Little Witch Academia (2017 series)

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Little Witch Academia is a 2017 anime series produced by Studio Trigger, and released on Netflix. It is part of the Little Witch Academia franchise, and perhaps the most prominent entry in it.

Let's face it. Magic is cool. Magic has so functions in life, from the mundane yet simple utilities like making plants grow faster, to the extraordinary like magical spectacles and combat magic. There's nothing that magic cannot do. Atsuko "Akko" Kagari knows this, witnessing a spectular performance her idol Shiny Chariot put on when she was a kid. This is precisely why she signed up to the prestigious Luna Nova academy, which Shiny Chariot formerly attended.

Problem: Akko kind of sucks at magic. Flying on a broomstick is supposed to be one of the simplest spells for a witch. Everyone around her effortlessly rose into the air and soared through the sky, while not even a Training Montage, The Power of Friendship, nor intense Calling Your Attacks sessions with No Indoor Voice could make Akko overcome gravity. No, Akko, transformation spells are not meant to give you rabbit ears. You're supposed to transform the animal sitting in front of you, not yourself.

Well, no fear! Her pluckiness and exceptional enthusiasm means she at least has a chance in the academy.

Tropes used in Little Witch Academia (2017 series) include:

• Accentuate the Negative: In universe in episode four, with Annabel Creme, the author of the Night Fall series. She quits writing, and hands her job over to Lotte, partially due to the negative reactions and comments she received regarding her volumes. Lotte eventually persuades her that she is a good author, and that Lotte has been a huge fan of her works for a long time, convincing her to keep writing.
• Anime Theme Song
• Art Shift: In the second episode, as Diana animates a statue the style looks much more like a painting.
• Book Ends: Episode five begins with Amanda and Akko fighting over who is the biggest try-hard in Luna Nova. Episode five ends with Amanda and Akko fighting over who is the biggest try-hard in Luna Nova.
• Cast of Snowflakes: The students at the Luna Nova academy. Every one of them are unique.
• Chekhov's Gun: Akko initially finds her stuff lying on the ground, guarded by a, well, human-eating mandrake. That flower is used later on in the episode to attack the gigantic cockarice attacking the cast.
• Children Are Innocent: Akko is depicted as innocent in her childhood flashbacks.
• Cosplay: In episode four, during a Night Fall release ceremony for the 365th entry, many people dress up as characters from the book series. Lotte was able to point and name at every single one of them and say which character they dress up as.
• Crash Into Hello: How Akko and Sucy meet.
• Dream Sequence: Opens the second episode.
• Free Sample Plot Coupon: The Shiny Rod was just sitting on the floor in the forest in the Forest of Arcturus, which Akko easily picks up and keeps.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the first episode, when Akko holds out a guide to Luna Nova, you can pause the episode and read its content, which includes a history of Luna Nova, a map of the facility and how to access it, and pictures of the facility.

Greetings from Luna Nova In 420 AD at the site dedication for the prestigious witchcraft academy of Luna Nova, our founding mentor, Woodward of the Nine Olde Witches greeted our first 100 students with these words "Let this academy be the first milestone in restoring the art of witchcraft and all of its lost glory."

• Late for School: How the series starts out. Akko asks around for a bus stop to take her to Luna Nova, but turns out, there are no buses that go there. Instead, you have to ride on a broomstick. Oh, also if you're late, you're expelled. The stakes are just a little high.
• Loan Shark: In episode five, the dragon, who takes Luna Nova's own Philosopher's Stone as collateral, claiming that the school fell behind on interest repayments. Turns out, the initial agreement, written in the dragon language, mentioned that there were no interest to be repaid, rendering the dragon the world's worst loan shark.
• Long Runners: In universe with Night Fall, where the 365th novel was released in episode four. The series continued for 120 years.
• Love Triangle: One is present in the Night Fall book series within the show.
• Memento MacGuffin: Akko's rare card of Shiny Chariot.
• Mood Whiplash: Episode seven begins with the dangers of magic. To use magic to commit murder, they will be eaten life slowly by mice. Use magic to resurrect the dead? Enjoy your Fate Worse Than Death. Then...

Akko: Are all of these going to be on our next exam? Professor: Probably.

• My Hovercraft Is Full of Eels: Akko calls a cockatrice a "stupid bird" in the Forest of Arcturus, and now it wants to eat her. She meant to just cast a spell that Sucy gave her. Sucy uses Akko as bait to distract the cockarice while she harvests its poison.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Diana casts a family-secret revitalization spell in the second episode, to bring more life to the Memorial Tree which is special to Luna Nova. It led to the tree spreading its roots all over the campus. Then the trope occurs again as she tries to destroy what appear to be parasites on the tree's roots, but turns out to be Papiliodia -- rare butterflies who only hatch once in a hundred years.
• Off Model: If a character is small and far from the camera, it's difficult to tell exactly who they are. While it is expected that characters further away will be drawn with less detail, sometimes characters won't be drawn with basic features like eyes at all, making them difficult to tell apart.
• Our Dragons Are Different: The dragon in episode five makes coffee and makes money trading stocks, apparently. He's also a Loan Shark and takes Philosopher's Stones as collateral, for some reason.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Sucy as a character is less enthusiastic, and serves as the blue oni counterpart, to Lotte and Akko.
• The Song Remains the Same: The ending and opening songs remain in Japanese even in the English dub.
• Training Montage: Parodied in episode three, with Akko trying (remember, trying) to fly on a broomstick. Cue lots of intense yelling, book reading, and epic failing.
• Show Within a Show: In episode four, we are introduced to the Young Adult book series Night Fall.
• Surprisingly Good English: Despite being made by a Japanese studio, the Freeze-Frame Bonus guide to Luna Nova Akko holds up in episode one features perfect English, with real, on topic information about Luna Nova that you can read.
• Taken for Granite: The cockatrice in the Forest of Arcturus, in episode one, has the power to turn things into stone with its breath.
• Talking Is a Free Action: When Akko accidentally insults the cockatrice in episode one, there is just enough time for Sucy to explain what she's really done before the bird starts attacking them.
• Transformation Sequence: Parodied. In the second episode, Akko has a brief sequence where she changes into formal clothes for the school. It turns out, those were not the clothes she was supposed to wear for class, and learns that before begrudgingly changing into the correct clothes.
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair