little more time with the world building and storytelling could've been really efficient in making the plot even more enjoyable. Because of that exact reason, most characters don't get the chance to be fully fleshed out either. Not enough time is given to properly develop all of them, which can become a little problematic later on.

They aren't unlikeable in any way, though. They all have their distinct and likeable characteristics which make them pretty entertaining. Our protagonists, Noel and Nana, are really likeable and their interactions are always amusing to watch. The backstory of Macy and Elly is also presented decently. Even Bruno, who seemed like a huge asshole, turned out to be a not-so-bad person in the end. I especially enjoyed Balgo's personality; his idiotic nature and uselessness might annoy some viewers, but I personally found it very appealing.

In case of animation, Burn the Witch does a pretty decent job. Studio Colorido isn't the most renowned studio out there, but they handled the animation greatly in this case. The character designs are distinct and attractive. The dragons are decorated nicely in terms of designs as well. While some action scenes feel kinda stiff, most of them are very decently animated. The voice acting and soundtrack are also very decent. Most background tracks, despite not being very memorable, are befitting to the movie, which makes the fight scenes more dynamic and enjoyable. There isn't any opening theme, but the ending song "Blowing" sung by NiL is kinda catchy.

To summarize, Burn the Witch is a pretty enjoyable movie. A little more runtime could've helped fix some of the issues regarding the narrative, but the movie was quite good for what it was. So if you are looking for a short but entertaining movie full of epic action and goofy characters, give Burn the Witch a try.

Cons:

This three episodes transition and pacing isn't good, the way the episodes end aren't well done. It feels like they just wanted to squeeze some artwork with a catchy song at the end.

The world building wasn't that good but not terrible, you could understand in a way what the world is in a few minutes.

The main characters aren't bad, they're good characters.

The supporting characters are just there, they could've played a better role in the story (specially Banx). Balgo is just annoying and useless.

... Pros:

The world has an interesting setting

Good artwork and sound

Likeable main characters

It's an enjoyable watch

The pacing isn't that bad

Overall:

This one-shot has the potential to become a good anime, just fixing the pacing problem might be enough sense that's the main problem. It has a good setting, with supporting characters that can be great if they are done right, with two main characters that might become popular, sense there personalities are quite good.

It probably should be more of an 8 rather than 9 but seeing this many nagging reviews...

This piece has HUGE potential. In those few episodes it manages to show the universe (like scanning codes to open portals, using phones to keep track of their progress, those areas being locked by hidden fences) a plethora or characters (that don't look or act alike), great art (with plenty of detail and without those dumb underwear shots), good music (though unfortunately rarely played), a few twists (like that fingershot at the end) and jokes, everything being mixed in overall dark (or just far from fairytale) mood.

Plot overall ... wasn't the best but... how can all this be squeezed in 60 minutes and reasonably development? Obviously it was rushed but characters are not irritably stupid, act naturally, dialogues and situations are well above good and I wish it would not have ended so abruptly, though they just had in order to have certain closure (unlike many others) and that just ears them more respect points.

Hell, I would even read the manga I guess, which is extremely rare for me.

Don't be mistaken: This is just a prologue.

The movie adapts "Season One" of the Burn the Witch manga... which is only 4 chapters, with a Season Two confirmed to come at some point in the future. If you're familiar with Tite Kubo of Bleach fame, you will be able to tell that he plans on expanding this series way beyond this first movie.

Story: 5/10.
There are two things you need to know before jumping into this movie.
The first: it's a sequel to the original Burn the Witch one-shot. Yes, not an adaptation, a sequel. The events of the one-shot still happened, but you don't get to ... see any of it. This is why you're just thrown into the series' world, without any real introduction to its main characters.
The second: the story is incomplete. As I mentioned above, this movie, as well as the first season of the manga that it adapts, is a prologue. It serves to introduce you to Ninny, Noel, Balgo and a few other characters before the "real story" actually begins... Which is very weird, considering that the manga went into indefinite hiatus as soon as Season One was done, so we actually don't have that "real story" yet.
Let's talk about the movie's story, for what it's worth. Two girls work for an agency that handles dragons, both friendly and useful, as well as aggressive and dangerous. They're currently taking care of this really annoying guy called Balgo, and if you want to know why... you have to read the one-shot.
This is bad story-telling. Nothing indicates that the movie is a sequel to the one-shot, and you'll only find out about this if you do research on the series on your own, because there is NOTHING that alludes to why or how they got stuck with Balgo, which raises a lot of questions and confuses the viewer when they start throwing around terms that are explained in the one-shot... but not in the movie. You shouldn't have to do homework in order to understand the basic premise and world of your movie.
Looking over this HUGE flaw, the story is... ok. Nothing special, for a prologue. It's meant to introduce you to the characters and establish the world and it does that fine enough, even if a bit clunky sometimes.

Art: 8/10.
It's Kubo. The man who achieved "Big Three" status on drawing cool shit alone. The character designs are great, which has always been his strong point, and the animation by Studio Colorido is fluid and pleasing to look at. There is a lot of flying around in this, as you'd expect from a show about witches, and it's all pretty well done.
Spells look a bit boring for the most part, with the exception being the spells cast by Bruno, which are very creative in how they're cast and look different enough from the rest, which are basically just light being shaped differently. Yeah it's all a bit samey but it's not what I'd describe as bad, at all.

Sound: 6/10.
The voice acting is good, everyone fits their character and helps the movie sell you on who these people are. The background music was fine, if a bit unremarkable. The same could be said about the ending song, it did its job fine enough, but it's not like it's particularly memorable or something that I'd add to my anisong playlist, for example.

Character: 7/10.
Kubo knows how to write likable characters, even if he doesn't really know what to do with them as the series goes on. He also knows how to write insufferable characters.
Case in-point: Balgo. Balgo is by far the worst thing about this series. Comic-relief characters are hard to write, I know that, and if you're not careful enough, you end up with a character like Balgo, a complete useless tag-along whose only role in the movie is to "be funny". I did not find him funny, I found him incredibly irritating.
Everyone else is good, for what little we've seen of them. The two main characters are your typical energetic-apathetic dynamic, but what I like about them is that neither one of them is your typical hero(ine). They're both selfish, Noel is greedy and Ninny is ambitious to a fault, disregarding rules and even the safety of London citizens to prove herself worthy of a promotion. Their dynamic is nothing new but it was enough for me to want to see more of them.
Other relevant characters include hot-headed, over-confident Bruno Bangnyfe, which is my favorite character thanks to a combination of great character design, cool powers and scene-stealing personality which is a Kubo classic; Macy Baljure, whose only real role in the prologue is to be cute and naive which I assume is to establish that she's going to be changing a lot throughout the series (whenever that decides to start); and Ninny and Noel's boss Billy Binx, Jr., a laid-back and lazy character who is pretty charming considering his small screen-time.
The movie also introduces the Top of Horns, the rulers of the Wing Bind association, but their appearance is very brief, only serving to, again, assure the viewers that the story is only at its beginning.
Honestly I would give it an 8/10 if Balgo wasn't so damn annoying.

Enjoyment: 7/10.
It's fun. That's all I can really say about this series so far, really. It did get me interested in seeing the rest of the story, which I guess was the purpose of the movie. It feels incomplete because well... it is. In a way this movie is just a big advertisement for Burn the Witch Season 2, whenever that decides to show its face on Weekly Shonen Jump. On its own, I'd give it a light 7/10.

Man oh man, I've been waiting months on this to launch! I'm seeing a lot of mixed opinions on it from other reviewers, but I'll just say it blew me away! I was trying my best not to hype it up in my mind, but it managed to exceed my expectations entirely. I definitely hope, despite how unlikely it is, that this will be developed into a full fledged series, because the potential is amazing.

The animation is smooth and super high quality, the choreography is amazing, and the visuals are just very pleasant and engaging. I found the two main characters very interesting, personally. ... Ninny is an automatic fave from me.

The world building is pretty neat! Not entirely original but vague enough to be expanded on and twisted into something new. The concept of Front and Shadow London is pretty cool! I kind of want to know more about how that works! The world building and overall plot would be phenomenal for a longer show, and I really would love to have more. Like... what are the repercussions of traveling between the two? Do some of the characters have split lives based in each world, what is that like? I think this is so cool!

Also, I just love dragons and girls being badass so... I'm all here for this! I enjoyed it a lot and really hope that there's more of this!