Coming into Luminous Witches I was hoping that I would have a good time with it. I was expecting more or less a typical idol show and I hoped for a decent amount of fun moments in it. But what I certainly did not expect was the amount of emotional power and impact that each episode had when I watched it. Luminous Witches shines because of this emotional impact. This combined with the fun slice of life moments made a complete show that has a lot to offer.
The fun moments are pretty easy to explain. The Luminous Witches idol group is made up of members ... of the Strike Witches army who for whatever reason wasn't fitting in their previous post. This created a fun aura around the group as most of the members tended to be more on the incompetent or free spirited side. Many fun moments were had with the members of the group creating chaos with the differences between them, or the silliness of the characters and the antics they got up to. Probably my favorite character for this was Mana who is a great example of this. Her free spirited nature made her into a fun character to watch, although not the best solider for the army. She was paired up with a sleepy character named Maria, and the various moments they had together were very fun to watch. The contrast between the two made for many humorous moments. The familiars were also utilized well for comedy as they had their own moments especially with Moffy. Luminous Witches knew when to have it's characters be charming and funny, and these fun moments generally did a great job of making the characters more endearing.
But those emotional moments are really where the series shined. Episode after episode, the strong resonant emotional impact kept on rolling in. Luminous Witches didn't just hit once or twice, it hit episode after episode, and nailed this melancholic hope combination. Many of the episodes focused on the struggles of the girls in the idol group, or the civilians that were effected by the war. There was a wide array of different issues covered with these struggles as each story covered something different, showing the different ways that war can effect someone and the situation that they're in.
Luminous Witches did a great job of showcasing these different struggles while staying true to the feeling and not overdosing itself with the sad feelings. These sad moments were generally understated rather than made to be over dramatic. The OST in particular was utilized well, knowing when to play itself up, but most importantly knowing when to let itself be understated and let the negative moods build up. The mood setting for these struggles was perfect as the show still managed to have fun moments all through these struggles but still set up this feeling of sadness surrounding them. The negative effects of war shone through the work extremely well, not by being overly depressing but by showing the negative while also giving a lot of positive and showcasing the resilience of the main characters to fight through it and to try to help each other and those around them.
I loved seeing the main characters help each other out and always have each other's back. The idol group was split into subgroups to help with the various parts of creating their idol show, which worked well as the different subgroups got focus and were able to be built well and gave a lot of power to their bonds. It was very heartwarming to see that despite the circumstances, despite the fear, and despite their differences they were able to come together and support each other. Each character in the group had their own struggles and their own unique situation in life. And each of them were covered, helped, and made them feel together in the group. And all of these struggles and episodes hit well leading to a strong group that was hard not to love.
I also really enjoyed the framing of the idol group in world. I loved the focus on bringing music and morale to the people and the ability that one has to help others out despite not being on the front lines in combat. I feel like often times morale boosting and other less direct ways of helping tends to be overshadowed and underappreciated, so I enjoyed them showcasing what their music and spirit can do for those effected by the war around them.
Overall Luminous Witches shines. It offers a strong cast, a good amount of fun moments, and a whole bunch of emotionally impactful scenes that warmed my heart so much. If you want some great heartwarming content I highly suggest that you watch Luminous Witches. All of those heartwarming moments, a fun cast, and some fun moments makes a great show that is very worth watching.
Alternative Titles Synonyms: Allied Air Force Magical Idols Luminous Witches, Idol Witches, Ongakutai Witches Japanese: 連盟空軍航空魔法音楽隊 ルミナスウィッチーズ Information Type: TV Episodes: 12 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Jul 3, 2022 to Sep 25, 2022 Premiered: Summer 2022 Broadcast: Sundays at 21:00 (JST) Producers: AT-X, Docomo Anime Store, Sammy, TV Aichi, Kadokawa Media House, DeNA, Production Ace, BS NTV, Kadokawa Licensors: Sentai Filmworks Studios: Shaft Source: Original Genre: Sci-Fi Duration: 24 min. per ep. Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older Statistics Score: 6.741 (scored by 5,384 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #60192 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #4523 Members: 23,807 Favorites: 67 Available AtResources |
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