Āya to Majo

Title:Āya to Majo
Earwig and the Witch
アーヤと魔女
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Studio Ghibli
R1 License - GKIDS
Not every orphan would love living at St. Morwald's Home for Children, but Earwig does. She gets whatever she wants, whenever she wants it, and it's been that way since she was dropped on the orphanage doorstep as a baby. But all that changes the day Bella Yaga and the Mandrake come to St. Morwald's, disguised as foster parents. Earwig is whisked off to their mysterious house full of invisible rooms, potions, and spell books, with magic around every corner. Most children would run in terror from a house like that . . . but not Earwig. Using her own cleverness—with a lot of help from a talking cat—she decides to show the witch who's boss.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


82-minute TV special released on December 30, 2020.
Animated by Studio Ghibli.
Licensed by GKids.
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 8 7 8 6 5 Ggultra2764 [series:4347#1552]
For a film released by Studio Ghibli, this one was kind of underwhelming. Being the third Ghibli film directed by Hayao Miyazaki's son, Goro, Earwig and the Witch appeared to be more aimed toward appealing to children with its main focus on its titular character, Earwig, attempting to assert control over things with her new adoptive family, who are revealed to dabble into magic. Major issues with this film, however, come from the story for it feeling unfocused as there are plot elements concerning Earwig's mother and the band she was part of that the film doesn't take much time to dabble into nor are there any character developments that Earwig has to deal with, the latter having been an element of past films dabbling into the coming-of-age tribulations of young girls. In addition, the film doesn't offer any genuinely likeable characters with Earwig being pretty manipulative and spiteful in trying to get her way with others in spite of being the film's main character and her adoptive family come off abusive or sinister in their interactions with her. Having better story focus and direction, this could have made for an interesting film involving Earwig learning more about her connections to magic and the band that her biological mother and adoptive family were part of. But as is, Earwig and the Witch is perhaps among the weaker quality Ghibli films I've seen to date given its mentioned issues and I'm unsure if I'll rewatch it again anytime soon.

Last updated Sunday, July 11 2021. Created Sunday, July 11 2021.

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