Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade

Official Japanese poster

### Animator(s):

Yusuke Yoshigaki, Takefumi Hori, Mai Yoneyama, Yūto Kaneko, Masaru Sakamoto, Shōta Sannomiya, Hisao Dendō, Shūhei Handa

### Length:

53 minutes

***Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade*** (リトルウィッチアカデミア 魔法仕掛けのパレード, *Ritoru Witchi Akademia: Mahōjikake no Parēdo*?) is an anime film released on July 3, 2015, at Anime Expo 2015 and October 9, 2015, in Japanese theaters. It's the sequel of the first special *Little Witch Academia* and tells the challenge of Atsuko Kagari to produce a parade with the help of her friends from the Luna Nova Magical Academy.

## Production

The movie was funded by a Kickstarter campaign. It was funded up to $625,518 from a total of 7,938 patrons who pledged for the project to be made.

## Synopsis

Akko Kagari enters a European, traditional, witch-training, prestigious school called Luna Nova Magical Academy based on the charming magic of the witch Shiny Chariot's show she saw when she was young. However, not being able to ride on a broom at all and doing mischievous things in class causes her trouble. Akko's friends, caretaker Lotte and cynic Sucy are allowed to participate in a parade that reproduces the history of witch-hunting as punishment!
If they do not produce the parade successfully together with three other troublemaking students — Amanda O'Neill, Constanze Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger, and Jasminka Antonenko — they will be expelled. However, they would like to make it as happy as a show by Shiny Chariot! Akko's magical happy parade, involving the whole city taking off.

## Full Recap

The film begins with Sucy intending to use an ominous-looking mushroom for the class' fusion magic experiment but is objected by Akko who suggests using what seems to be a brownie (though the former questioned whether the creature on her hand indeed one due to its goblin-like features). Lotte tries to break up her roommates' arguments, but the two are too occupied that they wind mixing both together by mistake, resulting in the three friends alongside the mushroom, the small creature, and their boiling fusion potion into a Matango-like monster that poisons everyone in the lab. Subsequently, Finnelan, the acting teacher at that time, and Diana casted Luna Lana to undo the mess they caused.

At the Student Counseling Room, it's revealed that this is the fifth time the red team got into trouble; two of previous for being attempting to test a love potion on a potion teacher and having animated mummies to take over their supposed cleaning duties. In the light of their latest shenanigan, Finnelan assigned the girls to participate in the academy's upcoming witch parade at the town. To Akko's dismay, their would-be part in the parade is going to be a re-enactment of Witch Hunts in the Middle Ages in addition to an appeasement ceremony at the town's Sealing Stones. Finnelan further explained that another trio of troublemakers will join them also; the thief Amanda O'Neill, the magic-mechanic savvy Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger, and the gluttonous Jasminka Antonenko, and sternly concludes with an ultimatum: Should they failed to make the parade a successful one, they must flunk the school year.

Gathering at red team's dorm room, Akko is disgruntled by how outdated and awful the witch parade it to the point of taking her anger on Lotte's pillow. None of her friends share such sentiment, Amanda included as the Irish-American only interested in getting it done. Just then, Jasminka, who mostly busy with her basket of "happy flavor" candies, offers some to Lotte, indirectly giving Akko an idea to revamp Luna Nova's part of the parade to showcase more wonderful aspects of witches instead. Whereas Lotte and Sucy are understandably appalled by such drastic and unorthodox idea, Amanda and Constanze are intrigued with the former offers a couple of tricks to share. Settling with the idea from latter two's support, Akko assigns Sucy and Constanze in handling stage setting, Jasminka supplying food, and Lotte as party manager. Thus, Luna Nova's revamped part of upcoming witch parade shall be called "Happy Time Project".

In the next morning, the gang begin to brainstorm ideas for the upcoming parade. At first, they tried to practice broom dance with Amanda as their coach but, neither of them were able to follow her examples. Sucy suggests to use mutated mushrooms to spread laughing spores so everyone laugh happily, an idea Akko and Lotte instantly reject. Although, that gives Akko an idea for the tale of a white witch who saved everyone from the terror of monster mushrooms with of course, herself as the one who portrayed witch in question. But she soon snapped from her fantasies when Sucy brings up how much she's lacking in magic and that she just lucky being able to use Shiny Rod's magic once back then, much to the brunette's anger. Akko's mood doesn't improve when Lotte, who had to physically restrain her before she could take her anger at Sucy and Amanda, proposes that they consult with Diana about better options for their task at hand only to be rejected as the Cavendish absolutely not interested in helping them. Diana, who happens to walk alongside Hannah and Barbara past the classroom they working on their parade ideas, confirms such statement as she more interested in having Luna Nova's part in the upcoming parade cancelled outright for further staining the image of witches in general through its reenactment of witch hunts. Akko and Diana's brief yet tense argument about the topic and their inability to agree on things further discouraged Lotte from consulting with the latter about what to do next.

In the next early morning, Lotte laments how their parade ideas so far getting crazier to the point of being too much for her capacity as its party manager. Lotte's Will-o'-the-wisp familiar, Will-o'-chan, suggests her to sing her family's ancestral lullaby to better ease her mind a bit thus making her easier to get around Akko's list of ideas. But Akko abruptly ruins the mood by barging in without warning to bring the Finnish young witch-in-training along while buying parade supplies right in the middle of the latter's small performance. Lotte informs Akko that their parade plan won't work because of one major problem; the lack of steady source of magic in the town unlike Luna Nova that has Sorcerer's Stone. But her Japanese roommate is too distracted by the issue, unexpectedly coming up with the preposterous idea of incorporating Jansson family's ancestral lullaby into the upcoming parade as well. Struggling to reclaim the lullaby's sheet from Akko's grasp, both girls wind up tearing it into half by mistake, angering Lotte that she impulsively kicks Akko out right in front of confused Sucy who just returned.

Things don't go any better during Akko and her friends' time at Blytonbury's plaza. After separating from green team, Akko tells Sucy her side of story about their argument earlier, uncertain why their Finnish roommate so upset aside the latter's torn ancestral lullaby sheet. Sucy bluntly points out that Lotte had bottled up what she truly feels regarding Akko's ideas for their assignment, much to the brunette's disbelief. The cynical Lotte agrees with Sucy's statement, finally confessing to Akko about her loss of faith in their part of witch parade and (indirectly) made it clear getting flunked in their school year much more preferable before walking away. Finally realizing what she had done, Akko attempts to chase Lotte only to be stopped by Sucy who bewitches a mushroom to do so and adds that "Happy Time Project" is too much *hers* rather than shared assignment between them. Outraged, Akko impulsively calls Sucy out for both using her as some recurring guinea pig and being nothing more than a mushroom freak, and therefore won't speak to her anymore before storming off in anger. To add insult to injury, when she meets up with green team alone, they have an uneventful encounter with Thomas and his gang who bully them for being witches. Though the ensuing scuffle fortunately doesn't last long, the fact that Luna Nova witches ended up wasting too much magic in the process thus providing the opportunity for Thomas and co. to bombard Akko with tomatoes before retreating resulted Amanda becoming skeptical with the possibility of "Happy Time Project" even with her and her roommates' enthusiasm, disheartening the brunette further.

Not long after Akko and her fellow Luna Nova students returned to the academy, a newly arrived construction worker is disgruntled by the mess they and Thomas' gang left behind all over the town's ominous-looking historical stone structure, Sealing Stones of the Witch Jennifer. Mayor of Blytonbury brushes the issue aside since the stone structure is about to be replaced with a bronze statue made after his likeness as part of his ambitious plan to redevelop the area surrounding it into a commercial facility regardless. The Mayor also dismissive towards the structure's significance owing to its supposed purpose as the prison for the great misfortune that befell the town long ago, kicking Sealing Stones' placard for a good measure despite the construction worker's warning. And so, they begin the construction right away, unaware of dark energies seeping out of the structure because of a part of it disturbed slightly by their excavator's arm.

At red team's dorm room, though still forlorn from their fallout with Akko that it's ambiguous whether they're content with the idea of flunked that year, Lotte and Sucy have calmed a bit. Lotte reminisced about the first time she amazed by magic; after being made fun of by mundane kids, faeries she called forth with her family's ancestral lullaby comforted her with their conjured rainbow. It was the experience which taught her wonders of magic.

Night has fallen when Diana flies around the school to take care of unspecified business. She notices the forlorn Akko sitting at Broom Landing Tower by herself and decides to reprimand the brunette for being there since it's already curfew hours and how childish her "Happy Time Project" is. Diana further states that magic shouldn't be used for showing off owing to its sacred nature before unexpectedly lamenting Shiny Chariot's inability to leave lasting, positive impact on magic community despite possessing more than enough power to do so. The mention of her idol unexpectedly gives Akko an idea and renews her resolve to continue "Happy Time Project" with a newer approach, surprising Diana who worried whether the brunette will make another bad impression regarding witches like Shiny Chariot did.

And so, Akko stays up late to properly realize ideas she came up for "Happy Time Project" so far starting from consulting with books at the library. It's easier said than done considering she had to scrap a few which definitely won't work but, the brunette makes it clear that she won't give up to complete the assignment no matter what. Humorously, at one point, Akko nearly buries herself in a pile of books she gathered because of her slamming her hands against the desk where she placed them in her determination too hard, though she successfully frees herself from the pile and even arranges them into a castle-like formation both via. Object Control Magic. Akko also works on additional spectacles for "Happy Time Project" from bewitched fireworks which burst into sparks that momentarily form a majestic-looking horse to further hone her Object Control Magic prowess to make several brooms dance with herself as the conductor. Little did the brunette realizes Lotte is watching her progress.

The day of the upcoming witch parade begins with Lotte and Sucy wake up to find envelopes containing details of Akko's improved "Happy Time Project" plan. Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka find a similar envelope slipped through underneath their dorm room door also, much to their curiosity. In Luna Nova's spacious workshop, Akko has gathered required materials to construct the ship for Luna Nova's part of the parade based on the design she completed from her brief study at the library on the other day but, she struggles to assemble it until green team shows up to help.

The anxious Ursula is looking at the afternoon sky through her office's windows, anxious for the upcoming witch parade. Just then, she notices Amanda and Akko flying toward the top of New Moon Tower, much to her curiosity. There, Akko revealed to have concocted a plan to overcome the lack of magic at Blytonbury. Pleading to Shiny Rod to lend her its power, the brunette has the artifact absorbs more than enough extra magic for their finalized part in the upcoming witch parade from the Tower's Sorcerer's Stone, surprising Amanda who initially considers to *steal* the Stone instead. The magic surge both girls momentarily caused further worries Ursula who unaware of what they actually up to.

The night comes as Blytonbury's parade begins in earnest. Placing Shiny Rod onto their ship's specialized mechanical claw, Akko tests its function as the magic source for her and her friends' part in the event. The main flaw of "Happy Time Project" has been resolved, though Akko argues to Amanda that they cannot commence it yet since Lotte and Sucy hasn't arrived, even if they already past their schedule. Back in red team's dorm room, Sucy takes her time reviewing Akko's revised Happy Time Project plan while Lotte quietly crafting what appears to be a hat.

Akko and green team decide to wait for their absent friends despite getting behind the schedule at that rate. Whereas Constanze plays a video game installed in her stanbot, Akko pulls one of their brooms' straws one by one in her desperation. Believing her roommates won't show up after all, the brunette tosses the broom in her hands aside in frustration, leading to a chain reaction that prompts the girls to commence their part in the parade straight away. Their participation in the parade dismayed Thomas and his gang leading them to conspire to sabotage it.

It's revealed that Diana attends the parade also, overseeing its progress from a nearby balcony after failing to convince the headmistress to abolish the school's part in the event on the other day. She meets up with Ursula who shares her concern about the prospect of things would go wrong.

For a time, "Happy Time Project" goes smoothly as Akko and Amanda showcase astonishing dancing witch-themed marionettes and broom dance respectively whereas Jasminka shares everyone some food and Constanze maintains the control over their ship. True to Ursula's fears, Luna Nova's part in the event is soon interrupted by Thomas and his gang who finally show up to harass Akko, Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka, steal Shiny Rod and pass it to one another to confuse the group culminating to Thomas hiding at Sealing Stones of the Witch Jennifer with the staff in his grasp. Such last part of the scheme to ruin "Happy Time Project" proves to be a terrible mistake in Thomas' part, as Shiny Rod's magic reinvigorates the sealed entity beneath him.

By the time Diana flies into the parade with her magic broom, whatever setback which halted Luna Nova's "Happy Time Project" performance has escalated into a major problem; Sealing Stones of the Witch Jennifer has come to life thanks to extra magic reserves within Shiny Rod and trapped Thomas within their clutches. To make matter worse, the Stones tighten their hold onto the boy as they rise few meters to the air, revealing themselves to be *fingers* of some malevolent entity trapped beneath the town. As Diana urgently warns Akko about the awakened entity beneath what used to be Sealing Stones of the Witch Jennifer — a Titan — it begins to make its move. Using threads of dark magic emanating from its exposed arm, the trapped entity imbues surrounding objects and vehicles with angry faeries that wreak havoc on its behalf. Not even a cup of tea the confused Mayor drinks safe from the evil being's influence; to his disgust, his cup suddenly comes to life complete with cartoonish-looking tongue and teeth.

In a bid to ease the uncertain audience, Ursula convinces them that the unexpected turn of events is part of "Happy Time Project" before urging Constanze and Jasminka to help her improvise. As the latter two turn on the music and has nearby spotlights shine upon Thomas in Titan's grasp, Amanda asks Akko what to do next. Uncertain at first, the sight of nearby unused ducking stool gives her an idea to reach the bully. Using the stool as an improvised catapult, Akko, with Jasminka's help, launches herself towards Titan's fingers face-in first, momentarily surprising Diana who occupied by the evil being's conjured energy threads surrounding her from every direction. As per Ursula's narration, Akko wastes no time to recover and pull Thomas out while being cheered by the audience. Such disturbance didn't go unnoticed by Titan who unexpectedly tosses them upwards to the night sky, momentarily distracting Akko because she got distracted by Shiny Rod which now within her reach. To her chagrin and Thomas' unexpected delight, Diana sweeps in to save the latter all while leaving the former falling towards Titan's opened hand. Turned out someone else has entered the scene to do the Cavendish a favor in saving Akko, which is none other than the repentant Sucy.

Akko is surprised by Sucy's arrival because of their fallout on the other day. Sucy reasons that she decided to take the brunette's statements about her with a grain of salt, citing the latter to be the best guinea pig she ever had. This earns Sucy a mixed reaction from Akko as expected and things don't go any better when the brunette accidentally drops Shiny Rod by mistake in her dismay over it, prompting Diana and Thomas to catch it before Titan's possessed objects do. The two then pass the staff to Amanda who in turn, tosses it to Akko with Constanze's help. Before they could distance themselves from the reach of Titan's exposed arm, another suddenly emerges in front of Akko and Sucy and snatches away their broom. Though they slow their descent to the streets below with the latter's enlarged mushrooms which bewitched into a makeshift parachute, Titan's possessed objects have surrounded them ready to tear them apart. Fortunately, at the last moment, a familiar lullaby can be heard all over the plaza, halting their rampage. It is Lotte, and she eases faeries who summoned by Titan with said lullaby before casts a spell to send them back to wherever they came from. The repentant Finnish, who had realized her share of errors, gives Akko a hand-made replica of Shiny Chariot's hat as a form of apology. The heartwarming reconciliation between three friends move Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka, though such moment doesn't last long as Titan eventually pulls itself free from its prison, assimilating nearby inorganic matter from surrounding objects to restore its decomposing flesh.

The ignorant Mayor unwisely berates the very entity he unknowingly and indirectly unleashed for ruining his day and would've been devoured by it via. a mouth in its restored feet had Ursula not saved him. Ursula reassures him that the show has reached its finale before announcing its climax; three young witches shall combine their magic to save their town, much to Akko's confusion. Thankfully, the brunette's roommates and then Ursula provides the best spell for the job, Luna Lana. The three friends then combine their magic through the spell in a bid to subdue the awakened Titan but, their opponent puts up considerable resistance in return. This prompts everyone, even Diana herself at one point, to cheer red team. Knowing their support will provide extra power, Ursula rallies them to cheer Akko, Lotte, and Sucy harder, leading to their ignited emotional energies to fuel red team's combined magic further. Still, Titan manages to break itself free and subsequently attempts to vanquish the three friends with a single dark magic-empowered punch. In a flash of white light resulted from the blow and spherical magic encasing red team, Akko, Lotte, and Sucy emerge unharmed and retaliate with the same spell, this time stronger than the previous attempt and casted through Shiny Ballista. The counterattack struck Titan at the chest, causing it to momentarily inflate before falling asleep once again, curling up like a baby as it does. As Akko, Lotte, and Sucy celebrate their victory over the great threat, Shiny Rod reverted to its original configuration, prompting Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka to catch the three friends and the staff as they fall.

Whereas everyone cheers the victorious witches for both their astonishing performance and ending unexpected crisis which changed the parade, the irritated Mayor blames the witches for causing the whole fiasco in the first place. Ursula argues that she and her fellow Luna Nova witches are actually cleaning up the mess left behind by someone who desecrated Sealing Stones of the Witch Jennifer. Offended by such notion at first, he soon notices some kids hanging around Titan's dormant form as if it is a delicately made statue and importantly, his very own bronze statue on top of it. This gives him an idea about the kind of commercial facility he about to build; a memorial park to preserve Blytonbury's tradition, though he ironically imagined it to be more of amusement park. The Mayor's puzzling proposal aside, Ursula concludes that Akko and co. have completed their assignment.

Meanwhile, Diana sarcastically praises Akko for her and her friends' commendable efforts in the parade despite its unorthodox approach before bringing Thomas to his worried cronies. Reuniting with his relieved friends, Thomas shares them his improved opinions about Luna Nova witches thus shares them his idea of expressing their gratitude to his unlikely saviors. By this point, the group and Akko and co. now share mutual respect towards one another with the former join the latter in their encore; playfully hurling each other with tomatoes and spells, much to Diana's chagrin. Ursula decides to let the small yet remarkable competition be since the audience enjoy it as much as the previous event. The film ends with Akko, Lotte, and Sucy laugh happily while covered in tomato.

## Original soundtrack

* "Mushroom Menace In The Lab"
* "Title Intro"
* "Parade Of The Witch Hunt"
* "The Three Mischiefs"
* "Akko’s Idea: The Happy Time Project"
* "Dance Of The Brooms"
* "The White Mage Appears..."
* "Confrontation With Diana"
* "A Trip To Town"
* "Tomato Fight"
* "The Evil Stirs..."
* "The Magic Of Chariot"
* "Akko’s Parade Preparation"
* "Shiny Rod’s Revival"
* "Luna Nova’s Witch Parade Happy Time"
* "The Giant Awakes"
* "The Show Must Go On..."
* "Sucy To The Rescue / The Chase"
* "Lotte’s Song Of The Spirits"
* "The Witches Versus The Giant"
* "Happy Time Ending"
* "End Credits"
* "Magic Parade"

## Trivia

* Ursula doesn't use a powerful magic spell, like she did in the first short film, therefore her hair does not transform back to its natural red state.
* Lotte and Jasminka both share the same voice actress in the English dub, Stephanie Sheh.
	+ Constanze and Hannah also share the same English dub voice actress, Jennifer Alyx.
* This marks the first appearance of Blytonbury in the series. The city later appears in the anime.
* When *The Enchanted Parade* was first released, Amanda could be briefly seen flipping off the camera. This scene has been edited in later revisions to pixelate Amanda's middle finger.
* As with in the first film, The Enchanted Parade underwent extensive development throughout its production stages during which Yō Yoshinari and his fellow Studio TRIGGER animator came up with ideas, some of which eventually didn't make it to the final product:
	+ Lotte was originally intended to appear at the balcony of a nearby building as she began singing her lullaby to save Akko and Sucy from monsters who surrounding them. However, Yoshinari found this idea not striking enough and thus rectified it by having her singing while flying with her broom.
		- Additionally, instead of slowly descending into a horde of angry faery-possessed objects, Akko and Sucy were supposedly already on the ground surrounded by them.
	+ A scrapped subplot of the film revolved around Diana who would take over the parade herself only to mess up and had to be saved by Akko as the result. The reason why this idea eventually scrapped was because Yoh Yoshinari wanted to keep the focus on the main trio.
		- Even so, the idea of Akko rescuing Diana later revisited for the 20th episode of the anime TV Series albeit under different circumstances.
	+ There are at least two sequel ideas before they came up with Enchanted Parade:
		- The first idea revolved around the idea of familiars with Akko finding herself with a dragon one as a way for them to continue the dragon idea from the first film as shown in two different illustrations within the artbook that came with The Enchanted Parade's Blue-ray release.
		- The second idea, which concept artwork arguably one depicting Akko getting chased by a massive golem whose body made of parts of stone tower/fortress, revolved around Akko getting framed and arrested for a crime she didn't commit, as well as expelled from Luna Nova and has to get the help of an wizard criminal to get her name cleared and prove her innocence, while also being on the run from both the law and even Luna Nova. This idea was scrapped due to unsuitable with the franchise's tone as well as time constraints (such storyline would take more than the film's intended duration (50 minutes) to finish).
* The short film includes cameos of Rebecca Sugar and Ian Jones-Quartey who are the developers of Steven Universe.
	+ Another cameos are those of Mabel and Dipper from *Gravity Falls* and Connie of *Steven Universe*. This allusion was confirmed by Alex Hirsch himself during his visit at Studio Trigger in 2016, during which he met two of its animators Yoshinari and Takafumi Hori themselves and even drew a sketch of Akko and Mabel together.
* Unlike in previous short which mostly takes place in Luna Nova grounds, *The Enchanted Parade* also set at outside the academy as intended by Studio Trigger's creative staff, an idea which later carried out to majorities of the first cour of 2017 TV series adaptation.
* Though too subtle, some finds the scene where Akko, Amanda, Constanze, and Jasminka commences their part in the parade where their ship levitates through the streets reminiscent to the part where Homura rides a boat through a beautiful yet surreal scenery around her in *Puella Magi Madoka Magica the Movie Part III: Rebellion*.

## Errors/Goofs

* Akko's belly button is curiously missing.
* Lotte's belly button is missing also.
1/2
* During the girls' broom dance training montage, if one looks closely as Akko and Lotte struggle to properly twirl their broom that their midriff briefly exposed, their navel are missing.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/press-release/2013-08-09/trigger-crowdfunding-project-for-little-witch-academia-episode-2-concluded-with-over-%24625000
2. ↑ http://littlewitchacademia.jp/story/; translation by Fandyllic.
4. ↑ https://wavemotioncannon.com/2017/02/15/little-witch-academia-interviw-with-director-yoh-yoshinari/
10. ↑ https://twitter.com/\_AlexHirsch/status/695499577630142464

## External links

 Official *Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade* Trigger movie site (in Japanese)
Official Facebook
 *Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade*
 *Little Witch Academia: Mahoujikake no Parade*
 *Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade*
 *Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade*
### Reviews

* ATELIER EMILY
	+ Little Witch Academia and Shiny Chariot the Publicist by ajthefourth July 6, 2015
* Caraniel's Ramblings
	+ The Top Ten Series – The Best of 2015 (OVAs/Movies/Specials/Shorts) by Caraniel January 2, 2016
* MECHA GUIGNOL
	+ Little Witch Academia (2): The Enchanted Parade & someothershow by updatedude July 6, 2015
* Sakuga Daichi's Animation Report
	+ Top 10 Favourite Cuts (Animated Sequences) of 2015 by Felix December 17, 2015
* The Vanishing Trooper Incident
	+ A look at the ‘sakuga’ and animation of 2015 by Kraker2k January 1, 2016
* WAVE MOTION CANNON
	+ 2015 IN ANIME by TheSubtleDoctor January 8, 2016

### News

* Anime News Network
	+ Little Witch Academia Streamed Again by Karen Ressler December 26, 2014
* The Untold Story of Altair & Vega
	+ The Future of Little Witch Academia by Vucub Caquix July 10, 2013
* WAVE MOTION CANNON
	+ ANIMATION PRINCIPLES: STAGING by ibcf May 27, 2017

### Podcasts

* Behind The Nihon Review
	+ Friday Anime Podcast 75: Anno and the Otaku by Aeroblip June 5th, 2015

1. ↑ http://littlewitchacademia.jp/news/8.html