Atsuko Kagari

## Voices

**Atsuko Kagari** (アツコ・カガリ *Kagari Atsuko*), more commonly known by her nickname **Akko** (アッコ), is the titular main protagonist of *Little Witch Academia*. She is a first-generation witch from Japan and an admirer of Shiny Chariot.

## Appearance

Akko is a slightly pale-skinned girl of average height with long, straight, chestnut brown hair in color which reaches about just below her shoulder blades in length with matching blunt square side-bangs on the left side along with a section of it tied onto a half ponytail on the back of her head and large crimson eyes.

As with other Luna Nova students, Akko's standard Luna Nova Academy uniform consists of a white long-sleeved shirt, a navy blue vest, a tie of the same color, and a skirt. While outside the school, she wore a buttoned jacket covered with a cape over the said uniform set. During practical classes and school functions, on the other hand, she wears a uniform consisting of a long navy blue hooded tunic, a pointed hat, a body belt, stockings, and long boots. Like her friends Lotte and Sucy, she completes her uniform with a red sash.

On days off, Akko wears a white t-shirt and brown shorts, which also doubles as her pajamas. She has also been shown occasionally wearing an orange turtleneck over a t-shirt and brown sports shoes with white laces (on some occasions in Blue Moon). While on her way to Glastonbury for Luna Nova's opening ceremony, on the other hand, she wears an orange hooded jacket, blue turtleneck sweater, brown shorts, and red boots.

## Personality

In both short films and anime series, Akko is best described as a cheerful and optimistic yet impulsive and determined girl, which is consistent with her normally exaggerated expressions. She is always up for a challenge, even if it seems too difficult for her and everyone else. As Akko is very social, kind, and truly compassionate, people are often drawn to her happy disposition. She will do anything to pursue her dream to become a talented witch like Chariot, even if it means to put her life in danger. Additionally, Akko has an idealized view of witches inspired by her childhood idol Shiny Chariot, which clashes with her fellow students' perception. Being a fan of Shiny Chariot, she displays a poster of her in her room, and Shiny Chariot is often idealized in her fantasies. It is worth mentioning that she is also very immersed in her own fantasies and sometimes does not account for other witches' opinions. This does not mean that she is a selfish person: In the short films, Akko realizes she almost jeopardizes her friendship with Sucy and Lotte, thus resulting in her sympathizing with what she had done.

In anime continuity, Akko's personality remains consistent with in short films, though her overall characterization fleshed out better and her worst flaws being toned down a bit somewhat. Throughout her early months in her enrollment at Luna Nova, Akko earned infamy among her peers and the academy's staffs as much as Amanda where in her case, for her idealized view on witches, inferior magical abilities, and impulsive and reckless behavior that saw her repeatedly breaking rules. Contrary to Anne Finnelan's poor opinion about her and true to Ursula's statements, that is not to say Akko being unable to change to better, let alone aware with her own faults. Her first visit to the Fountain of Polaris saw her understood that she must work hard to achieve her dream, a lesson that motivated her to improve her magical skills and even unlock the Second Word of the Seven Words of Arcturus. The events of "What You Will" highlighted how much Akko's insecurities over her magical abilities plagued her to the point of comparing herself with the seemingly flawless Diana. She initially believed that emulating Chariot and outperforming Diana was the best way to prove herself only to be rebuked by both Ursula and Woodward (the latter did so by changing her appearance into the likeness of Diana), with the former advising that she should prove herself with her own qualities instead. Akko eventually let's go of these insecurities through liberating Vajarois from her sadness with the help of Lotte and Sucy and unlocks the third Word in the process, ending the tradition of keeping Vajarois appeased via sacrifices once and for all. The moment when she unlocked the Fourth Word while saving Lotte's home community from Greenman Disease saw her understanding that she must be patient. Though she took those lessons at heart and learned that it was her determination to be like her idol, Shiny Chariot, and desire to spread joy with magic which allowed Shiny Rod to appear before her in Arcturus Forest in the first place, Akko still retained her impulsive and reckless attitude.

Though she has a little discipline for studying and finds most classes boring, Akko is very clever. This is first seen in "A New Beginning" when she lures the Cockatrice so that it gets entangled in the vines of a Mandrake plant. In "Night Fall", she gets Lotte into the city by catching a ride in Luna Nova's food delivery truck. And in "Blytonbury's Undead Travelogue", she is able to quickly bring Mr. Holbrooke to Luna Nova by grabbing onto the Bell Tower bell and using a Mending Magic spell to reunite it with its clapper, knowing the clapper is on campus as Miranda Holbrooke's staff. Akko is very creative and eschews tradition for innovation. However, she does not have a great sense of her own capabilities and her overconfidence contributes to a tendency to look before she leaps, and her motivation to do her very best and inch closer to Chariot is often dismissed as naivety by others.

Despite her impulsiveness, ultimately Akko is a selfless witch who will risk her own well-being and reputation to do what is right, such as during "Orange Submariner" when she used her last bit of magic in her wand to break open the fishing cage to save a fish's family rather than using it later when they find Pisces (although she coincidentally found Pisces in the cage), "Luna Nova and the White Dragon" when she convinced her friends to go with her and take back the Sorcerer's Stone from the dragons, and during "Sleeping Sucy" when she volunteered to be the "sacrifice" to go into Sucy's mind and wake her up. In "New Age Magic", her kind heart has allowed her to feel sympathy towards fairy laborers of Luna Nova who went under the strike and joined their cause in getting more magical energy. Indeed, her kindred spirit saw her gained so many friends and allies as well as earning respects from her rivals, and loyalty between them which stemmed from her compassion proved so strong it inspired them to do the same; Ursula sacrificed her Broom Flight ability to protect Akko from the cloud of Wagandea pollen for the sake of her future while Diana entrusts Akko her premium Chariot Card, the only thing she lacked in her collection, in order to rekindle her resolve to be a witch like Shiny Chariot after the awful revelation surrounding their very idol and role model. Diana herself acknowledges how envious she was to the Japanese' positive traits which saw her changed the lives of many around her to the better, including those who stubbornly attempted to maintain status quo at the beginning, as much as she appreciated them, leading the Cavendish concluding that Akko's beliefs being the only true key to save the magical world.