Burn the Witch has an ambitious premise, but it's poorly executed. Besides needlessly dividing the film into three episodes, forcing it to have disjointed beginnings and endings that left the story disjointed, the core of the problem was mainly caused by the hype. After all, the work is by Tite Kubo , the creator of Bleach , lending credibility to the film while simultaneously leaving its flaws evident.
The biggest problem with the film is the lack of explanation , several animes take place in different worlds, which need development for the story to work, like Fire Force and Ascendance of a Bookworm do very well, but in BTW the viewer is thrown into the story ( which is not necessarily a defect ), with a brief explanation about the Wing Bind, the dragons... and that's it.
The first and only ( as no sequels have yet been announced ) film didn't explain anything about the world in which it takes place; the concept of front and back London is confusing and underdeveloped. The characters Noel and Ninny are charismatic and work well together, but who are they? It's the first film, and we know almost nothing about the protagonists .
Not to mention Wing Bind , a company where wizards and witches work as protection agents against fantastic beings ( this was in the synopsis ). From that point on, nothing is well developed about WB, showing only a pseudo-story and some Bleach easter eggs
The characters are all interesting, some even mysterious, but they're shallow. Balgo Parks , the comic relief, is a typical child character who always acts the same way. Macy Baljure , the story's trigger, has a connection to Ninny and a unique personality, and was the only character who received more development in the film.
Animation
The anime has excellent animation, Studio Colorido ( A Whisker Away ) lives up to its name, even the dragons, which are normally made with 3DCG to speed up production, were very well animated, but this animation quality is what is expected of a movie.
Final considerations
Despite its flaws, Burn the Witch is far from boring , delivering funny scenes that fit well with the action, and the characters' relationships are also very entertaining, leaving you wanting more. Even though the final solution is simple, the film opens doors to some mysteries and avenues to be explored.
The film, inspired by Tite Kubo's manga of the same name, was directed by Tatsuro Kawano at Studio Colorido. The screenplay was written by Ryomura Chinatsu and the soundtrack was scored by Keiji Inai. BTW was released on October 2nd and is available on Crunchyroll .
