Little Witch Academia/YMMV

Alternate Character Interpretation: Sucy. Is she a true friend to Akko? Or does she just like to hang with her so she can mess with her? Diana. If you pay close attention, she is portrayed quite differently in the anime VS how she was in the original first 2 films.
Alternate Continuities: The original 2 films that started it all VS netflix's 25-episode anime series.
Anvilicious: Some of the messages aren't very subtle, but one of the funniest times this trope gets invoked is when Akko frees a family of fish from a cage-trap in a lake. She sees that there was still one more fish in the trap as it was being pulled up. As it was, supposedly the lake where they found the trap in was off-limits for fishing or putting traps, so Akko gets mad and swims to the surface. A man pulls in the trap and is sad to see only 1 fish in it. Suddenly Akko... Looking like a bizarre fish-person merman-esque creature surfaces with an angry look on her face, grabs the trap, points straight at the guy and says, "Hey man! Fish poaching's NOT cool." The man is terrified and shakes as he says "O-ok!" Akko goes off with the trap. Later on, we find out that the fish Akko saved were an endangered species and that she actually DID save them from a poacher!
- "There is no easy way to do anything in life! There are no shortcuts! Hard work will always prevail! Believe in yourself!". These messages are repeated throughout different instalments, like the fountain in both the 2017 series and Keisuke Sato manga. Chariot keeps repeating that "a believing heart is your magic". Professor Ursula's encouragements are heartwarming, but often gets into Anvilicious territory.
Ass Pull: Sucy is guilty of this a lot. She can apparently do anything if it involves mushrooms.
Come for the X, Stay for the Y: Come for the high quality, and fun animation. Stay for that PLUS a surprisingly entertaining story and characters. It is by Studio Trigger after all.
Complete Monster: Professor Croix, especially when she first shows up. She has a Heel Realization by the end though.
Even Better Sequel: The Enchanted Parade to the very first OVA film.
Foe Yay: See Ho Yay below. There's also this instance in one of the episodes where Akko is trying to revive Sucy from basically a sleeping curse. She puts all sorts of potions and such in her mouth and gets ready to force Sucy to drink them via mouth-to-mouth. Meanwhile, a giant dragon-esque monster formed from the combination of many sides of Sucy's persona sees what's about to happen and hearts appear in its eyes and a smile on its face. Akko goes in for the "kiss", but Sucy immediately wakes up and dodges, and tells her to get away from her. Interpret that how you will, but if you go by earlier events in the episode, it might just be implying Sucy had a kinky side like anyone else.
Hijacked by Ganon: The finale builds up to a clash with Croix and her machines, but they apparently get out of control and turn on her. Thus we see the witches fight a giant living rage-fueled nuclear missile.
Ho Yay: One of the episodes centers around the release of a magical bee during someone's party. The bee causes whoever it stings to fall in love with the first person they see. Man, woman, or even a dog, or their reflection in a mirror.
Memetic Badass: Constance. She builds a magical flying ship that transforms into a magical giant fighting robot... THAT CAN USE THE FAMOUS GIGA DRILL BREAKER!!!!
- Shiny Chariot counts as one in-universe as well.
Nausea Fuel: During the first OVA film, there's a scene where the witches are up against a Minotaur-esque monster in a maze beneath the school. None of their spells seem to affect it, but Sucy walks up to it, gets its attention, and pours a potion into its mouth. The creature's body starts convulsing and morphing wildly, the camera shifts to show the witches' reactions, and from what we hear, and see next, the Minotaur had literally melted... Skin, flesh, AND bones... Through the floor... Into a puddle of acidic blood... That, plus the groaning and dying sounds we hear can make the scene very unsettling. One of the witches actually DOES end up puking from what she saw.
Similarly Named Works: Little Witch Academia and My Hero Academia. Seems there's a lot of "Academia" anime lately. Within the franchise itself, we have:
They Changed It, Now It Sucks: Some people weren't pleased by some of the key difference between the original Short films and the 25-episode Netflix anime series.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: With regards to the 2nd half of the season, or rather from episode 14-25 they start building up a sort of debate on whether or not magic and technology go together, but in the end, they never really give it any resolution. The teachers at Luna Nova are still seemingly skeptic of technology apart from using it as a way to get money via government grants and such for its integration, but otherwise the debate is never fully resolved.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Once more, from episode 14-25, a lot of the characters that were prominent in the first 13 episodes get very little screen time or development. Even Lotte and Sucy's parts seem very minimal with pretty much all the episodes featuring Akko and maybe just one other character at a time. This applies especially to the teachers at Luna Nova who, aside from Croix and Ursula, do next to nothing from episode 15-25. There is also Professor Woodward. The mysterious entity that apparently knows just about everything and guided Chariot when she was younger to use the Shiny Rod. Want to know what we learn about her from episodes 14-25? Nothing that isn't already mentioned right here.
Unfortunate Implications: Apparently, in their world, men are unable to practice magic like witches. Or if they can, they're pretty much never shown doing so. Also, the Witch Hunts are said to have happened in their world. Really think about that when there's a school that's been around for over 1000 years teaching young witches.
What Could Have Been: There will never be a time when we don't wonder what the series would have been like, had they made the Netflix anime a continuation of the two original films' story rather than rebooting it with a different story direction.

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