Art: Exemplary of what anime can be. Every frame is beautifully rendered in a way that looks both meticulous and full of love of the craft.
Sound: Good but unremarkable, although the OP is cute and the ED is gorgeously drawn.
Story: Harry Potter in an all-girls school. Some unlikely misfit friends come together in a school for witches, and learn who they are and what they can do along the way. The tone is light, the challenges they face are believable within the world, and the story is driven by real-seeming characters with genuine interactions. As the series progresses a more serious plot begins to develop, which casts the light-hearted adventures taking place in a more serious light.
Characters: Unequivocally the high point of the show, even more so than the stellar art. The side characters are all great in their own right, but the main three are really the best that Little Witch Academia has to offer. Main character Akko is a perfect blend of annoying and endearing, and she sucks at magic just enough to act as an audience surrogate without being irritating about it. She is also a curious mix of plucky idiot and self-centered asshole in a way that really shouldn't work but somehow does anyway. Lotte, the most reserved member of the main cast, is the perfect balance of chill to Akko's complete lack thereof. Her presence really grounds the cast as a whole, as she is the most "normal" character of the bunch. Sucy, the third of the main characters and hands down my favorite, is a joy to watch. She is cynical, sarcastic, borderline evil, and a perfect wild card to pull the group into and out of danger with her dangerous potions and even more dangerous lack of safety standards. Episode 8, which is mostly about Sucy, is one of the best episodes of an anime I have seen in years. All in all, a great group of characters on which to focus our story.
This show is great. Watching it makes me feel good, which is really all I want in a lighthearted anime like this. It is funny, serious, and heartwarming by turns, and is always presented in a way that makes me want to be a part of the world it depicts. Fans of Harry Potter, fans of the preceding two films, and anime fans in general should not miss this show, and I would not be surprised if it turns out to be overall one of the best shows of 2017.
