The primary rendition of The Worst Witch was written by Jill Murphy. Published in 1974, it tells the story of Mildred Hubble, a young witch who attends Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches. Mildred is not particularly good at magic and often finds herself in trouble, which leads to her being called the "worst witch" by her classmates. Despite her shortcomings, Mildred is determined to prove herself and become a successful witch. The book follows her misadventures as she navigates through her first year at the academy, makes friends, and tries to avoid the attention of the strict deputy headmistress, Miss Hardbroom. The Worst Witch explores themes of friendship, self-belief, and the importance of staying true to oneself.
Mildred and her friends attend Cackle’s Witch Academy, run by headmaster Amelia Cackle and her confreres: professors Davina Bat, a socially awkward music teacher; the extremely authoritarian and feared Constance Hardbroom, the most skilled of the group; and Imogen Drill, the physical education teacher who neither possess magical powers or extreme animosity towards Mildred, being very supportive and sympathetic towards her for her plight. The school itself is set within a medieval English estate, being very roomy, fraught with narrow winding hallways and secret passageways; like a mini-version of the more famous Hogwarts. Throughout most of the story, the faculty at Cackle’s play a prominent role as school heads, and each episode features at least one of them making a quip or two of different emotional wavelengths or in the teacher’s lounge where the quartet politick about the latest developments around the school; be it professors Hardbroom and Drill clashing on a common ground between the girls’ studies and leisure, or Miss Cackle commenting on another teacher’s visit.
Both of them come from a non-witch family, get into a lot of magical slumps, are brunettes, and their 1 enemy just so happens to be the school s best student. It should be obvious what the similarities are shows about witches who study at an English school for such that are filled with hard-nosed teachers, a diverse group of peers and well an all-purpose magic system.
The Worst Witch explores themes of friendship, self-belief, and the importance of staying true to oneself. It is a beloved children's book that has been adapted into a television series and even a stage musical. The main idea of The Worst Witch is the journey of a young witch as she overcomes obstacles and learns to embrace her own unique abilities.
East Meets West #30: Little Witch Academia .vs. The Worst Witch
Some shows, while thematically different, can nevertheless contain elementally similar to one another. I’ve already pointed that out plenty in this series of posts: starting from the first, when I compared the soccer fantasy-tournament hybrid Dragon League and Disney’s hockey classic The Mighty Ducks all the way to the Christmas spirit shtick in The Disappearance Of Haruhi Suzumiya and It’s A Wonderful Life. However, I think at this point I’ve demonstrated this more than enough; so I have decided that this week’s edition will be the final East Meets West I will write, as I plan to move onto exploring other topics, especially those related to the realm of exploring anime from a Traditionalist Catholic standpoint.
One show on this blog that I have highly acclaimed is Studio Trigger’s 2017 anime Little Witch Academia. You can tell how much I admire this series when you take into account that I’ve written an entire series diving into the implicitly Catholic, anti-Modernist ideologues that are presented in the characters and their adventures. Since I’ve explored that heavily there, I will refrain from making any mention of that, and only focus on the theatrical aspect such as the individuals, music, story and underlying elements. Originally, I was planning to review this side-by-side with Crunchyroll’s animated magna cladis opus High Guardian Spice since the latter was partially inspired by the former, but instead I was pointed to a more fitting work by an Irish mutual of mine on Twitter: The Worst Witch, a British children’s television series. So, I proceeded to watch this, and was blown away with how out-in-the-open its similarities were to Little Witch Academia.
As my final post on this series, I’m going to finish with an analysis on these two shows, and just as I have with each one, determine which one is the better variation. Now: before you proceed further, I will say – even though I really like Little Witch Academia I think you’ll be surprised with the results of my findings.
Eastern Competitor #30: Little Witch Academia
Replace the setting with a Catholic school, throw in the Tridentine Mass and its conflict with Vatican II’s modernist tendencies, and you have the perfect series
Little Witch Academia premiered for the public in two different variations. There’s a short movie which aired on 2 March 2013 exploring an arbitrary escape of Akko, Sucy and Lotte’s doing at the prestigious magical academy Luna Nova, which was followed by a full-length movie titled The Enchanted Parade which explored the girls as they set out to rejuvenate a local festival with magic, that was released on 9 October 2015. Both films were well-received, so much so that the latter’s production was largely funded by $625,518 worth of money entirely from generous Kickstarter donors. All these led to the release of a 25-episode anime series just a little over a year after The Enchanted Parade. In the anime, Akko’s origin story is explored in more detail; she joins Luna Nova out of a great desire to imitate her fallen idol, Shiny Chariot, but faces struggles to keep up with the school’s expectations, as well as being ridiculed by her peers like Diana Cavendish for her failures. Over time, we witness to her growth as a witch with the help of her mentor, Professor Ursula Callistis and the support of her friends Lotte Jansson, Sucy Manbavaran and many others.
There’s plenty of things which I like about the show: its music bits, the visual art, character-driven story, moral message and its philosophy in particular drew me to shedding my initial expectations of it being another cutesy show. Many others seem to agree too; Crunchyroll themselves listed it among their top 100 anime of the 2010s decade, and the director, former Gainax employee Yoh Yoshinari of Evangelion and Gurrenn Lagann‘s crew, has expressed interest in a second season that explores different characters such as Diana Cavendish or Amanda O’Neill. All I can say is that I’d pay to see one of the former, and her pro-Tradition stance.
Western Competitor #30: The Worst Witch
What is it with all the magic stories being oh-so BritishThe first televised adaptation of the a series of books written by bestselling British author Jill Murphy, like its Japanese counterpart the story revolves around Mildred Hubble, a girl hailing from a non-magic family studying at Cackle’s Witch Academy who earns the nickname of “the worst witch” due to her magical incompetence and her supposed trouble-making tendencies, which earn the ire of students such as queen bee Ethel Hallow and faculty members like staunch traditionalist Professor Constance Hardbroom. There’s no plot, however; it plays off as a non-sequitur story that sees Mildred and her friends Maud, Enid, Jadu and Ruby doing all sorts of shenanigans in their English countryside school.
The author, Jill Murphy, based the Worst Witch stories on her experiences as a student at an all-girls Catholic school at the cusp of the Vatican II years. It took five years for her to write the first book, which was released in 1974 and has since generated eight volumes, most recent of which was published in 2018, and sold five million copies worldwide since. Unfortunately, the series has gone dormant ever since Jill’s death. However, its media legacy has seen it formed into a TV adaptation three times – the one I am going to review is the second one airing three seasons on ITV from 1998 to 2001.
The Showdown
It should be obvious what the similarities are: shows about witches who study at an English school for such that are filled with hard-nosed teachers, a diverse group of peers and well… an all-purpose magic system. Even Yoh Yoshinari, Little Witch Academia‘s director admits that the premise was inspired by The Worst Witch; that’s more than enough to warrant it a spot here. What I will be looking at here is from a purely technical perspective as regards to its story. What I won’t mention are things pertaining to thematic values or moral message; Little Witch Academia has such an unfair advantage over The Worst Witch that if I were to include it, the latter would have instantly lost. And don’t worry, this will likely be the last post about the former that you’ll see in a while since I’ve given it too much time around these here parts of the blog.
Category #1: Main Characters
My favourite trios from both shows
The main characters of Little Witch Academia and The Worst Witch are the primary reason why this comparison post was made possible. I mean, just look at Akko and Mildred – they’re basically expys of one another. Both of them come from a non-witch family, get into a lot of magical slumps, are brunettes, and their #1 enemy just so happens to be the school’s best student. Let’s not forget also that the story centrally revolves around their character development, and their unique skills. Akko experiences a drastic revolution in her abilities, mindset and confidence; plus, she’s more entertaining, loud-and-proud and upbeat compared to the shy, and keep-to-herself Mildred, who does get a small boost in her magical abilities, if not an artistic ability in the third season.
As to her friends: Sucy would find common ground with fellow prankster and potions expert Enid, Maud and Lotte (who coincidentally are my favourite characters from their respective series) are basically mirror versions of each other in appearance and intelligence, and Ethel is the prodigy like Diana; however, in the former case, she comes off as more stuck-up, arrogant and bratty; literally crying about “durrr my dad’s on the school board, and he’ll ban you” when things don’t go her way while Diana, I have the utmost admiration for her convictions, her traditionalist persona, elegant behaviour and humility. I could also say that Jadu and Ruby would be to The Worst Witch what Amanda and Constanze are to Little Witch Academia.
Overall, it’s no contest that Little Witch Academia had the better, and more colourful cast of characters. Better-written, full of energy and replete with admirable traits, it distinguishes them from their equivalent counterparts in The Worst Witch, who kind of just fit into a single category and didn’t go beyond that.
Little Witch Academia 1-0 The Worst Witch
Category #2: School
Spoiler alert: only a fraction of Luna Nova’s teachers will have a significant role in-show
Mildred and her friends attend Cackle’s Witch Academy, run by headmaster Amelia Cackle and her confreres: professors Davina Bat, a socially awkward music teacher; the extremely authoritarian and feared Constance Hardbroom, the most skilled of the group; and Imogen Drill, the physical education teacher who neither possess magical powers or extreme animosity towards Mildred, being very supportive and sympathetic towards her for her plight. The school itself is set within a medieval English estate, being very roomy, fraught with narrow winding hallways and secret passageways; like a mini-version of the more famous Hogwarts. Throughout most of the story, the faculty at Cackle’s play a prominent role as school heads, and each episode features at least one of them making a quip or two of different emotional wavelengths or in the teacher’s lounge where the quartet politick about the latest developments around the school; be it professors Hardbroom and Drill clashing on a common ground between the girls’ studies and leisure, or Miss Cackle commenting on another teacher’s visit.
The same tropes follow in Little Witch Academia with its magic school, Luna Nova: headmistress Holbrooke takes after Cackle’s leadership, and she is kinder and more sympathetic; Anne Finnelan the equally as conservative but less surveillant, and more leeway-giving version of Constance; and in Ursula Callistis/Shiny Chariot we find someone like professor Drill: a young teacher who develops a close bond with Akko and defends her against antagonization from her peers, as the latter did with Mildred and her friends, with magic. We also see others like arch-modernist Croix Meridies acting as the foil to her, trying to lead Akko astray from the path of true magic, or Professors Pisces, Lukic and Nelson who teach philosophy, potions and physical education respectively making rounds. Luna Nova’s faculty is much larger than Cackle’s, with its educational edifice looking more enchanting, modern and towering than the latter but it’s mostly Ursula who guides her down this path, and outside of the first few episodes we do not see them doing in-class stuff much.
Aesthetically, Luna Nova wins out at resembling the magic school trope better. Cackle’s edifice looks plain, unimposing and no different than any other show set in an English country estate, while everything in Luna Nova bears some mystical flair to it, like the magic-sourcing Philosopher’s Stone in the tower and the leylines; the main cast also looks more like witches than regular British schoolgirls in The Worst Witch. Needless to say, the professors are more imposing in said show, and take on more responsibilities and frequently handling more important affairs; it feels like an educational institute while Luna Nova feels more resort-like. On occasion, we’ll even see them being humanized, such as Headmistress Holbrooke with her father in episode 9, or when we learn about professor Hardroom’s crippling fear of a former teacher of hers who pays a visit. Overall though, I think The Worst Witch had the better share of more interesting teachers, if not ones who are relatable in some sort.
The Worst Witch 1-1 Little Witch Academia
Category #3: Side Characters
Ethel, Drusilla, Jadu, Ruby, Griselda, and Fenella: Mildred’s closest allies and enemies
In The Worst Witch, recurring characters such as Ethel’s friend Drusilla, her sister Sibyl and their local comrades Griselda, Fenella and Clarice make occasional cameos but sometimes, get episodes of their own: for example the ninth episode of the second arc, where a depressed Sibyl enlists the help of Clarice to build a magic lamp that can grant her any wishes, which she uses to turn her dorm room into a 90’s room complete with posters, television, video games, a computer and a bean bag chair; or the third arc’s twelfth episode when they save the school from being conned by a suspicious man passing himself off as a famed Austrian composer. Drusilla gets slight character development, going from Ethel’s mean-streak buddy and Mildred’s co-bully to the latter’s ally, while Griselda and Fenella get their day in the spotlight from reliable upperclasswomen to accomplices in time travel antics and the school’s underground resistance in the last episode.
Little Witch Academia has side characters in the form of Diana’s friends Hanna and Barbara (haha get it?), robotics expert Constanze Albrechtsberger, broom-riding showoff Amanda O’Neill and glutton Jasminka Antonenko. However of these, only Constanze gets an episode of her own in episode 18, when she and Akko develop a magical Gundam-like being for a ghost-hunting event while everyone else is more or less just… there; especially Jasminka whose only purpose is to much on everything that’s edible. It’s funny, that looking at this The Worst Witch‘s side characters end up getting more spin put to them than the main protagonists, and fulfill their duties as supporting characters.
The Worst Witch 2-1 Little Witch Academia
Akko spends most time with Amanda, Jasminka, Constanze and Professor Ursula, her beloved mentor
Category #4: Background Music
This one’s a pretty easy pick. Little Witch Academia hands down has some of the most inspiring OST pieces to boot. They themselves evoke many feelings and I can recognize them with certain scenes. There’s the march-like Magic, Akko’s upbeat adventure theme; Hope which summarizes the characters and their dreams; and tunes like this bring the halls of Luna Nova and its lish surroundings to life. Just as the show has much to offer to viewers, the music also follows suit in that regard. I have mixed feelings about the background OST of The Worst Witch; at best, it reminds me of a Runescape theme or two with how mysterious-sounding they can be, and to its credit I liked that it captured that environment pervading Cackle’s hallways. But for the most part, they were pretty mundane and stock rearrangements of the opening.
Little Witch Academia 2-2 The Worst Witch
Category #5: Theme Song
Little Witch Academia hosts two sets of opening and ending songs. The first two, airing from episodes 1-13, are the ever-so joyful Shiny Ray and Hoshi Wo Tadoreba by Yurika and Yuiko Ohara respectively, which are then followed by their more dance-upbeat tunes Mind Conductor and Toumei Na Tsubasa. Of these two, I liked the first batch, which captured the series’ adventurous and exciting spirit. Onward Ever Striving Onward from The Worst Witch doubles both as the series’ opening and ending song, as well as the school’s song (remember when they used to have those?) and to be very honest, it’s beautiful in its own right. Sung by the choir of the now-defunct Wispers Girls’ School in West Sussex and then Surrey, it captures the country’s famous reputation for choral music and soothingly calls into mind the lush English countryside where the episodes take place.
I’ve spent many hours listening to Shiny Ray and Toumei Na Tsubasa and will surely continue to enjoy for its hopeful and uplifting melody-lyrics duo and association with said anime. Yet, perhaps most surprisingly, I have to award The Worst Witch with having the better opening song. The peaceful melody, its choral delivery, with scenes of the famous English countryside and the school’s students flying through the air serving as the backdrop was what made it distinct and unique to typical opening songs I’ve heard. Yes, I know, the former is more exciting, but in the other case, it sounds really enchanting and beautiful, and I can appreciate that. Also, its arrangement calls into mind another equally as comforting (yet unfortunately Protestant) hymn, Abide With Me.
The Worst Witch 3-2 Little Witch Academia
Category #6: Adventures
Akko’s misadventures in Wonderland England
The Worst Witch is a show that admittedly, took me a while to get into, especially with the lot of it being about Mildred trying to do one thing: survive at school. It feels more like a high school outcast story than it is a magic tale with the scenarios: Mildred passing a broom-flying test, standing up to Ethel, avoiding Prof. Hardbroom’s watchful eye, or her occasional rows with Enid and Maud. Eventually, the stories begin to take shape and feature more exciting things such as a bout with Miss Cackle’s evil twin sister, a basketball game against a local school where they win using the power of “Like Mike” and witchcraft, a shape-shifting diss contest between two wizards, a quiz competition, and finally, a plot about a school uprising. As you could probably tell, it plays off the form of a slice-of-life show, with a decent introduction but a rather unsatisfactory ending, as typical of most British children’s flicks.
On the other hand, Little Witch Academia does also start off in the same form, but the scenarios are arguably more exciting and unpredictable. One of the first things we see after Akko enters school, for example, is a broom-riding competition of which her idol, Shiny Chariot, was the winner of. This leads Akko, Sucy and Lotte to reluctantly join forces with one another and attempt to win the race through a mix of skill, potionary deceit, and an act of God by which Akko tries to reach the finish line using a forbidden broom, whose flight takes said character on a route beyond her comprehension. This then leads to scenarios where Lotte goes to a fan convention, a dive into Sucy’s schizophrenically psychedelic world, an on-campus revolution, a visit to Diana’s family estate, and of course the bombastic finale where the girls go up against a literal weapon of magic destruction. There’s no shortage of emotion in them, be it Akko’s determination or Sucy’s snark taking shape.
Even if you take away the anti-Modernist undertones, and focus only on the slice-of-life components, Little Witch Academia still wins because of how entertaining it is. The relationship between characters is also more developed, especially with Diana and Akko, who come to a mutual understanding with one another and actually display the depth of their abilities; as opposed to Ethel and Mildred, who just pick on each other and to be honest, Ethel’s status as a school prodigy is never shed light on unlike Diana’s. Sure, The Worst Witch has more interesting variety in its plotlines, like going camping, drinking tea or lounging at their book club, but it all just goes by without a moment’s notice, that you’re practically able to read what happens before the end credits roll.
Little Witch Academia 3-3 The Worst Witch
Some of my favourite moments from The Worst Witch
Category #7: Magic System
Magic is the prime component that binds the two shows. They treat it extensively with regards to its usage, making it a gateway for many applications, theoretical tidbits and most importantly, the respect due to it. In The Worst Witch we hear, for example, “Magic is never to be used for selfish or trivial purposes” by the girls, and by their exploits they learn to accept responsibility for their actions, be careful with how they engage with others, and maintain order. If they think they can fool around with it however they wish to get ahead, be it cheating on a test or flaunting their superiors, they will find themselves in a hefty predicament, like fights among friends or uncomfortable detentions. As to its spells, there is a diverse range of them: transformation spells allowing one to turn people into animals or disguise their appearances, summon mystical creatures, object manipulation, or enhance one’s speaking/coordination abilities. Each episode presents a different spell to boot, so it’s never a dull day at Cackle’s.
The same goes for those in Little Witch Academia; with less complex Latin-esque phrases, requiring the use of a wand powered by the school’s magic power system and twofold sets of it. There is a traditional branch which, like the former is taught through books and tests, and Professor Croix’s magic/technology synthesis that’s more bit-sized than Ruby’s incantations. A good chunk of its purpose relies on a philosophical examination of whether or not it still has a place in Akko’s world, and that becomes the source of conflict between people like Akko and Professor Croix who want to dynamize it with new methods and branches of study, and those of Diana, Professor Ursula and Andrww Hanbridge who either want to restrict which domains it can front with, or emphasize a structured means of learning its fundamentals, in light of tradition. That being said however, Akko and her friends still get a taste of magic and its consequences up front, and do learn like Mildred and others to not be hasty with jumping into it, and several character arcs like Ursula’s or Diana’s sheds light into this matter.
Both shows have their magic out in the open, but again, Little Witch Academia treats it much better and in more palpable vein than The Worst Witch, going beyond a character’s tool of convenience and focusing more on its inner pieces – like it has a life of its own. The simplicity of its casting and the range of its power was also something that I took note of in making this decision, as well as being more practical and wondrous to behold. It’s the final clincher that gives Little Witch Academia the title as the better of the two!
Final Score – Little Witch Academia 4-3 The Worst Witch
Little Witch Academia, a righteous work of anime and literature that Jill Murphy only wishes she could write
Final Words
Yoh Yoshinari succeded in making Little Witch Academia into a spiritual derivative of The Worst Witch, by not only enhancing its underlying themes and making it a prominent feature but by giving it things that were noticeably missing in the latter, aside from its underlying themes. Characters are more emphasized and their dynamic together is far more animated, the stories are more energetic and make up for the diverse scenarios and generic limitations of the latter, and great care is taken to make the plot devices fit in with the world and the overall narrative. With this, we get well-structured episodes, a proper beginning/middle/end and something that you just want to explore more as soon as the saga ends.
And with that, after 2.5 years of operation, I shall consider the East Meets West series to be over. What have I learned from this endeavour? Well… comparing things is hard, for one thing – especially when you’re scoping between two like-minded shows from different cultures and have to analyze, or even (as I will admit) stretch out some of the comparisons together 😂 But that being said, whether it’s how one side of the world treats the same character or a show is an expy of another, parlaying the same tropes as the other, it goes to show how far-reaching the power of inspiration is when it comes to storytelling – and I always enjoy when I come across those!
East Winners: 4
West Winners: 2
Total East Winners: 17
Total West Winners: 13
A fantastic and ambitious re-imagining of the hugely popular Jill Murphy books, the series centres on Mildred Hubble, a girl from a world outside of magic who finds herself landing head first – quite literally - at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches. Although she tries her best, her lack of magical knowledge sees her constantly getting things wrong and the series follows her adventures as she strives not to be The Worst Witch.
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Reviews for "Lessons from Miss Cackle: The Role of Teachers in 'The Worst Witch"
1. Jane - 1 star - As a big fan of the original Worst Witch series, I was extremely disappointed with this first rendition. The acting felt forced and lacked the charm and charisma of the original characters. The storylines seemed rushed and poorly developed. Overall, it felt like the producers were just trying to cash in on the success of the original series without putting in any effort to stay true to its essence. I would not recommend this version to any fellow Worst Witch fans.
2. Tom - 2 stars - The primary rendition of the Worst Witch missed the mark for me. The overall production quality felt subpar, with low-budget effects and unimpressive set design. The actresses portraying the main characters also didn't capture the same magic as their predecessors, making it hard to connect with the story. The writing was lackluster, providing weak character arcs and uninteresting plot developments. I was left feeling underwhelmed and yearning for the charm and excitement that the original Worst Witch brought. An unfortunate disappointment.
3. Sarah - 2.5 stars - While I appreciate the attempt to revive The Worst Witch, this primary rendition fell short in several aspects. The acting, especially from the younger cast members, seemed forced and at times even amateurish. The special effects were disappointing and lacked the wow factor that modern television shows can achieve. Additionally, the writing felt weak and predictable, lacking the clever humor and depth of the original series. All in all, it didn't live up to my expectations and failed to capture the essence of what made The Worst Witch so beloved.