W.I.T.C.H. Deserved Better script

INTRO:

You probably remember W.I.T.C.H. as a kickass animated series that was killed before its time. Following a team of magical girls in the vein of Sailor Moon, W.I.T.C.H. told stories of friendship, fantasy, and Irma being the best person who ever lived. Everything she says ages like wine.

Whenever you hear discourse of W.I.T.C.H., it’s usually about how Disney was awful for refusing to continue it for a clearly foreshadowed third season, how underrated it was, and also the occasional jab at Winx Club, because, as I’ve said many times, magical girl shows just aren’t allowed to coexist I guess. The tiny me who wrote crossover fanfics of Winx and W.I.T.C.H. is now currently hiding in the trenches trying not to get hit with a fire arrow.

So today, we’re gonna be exploring the history of the W.I.T.C.H. franchise and what happened to it. Cool? Cool. “Guardians Unite!”

WHAT IS W.I.T.C.H.?:

Believe it or not, W.I.T.C.H. actually started as a comic. Much like how Sailor Moon began its life as a manga, W.I.T.C.H. was created in Italy by Elisabetta Gnone, Alessandro Barbucci, and Barbara Canepa, and published in monthly issues by Disney Italy in April 2001. Why do all the anime-esque magical girl properties start in either Italy or France? No one’s sure, but we thank them nonetheless. Bellissimo! (Look, I’m Italian trash, let me be proud of one Italian achievement. Siamo un cacchio di caos.)

The story follows five teenage girls: Will Vandom; Irma Lair; Taranee Cook; Cornelia Hale; and Hay Lin. To no one’s surprise, these girls have been chosen as the new Guardians of the Veil, protectors of the known worlds who each wield one of the four classic elements: Irma gets Water; Taranee gets Fire; Cornelia gets Earth; and Hay Lin gets Air. What about Will? Well, she gets… Yeah, no one knows what she was saying back then. More on her powers later.

In the first story arc, the girls discover a parallel world known as Meridian (for all the comic nerds, yes, I’m aware that in the comics, the world is Metamoor while the city itself is Meridian, but most of the people here don’t care about the trivial stuff, so… F in the chat for the nerds). As it turns out, their friend Elyon is the long lost princess of Meridian, whose brother Phobos is trying to hunt her down and take her power so he can expand his tyranny across the entire universe.

The animated series, meanwhile, was produced by SIP Animation, with ties to Jetix Europe, the Walt Disney Company, and France Télévisions (a state-owned company). It ran from December 2004 to December 2006 in the U.S., where it aired on ABC Kids, and the Jetix blocks on ABC Family and Toon Disney. The show’s first season had the same fundamental plot, but changed details to help with the transition to a more episodic format.

The series only managed to adapt the first two story arcs across two seasons, then ended for… reasons we’ll get into later, cuz it seems it’s not as simple as Disney just outright cancelling the project. The comics, meanwhile, continued across 139 issues until its conclusion in October 2012, with eleven story arcs. Oh yeah, the comics covered a LOT more ground in that time, including some cool power-ups in the seventh arc that unfortunately were never seen by most audiences.

There have recently been calls to show W.I.T.C.H. the recognition many believe it deserved, especially compared to the success and longevity of its contemporary and main rival Winx Club. But this begs the question of… which W.I.T.C.H. deserves this chance? Should a reboot try to be more faithful to the original comics, continue where the original animated series left off, or… do something else entirely?

Well to answer that, I think it’s best to dive into the differences between these different versions, especially seeing as most fans of the animated series probably didn’t even know of the comics’ existence, at least initially. And where better to begin that analysis than with the Guardians themselves?

COMICS V. SERIES, Characters:

Hay Lin changed the least through the adaptation. In both versions, she’s the fun-loving little cinnamon roll who practically embodies innocence. She’s also an art nerd who loves painting and especially coming up with new fashion designs. The fashion aspect was really played up during the first season, along with her as one of the main sources of comic relief.

The comics, meanwhile, give her more time to express her emotions and her connection to her family, most especially her grandmother Yan Lin. In the comics, Yan Lin actually passes away very early on in the first story arc. Though her spirit moves onto Kandrakar to join the council, the Guardians don’t learn this until the end of the first arc, and there’s even a funeral service for Yan Lin that… oh, it hits, fam.

It could be argued the death was cut out to keep the tone light, but… c’mon, y’all. It’s Disney. They love wrecking our hearts with death. I’d say it’s more likely Yan Lin was kept around so the group could have a mentor figure to keep their goals clear. I’ll talk about this more in the plot section, but the girls are basically left to their own devices in the comics to figure out what’s going on, while in the show they’re given a very clear mission from Day 1. Whichever approach is better is up to preference, but to help that predicament of the week structure going, it helped to keep Yang Lin around as the girls’ guide. That, and she’s just so lovable.

Next up, Will Vandom: leader of the Guardians, Keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar, and resident redhead extraordinaire. Why did all the redheads become protagonists? Not sure, but I’m certain it’s down to either the sheer beauty of the color red that can’t help but capture the eye in its fiery uniqueness… or their lack of souls from bartering with the Devil. Your guess is as good as mine.

That all said, Will unfortunately is incredibly generic in the animated series. She’s quirky at times and has a temper for sure, but that’s not much to work with, especially considering all the other fiery redheads we see in animated media. She doesn’t have a real arc of her own. The best thing she’s got going for her are her strained relationship with her mother, her romance with Matt, and her surprisingly sharp leadership skills, but those first two don’t really get to fully shine until season 2. But we’ll discuss that in a bit.

Comic Will, however, is a far better representation of someone who is incredibly awkward and insecure. She’s constantly doubting herself and her abilities, blaming herself before she’ll blame anyone else when something goes wrong. The comics also are upfront about the rocky but loving relationship between Will and her mother Susan. Will’s parents divorced before the story began, and so she and her mother are moving to Heatherfield for a fresh start, and of course, things are not going as well as they might’ve hoped.

The comics feature moments where Susan is trying to connect with Will and encourage her, and it’s nice to see moments of vulnerability like this between parent and child. You don’t really see this that often in children’s or especially teen media. The parents may not know about the girls’ magical adventures, but they’re still very much involved in their lives in meaningful ways beyond being roadblocks for conflict.

In the first season of the show, meanwhile, Will and Susan’s relationship is a bit rocky, yes, but there’s not nearly as much intriguing conflict and struggle as there is in the comic. It isn’t rooted in the divorce, the move, or Will’s insecurities, but rather Will doing normal teen things like wanting more independence and deciding that spending the night in an abandoned house that later gets attacked by monsters is a better move than just staying home.

This does improve with season 2, thankfully, especially with the plot of Susan falling in love with Will’s history teacher Professor Dean Collins. It’s partly played for laughs, but there are genuinely touching moments where Will is allowed to feel upset about this, especially given it was kept a secret from her for a while, but then accepts it because she wants her mother to be happy.

I would’ve loved seeing this continue in further seasons, specifically because Dean and Susan actually get married later on and even have a bébé (Look I’ve been watching a lot of Schitt’s Creek lately, okay?). Will gets a little half-brother named… William. Okay, not the most creative name you could’ve picked, but still adorable. Especially when he starts displaying magical powers. Now that’s just precious.

Now I wasn’t gonna touch on the girls’ powers till later, but for Will it’s actually important to bring it up now given how radically different they are between versions. Most fans of the show will remember Will not getting her own element in the first season, only being able to fly, open and close Portals, and throw tables at snakes. Oh, and also confuse everyone with random babble.

In season 2, though, she finally got her own element: Quintessence. In the show, quintessence is explained as life force. It’s the energy which animates all living things, manifesting as electricity. This gave Will lightning powers, the ability to give life to inanimate objects, and the power to gossip with her calculator.

In the comics, meanwhile, Will’s element is Aether, which is a bit more focused on the life force aspect than Quintessence. Aether manifests as energy blasts, shields, Will’s basically Scarlet Witch, but pink, it’s wild. She’s Fuchsia Witch, if you will. I don’t know much about the later arcs, but Will is using her powers offensively in the first arc, and presumably learns to wield them better as it goes on.

I assume the change was made because the writers found lightning more visually unique than energy powers, and they also like to have her give off a static charge whenever she’s pissed, it’s adorable. But I would’ve liked to see some combination. Especially given Will’s main color is pink. I know we were trying to make it more boy-friendly, especially by giving Caleb a bigger role in the show, but a little pink never hurt anyone, fam.

Irma’s probably the one who was changed the most between versions. Most fans will remember her as the snarky one who was always ready to shoot down Cornelia’s ego before it went out of control, as well as a loving person whose temper could get a bit out of hand, but ultimately owned up to her shit. Lowkey “L is for Loser” should be mandatory viewing for everyone.

In the comics, meanwhile, she’s far more feminine and a bit immature. If I had to boil it down to basics, she’s essentially what Cornelia was in the show. There’s even a moment in the comics where Irma uses her powers to age herself up to get a date with Andrew Hornby and winds up turning him into a frog. Whoops.

Like Sailor Mars between the original Sailor Moon manga and ‘90s anime, Show Irma and Comic Irma are essentially two different characters. I’m always gonna be more partial to Show Irma cuz I grew up with her, and also she’s a snarky queen who tolerates no bullshit whomst I stan. But I do see the appeal of Comic Irma, and to her credit, she seems to have more depth to her character than Cornelia in the show.

The only other difference worth bringing up is that in the comics, Irma’s father married her stepmother Anna, and Chris is Irma’s little half-brother. Compare this to the show, where Irma’s got a fully nuclear family. I definitely would’ve preferred this stepfamily angle, as stepfamilies could use some more positive representations in media.

Oh she also has a turtle named Leafy in the comics. This isn’t important at all but I would die for this turtle.

Taranee, meanwhile, is the group nerd. She’s the smart one, the overachiever, and also the one who’s terrified of literally everything. At least in the first season. We don’t really have much to work with for Taranee’s story until season 2, where she becomes a more active, engaging character, and also where we meet her family: her father Lionel; her mother Theresa; and her older brother Peter.

In the comics, Taranee’s far more mellow, and she’s also new to Heatherfield like Will, so they wind up becoming buddies from the start. She’s a lot closer in personality to season 2 Taranee, which I appreciate. Harriyanna Hook talks more about Taranee’s odd depiction as part of the trend of how animated black characters were written in the early 2000s, so I highly suggest you guys go check it out and listen to her perspective.

But I did love Taranee by the second season, with her falling for Nigel once he starts to become a better guy and ditching the school bully Uriah’s crowd, and also with her complicated relationship with her mother. Theresa is very hard on Taranee and controlling, mainly because she’s skeptical of Taranee’s judgment on what’s best for her.

This could’ve been explored given Theresa is a judge, and especially being married to a black man like Lionel, she’d be aware of how the criminal justice system is systemically racist, putting even someone like Taranee at greater risk for things a white kid like Nigel could get away with scott-free. But those discussions weren’t as prominent back in the early 2000s, and it’d be best to leave telling those stories to marginalized creators who know and experience this day in and day out.

And finally, Cornelia. As I mentioned earlier, Comic Irma had a lot of Show Cornelia’s traits as the feminine, immature member of the group who doesn’t know when to stop talking. Comic Cornelia, by comparison, was the most mature member of the group. She was popular, but she also stood up for the underdog, and was basically the group mom. She’s a nurturer, which is in line with her element as earth, compared to Show Cornelia who’s absolutely disgusted by her element.

Show Cornelia has her place, and she definitely gives Irma a lot to work with, but I do appreciate the maturity Comic Cornelia has to offer. Maybe Show Cornelia would’ve become more like Comic Cornelia as the show went on if we got more seasons, who knows?

Interesting to note, Cornelia and Caleb’s relationship is very different between versions. We’ll get to Caleb later, but these two are a hot mess in the show, but ultimately endgame. In the comics, meanwhile… well, Cornelia has weird premonition dreams about Caleb before they meet, and then rush a romance, but later on after some drama, she moves onto Taranee’s brother Peter, and THEY ARE ADORABLE.

So overall, the girls are very different between versions. It seems a lot of these changes were made to make them either more engaging in the show, or to give them more interesting dynamics with each other. There’s depth to each girl that’s missing unfortunately, but I’d say solely for the sake of Show Irma, it was worth it.

COMICS V. SERIES, Plot & Art:

Perhaps the most obvious difference between each version is their art styles. The comic’s artwork is flowing and vibrant, and legit looks like a Disney animated movie in comic book form. There’s so much life and charm in the panels that helps carry the story. To my understanding, Elisabetta Gnone was primarily just a writer, while Alessandro Barbucci and Barbara Canepa were the driving forces behind the artwork. They were indeed the dream team.

Unfortunately (for reasons we’ll explore later), Barbucci and Canepa left after suing Disney… yeah, that was wild. And as such, the art quality of the comics eventually declined, as did the writing quality once Francesco Artibani, a writer who actually helped co-write the very first issue, left along with them.

The show, meanwhile, went for a more anime-esque aesthetic with sharper angles and more muted colors, presumably to make the animation process easier, and also cuz… well, I like to think the creators also knew anime was on the rise, and it was only a matter of time until it was fucking everywhere. I prefer the aesthetic of the early comics, but the show’s artwork is still really good and gets the job done, and I do actually prefer the design of certain environments in the show, like Phobos’ version of Meridian. I mean, just look at this castle. Someone give that architect an award.

I will say, though, that while the comics did manage to make all the characters’ designs more memorable and interesting, and I’d also argue it succeeds in making the girls actually appear their age (something most media in this genre tend to fail at), there are certain aspects the show did better, like making the girls’ Guardian forms less sexualized, with more coverage, especially for Hay Lin. Like… what is this design? She’s a child.

Now let’s get the nitpicky differences out of the way, namely the Guardians’ powers. Most fans will remember the new psychic powers the girls got in the second season of the show: for Will, her technopathy; Irma’s mind control; Taranee’s telepathy; Cornelia’s telekinesis; and Hay Lin’s invisibility. This girl is a mess and I love her.

This upgrade in powers doesn’t happen in the comics. Will actually has her technopathy from the start, and same for Irma’s mind control. Several powers we see a bit of in the second season were accessible to the girls from the start of the comics, but I assume they were pushed off to keep them from seeing overpowered in the show in order for certain plots to work, and also to allow room for growth long term. Will, meanwhile, had the power of invisibility rather than Hay Lin. Not sure why, but… it’s there.

Perhaps the biggest and most confusing difference is whether the girls can fly. Believe it or not, despite all of them having wings, only Hay Lin can fly in the comics given she’s the Air Guardian. The wings are essentially just there for decoration. Compare this to the show where everyone can fly, it’s just Hay Lin is the best at it, which makes infinitely more sense, and allows opens the door for more engaging fight scenes and makes traversing both worlds easier.

In terms of plot, the first season is generally the same as the first story arc. The fantastical world of Meridian has been taken over by the evil Prince Phobos, and was quarantined—hehe, accidental COVID jokes to cope with the world still being on fire—by the Veil. Neither version seems really consistent on whether Phobos and the Veil have always existed, or whether they’re both just recent inventions, but… ah well.

Anyway, the Veil is crumbling at the seams because of budgetary cuts at Kandrakar, and now the new Guardians must seal those openings, called Portals, before evil oozes through and our world somehow gets worse. In the comics, there are said to only be Twelve Portals, whereas in the show, the portals pop up all the time whenever the plot demands it to make episodic plots easier. Most of season 1 follows episodic misadventures where the girls see a problem, then do their job as interdimensional janitors as best they can.

One of the key differences in these plots, aside from structure, is the role of Elyon. In both stories, Phobos is searching for his long lost sister, who was taken to Earth when she was born to keep Phobos from absorbing her powers, breaking through the Veil completely, and conquering the universe (as you do when you’re a bloodthirsty magical tyrant). This sister turns out to be Elyon Brown, best friend to Cornelia and perhaps the most underutilized element in the show.

In the show, Elyon doesn’t really get a proper introduction. She’s kind of a third wheel, or I guess sixth wheel, to the main girls who gets more time as the season goes on. Cedric, Phobos’ right hand man (And possibly consort? Gays can be tyrants too), poses as a bookshop owner in Heatherfield in an attempt to find Phobos’ sister, befriending Elyon in perhaps the creepiest, most predatory way possible. I’d call Chris Hansen if he wasn’t busy being problematic, so I suppose I’ll have to kill this man myself. Where did I leave my bat?

Elyon is more sympathetic in the show, portrayed as a clueless victim who’s been conned by her brother into thinking he’s a good guy trying to protect her from the evils of Earth. It makes sense and is compelling enough on its own, but unfortunately Elyon’s lack of introduction, and especially her naivety and lack of agency once she’s in Meridian, make her more annoying than sympathetic. She displays some skepticism towards Phobos from time to time, but it always gets washed away until the finale where she’s tricked into giving up her powers.

In the comics, meanwhile, Elyon has a stronger introduction as an established member of this friend group who gets taken to Meridian at the very beginning. Rather than be portrayed as a victim of Phobos, she’s instead the antagonist for a while, messing with the girls’ heads and even assisting in holding Taranee hostage at one point. As the arc goes on, she becomes more skeptical of Phobos until she leaves on her own, joining the Rebellion and assisting in the final battle against Phobos.

I would’ve enjoyed some of this agency in the show, with Elyon leading some of the antagonistic efforts against the Guardians in the second half, leading to her leaving Phobos on her own and helping in his demise, rather than her being a hapless hostage who gets saved at the very end. She’s a bit better in the second season, given Meridian gets some more time to shine, versus the second story arc of the comics taking place almost exclusively on Earth and Kandrakar, but once we get 10 episodes in, Elyon gets removed almost entirely with no real concern shown for the danger she’s in.

And speaking of Meridian’s expansion, the show really tried to make it a more fleshed out locale, which I really appreciate. Again, it helps expand this story arc into a full season with episodic adventures, but also makes the world feel more real. Not a fan of how generic it feels in its medieval European fantasy vibe, but that’s more a problem with fantasy media in general than this story in particular. Some of my favorite additions include the Infinite City, the Mage, the Tracker, Miranda, and Sandpit. Oh yeah, there’s a living pit of quicksand that eats people alive. This show is wild.

Caleb, likewise, got his role majorly expanded, as the show used the Rebellion as a way to create more plots for the Guardians to fight back against Phobos. This was also because the creators wanted to make the show more appealing to boys, and they figured giving Caleb aa more prominent role would allow boys to envision themselves as Caleb or have a male character to look up to, kicking ass alongside the girls.

Part of me wants to be cynical and go, “Of course they thought the girls couldn’t carry the whole story on their own.” But honestly, I actually like Caleb in the first season. Aside from the casual sexism, of course. You’re telling me the patriarchy exists in Meridian too? In a world that’s been historically ruled by matriarchs until Phobos usurped the throne? Sure, Jan. I’m just so tired of the binary gender system existing as a default in every fantasy world. Get creative, people, go wild!

In any case, Caleb helps give the Guardians a more tangible connection to the stakes in Meridian, along with some cliche but admittedly cute “How do Earth people work?” humor. It’s by the second season the show really has no clue what to do with him, but we’ll get to that a little bit later, once we talk about the other addition the show made… Blunk.

Blunk is what’s called a passling: a creature that’s able to sniff out Portals in the Veil and makes a living by selling off treasures from Earth in Meridian. Practically, he’s a tool that allows the Guardians, or other characters who don’t have the Map of Portals, to more easily locate Portals so conflict can happen. However, he also serves as comedic relief, which… is a hit or miss depending on who you ask.

For the most part, I’m not a fan of Blunk save for very sparse emotional moments. Especially cuz they have this running joke on how Blunk loves garbage and hates being clean that can get old real fast. But I’ve also had friends who really liked Blunk, so it might just be me, so who knows. In a weird way, though, he’s part of the family, so I can’t really bring myself to say I wish the show never created him. I just wish he got to be more than just a plot device and comic relief prop.

Back to Caleb, though, his story’s actually quite different between versions. In the show, he was born to the previous Rebellion leader, who we have to save later in the first season. Who’s his mother? Well, that’s actually something we’ll get into in a bit, but I very much prefer his story in the comics. There, he was one of the Whisperers (alternatively called Murmurers): floral entities created by Phobos to serve as his spies. Caleb was given life and rebelled against Phobos, only to be killed and turned into a finale during the first arc’s climax.

This actually serves as a huge conflict at the start of the second arc, making Cornelia quit the Guardians and try to desperately bring him back. In the process, Caleb winds up becoming an Altermere, an entity composed of all five elements, which awakens the Big Bd of the second arc: Nerissa. I’m not as familiar with Caleb’s role from here in the comics, but he seems to serve as a supporting character in Kandrakar from time to time, and maybe even have a romance with Elyon after he and Cornelia break up.

In the comics, meanwhile, Caleb is actually the son of Nerissa. Nerissa had escaped her prison before the show even begana, posing as several different people on Meridian and planting the seeds for her eventual conquest once Phobos was overthrown. I love basically all these changes, as they make Nerissa a far more calculating, intimidating villain who’s been plotting in the shadows this entire time. The one change I’m not too keen of, however, is her posing as the Mage, and having Caleb with his father.

They try to spin it as Nerissa giving the Rebellion a future leader in Caleb, but they never have Nerissa manipulating Caleb during the first season to lead him towards toppling Phobos. It feels like a last minute addition to keep Caleb relevant and make Nerissa seem even more calculating, which… we really didn’t need either, but okay?

Caleb feels so unnecessary in the second season once the first 10 episodes are done. They keep him around given he’s the only male character the boys can latch onto once Matt’s out of the picture, and also cuz they wanna keep his romance with Corneli going. But personally, I never found his inclusion to add much to the story in season 2.

That said, god I love season 2 is every other regard. This video’s not about that, but I have to say I vastly prefer the second season to the second story arc. That is how you radically change a story through adaptation and wind up making it better.

As for the first season, I’d say both have their strengths and weaknesses, with the comics doing better at selling Elyon’s character and giving us gorgeous artwork, but the show being more enjoyable and streamlined. Personally, I’ll probably always pick the show, which is one of the few cases of an adaptation being superior to its original in my book. But goddamn do I wish the show had the comics’ art style.

BEHIND THE SCENES MADNESS:

So remember how I mentioned that lawsuit earlier. Well, Disney actually pulled a dick move for the creators. In 2004, they attempted to sue Rainbow S.r.L., claiming that they plagiarized W.I.T.C.H. to create Winx Club, W.I.T.C.H.’s primary rival at the time, because apparently magical girl properties aren’t allowed to coexist in peace. These claims were later rejected in August after Rainbow successfully proved they’d begun production on Winx Club all the way back in 2001. And also because them both being magical girl stories isn’t enough to say they’re exactly the same, Jesus Christ.

The creators of W.I.T.C.H. weren't particularly happy about this, understandably. Canepa and Barbucci tried to sue Disney for the rights to W.I.T.C.H., so they could continue publishing the series on their own, with co-writer Artibani as a witness. And because the world is a cruel, awful, horrible place where good goes to die, Disney won. Gnone remained onboard with the project, while the others cut ties with Disney completely. This little rebellious trio actually went on to work with Rainbow, all working together to create the Monster Allergy animated series in 2006.

So the W.I.T.C.H. franchise is basically stuck in legal limbo, with most of the comic creators having left the original comic only three years in, which does explain the heavy recycling of villains of Cedric and Phobos in the fourth and fifth story arcs. The show, meanwhile, didn’t seem to hit it off with audiences as Disney hoped, and while there were indeed plans to adapt the third story arc into a full season, a lack of serious interest from both writers and investors meant it was probably best to end the project on a good note.

And that’s definitely a shame, because the show writers actually managed to make a project that was both significantly different from the source material, and damn good. Even better, in some aspects.

If I had to explain my own thoughts as to why W.I.T.C.H. didn’t catch on like Winx, I think it mainly boils down to aesthetics. I’ve mentioned in my Winx Club videos how the show’s distinct art style, character designs, fashion, music, transformations, and even setting helped it stand out from its contemporaries. What other show has kickass women with music and technology powers set in a futuristic world that still has magic? Especially by the third season, the Magical Universe felt alive and complex.

By comparison, W.I.T.C.H. feels a bit too generic, with a medieval fantasy world you’d expect from most fantasy stories, and while the designs are appealing, they don’t stand out nearly as well, and the cast just doesn’t feel as compelling, at least to me. There’s also the fact that while Winx Club embraces femininity as strength, W.I.T.C.H. seems a bit… unfocused?

Maybe it’s not my place to say as an enby, especially one who was assigned male at birth, but whenever people talk about these two properties, they tend to talk about how they prefer W.I.T.C.H. not being overly girly, as though something being more feminine makes it inherently bad? I think this need to appeal to boys through the art style, writing, and character writing does make it harder to tell who W.I.T.C.H. is for, versus something like Winx which has an incredibly strong identity and isn’t afraid to embrace its femininity, much like its magical girl predecessor Sailor Moon.

That’s not to knock W.I.T.C.H.’s approach, especially given the show, from my research, had a whole male production team, including a director who was surprised he was just given the role given there were other directors who knew the property better and were more interested. It’s giving me Munehisa Sakai flashbacks from my Sailor Moon Crystal video, but to their credit, they did deliver a genuinely good product. I just also think their biases as cishet male creators making a show about young women kinda shows.

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

So yeah, that’s the general story of W.I.T.C.H. in a nutshell. I really enjoy it, and I most certainly love the show for its writing, but I’m also not surprised it faded into obscurity over time, especially given how Disney burned its creators and drove them off. So while there have been calls to revive the show, I don’t think just picking up right where the old series left off would be the right move. But I also wouldn’t want a one-to-one recreation of the comics, as not only did the comics have their own shortcomings and eventually decline, but we’ve seen through things like Sailor Moon Crystal that those types of reboots are a hot mess.

I’d personally prefer a reboot more in the vein of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Something directed primarily by women and marginalized folks who understand the characters’ backgrounds first hand, and giving them free reign with the source material to tell new stories. Though I would also like to see the vibrant, magical art style of the comics kept intact, at least in some way.

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I’m the Unicorn of War, and… No. I still don’t know what she’s saying as she transforms in season 1. We never will. May it follow us to our fucking graves.