Studio Trigger announced at the Anime Expo panel on Sunday that Netflix will be streaming their upcoming Little Witch Academia series, reports the Anime News Network. The brand new 30 minute television series was announced a few weeks ago and it was revealed that Yoh Yoshinari would be directing it. The series will likely continue where the original 2013 short and following movie left off.
Little Witch Academia had an interesting road to becoming a series. The original Little Witch Academia short was made in 2013 by Yoh Yoshinari as part of the "Anime Mirai" Young Animators Training Project. This project was launched in 2010 by the Japanese Animation Creators Association who used funds they got from the Japanese government's Agency of Cultural Affairs to distrubute 38 million yen ($480,000 dollars) to select anime studios. The studios then used this money to train young animators and allow them to make anime shorts of their own. Yoh Yoshinari's Little Witch Academia was one of the shorts produced through the 2012 project.
The short followed a young girl named Akko attending a witch academy. The official summary for the short is as follows:
Akko Kagariis an ordinary girl who joins the renowned witch academy for witch girls, Luna Nova Academy. When she was younger, she went to Magical Festa, a magic show hosted by a witch named Shiny Chariot. Akko was so mesmerized and inspired by Shiny Chariot's performance that she dreamed to someday be a "cool" witch like her. This young and impressionable Akko takes Shiny Chariot's words as her own motto: "Never forget, a believing heart is your magic." As part of a class, Akko and her classmates go into a labyrinth under the Tower of Luna Nova. There, a sealed ancient dragon was unleashed by one of her classmates. Akko tries to stop the dragon, but…
After the success of the first short, Studio Trigger turned to a Kickstarter campaign in order to get the funds to make a second one. The Kickstarter ended up raising $625,418, four times its original goal. As a result, Studio Trigger released a Little Witch Academia movie in 2015, which was met with great success. As a result, we're getting this new TV anime.
I am personally very excited for the Little Witch Academia anime. I found the series to be utterly charming. I also had the pleasure of meeting the voice actress for Akko, Megumi Han (who also plays Gon in Hunter x Hunter's reboot) at a convention and both she and her mother Keiko Han (best known for playing Luna in the original Sailor Moon anime) were very enthusiastic in wanting the anime to be a TV series. They even gifted the short to a cute little girl they saw in the audience. I'm glad that a project the staff believed in so hard will be getting its due. Are you excited for the Little Witch Academia anime?
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