Score: A-

Well on the positive side the last episode didn’t veer off into any kind of crazy or tragic direction. It is the kind of last episode you’d expect looking back on the series as a whole. A very energized last episode with a lot of over the top positive action. Sure there is a missile that is going to do some tragic harm if it manages to land. But once Akko and Diana really get up there and start going after that missile…you don’t really feel any tension. It is more about just having light fun with watching them deal with the various attacks coming their way before going into god mode and stomping the thing. In that sense it was a pretty fun and enjoyable last episode. Maybe in some ways it lacked a bit of drama and the threat was like a beast. Still fun though.

Certainly this episode wrapped up a lot of things. Magic is finally universally accepted. Which I still think is remarkable thing. It took a near disaster level event for people to realize that magic is pretty cool. Also speaks to the scale of this series that it wasn’t a global catastrophe at stake but the potential for a conflict between two nations. That is still important and the effect of magic basically returning to prominence is a global thing. It’s just that the focus was very localized really on the main characters. Probably not a bad idea since they did have to tackle this whole battle with the missile and then slip in an epilogue as well. I’d rather focus on the team broom flying than actually cut to multiple governments deciding how to respond to this crisis.

And really there was plenty of fun moments. I did like the cooperation between the characters to get flying after that missile. Everyone found a way to contribute including Croix. And even once the girls took off it wasn’t as if Chariot and Croix were sitting around twiddling their thumbs. With Chariot’s verbal efforts and Croix’s hacking they were able to get more people in support of Akko and Diana. That did make a big difference in them coming out of this on top. Visually the show really does have some nice moments in this episode. I liked seeing how each girl had their own slightly different way of contributing to what was basically a shuttle launch with brooms XD. While the main duo of Akko and Diana saved the day this is one time you can really call the win a team effort.

Credit to Andrew for not giving up on the incredibly frustrating situation he was dealing with. He was trying to be the reasonable person while watching people be unreasonable. I mean they were really going to just avoid saying anything to the country that a missile was heading towards. Their focus was on protecting themselves politically and pushing away all responsibility. Not that I can’t believe some politicians might do something that horrible, but it is still horrible. It doesn’t matter if they can’t come up with a good reason for why this situation is happening. Honestly it is just a horrible thing to see people doing. Akko’s actions did assist Andrew in giving his all. Too bad the Prime Minister surrounded himself with mostly scummy politicians. Though I guess Andrew’s future is pretty bright with having proven his quality to someone that important.

I suppose it is nice that the episode ends on Croix actually deciding to do something useful for once. She’ll take responsibility for…basically being a terrorist and try to help cure Chariot while she’s at it. No telling if she’ll really pull it off, but I suppose with the positive tone of this franchise we can believe in that. Since after all belief itself is the big point of all this. Akko’s belief in herself and what she wanted to do changed a lot of things around her. Also it was the belief of the people that allowed magic to revive itself. I guess now we have a good reason for people not believing in magic all this time…if they did then there would be no plot since magic would be everywhere XD. Impressive that Chariot’s catchphrase was actually on point.

This was an enjoyable last episode. It had all sorts of positive energy with Akko finally gaining the ability to fly at the very end. Life is good and the world is fine. It is a bit unfortunate that the Shiny Rod went back to the sky. But I suppose that takes care of any temptation for Chariot to return back to the entertainment business. And if nothing else the big victory moment with Akko and Diana unleashing hell on that missile was enjoyable. In terms of the tone and pace this show has set…this was probably the only right way to end it.

Final Thoughts

This has been an interesting ride in all honesty. I can’t say that LWA unfolded in a way that I expected it to. Akko’s very slow progression with magic wasn’t where I thought we were going to be for basically the entire show, but it did make sense plot wise by the end. It’s a bit silly to say, but the show didn’t quite have the same magic as the OVAs. That isn’t to say this is a bad show. I’d say it is a very solid and good show. Not a masterpiece in any respect, but something you can relax and watch.

I did expect the Shooting Star broom to show up and it did…very near to the end. I also expected Akko to actually gain that power from the fountain that Chariot supposedly did…guess not. Although now I’m wondering what was the point of the Fountain anyways? Chariot’s big and spectacular powers can from stealing magic from other people. So….did the fountain actually give her any particularly useful powers? I just figured with Akko having visited that thing twice that a third time would happen in the show itself.

Another somewhat lost opportunity was Diana. She did finally raise to prominence in the last section of the story, but for much of it she was left hanging. I’m not sure we really saw LWA take full advantage of Diana as a contrast to Akko. We basically know everything we know about her from a handful of episodes and then especially in her two focus episodes with the inheritance situation. Considering how impressive Diana could be at times I think they could have made more use of her.

A positive I will give to the show was letting Chariot be a badass. I mean she even basically pulled out a light saber when going after Croix at one point XD. She also had a lot of awesome combat moments in the show while trying to rescue or save Akko. In terms of being that mentor/teacher character she was able to stand out at points. And her background story was rather surprising at points so I can give the show points for being surprising.

In the end I just think this was a good, but not great series. The animation was as good as I expected. The magic in this show really did feel magical at times. They made good use of sparkles and just nice effects to make magic look like something unusual. I also like how the character designs are varied. You may not be able to memorize every name of the cast, but at least it would be hard to get two people confused in your head.

I’ll certainly miss LWA. This was a show that remained comfortable to watch right to the end.