Once Upon a Witch's Death ep1: I appreciate that this series actually bothered with a concept of its own; I'd started getting out of the habit of actually paying attention to what was going on in the standard copy-paste introductory scenes. Our heroine is an apprentice witch who has just turned 17 - and learned that she has just one year left to live. To avert her fate she has to gather happy tears shed by people she's helped, so there's a clear formula for what's coming next in the young woman's coming-of-age quest to save her own life. The lead alternates between chaotically avoiding questioning anything that she's told and being a bit of a know-it-all, neither of which is especially endearing to me even though her heart is in the right place. The details in the artwork are really strange, portraying London buses and modern(ish) UK scenery amidst the romanticised English suburban stuff and fantasy 'school' uniforms, like a version of the Ancient Magus' Bride which skipped doing any actual research. I also feel as though the series' depiction of Carbuncle, the witch's pet/familiar, owes an awful lot to Final Fantasy specifically. And it was difficult to believe that an English person would genuinely fail to realise that sakura petals weren't mythical 'pink snow'. It's far from terrible but it's not strong enough to get me excited.
Catch me at the Ballpark! ep1: The strongest debut so far (which isn't saying much). This is a simple comedy about a tired guy who relaxes after work with a beer at his local baseball park. As a non-drinker who knows nothing about baseball it's not terrifically relatable but the lead's awkward banter with his usual trendy young beer seller is cute, without any of the awkward casual misogyny which usually creeps into such scenarios. We also get to meet some more employees at the venue over the course of the episode (with a lot more to come, by the look of the credits). It's simply animated with a fun ending sequence and while there's no so of an overarching plot, the lighthearted observational humour makes it a nice 'chill out' series in its own right. My partner is going to keep watching so I might continue if I'm not blown away by the rest of what this season has to offer.
R
