Izetta: The Last Witch, First of her Name, The Unburnt, Breaker of Chains, Mother of Lesbian Fantasies

So I began watching this show with my best friend who happens to be very gay. The amount of lesbian undertone in the first episode of this show made even his head spin. That is not to say this show is at all one of those “fan service for the sake of fan service” shows. Although the show can be summed up in two points:

1. Izetta spends most of the show riding a weapon (typically a .50 Cal Anti-Armor Rifle or Medieval Cavalry Lances) while wearing very, VERY, VERY high cut outfits.
   
   

   

   
2. I shit you not, the moral of the story is that lesbian love will save the day.
   

But seriously, this show has a number of very good action set pieces and character development with a nice setting. Taking place in an Alternate Universe during the equivalent of WWII in an Alpine kingdom I believe is supposed to be like Switzerland following a number of interesting characters from the titular Izetta to Princess/Archduchess Ortfiné “Finé” Fredericka von Eylstadt. Some moments are groan-worthy such as “the United States of Atlanta” scenes and specifically that the pseudo-Nazis catchphrase/slogan is “Seig Reich.” This had MJ and my lesbian sister laughing relentlessly.

However the show is nicely balanced with fan service-ish moments of bath scenes and Izetta on a rifle with nothing but a sheet on (seriously disappointed there is no cosplay of this yet) against the serious tones of war, including moments where they build up “this boy has a family. Grow to love him and know his aspirations to live and die for his country to save said family for a few episodes before he gets *BLAMMED* (by the head spy of HIS country) in the face for knowing a very damning weakness. Onto that point, they do a very good job balancing the near Mary-Sue level of power that Izetta has by limiting her to ancient ley lines. (See GIF below, there was a whole squadron chasing her. Was.)

One of my favorite moments is how they allude to how weapons have an equivalent of a 40k machine spirit then proceed to jam said weapons into enemies at high speed, such as 50 lances through a tank battalion or torpedoes into a super dreadnought in a scene reminisce of the Death Star run, but with a scantily clad redhead riding an anti-tank rifle.

The thing Izetta: The Last Witch does very well is keeping you on your toes. One rule to take to heart is that this show treats the idealistic patriotic young characters like George R.R. Martin treats…well any of his characters. For those of you that don’t know, google Red Wedding. Or Purple Wedding. Or just Game of Thrones in general. But taking it back is that you will see characters really defining themselves and having a good time only to be thrown into a moment of total despair as they die a horribly, mildly unnecessary death (seriously, Jonas was a good kid). There’s one scene where Izetta and Princess Fine go off to a bakery for a special pie and I was on the edge of my seat waiting for the store to be blown up by the Germanian forces using their experimental “newborn baby bunker busters.”

Izetta takes a very interesting twist with the return of Sophie, the fabled White Witch of Eylstadt. Sophie is returned to life via a strange cloning process and can also be summed up as “hell hath no fury.” Her entire backstory is that she was really betrayed by the man she loved so her answer is to literally nuke his country/legacy. She kicks around Izetta and the Eylstadt people in such an almost comically evil way that you remember “oh yea, these guys are Nazis” and start hating them again (it’s kind of hard to hate someone who gets shit on by a teenage red head on a flying lance).

The finale is really action packed and Izetta begins tapping into the very painful and life reducing magic that allows Sophie to shitstomp so hard, by draining magic from ley lines and carrying it around. There is a great moment where Izetta becomes a Brick Mage for a while and the final fight is Germania trying to dominate the world by the tried and true philosophy, “we have the nukes.” Izetta gets into a fight using AA Guns and Planes in a fun take on snowball fights and trains as whips. Finally, the Super Saiyan Lesbian fight is finished when Izetta absorbs all of the magic. As in all of the magic in the world. This leads to a super explosion and leaves Izetta in what can only be assumed a paraplegic possibly catatonic vegetable state to be cared for by her OTP, Archduchess Ortfiné “Finé” Fredericka von Eylstadt.

So I really enjoyed this series and figure if you like magical girls or history or even just action in general, this show is for you. I’m going to be putting out an article that serves as a very good juxtaposition to this show, Saga of Tanya the Evil. Leave a comment or discussion below on if you agree or disagree and keep following us for more anime, gaming, and entertainment news!