Highlights
- Burn the Witch #0.8 serves as an adequate introduction but lacks the impact of the previous animated feature.
- The special explores Balgo Parks' story, which feels dated and uninteresting compared to the intriguing world-building and supporting characters.
- Despite its undercooked story, Burn the Witch #0.8 impresses with stunning visuals, entertaining main characters, and well-directed action scenes.
Burn the Witch earned every bit of its hype from the concept alone; a spin-off of Tite Kubo's Bleach that does for the Western fantasy aesthetic what the original accomplished for a Japanese aesthetic. After a brief serialization and a gorgeous animated feature the same year, fans were eager for more, but the dormancy of the IP had killed a lot of the hype, and #0.8 doesn't help much.
Back in 2018, Kubo wrote a one-shot, Chapter #0.8, "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover," which toyed around with the idea of a Western Branch of Bleach's Soul Society. Two years later, it was compiled into a volume with four other chapters that themselves were turned into an anime by Studio Colorido and given a simultaneous global release in theaters in Japan and on streaming in the West.
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It's A Strange Place to Start
#0.8 being released after the 2020 film is already strange, but it's even more peculiar, this many years later, because it works as well as an intro to the story as the last anime did. The biggest difference is that it succeeds and falters in new ways, ultimately not leaving as strong an impression as the previous foray into this world.
It's not all that surprising considering that some moments were already co-opted from this one-shot and integrated into the movie. Remember at the end of that film when the Soul Society sign is revealed? That moment was originally from this one-shot, but since that moment was already done - and done very well - this premiere lacks the same punch at the end.
What remains is effectively background information that the audience already should have picked up on from context or outright exposition in the 2020 film. On the flipside of London resides Reverse London, where the members of Wing Bind, an organization within the West Branch of the Soul Society, manage the dragon population. This entails capture, control, and elimination.
Our two leads are Ninny Spangcole and Noel Niihashi. The former, Ninny, is a popular singer in Front London, but in Reverse London, she's a witch who yearns to rise through the ranks and become a member of the Sabres, an anti-dragon security force. Noel, on the other hand, has no such aspirations and is in it for the money. She's also a total anime fan, as evidenced by her Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon ringtones.
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The basic logline is the same, but what the story does with this template varies, and obviously, time is a factor given that this new special is only 30 minutes. To its credit, it does a better job of informing the characters and their personalities without outright spelling out their dynamic. In the film, Ninny just spells out the difference in their motivations while they're on their way to an assignment, but throughout #0.8, their personalities are shown a bit more naturally.
Where the new special fares less favorably is just about everything else, which sounds fairly damning, but only because fans were hoping the return of this IP would be more substantive. #0.8 just explores how Balgo Parks ended up becoming a Dragonclad and how Ninny and Noel were assigned to protect him.
Admittedly, it is cute to see how Noel's stoic demeanor changes when Balgo is in danger, as it informs an admiration buried beneath her initial seeming disinterest. On the whole, #0.8 is Noel-centric in the way that the 2020 film was Ninny-centric, which is appreciated because these characters are ones that viewers would like to see more of. But then there's Balgo.
The Balgo Problem
Balgo Parks feels like the most dated suggestion of a character in a long time (it feels weird just calling him a character). In a way, he's just a microcosm of Burn the Witch's bizarre occasional fanservice, which itself feels dated. He likes Noel, but he's too dumb to live and hasn't ascertained that opening with the stated goal of seeing a girl's panties is a red flag so obvious it ought to have been dyed with his soon-to-be spilled blood.
He's just annoying and very uninteresting, even when the climax of #0.8 gives him some dramatic moments to feel the closest to being an actual character that he's ever been. To his credit, he does have some moments that elicit a chuckle, but they are too few and far between to make up for him feeling like - as Nicholas Dupree of Anime News Network put it - a "third wheel."
It wouldn't be inconceivable to imagine Balgo's mediocrity being more tolerable if this episode wasn't just the team at Colorido covering their bases and adapting the one remaining chapter. Nobody watched the first film and thought "Boy I wonder what Balgo's story is." They wanted to know about what a Dragonclad even is, why it's important, and why there aren't more of them.
Furthermore, there was an entire supporting cast that was briefly introduced with character designs that were striking and cool in a way that only Tite Kubo could accomplish. While the 2020 film could fairly be criticized for not fleshing out its world enough, it could be argued just as fairly that it made viewers curious and hungry for more. The issue with a debut like that is that if "more" doesn't come soon, that curiosity turns into aggravation pretty quickly.
This Is (Not) the Sequel You're Looking For
As such, until more of the manga is written, this isn't going to answer any long-standing questions, but it might just scratch an itch enough to make it worth a watch. Anyone who sincerely adored Burn the Witch's potential will find a lot to gawk at with similar admiration. Director Tatsurou Kawano and the team and Colorido have created a beautiful modern fantasy with a style that feels true to Kubo's while - in motion - feeling distinct from something like Bleach.
The action scenes are well-directed and make one wish that Colorido worked on more action-oriented projects, as their color design lends itself to bombastic battles beautifully. Dragons are already plenty cool, but Burn the Witch's capacity for creating unique and varied dragons is something to be admired. The dragon in #0.8 is especially cool, with its cone-shaped head unfurling in a screw-like manner, revealing rows of teeth along the interior.
So the audio and visuals are great, and the main characters are entertaining (save for Balgo), but the story beyond the surface level feels undercooked. Essentially, it's the same verdict as the last time this story hit the scene. Those who vibed with Burn the Witch back in 2020 will enjoy their return to Reverse London, but as for those who are wary, it might be best to wait until the series actually begins (whenever that may be).
Our Score: 3 out of 5
Burn the Witch is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
