Amanda O'Neill and the Holy Grail

## Images

**Amanda O'Neill and the Holy Grail** (アマンダ・オニール・アンド・ホーリー・グレイル *Amanda Onīru ando Hōrī Gureiru*?) is the 17th episode of the *Little Witch Academia* anime series.

## Summary

The episode begins with Akko conducting research for another Word of the Seven Words of Arcturus with Amanda "bored to death" at Luna Nova and sick of the rules, work, and punishments. Just then, they noticed the fifth orb of Shiny Rod glowing, and the two immediately reported this to Ursula at the library only to see her busy aiding Finnelan and that the school is occupied by a crisis that has befallen Cavendish family, though not without telling the two that the next Word is related to ancient history and tradition. Amanda then tells Akko about a so-called legendary "Holy Grail" being kept in Appleton Academy while in a club on the other night, which may aid her in unlocking the next Word. Just then, Croix appears and informed Akko and Amanda more about the Academy's history and encouraged Akko in her quest, convinced them to go for the said academy, unaware that the modern magic professor deliberately not warned both girls about its inhabitants' disdain towards witches.

Arriving at Appleton Academy, Amanda assumed her trademark boy disguise whereas Akko, who initially unsure to tag along, magically turns into a mouse upon figuring out it is the same school Andrew attended. Blending into the academy's environment, the two explored the area's premises to see it larger than they expected. Meanwhile, after seeing the news about the riot from the outcome of IFFA world cup while frustrated that the Prime Minister is seemingly too soft about it, Mr. Blackwell has his son Louis reviewing what he taught the boy so far before leaving him on his own business. Just then, Amanda unintentionally stumbled upon Louis, leading to a mild argument where the latter greatly annoyed by the disguised rebel's attitude which he found out of place. Their argument soon escalated when Akko interfered only for Amanda revealed the Japanese' mouse form, startling him as the academy's familiar exterminators have supposedly eradicated them all. Even though the snobbish young man revealed Appleton Academy's genuine hostility towards witches, Amanda doesn't take his threats seriously. Fortunately, Andrew appeared and saved them from Blackwell's suspicions, prompting the frustrated Louis to leave them alone.

After Andrew brought them to a quiet part of the academy's premise, Akko berated Amanda for nearly getting them into trouble, but the O'Neill expressed her indifference about both it and the Words since she only wanted to go out of Luna Nova with a bang before makes her leave, much to the brunette's dismay. Andrew then asked Akko the reason for their visit, in which the brunette explained to him her quest to unlock all Seven Words of Arcturus and finding Chariot. The Hanbridge can't help but question why she would go to that length to achieve her own dreams and reminded that unlike her, he has responsibility and expectations from start. Akko retorted by stating that one's life is not something that already set on the stone and unlike his, she has already decided her own, including her dreams. Akko then inquired Andrew the whereabouts of the so-called Holy Grail in Appleton Academy, only to run off to search it on her own after the Hanbridge refused to disclose the chalice's whereabouts.

With her mouse form as an advantage, Akko continues the search for the Holy Grail and finally found it after following strange cube-like devices. By the time she looked for Amanda however, the rebel turned out had caused another trouble where this time, she ended up in the custody of the academy's inquisitors - Amanda caught Louis cheating in his and his classmates' poker game and subsequently exposed him but, made a mistake by trying to cast a spell on the snobbish Blackwell, resulting her arrest. During her interrogation process, Amanda hoped that Akko not going to make things worse, only to her dismay, Akko showed up and recklessly attempted to free her, resulting in her getting captured, mirroring a similar mistake from infiltrating Fafnir's residence a few months back. To the witches' chagrin, Louis opted to torture them to death straight away and threatened to destroy the grail, provoking a scuffle between Amanda and the snobbish blonde. As this happens, Andrew appears and, outraged by this injustice, demanded Louis to resolve the conflict in a proper way.

Later that afternoon, Amanda and Louis stood on the bridge between two towers on the main building of the Appleton Academy, with the latter explained the rules of the academy's traditional sword fight. In the case of their duel, should Amanda win, Akko and the Grail will be spared but, if she loses, she and Akko will be punished accordingly (or so it seemed…), and the Grail will be destroyed. Just then, Akko noticed that the Grail is glowing, wondering whether it had something to do with the Word. As soon as they commenced the duel, Louis attempted to cheat his way for victory, prompting Amanda to all-out with her unorthodox but fairer fighting style, defeating him fair and square. Undaunted, Louis angrily smashed the grail into pieces despite their victory condition he ironically settled earlier, resulting in it to explode into a blinding flash of light.

The Grail's destruction releases strange pixels that Akko witnessed earlier and, fueled by Louis' malice, possess a nearby knight armor along with Blackwell himself, combining both into a violent berserker. Under their influence, Louis proceeds to wreak havoc, causing destruction while assaulting Amanda with monstrous ferocity. At one point, it knocked off another armor set which then fell onto the students below, prompting Akko, who inadvertently freed by the rampaging Louis, blasted the students away to safety. The possessed Louis proved too much for Amanda to handle without her magic, and thus Akko implored Andrew to pass her wand along with Ley-line router to Luna Nova's resident troublemaker. Gaining an edge, Amanda fuses her wand with the broken foil on her hand, turning it into a powerful broadsword which she uses to damage possessed Louis' helmet, freeing him and dispel the pixel away.

In the aftermath of the fight, Amanda, while helping the weakened Louis regaining his feet, apologized to Akko over the destroyed grail. Akko reassured that it's fine since the grail turned out had nothing to do with her quest all along and was likely used to seal a demon that caused their troubles. Just as they see the extent of the damage they unwittingly caused, Mr. Blackwell showed up and demanded Amanda and Akko's arrest, all while believing that his son is the victim of this mess. Andrew tried to explain what actually happened but, his words fell into deaf ears until Louis confessed both his crimes and foolishness which start it all. With that, Andrew reassured to Akko (who later switched back to her human form) and Amanda that he will take care of this on their behalf and that they are free to go.

While they are on their way for Luna Nova, Amanda for once feels guilty about all the troubles she has caused. Akko reassured the rebel that everything they went through that day was fun nevertheless but, demanded her not to quit school so they can have even more exciting adventures together. This earned the brunette a playful teasing from the rebel before laughing together.

Unknown to both witch students, Louis' rampage was turned out to be part of Case 622, one of the experiments Croix conducted for her schemes to acquire Grand Triskellion...

## Order of appearances

* Atsuko Kagari
* Amanda O'Neill
* Ursula
* Anne Finnelan
* Croix Meridies
* Andrew Hanbridge
* Frank
* Louis Blackwell
* Chairman of Defense
* Shiny Rod
* Magic Wand
* Ley Line Router
* Holy Grail
* Pixels
* Magic Broom
* Clothes Transformation Spell
* Transformation Spell
* Weapon-Wand Fusion Spell
* Demon(mentioned)

## Trivia

* The scene where Akko jumps to rescue Amanda but is captured instead is a reference to *Luna Nova and the White Dragon*, where she is caught in the air by Fafnir (and is the size of a mouse compared to him) when she tries to save Lotte, Sucy, Constanze, and Jasminka. In both instances, Amanda calls her an idiot.
* The news service Mr. Blackwell reads on his tablet, "UKN" (United Kingdom News/Network), is a reference to the "BBC", or British Broadcasting Company. Specifically, the logos are quite similar.
* The scene where Amanda summons her sword is almost exactly how Lion-O (whom Amanda also ironically shares the hairstyle within this scene) summons his "Sword of Omens" in the opening of 1980's Rankin & Bass cartoon *Thundercats*.
* The episode title "Amanda O'Neill and the Holy Grail" is a reference to the 1975 film *Monty Python and the Holy Grail*.
* This episode takes place in December, along with "Pohjola's Trial" and "Sky War Stanship", as stated in the chronicles book.
* Because of the events in the episode, Mr. Blackwell holds a strong grudge against Andrew, which became evident in Chariot and Croix.
* This is the first episode where Lotte and Sucy do not appear.
* It's implied that the controversial soccer verdict between Great Britain and its rival country — the second cour's recurring plot point — occurs quite at recent point of the events of the episode, though the full story behind it later revealed in "Chariot and Croix".

## References

1. ↑ http://littlewitchacademia.jp/tv1st/story/17.html
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZBIHsD8fk8&ab\_channel=No.8
3. ↑ Little Witch Academia Chronicles, Chapter 2, page 52
5. ↑  https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/265265778230689793/354307531914608650/IMG\_20170904\_124940318.jpg

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