Trivia / Little Witch Academia

Works in the franchise with their own Trivia pages:

• The 2013 short film
• Teri Terio's manga
• Little Witch Academia: The Enchanted Parade
• Keisuke Sato's manga
• The TV series
• Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time

---

The franchise in general:

• Creator Couple: Yoh Yoshinari's wife, Naoko Tsutsumi, is a former employee at Studio Gainax and is the producer of both the short films and the TV series.
• Fandom Life Cycle: Originally was at stage 2 during the short films. The TV series, however, would cause it to jump into stage 4.
• Fandom Nod: One of the official artbooks by the staff provides an answer to the What If? Akko and Diana met when they were children◊ theory.
• Follow the Leader: While LWA is not readily inspired by Harry Potter (it was inspired by The Worst Witch, which predates Harry Potter by two decades), Yoshinari would admit at TRIGGER Night Vol. 11 that it was Harry Potter's massive success and the popularity of the magic school genre thanks to it that convinced him to make the anime.
• Flip-Flop of God:
  • Sucy's background has shifted over time. Originally, Sucy was stated to come from a poor family and her biological mother and sisters were both shown in the Teri Terio manga. However, over the years, Yoshinari has stated that Sucy is an orphan who got abandoned by her parents, which was how she's depicted in the Keisuke Satō manga.
  • Amanda's home state has been prone to flip-flopping. During one of Trigger's Q&A sections on 4chan's /a/ board, when asked where Amanda came from, they suggested that she might come from Brooklyn. However, at Otacon 2018, when asked again, they instead stated that she's from Texas, but then two years later in 2020, during their live drawing/Q&A stream for AX 2020 Lite, when asked again, after a bit of a debate between New York and San Francisco, they once again stated that she's from New York.^note Though they made it clear that it's just an "estimated guess" and not a true confirmation, which combined with them debating on it prior, indicates that they still hadn't really pinned down and thought about which state she comes from (which they downright stated during the aforementioned 4chan Q&A), which explains the flip-flopping.
• God Never Said That: In the Japanese only book, Little Witch Academia: Chronicle, series creator Yoh Yoshinari states that "Akko is the kind of girl who has no interest in guys at all", which many took as being a Word of Gay confirmation for Akko, despite Yoshinari never mentioning or implying anything about Akko having an interest in women. In fact, Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time would imply, if not confirm, that Akko has no interest in romance, period.
• Inspiration for the Work: During Trigger Night Vol. 11, when asked what inspired LWA, Yoshinari would state that the franchise was inspired by The Worst Witch (specifically the 1998 series), as he found the setting to be interesting and wanted to make an animated version of it following the success of Harry Potter, which made the British magic school setting popular.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Thanks to Netflix's removal of them in late 2019, both of the short films are no longer easily accessible in the West. The only way to watch them legally would be to obtain either the physical release of the first film by Acttil, which is long out of print, hard to find, and highly expensive, or the physical release of The Enchanted Parade, which does contain both of the short films and is much easier to get, but was only released in Japan and also isn't cheap to buy outside of the country. Even then though, both releases only contain the original Japanese versions, so if you prefer the other dubs, you're unfortunately out of luck.
• No Export for You:
  • The official guidebook for the franchise, Little Witch Academia: Chronicle, has never seen a release outside of Japan.
  • The manga by Teri Terio and The Midnight Crown have never been released outside of Japan.
• Playing Against Type: Fumiko Orikasa, who usually plays plucky, determined, hot blooded action girls, plays the quiet and timid Lotte Jansson in the Japanese version.
• Star-Making Role: Rachelle Heger as Sucy in the English dub.
• Voiced Differently in the Dub: In the original Japanese dub, Sucy had a rather high-pitched and nasally-sounding voice courtesy of Michiyo Murase. Her English voice actress, Rachelle Heger, however, gives Sucy a noticeably deeper and smoother voice.
• What Could Have Been: On a message thanking those who supported the Kickstarter for The Enchanted Parade, Masahiko Otsuka suggested the possibility of a TV series and/or a feature-length film if The Enchanted Parade was successful. While the TV series did happen and would premiere in 2017, the feature-length film was not so lucky and was quietly dropped in favor of the TV series. What the feature-length film is and what it was supposed to be about remains unclear.
• Word of God:
  • The official Panel at AnimeNEXT 2017 (and repeated at AnimeExpo) revealed the backstories for Sucy, Constanze, Jasminka, and Amanda, which couldn't be fit in due to time constraints. These details reveal a surprising amount of information regarding why and how the aforementioned four act the way they do. Some of these are serious, while others were jokes made up on the spot:
    • Sucy was left at an orphanage with nothing but a bottle of poison; Her obsession with toxins is a result of it being her only connection to her real family.^note This is possibly creator trolling, but is plausible. This is at least partially confirmed to be canon in the Keisuke Sato manga, as Sucy is confirmed to be an orphan in chapter 5.
    • Constanze was struck with a terrible illness as a child; In order to heal her illness, her soul was literally removed from her body, which rendered her unable to speak. That robot always standing around her or on her head? it contains her now disembodied soul. It explains why she got so mad after it was damaged.^note This is most likely a joke, because Constanze was around long before the Stanbot: she built him in episode 12 or the middle of The Enchanted Parade. Constanze also spoke briefly in the last episode, solidifying this as just a joke.
    • Jasminka is possessed by a Hungarian demon that embodies gluttony; If she ever stops eating constantly while she's awake, the demon will either get out or start consuming her surroundings (or both).^note This was largely thought to be a joke, until a chapter of the Keisuke Satō manga showed the results of her being forced to fast.
    • Amanda comes from a wealthy family whose former matriarch (Amanda's great-grandmother) was a powerful fortuneteller. Using her abilities, her family prospered in growing their business empire, but with the loss of such an advantageous ability, Amanda's family sent her to Luna Nova in order to make her a fortuneteller as well in order to keep said company prosperous. Obviously, Amanda wasn't exactly thrilled with this idea.^note This is probably creator trolling, but is at least plausible and is heavily implied to be the case in the Keisuke Satō manga.
  • The Trigger Night Vol. 6 Event elaborated on the lore of the setting, detailing how closely magic is tied to trees, particularly Yggdrasil. Of particular focus was how this nature grants witches long lifespans, but that more powerful witches, due to the magic constantly flowing through them, eventually turn into trees themselves. Examples given included Woodward, Beatrix, and Jennifer of the Nine Olde Witches, Holbrooke's mother, and virtually every head of the Cavendish family. It was noted somewhat somberly that this is certainly Diana's eventual fate too.
  • Akko is stated to helm from the Chiba Prefecture in Japan according to Trigger’s AX Expo Lite 2020 stream. They've also confirmed that her fluidity in English is due to her obsession with Shiny Chariot as well as English being required for Luna Nova.
  • According to Yoshinari, the number of feathers on a professor's hat is a symbol of their experience and seniority, with younger, novice teachers like Ursula and Nelson having one feather and older, experienced teachers like Finnelan and Lukić having two. The headmistress of the school tends to have three.
• Word of Saint Paul: Key animator Yusuke Yoshigaki has shown off what a "Shiny" Diana (in the same vein as Akko's white mage outfit from The Enchanted Parade) could look like.

---