On the whole, I would say this is a pretty good anime season. Certainly no worse than average, and maybe even a little better. But one thing I must say I find especially appealing is the diversity among the shows I’m covering. That’s only a tiny fraction (barely over 10%) of the schedule, which is normal. But usually within my narrow band I don’t see a spread like this. None of the series I’m covering is remotely like any of the others. And frankly, that’s really nice. That doesn’t mean they’re all unique – just distinct in this subset of a single season. And in the experience of watching them and writing about them.
Champignon Witch is as distinct as any of them. It feels like a product of another era for starters. It’s also, I have to say, one of the genuinely saddest anime I’ve watched for quite some time. Luna’s situation is bad enough – and indeed, black witches generally have gotten the short end of the stick from life. But Lize – damn. He’s a receptacle for all the poisons of the world, and those poisons will eventually turn him into the End of All Things (if Luna can’t stop it, anyway). That’s incredibly sad obviously. But in truth, what really gets to me is the way Lize and Luna’s relationship is progressing. They’re so close to something they desperately need in their lives, and refuse to grasp it.
Claude is a big problem here, there’s no denying that. He’s acting like a total douchebag to Luna and especially Lize, even if he’s trying to do the right thing. But he is the closest thing this drama has to a detached observer, and he sees things Luna seems to miss. This thing about Lize’s memories is obviously critical. Every time Luna “exorcises” one of Lize’s bad experiences by growing a mushroom out of them, she’s also removing the memories associated with it – good and bad. And with it any growth the lad has made as an apprentice witch.
That’s obviously bad on many levels. All three of the mains see it, from their own perspective. Lize seems to suspect on some level what’s being done to him, and finds more truth in dreams than when awake. He’s also confused by Luna’s coldness towards him. He senses that she’s a kind of loving person, but she refuses to be those things to him. How would any child in his situation feel? Lize is smart and observant enough to have a sense of what he is, and his situation. He understands that he’s totally alone in the world, a bit of why, and deeply longs for a connection with someone. He understands that Luna should be the one to offer it, but refuses to. And he’s heartbroken over this.
As much of a pill as Claude is, Minos is the light that keeps Champignon no Majo from succumbing to the darkness. I swear, when he hopped through that window and said “What’s a-happen?” I about lost it. Or when Minos wonders why he’s not in Lize’s grievance diary and notes how sensitive he is. That diary is a key development. Claude asserts that Lize has to have a way to cleanse himself of the poison he absorbs, or he’ll never get anywhere as a magician. The magic diary is Luna’s answer – when the boy writes his unhappy feelings down, “Yuck-shrooms” sprout, float up in the air, and disappear in a cloud of sparkles. It seems like a good thing, but Lize realizes that he’s losing things he doesn’t want to give up.
My other favorite part of the episode came when Luna, sensing how sad and bereft Lize felt, grew a bunch of bouncy mushrooms for he, Minos, and Merino (and Sisi) to play with. It was a rare moment when Luna let her true feelings as a surrogate parent show. But it was fleeting. And this all comes to a head when a talking mushroom appears and announces himself as “connected” to the Lord of Mushrooms and a friend of Luna, and that he’s happy to hear Lize’s troubles. I’m not certain whether Luna staged this in order to hear how Lize truly felt or she merely took advantage of the opportunity to eavesdrop. But either way, she got quite an earful (literally).
This situation cannot hold. Neither Lize nor Luna are being true to themselves. And Lize can’t continue this way – he’s not as island, he’s a little boy. He needs someone to support and comfort him. Finally he presents himself in Luna’s bedroom and more or less demands that he be allowed to sleep next to her. And what’s more, to hold her hand – even if her supposed nature necessitates that their hands never actually touch. The metaphors run deep here, no question, but Luna doesn’t want to be a person that can never be touched. Lize doesn’t want to carry the world’s problems with no one to support him. The answer to both their desires is close at-hand, if only they’d realize it and follow their heart.
