The following contains spoilers for Witch Watch Episode 2, «A Giant Rookie,» now streaming on Crunchyroll.
The debut episode of Witch Watch kicked off the series premiere with a slow start relative to its competition in the Spring 2025 anime season despite its best efforts to make space for itself in the crowded fantasy and shonen genres. Witch Watch Episode 1 establishes all the basics of its story and worldbuilding at the cost of character development, and the second episode tries to balance this shortcoming by exploring its characters more in-depth. Nico Wakatsuki and Morihito Otogi need more development as a duo, and Witch Watch Episode 2 appropriately tests their strength as main characters.
Witch Watch Episode 2 — «A Giant Rookie» — continues grounding Nico and Morihito’s story as a fantasy rom-com by leaning into magical girl tropes, familiar high school anime antics and a sweet romance that invites fans of all kinds to enjoy this easygoing watch. Lighthearted humor and a pleasant tone are becoming Witch Watch‘s most apparent strengths, but Nico and Morihito aren’t as compelling just yet. Witch Watch‘s second episode highlights Nico and Morihito as characters more than in the debut, which also exposes their potential weaknesses.
Witch Watch Episode 2 Proves Magic & Comedy Are the Anime's Strengths
Witch Watch Presents a Humorous Homage to Other Popular Anime Franchises
One of the greatest strengths of Witch Watch is exactly what anime fans would expect it to be: the actual magic. An emphasis on magic is widely expected from a supernatural anime with a teen witch heroine, and Witch Watch is certainly delivering on that front so far. Witch Watch isn’t as ambitious as Little Witch Academia, and it’s certainly not on the level of Sailor Moon, but not every fantasy anime needs to be challenging. Powerscaling and dramatic conflicts are not the point of this supernatural rom-com, which helps magic and comedy shine as the real heart of Witch Watch‘s narrative. The first episode establishes the anime’s lighthearted tone and humorous magic, and the second episode firmly reinforces these elements as Witch Watch‘s bread and butter that fans can keep looking forward to.
One key aspect of the magic in Witch Watch is how it doesn’t always work as intended, with spells often having unintended side effects or tedious requirements to cast properly. Nico is just the right witch to cast such finicky spells for comedy’s sake as a skilled witch who lacks the experience to avoid blundering into the consequences of imprecise magic over and over again. Not only does Nico’s immaturity with witchcraft establish a hilarious running gag, but it also creates opportunities for her growth as a witch and protagonist. Witch Watch Episode 2 spotlights the hilarious moment when Nico accidentally exposes her magical powers to her non-magical classmates by miscasting Enbiggen, a spell designed to enlarge things. After Nico becomes a giant and gives Morihito overgrown features, the cat’s out of the bag about her witch status.
Their classmates join in on the magical fun once Nico starts enlarging her friends and making them levitate, which opens the door for an unexpected sequence that serves as the highlight of Witch Watch‘s second episode. The whirlwind sequence depicting Nico’s messy spellcasting invokes humorous references to other popular anime franchises, with gorgeous animation accenting the dazzling magic along the way. From comparing Morihito’s overgrown hair to Gon Freecss’ memorable Hunter x Hunter hairstyle to emulating the way that Dragon Ball Z‘s iconic characters fly, Witch Watch nods to some of its most well-known Shonen Jump predecessors — even if it carries itself much differently. More references to Fruits Basket and The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. make this fun-filled magic sequence a surprisingly thorough homage to various beloved anime.
Inspirational Themes Surface at the Forefront of Witch Watch Episode 2
Witch Watch Explores the Importance of Acceptance Through Nico & Morihito
The prevailing theme of Witch Watch Episode 2 is the unexpectedly accepting response that Nico and Morihito’s classmates have to their true identities, which underscores this supernatural anime’s comforting slice-of-life essence. As an easygoing rom-com anime, introducing darker themes would contradict the lighthearted, humorous tone Witch Watch has established with its fans. Although it’s fair to acknowledge the possibility that Nico and Morihito might face more serious conflicts stemming from their magical identities later in the series, they’ll no doubt be an exception to what promises to be an uplifting story overall. By removing the fear of judgment and persecution from the equation, Witch Watch sets up its main characters to enjoy happy lives despite being a witch or an ogre.
Not only does Nico’s goofy spellcasting in Witch Watch Episode 2 entertain fans, but it also embodies the episode’s inspiring theme of acceptance by facilitating delightful interactions with her classmates and their teacher. Despite putting effort into hiding her magical powers from her classmates, Nico accidentally reveals herself as a witch and Morihito as her familiar before the end of the second episode, slightly subverting the common magical girl anime trope in which a character struggles much longer to hide their alter ego. Once Nico’s classmates learn she’s a witch, the supporting cast further subverts fans’ expectations by embracing their magical identities relatively quickly.
Despite being a teen witch going to an ordinary school, Nico has nothing to hide because she doesn’t get punished or alienated for using witchcraft in class. Perhaps even more importantly, Nico is warmly accepted and praised as a skilled spellcaster after the initial shock wears off. This reinforces a simple yet pleasant message about the importance of acceptance by celebrating Nico’s strange gifts as an inseparable part of who she is. The same is true for Morihito, who is readily accepted as an ogre teenage boy with superhuman strength. Even though an ogre like Morihito traditionally inspires more fear than a witch like Nico, the supporting cast meets both characters with overwhelming positivity. Witch Watch openly presents itself as an easygoing comedy, and the greatest strength of the second episode is the absence of dark material.
Witch Watch Struggles to Make Its Main Characters Feel Unique
Nico's One-Sided Infatuation With Morihito Makes Her Character Fall Flat
Although there’s nothing unpleasant about Nico being a likable teenage witch enjoying high school adventures, she struggles to make much of an impression on the broader anime community. Nico is a classic anime deredere, a drama-free love interest content with one-sided infatuation, and Witch Watch fails to set her apart as a memorable main character because of it. It’s problematic to make Nico such a convenient love interest for childhood friend Morihito, partly because it cheapens her charming, friendly persona.
Positioning Nico as Morihito’s overly smitten and convenient love interest runs the risk of undercutting her as half of Witch Watch‘s lead duo. Although Nico fawns over Morihito, who conveniently begins living with her, she comes off as a much fuller character around the other characters. Nico forges significant relationships with her classmates at school that are just as important to her as Morihito after experiencing a lonely childhood. Even if Nico is a classic example of a deredere, there ought to be some obstacle to her and Morihito getting together, aside from his reluctance to see her in a romantic light. Nico’s character would undoubtedly improve with more depth and conflict outside her romantic inclinations.
Morihito's Character Suffers From a Lack of Conflict & Conviction
Not unlike Nico, teenage ogre Morihito hasn’t been fully fleshed out as a character who can stack up to other Shonen Jump heroes just yet. There’s plenty of time to mature and develop Morihito’s character, but it would be nice for fans to see the promise of something more in Witch Watch Episode 2. For now, the only signs indicating Morihito’s potential are his stoicism and physical strength compared to Nico’s cheerful disposition and skill-based magic, suggesting there could be a balanced sense of harmony between them as a couple in the future.
It’s critical for Nico and Morihito to feel like a balanced duo as contrasting deuteragonists in Witch Watch, but contrast alone isn’t enough to set them apart as an anime duo — or from each other. After Witch Watch Episode 2, Morihito feels like a generic male anime character with no real conflict other than dodging Nico’s over-the-top affection. Now that Morihito’s ogre identity is out in the open, he urgently needs some flaw or insecurity to overcome, a friend who challenges him more than Nico does or a dedicated arc to develop his character. Despite the shortcomings of the lead duo in Witch Watch Episode 2, there’s hope that Nico and Morihito can push each other to become more captivating characters with a properly balanced romantic dynamic as their adventure continues.
Witch Watch is available to stream on Crunchyroll.
- Main characters lack depth & drive
