“One Single Magic Spell” is one of those extremely busy episodes of anime that is somewhat frustrating in the way that it makes its viewers work very hard for what feels like a relatively slight payoff. That isn’t to say that Will’s big “Super Saiyan” moment at the end of the episode isn’t a big deal within the universe of the show. The pacing of the episode, both in regards to where it falls within the season and as a single half-hour of television, just feels off. If this was the penultimate episode in a climactic season finale, maybe even one that got an extended runtime on account of how many different threads we’re expected to follow, that would be one thing. As is, though…

Here’s a perfect example of what I mean: For the first fifteen minutes of this twenty-three-minute-long episode, nothing happens. Or, rather, the story doesn’t move forward at all. We’re still smack in the middle of the big, bloody battle that began last week, and for a majority of the episode, we’re just checking in with literally every character in the show to be reminded that they are, in fact, in the middle of a battle. Elfaria gets a big scene where she makes a show of icy force to the other Magia Vander and demands they take action…and we don’t get back to them for the rest of the episode. We then cycle through nearly a dozen short scenes that bounce around between character after character, with the result always being “Oh no! What will happen to [Insert Name Here]?” Julius is teaming up with Wignall and Lihanna to fight some monsters. Rose is looking all sad and fatalistic as she fights some monsters. Mike is trying to guide people to safety from the monsters. Colette and Sion are also fighting monsters. Clairie is flying around in all that mess somewhere, too. Professor Eliza, the Headmistress, and Iris are also, you know, around.

You can tell that Wistoria is exceedingly confident in our ability to remember all of these characters and each of their individual contributions to the story when it has to bust out the endless parade of name graphics that are literally popping up on screen the entire episode. Ironically, these scenes don’t actually do a great job of reminding us why we should care about most of these people, since the scenes are only allowed to last long enough for us to read the names and hear a couple of lines from whoever is in the scene before abruptly cutting to somebody else. The intended effect, I reckon, is one of chaos and suspense, like the storming of Normandy Beach at the beginning of Saving Private Ryan. In practice, though, it’s just a frustrating series of non-sequiturs that feel more like padding than anything else.

Eventually, we reunite with Will and Prof. Workner, and this is where, with just five minutes left in the episode, Wistoria finally decides to allow the plot to start moving again. It isn’t exactly great, at first, since the shocking effect of Workner getting mortally wounded is stifled by the unintentionally hilarious visual of the guy just standing there and smiling at Will with a hole the size of a watermelon in the middle of his chest. I get that we’re working with magic and all, but no intense and dramatic scene should be giving me flashbacks to Kung Pow: Enter the Fist. Also, we’re apparently meant to believe that Workner is actually going to be just fine, I guess? Who knows.

At the very least, the episode makes up for a lot of its stalling by bringing in the mysterious Finn and unlocking Will’s first “magic spell,” which is the Super Saiyan power-up that we all knew was coming. Will even gets long, flowing Sephiroth locks to mark the occasion. This transformation is also a transition to the one moment in the episode that elicited a strong and purposeful emotional reaction from me, which is when Sion nearly sacrifices himself right in front of Collette. Of course, it’s really an excuse to have Will use his new superpowers to save the day, but Sion still intended to go out like a real hero, which is some fine character development for everyone’s favorite bastard ginger. Now that we’ve finally unlocked Will’s new form and set the stage for a good old-fashioned reckoning, I’m hoping that next week’s episode of Wistoria will close this bloody battle on a high note.

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Wistoria: Wand and Sword is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.