Animehouse

I’ve found myself thinking quite a bit about series like this. Why, when faced with unique ideas and worlds, do they falter and putter out before they can catch fire? It was really no secret that with Wistoria: Wand and Sword episode 3 we’d be thrust into proper antagonistic territory with the narrative, but why so readily shed the perspective of school and the already strongly enforced social hierarchy? With Yoshihara on tap and several new generation animators gravitating towards the project alongside the in-house staff, there’s no real shortage of potential for “cool” with the work. Even still, the desire, the fundamental need for a big bad guy reigns supreme in these power fantasies. And so, the shadows begin to lurk and skulk behind Will.

Even if the inevitability of that strong opposition exists, it doesn’t mean that it is a necessity to expose the viewer to it. Sure, dropping a young girl into the more dangerous part of the dungeon and having her so conveniently witness a boss battle isn’t exactly subtle, but it’s certainly better than explicitly stating to the audience, “I am someone that is important to the narrative behind the scenes”. It’s a curious piece of Wistoria: Wand and Sword episode 3, because the story does a rather good job of providing Will with a team of characters that are meant to be supporters. I mean, Sion will obviously be somewhat of a rival for Will, Rosty gets introduced via their “guy in a chair” shtick, Colette is the emotional support love interest- and there’s even Mr. Elferia-looking guy dropping in for this episode. It doesn’t need to verbally explain “these are the people that will make Will’s dream come true”. It is just something that is plain obvious. The reasoning truly does escape me for these sorts of creative lapses. The only comment I can make is that it drags the viewer even further away from any purpose in the episode with those given moments.

One area that’s hard to complain about with Wistoria: Wand and Sword episode 3 though is staff choices. We’ve now seen notable new generation key animator Amphibi on episodes 2 and 3 of the series, and Yuugen・RB has remained present since the beginning. More important though is the number of staff familiar with (primarily) Actas as a studio. The series has expressed strong connections and roots with the studios behind the series, and it’s certainly an important piece to the success of the work. Piling on freelancer after freelancer is a temporary solution that can’t survive an extended production. Anyways, here’s a cut straight from Yuugen on Wistoria: Wand and Sword episode 3.

On the topic of animation though, I do want to drive home a point that I complained about with episode 2. I complained a lot little bit about the description of Will’s movement in the second episode, and this third one is a great illustration of how to do that correctly. Essentially, it isn’t so much about Will moving fast, but him looking fast. Smears, additional effects that sell speed, distortion and stretching- you need to convey the idea, “Wow, Will sure is moving fast”. The staff this episode do an exceptional job with that, and the team from the prior episode struggled. It’s pretty simple terms, but just having the ability to describe Will’s speed as something incredible adds a lot to the sense of combat. Alongside that, the team’s execution of the Frost Rex was really exceptional- which I’ll talk about in a bit.

Before I can really explain the great work with the below-zero behemoth of Wistoria: Wand and Sword episode 3, I do need to get into the storyboarder for the episode- Ayataka Tanemura. In a sense, I’m surprised it took this long to see them. If there were ever a student to validate Yoshihara’s mentor status, it just has to be Tanemura, right? Despite their days as a Shaft member, their career is far more owed to their work under Yoshihara with Black Clover, and the subsequent handing of the reigns to Tanemura for the home stretch and movie.

All the same, you can pretty easily tell that this is a Tanemura episode at a distance. It bears near comical similarities to some of their Black Clover episodes that also see large scale combat take place in enclosed environments. The rotations and arcing shots that Yoshihara tends to favor are similarly present, and so on and so forth. It’s certainly too much to say that Tanemura’s work is a copy of Yoshihara’s, but unless you’re getting into the nitty gritty, it’s very easy to say so.

Good thing we’ll be talking about the frost rex (finally), then. Tanemura’s boards work a great deal of the scale of the beast into their fortes, delivering a dynamic beast that… doesn’t move from where it stands. Really, despite the outstanding perspective shots and boards that sell the movement of its chilling carapace, it hardly steps a foot outside the area that it initially appears in. It’s impressive work that expertly illustrates wonderful communication between the work and the viewer at all levels, and brings into perspective just why the episode felt as good as it did as a whole.

In general with what we’ve been able to see so far, Wistoria: Wand and Sword episode 3 is the most dissonant of the trio yet. Tanemura’s work excels thanks to some outstanding animators, but it plays against the most drab and dull background yet. The visuals are unable to drag the narrative deeper into the mind of the viewer, which forces its superficial elements even closer to the surface. The action looks cool and everything’s fun, but it doesn’t for a minute bring you closer to thinking about Iris, Elferia’s vague order, or where things might end up next. That’s obviously not to say it’s a failure of Tanemura and Yoshihara, but more so that their execution excels so much that it makes the story (not necessarily its characters) appear as if it was written in chicken scratch.

Being the slowest of the three episodes it’s hard to give it much more credit, but it has me hoping for brighter things on the horizon. When Yoshihara’s team is given something interesting to work with, the experience will always do better- which is an absolute must. Wistoria: Wand and Sword was never going to be an excellent work of fiction from a written perspective. Anyone that might have thought so is naive beyond belief. However, it does need to maintain a minimum level of quality so that this team can turn it into something that’s worth watching each week- like The Elusive Samurai.