History Anime / LittleWitchAcademia2013

* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Diana is very annoyed that Hannah and Barbara spend the entire DungeonCrawl [[SecurityCling clinging]] to each other begging Diana to go back, and tells them that witches shouldn't be afraid and ''they'' should be the ones feared.

The film would premiere in theatres across Japan under the project on March 2nd, 2013, to weak reception, as the film failed to gain traction in Japan, with [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2013-08-12/little-witch-academia-tokyo-event-cancelled-due-to-low-ticket-sales one event being cancelled due to not enough tickets being sold]].

Shortly afterwards, Trigger would later upload the film onto Website/YouTube with English subs, which would see the film recieve a large surge in popularity in the west (receving over 850,000 views until it was taken down), as many grew attached to its animation and ''Literature/HarryPotter''-esque setting and cast. The short film, alongside the later ''Anime/KillLaKill'', would ultimately go on to establish Trigger as a big name in the modern anime world, on top of establishing Yoh Yoshinari as one of the studio's big name directors.

%%* BullyingADragon: Diana's GirlPosse with a literal dragon. As the trope implies, it doesn't go too well for them.

** Most of the recognizable characters look a little different from their film appearance: Akko has blue eyes and looks slightly older, Lotte's hair is slightly longer, Sucy's hair is black instead of pink, Hannah and Barbara have different hairstyles, and Diana's hair is solid blond, with her streaks missing missing.

* DungeonCrawling: Akko, her friends, Sucy and Lotte, and Diana, the resident AlphaBitch, go into a dungeon as a test at [[WizardingSchool Luna Nova]]. The students have to traverse a series of dungeons while collecting rare treasures and dealing with monsters, they even fight a dragon.

* {{Main/Foreshadowing}}: after the prologue sequence featuring Shiny Chariot and a young Akko, Chariot is first mentioned by name again while Professor Ursula is walking along in the center of the screen. During the climax, she's revealed to really be Chariot in disguise.

* {{Munchkin}}: Both Akko and Diana go through the "typical RPG" assignment, in which they must penetrate a dungeon to retrieve treasure, as Munchkins of different categories. Diana is Min-Maxed - she declares herself 'invincible' and mows through legions of terrifying monsters, determined to bring back the best loot possible even though the rest of her party urges her to turn back. Akko is an inept Psychopath who gets derailed trying to murder every little blob monster that happens to move her way, even though her party members remind her that killing monsters isn't even part of the assignment.

%%* No-Sell:

%%** Diana utilizing the swords against the minotaur. All it seems to do is anger it some more.

* Foreshadowing: after the prologue sequence featuring Shiny Chariot and a young Akko, Chariot is first mentioned by name again while Professor Ursula is walking along in the center of the screen. During the climax, she's revealed to really be Chariot in disguise.

* ChristmasCake: Professor Ursula seems to have this complex as she is leading the dragon away. The dragon ignores her to chase after Akko and company:
-->'''Ursula:''' "Is it because they're younger?"

** Many of the themes that would define the franchise later on, such as the importance of hard work and passion, the relationship between the mundane and supernatural and the relationship between tradition and progress are completely absent here.
** The animation is noticeably much more over the top and exaggerated here, with some of the expressions in the film being rather cartoonish and not being out of place in a Creator/TexAvery or ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon. This would get toned down by ''The Enchanted Parade'' and especially by the TV series.
** On top of being more of an AlphaBitch in general, Diana can lean towards being a bit physically aggressive towards Akko at times, as she knocks her back by flicking her nose during their first confrontation and physically hits her helmet when she meets her again after the [[spoiler:dragon escapes]]. This aspect of her character would be removed entirely come the sequel.

''Little Witch Academia'' is a 2013 half-hour animated short film produced by Creator/StudioTrigger as part of Japan's "Young Animator Training Project," a government-sponsored program which hopes to train new animators under the guidance of industry masters; in this case, Yoh Yoshinari of Creator/StudioGainax fame. The film is the first installment in the ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademia'' franchise.

** Most of the recognizable characters look a little different from their film appearance: Akko has blue eyes and looks slightly older, Lotte's hair is slightly longer, Sucy's hair is black instead of pink, Hannah and Barbara have different hairstyles, and Diana's hair is solid blond, with her {{Skunk Stripe}}s missing.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Diana breaks a magical seal in her search for more treasures and ends up releasing the dragon, kickstarting the film’s conflict. The other witches inadvertently make things worse as well in their attempts to fight it off.

Not to be confused with the 2017 [[Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017 TV series of the same name]].

The film would later receive a sequel film in 2015, titled ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademiaTheEnchantedParade''.

Not to be confused with the 2017 [[Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017 TV series]] of the same name.

[[AC:If you are looking for the 2017 anime, see [[Anime/LittleWitchAcademia2017 this page.]]]]

The film later received a limited Blu-Ray release in summer of 2013 courtesy of Actii and would later be included in the physical Blu-Ray release of its crowdfunded sequel, ''Anime/LittleWitchAcademiaTheEnchantedParade''.

Both it and its sequel would later be added onto Creator/{{Netflix}} in fall 2015 in its original Japanese audio, along with all-new English, Chilean Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French and Italian dubs, being the first Studio Trigger title with non-English foreign dubs. They would remain on the service until they were taken down on October 2019 for unknown reasons.

** A [[https://twitter.com/TRIGGER_support/status/1163162064648626177 booklet]] released alongside the Blu-Ray explains that the reason why witches can use magic freely is because Luna Nova manifests in an alternate dimension, which isn't the case come the sequel and TV series, which explains they can use magic in school freely because of the Sorcerer's Stone.