Being the slice of life lover I am, I felt Flying Witch captures the theme of the genre well and just lets the characters be themselves without worrying about carrying a story. I am usually the kind of viewer that comes into most anime (hyped or sidelined) with minimal expectations and I was not disappointed at all with this one.
The story is nonexistent but it's mainly about a witch who moves in with her cousins and continues to live a normal life while studying magic. They go on small adventures (and get's lost in them sometimes) and approach the small things in life while laying in some comedic moments using the magical themes. Flying Witch does a very good job at keeping its composure and the atmosphere is constantly slow yet calming. Where the show excelled at was using the atmosphere it gave as some form of indentification like it knew what it wanted to be, what it wanted to achieve, and that the makers of the show will not be attempt to go further and will lose sight becoming something it's not. It remains simple throughout but manages to present it's moments of beauty very quietly with a sense of wonder. It also presented a proper balance between the average slice of life-life and the fantasy aspects of being a witch.
The characters are nothing complex or nothing the most fascinating. But that beats being annoying, loud, and having high-pitched voices forcing their cuteness on the viewers since they are unconfident on what the anime has to offer. The cast keeps things very simple and interacts with each other staying true to themselves like they are real people. The characters ranged from interesting, subtle, humorous, and just overall held up the happy mood.
I found the artstyle beautiful and the animation was solid throughout. The cinematography was also excellent making the most out of what it could display with its multiple scenes of nature and the countryside environment. The opening is nothing much but I didn't feel like skipping over that at all.
The show does not try to be flashy but it's just normal. Sometimes that's all an anime needs to be for somebody to enjoy it without having to watch through the parts of anime they hate such as troupes and cliches. If you like slow, nature-focused slice of life like Non Non Biyori, you should totally give this a checkout. Flying Witch gets a thumbs up and a 7/10.
