I discovered this title by accident when I checked the Coalgirls' webpage, hoping they haven't given up fansubbing/releasing for good. Turned out one bored encoder did some releases and Majo no Tabitabi was one of these. Judging by the cover and the AniDB summary it seemed like a simple, easy-going anime so I downloaded it. It took a couple weeks to watch the entire season though.

Who's that idiot who watches mahou shoujo shit in the middle of the semester instead of working on his thesis project?

 

The premise is similar to Kino no Tabi: the young girl Elaina after becoming a witch sets out to travel to many different countries she has read about. There is no real coherent story after this point, we follow as Elaina visits countries and interacts with locals, often offering them her help. Fran, her former teacher and Saya, an apprentice witch Elaina has helped become a fully qualified witch would become recurring characters throughout Elaina's journey.

Given the way of storytelling one can't help but compare this series with Kino no Tabi. The key difference between the two is the setting: the gloomy, dark atmosphere of Kino's world has been replaced with bright colors and magic. The protagonists also have quite differing personalities: while Kino is more reserved, Elaina is quite narcissistic and has slight sociopathic tendencies. What bothered me was Elaina's long monologues, she speaks an awfully lot to herself. I think a companion would have been a great addition to the overall setting, I'm not saying it has to be a motorbike, a cat or something would've sufficed.

I initially feared Majo no Tabitabi would be boring as hell, because the first episodes were very plain in storytelling. But after a few episodes it gets a lot funnier: I'd never thought in this seemingly innocent anime about witches I'd see foot fetishists, a murder scene, the release of a gay bomb from Pandora's box and the yuri incest scene that followed. The animation is superbly done, I especially liked the way they blend 2D drawings to 3D animated backgrounds, it wasn't so wonky and uncanny compared to, let's say, Nisekoi. I usually don't care too much about voice acting, but this time I must mention that the seiyuus spoke in a clear, easily understandable voice. Even Hanazawa Kana appears in this show as Fran's voice, however I liked Elaina's seiyuu the most.

I recommend this anime if you're looking for something light-hearted and uncomplicated to watch.

Some notes:

  • There was a scene where Elaina was eating something that looked like a roll or whatever. It's called kürtőskalács and it's a spit cake from Hungary (well, originally from Transylvania, but that used to be part of Hungary for a millenium until the treaty of Trianon was signed in 1920). It comes in different flavors, such as cocoa, cinnamon or vanilla and it's commonly sold in street stands.
  • Did the creators really have to choose a symbol for the Magic Association that's also a symbol of a religion that condemns magic and occultism? Pic somewhat unrelated.

  • If you're still not convinced whether this show is worth your time take a look at this short scene which I think perfectly illustrates the character of the heroine. I hope you'll appreciate the subtitles, the automation of subtitle extraction from videos took a whole summer to implement. But I'll explain this in a future rant post. [Video is missing because... fuck libxml!]