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So, as promised last week, I have completed watching season 1 of The Apothecary Diaries as well as Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina. Some thoughts below…
The Apothecary Diaries
Overall, I really enjoyed this show and I am looking forward to more in the future. The visuals in this show are fantastic. Each episode was an absolute spectacle between such detailed art, a vibrant color palette, and some really nice, subtle animation.
As for the story, Last time I wrote about this, I compared the show to Sherlock Holmes, and I stand by that comparison. If you are a fan of Sherlock and the deductive reasoning to solve mysteries kind of story, then this show is right up your alley. I had predicted that Maomao’s Moriarty would appear as an antagonist. However, I was only kind of right. Moriarty appeared, but they aren’t an antagonist in the same, straightforward way. Also, the game that is afoot is far from resolved by the end of the first season.
Wandering Witch
Overall, I enjoyed this series. It spends the first episode doing the setup/prologue of Elaina’s backstory and then the rest of the series is an anthology series in which each episode is a pretty self-contained story. There are some recurring characters that will appear multiple times as well as a loose framework of a larger story of learning more about her witch role model (whose identity is strongly hinted to the viewer).
I think it would be impossible to talk about this series without comparing it to Kino’s Journey. In that respect, this series has a lot to live up to since Kino’s Journey is one of my favorite series. I think that this series is at its best when it is silly and fun, focusing on Elaina’s journey as a witch and the hijinks that ensue (especially when some of the recurring characters are involved).
There are a couple episodes in this season in which the tone changes dramatically and things get dark. Some episodes are more successful at this turn than others. Notably, I think the infamous episode 9, complete with a content warning at the start of the episode, was just needlessly graphic for the sake of shock value. One of the things I appreciate the most about Kino’s Journey, is that it does a lot of excellent storytelling with very dark subjects often through subtlety and implication. There is nothing subtle about Wandering Witch. When an episode’s storyline is dark, it smacks you across the face with it. That being said, there is one exception that I really loved…episode 3 (which felt the most Kino-like to me, and I loved).
If you haven’t seen either Wandering Witch or Kino’s Journey, I would still recommend Kino. However, if you liked Kino, watched both series, and still want more, then Wandering Witch will scratch that itch. However, know that it won’t satisfy in the same way.
I didn’t make it that far for this one. I put it On Hold but never continued. Not sure which ep it was, but Elaina was oddly cold and distant when stuff happened after she started travelling and I felt like that really didn’t fit her character thus far. It was quite jarring for me.
Yeah, I think this is what I was trying to articulate as well. Elaina is so upbeat, outgoing, and bubbly that when an episode is dark and she changes into a more stoic character, it feels out of place.