DVD - Tweeny Witches teaches true magic

The third volume of "Tweeny Witches" closes the heroic tale with Arusu saving the witch's world from total destruction.

Of course, this isn't news from the start. In the first two volumes, everyone predicted that the end of the magic world was coming. However, I never expected such a remarkable display of apocalyptic imagery. But there are many, many spoilers in this review. You have been warned!

First of all, Arusu discovers who her real mom is. Lennon spills the beans in front of Arusu's witch brigade when he threatens to kill Triela, the sage of the witch town. Triela reveals that she is Arusu and Lennon's mother. So that's why Lennon kept saying that he was Arusu's mirror.

Second, Arusu returns the deadly magic book to Grande, the head of the warlocks. Grande wants nothing but destruction. He has no love for the magic world at all, and based on the flashback where a warlock was swallowed by Grande, he must be a demon too.

Third, one of the witches in Arusu's brigade becomes Grande's lynchpin for using dark magic to destroy the world. Here's a hint: it's not Sheila. I never expected that Eva would get entangled within the demonic monster that Grande transformed into. But Arusu soothed the savage beast with her motherly love. In other words, she feeds Eva her favorite food.

The ferocious monster is very reminiscent of the forest gods in the Hayao Miyazaki film "Princess Mononoke." The ending also involves pleasing a savage beast. However, "Tweeny Witches" somehow manages the daunting task of displaying grotesque monster imagery and keeping the material appropriate for children.

This is also a wonderful series that criticizes the apocalyptic genre of anime for the recent trend of disturbing psychological dramas and extreme violence. For example, the dark wizard in the series is Eva, which is already a reference to another apocalyptic series, "Neon Genesis Evangelion." Eva always had a desire to use magic, even though she couldn't use it for most of her life. That desire manifested in her role in destroying the magic world. And the series turned that destruction into a disastrous form of genocide, rather than a rebirth of mankind.

Lately, anime directors have lightened up on their apocalyptic tendencies with more optimistic anime. And "Tweeny Witches" is of these positive anime series that proves that it's okay to be young and a little uncertain about the future. After all, everyone can use magic. Although magic in the human world is more invisible, it is the magic of love, nonetheless.

Image courtesy of hirvine.com

The witches vs. the warlocks

Although I'd seen hints of the war between the witches and the warlocks in the first DVD of "Tweeny Witches," the second DVD fully explains the conflict. It was almost inconceivable to see hovering robots, television screens, amusement park rides and explosions, but "Tweeny" is more like a collision with the old world and the new modernized world. And it looks so amazingly good.

Be careful--there are some spoilers in the next section.

From the first DVD, we learned of Sigma, the teenage boy warlock who wanted to help the witches destroy the warlocks. Arusu, Eva and Shiela follow Sigma through a desert on broomsticks. After disguising themselves in warlock outfits, he shows them that the warlocks' world is an underground world of science. Metal covers the entire underground world. The residents don't even need to use magic. Arusu and Shiela sense that the warlocks are repressing the magic for some purpose.

After Eva blows their cover, the police capture Eva and Arusu escapes to find an old man who knew her father, or at least a man similar to him. Eva discovers in an underground graveyard that the warlock world is slowly being sucked into a vortex, and Sigma wants her to submit to the warlocks. According to him, if the warlocks can use the dark magic of Arusu's missing magic book, they can stop the vortex. Shiela isn't fooled though--she senses that dark magic would only make things worse, However, Sigma pushes a button on her suit, making her a slave! Thankfully, Arusu saves her friends, but all three of the witches realize that the world of witches and warlocks is deteriorating without witches' magic.

This series is a fantastic mix of fast spell-casting action. It is also a deep analysis of a problematic industrialized society, whose world is deteriorating due to the loss of the old magic arts. The emotional drama still remains high. The three main characters are doing whatever they can to protect each other. Shiela is an especially strong character, who sneaks Arusu onto a ship to the human realm, so that Arusu will not be hurt in the violent war between witches and warlocks.

Arusu also found a pirate man who tried to capture the human realm ship. He says that he is Arusu's mirror. What could this possibly mean? Hopefully all will be explained in the next few DVDs.

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DVD Review - Tweeny Witches delivers twice the anime fun

"Tweeny Witches" is one of the most original anime ever--delivering two episodes in each 30-minute show. Although this means that each show runs very quickly, the series' blend of fast broom-flying action and magic is more than enough to dazzle viewers.

As stated before, each 30-minute show features two 10-minute episodes. This is a fast series, covering more ground per episode than any anime before. The dialogue is brief, the action is fast and the series is a little hard to keep up with. However, the series is so visually stunning that is more than any shoujo (girl) anime fan could ask for.

The protagonist in "Tweeny", Arusu, is a young teenager who loved magic ever since she was a kid. Her high school friends steal her book one day. Arusu chases them up to the rooftop to get her book. She grabs it, but she also falls off the multi-story building. Thankfully, the magic of the book sends her to a world ruled by witches.

Arusu has always believed that witches use their magic for good, but these witches are just evil. They imprisoned her after she took a fairy from the land. To Arusu's dismay, the witches are capturing fairies for their powers. And the two young witches taking care of her don't like her too much, especially Sheila, the discipline officer. She wants to keep Arusu in a cage forever. Geez, talk about strict.

Fortunately, Arusu manages to convince the other witch, Eva, to set her free. Arusu learns to fly on a broomstick, and quickly sets free all the fairies. However, the Grand Master of the witches isn't pleased, and she punishes Eva and Sheila with eternal youth. Any girl would love eternal youth, unless they are 8-year-olds, like Eva and Sheila.

Eva and Sheila obey the Grand Master's orders to capture all 100 fairies again, but Arusu knows that something isn't right. After all, this empire of witches doesn't act anything like the ones in the sitcom "Bewitched". Arusu decides to make it her mission to set the fairies free from the witch empire.

Although this series moves very quickly, and some of the camera shots don't focus on the important action, the series has some of the best dialogue I've ever heard. The kids are incredibly detailed, and the speedy animation is dazzling. And at the same time, the series had enough drama to keep me glued to the edge of my seat.

Honestly, after the usual junk anime I've seen in the past, I never expected this anime to be so excellent. The theme of freedom from oppression is a common in anime, but "Tweeny Witches" tells each segment of the tale in a compact 10-minute segment to watch during a coffee break. Never before has an anime been so epic and brief at the same time. This is a one of the most original anime series that I have ever seen.

I'm really looking forward to watching more episodes of "Tweeny Witches". This is a release you won't want to miss.

Images courtesy of adorablerockets.com and hirvine.com.