Atsuko Kagari and the School for Witches is a fanfic and a Fan Remake of Little Witch Academia (2017) written by Pvt_Winters.
The story largely follows the same story established in the anime. Kagari Atsuko becomes inspired to become a witch after seeing a spectacular magical performance by Shiny Chariot, leading her to enroll in the Wizarding School that Chariot studied at, Luna Nova Magical Academy, only to get disappointed when she finds out that studying magic isn't the exciting thing she thought it would be. Furthermore, Shiny Chariot, the very witch that she admired so much as a child, is looked down upon by the school, who see her as a fraud who devalues magic.
These setbacks aren't gonna stop her however and hijinks ensue as she tries desperately to become the witch she wanted to be.
While the story largely follows the TV series continuity, it adds its own twists and turns to the story to make it stand out in its own right.
The fanfic was originally uploaded on July 4th, 2019 on Fanfiction Net and is currently ongoing. The fanfic can be found on Fanficton.Net here
, or on Archive of Our Own here.
Not to be confused with Red Reef's Akko Kagari Universe series, though the fanfic does have some nods to it.
Atsuko Kagari and the School for Witches features the following tropes:
- Adaptational Dumbass: Downplayed with Diana Cavendish. While she's still Luna Nova's top student, unlike the TV series, she is unable to understand the ancient dragon writing when she sees it.
- Adaptational Jerkass:
- Hannah and Barbara were already bullies in canon, but the fic takes their bullying one step further and turns them into horrible abusive people who are so bad that they ended up giving students PTSD from their sheer abuse and tormenting. It is also made clear that they're only loyal to Diana because of her social status, not because the two actually care about her.
- Diana Cavendish is far more of an immature and selfish Jerkass here compared to canon. She attempts to steal the Shiny Rod from Akko multiple times, fails to take responsibility for her actions, argues against Nelson when forced to wear safety equipment because of her traditionalist views, starts fights and outright slaps and yells at her mother during a public event.
- Adaptational Nice Guy:
- Amanda O'Neil is far friendlier and supportive towards Akko here than in the TV series, where the two clashed a bit before becoming friends. This makes her closer to her first incarnation from The Enchanted Parade, who was similarly friendly to Akko from the offset.
- While still a bit of a jerk, Louis is far more pleasant here and he lacks the Fantastic Racism of his canonical counterpart.
- Adaptational Personality Change: Diana is made to be far less mature and intelligent and more of a unforgiving Jerkass compared to her canonical self. According to the author's notes, this was deliberately done in order to nerf Diana and make her more flawed, as he felt her canonical self was too perfect.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- While their connection to her in canon is unknown, in this fic, Hannah and Barbara used to be Chloe's Girl Posse until they ditched her for Diana.
- In a complete 180 from how canon depicted their relationship, Diana hates her mother, due to Bernadette not being there for her husband and Diana's father when he passed away. Her hatred of her is so severe in fact that she outright slaps her and screams in her face when the two reunite.
- Adaptational Wimp: Diana gets this treatment in the fanfic. While she's still The Ace, she isn't The Reliable One that she is depicted in canon, as she is unable to understand the ancient dragon script like she did in the TV series and tends to screw up more frequently thanks to her pride. She also has asthma in this continuity, which causes her to become out of breath when doing high energy activities. This results in her getting her beaten by Chloe in a magic fight in chapter 19.
- Age Lift: While Annabel Crème's (actually Mary-Ann Lait) age was never revealed, she was originally depicted as a pre-teen in the TV series. In the fanfic though, she is a teenager who is the same age as the main cast.
- Always Someone Better:
- Chloe was originally Luna Nova's top student in the early chapters, however she would promptly lose this status when Diana arrives onto the scene, with her Girl Posse outright abandoning her for Diana.
- That said, despite Diana's skill, Chloe herself does outdo Diana in chapter 19, where she outright wins a battle between them due to Diana's illness causing her to become out of breath.
- Alpha Bitch: Chloe Dubois is a haughty and abusive Jerkass who likes to proclaim her superiority over others and actively enjoys hurting others for her pleasure. Some students have gotten PTSD from her because of her bullying.
- Ascended Extra: Chloe was originally a mere background student in canon. The fic however turns her into a major supporting character and a reoccurring antagonist.
- Backstabbing the Alpha Bitch: Hannah and Barbara used to be Chloe's Girl Posse early on, however, when Diana Cavendish came onto the scene, they quickly backstab her in favor of Diana, much to Chloe's shock.
- Bilingual Backfire: In chapter 12, Hannah and Barbara insult Akko in French with the idea that she wouldn't understand. Akko plays along at first, before revealing upon leaving that she understood exactly what they were saying due to being bilingual in French, giving the duo an even worst French insult as retaliation, leaving the duo utterly frozen in shock.
- Break the Haughty: Chloe ends up going through one when Diana Cavendish comes into the fray, resulting in her former friends backstabbing her and her promptly losing her queen bee status.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Unlike in canon, Diana is shown to have a respiratory illness that makes it hard for her to breathe when doing high energy activities.
- Fan Remake: The fanfic acts as one to Little Witch Academia (2017), following the same overall plot as it, but adding its own twists.
- Hates Being Nicknamed:
- Diana absolutely hates being called "cabbage" and gets angry when Amanda calls her as such. This is implied to be due to her hatred against her mother, who is shown to call her that.
- The Shiny Rod absolutely hates being called "Shiny Rod", preferring to be referred to by his real name, Claiomh Solais, instead. Akko and Ursula call him the former anyway, much to his utter annoyance.
- Hates Their Parent: In a complete contrast from how she feels about her in canon, Diana utterly loathes her mother in this continuity, to the point that she doesn't refer to her as mom, but as "Bernadette" instead.
- Japanese Ranguage: Downplayed with the Japanese Akko. She can speak English just fine for the most part, but she sometimes has trouble pronouncing certain names due to English not being her first language, such as calling Sucy "Sushi" and Ursula "Āshura"
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Chloe is shown to actually defend Akko and prevent Diana from taking the Shiny Rod in chapter 19 when she attempts to steal it again. However, as Chloe admits, she isn't doing it to help Akko, but rather, she was instead doing it out of revenge against Diana, who took her queen bee spot.
- Named by the Adaptation:
- Annabel Crème’s real name was never given in the TV seriesnote . Here though, her real name is revealed to be Mary-Ann Lait.
- While canonically, Diana is simply Diana Cavendish, here, her full name is "Diana Reinhardt-Cavendish". Reinhardt being a nod to the surname of Diana's father in Omaomae's Mending Hearts fanfic trilogy.
- No Hugging, No Kissing: True to canon, the author has made it clear that no romance is happening in the fanfic, particularly Diana/Akko, due to him finding the ship to be overdone.
- Only the Chosen May Wield: As was the case in the TV series, only The Chosen One can wield the Shiny Rod. Though unlike in the TV series, not even Diana can touch it this time, as she gets shocked by the Rod like it did to Croix in the series.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Downplayed with Diana, who uses a fake English accent to hide her true Scottish accent. She can actually pull off the posh British accent well most of the time, but she'll often slip back to her Scottish accent whenever she gets overly emotional.
- Parental Abandonment: Bernadette has done this to Diana. As head of the World Health Organization, Bernadette is heavily busy and has little time to spend with her family due to how demanding her job is, which causes her to not be there when her husband passed away. Unlike most examples though, she isn't a bad person and she still loves her daughter deeply, but unforunately, the fact that she wasn't there for her and her late father when he passed away has caused Diana to resent her.
- Parents as People: Bernadette is depicted as being a workaholic who spends little time with her daughter and who wasn't there when her husband passed away, causing Diana to despise her as a result. That said, Bernadette is still a caring parent who is ashamed of her actions and wants to make amends with her daughter, even if she doesn't know how.
- Shout-Out:
- Annabel Crème’s real name being Mary-Ann Lait is taken from the Akko Kagari Universe series of fanfics, which has her be called as such.
- When Finneran calls out the Green Coven in chapter 15, she outright says "Why is it, when something happens, it's always you three?!" from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In contrast to the TV series, Bernadette Cavendish is revealed to be alive and well in this continuity.
- Suddenly Voiced: The Shiny Rod and Shooting Rod, which were originally voiceless in the anime, both speak in this continuity.
- Take Away Their Name: When someone is chosen to wield Annabel Crème’s Fountain Pen, their name becomes replaced with "Annabel Crème", to the point that they're referred to with that name by others as if their original name never existed. Hence when Lotte was given the pen, her name effectively becomes replaced with "Annabel Crème" instead, much to her horror.
- Talking Weapon: The Shiny Rod is capable of speech in this continuity.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Amanda and the Shooting Star have this dynamic, with the two frequently bickering and arguing with each other, but being close nevertheless.
