Orange Submariner (オレンジサブマリナー, Orenji Sabumarinā?) is the 7th episode of the Little Witch Academia anime series.
Overview[]
Akko gets serious about studying but can't master the basics, even with Professor Ursula's help. She flubs test after test, risking her enrollment.
Summary[]
The episode began with Lukić's magic law class, where the eccentric, elderly professor terrified her students with the consequences of committing fraud and reviving the dead, only to be interrupted by Akko, who asked whether such things would be covered in the upcoming test. After an awkward silence, the eccentric professor awkwardly nodded. Both Lotte and Sucy couldn't help but be surprised by their roommate's unexpected change, evident through her not joining Sucy and Constanze in watching Merman Apkallu and Apkallu 2: Revenge of the Merman so she could focus on her studies.
Despite her newfound resolve to take her studies more seriously, Akko still found herself at a disadvantage, which didn't help with the upcoming exam given to her progress prior to her visit to the Fountain of Polaris. In fact, throughout the exams, she unintentionally humiliated Finnelan while trying to outperform Diana in the strict professor's class, causing the angered professor to coerce Ursula to make a quick change. Not only that, Akko still had some difficulty in the academy's subjects, including Bird Language (which earned her a C during its test and another ridicule from Hannah and Barbara), Basic White Magic, Bird Language, Flight Magic (since she still yet able to fly), Culinary Magic (comically poisoning Professor Badcock with poorly enchanted apple), and Fundamental Alchemy (unintentionally blown the object she attempted to transmogrify into smithereens). Around this time, she learned from Lotte that Luna Nova had various specialized subjects essential for acquiring national qualifications, which offered multiple jobs that could use magic, which Ursula confirmed in their private lesson prior to the Flight Magic exam. The prospect of failure in the current semester loomed over the Japanese witch-in-training, which didn't help her despair, as Diana foretold that Akko would likely leave Luna Nova in the middle of the Magic Astrology exam, which incited more ridicule from other students, particularly from Hannah and Barbara, who tripped her. This time, her anger and frustration got the best of her. She attacked both bullies, resulting in a fight between the three, much to Finnelan's anger, which Akko brought to the Headmistress Holbrooke's office, where the Headmistress somberly told her that she had to acquire the best grade in the final exam to avoid expulsion.
Attempting to get the best grade in the final exam (Magic Philosophy) was easier said than done, as she realized too late that the subject's teacher, Pisces, was the seemingly unassuming fish inside the bowl placed on the teacher's desk all along. It appeared that expulsion was imminent for Akko, so she decided to try to bribe her way around it by giving Pisces a bottle of "fancy water that celebrities drink". But the mineral water negatively affected Pisces, much to Akko's panic, as she frantically ran back and forth with the former on her hands. To add insult to injury, Pisces suddenly jumped into a nearby sink, much to her horror, just as Ursula, Lotte, and Sucy entered the scene. Fortunately, there's still hope to recover the missing professor since she's not far ahead in the sewers yet, thus it's up to Akko, Lotte, and Sucy to recover her, as Ursula kept everyone in the dark about the fiasco in the meantime.
Whereas Ursula posed as Pisces with the aid of an eraser bewitched into a not-so-convincing-looking fish lure placed into Pisces' bowl and fooled Nelson in the process, Akko, Lotte, and Sucy turned into a fish to find the real Pisces, though Akko was only able to transform halfway, so that she looked more like a large, cartoonish-looking anthropomorphic fish that retained her hairstyle and outfit. The three friends' search went to a dead end when Akko met a lonely fish whose family was trapped in a poacher's fish cage. Lotte tried to tell Akko that they had no time to help the lonely fish's family. However, Akko, unable to leave them to their fate, sacrificed her remaining magic energy reserve to free them all before berating the fish cage's owner and returning his cage. Though they managed to find Pisces along the way, they ended up caught by Finnelan and other professors just as they returned to the school before being brought to the Headmistress's office.
In light of the troubles that Akko caused to Pisces, coupled with her actions that inadvertently led to the sighting of a merman all over the news, Finnelan demanded Akko's expulsion for disgracing the academy and poor talents. Having enough of Finnelan's prejudice, Ursula stood up for Akko, pointing out the Japanese witch-in-training's progress the latter refused to acknowledge (finally grasped Piscine (fish language) in short amount of time and partial success of Metamorphosis Magic), and called her out for her injustice and expresses her approval of Akko's selflessness with a passionate conviction, leaving the latter speechless. Moreover, it's too apparent to Ursula that her seniors' true colors as a highly predictable person with bigotry against magically untalented students and a narrowed perspective to the boot means she had misjudged many potential students, especially ones who were much more talented than they appeared. Even so, Finnelan only stood down for real once Badcock informed the Headmistress that the Environmental Agency contacted Luna Nova to express their gratitude over the academy's part in saving an endangered species of fish from poaching, at which Lotte realized they talked about the fish that Akko freed prior. Still, Holbrooke pointed out that Akko's would-be punishment was merely alleviated, taking into account her ill-fated attempt to cheat her way through her now-passed exam.
Later that night, Finnelan discipled Akko and her roommates with Ursula tagging along in their detention. Akko was grateful to Ursula for standing up for her case and behaving like a teacher. Ursula corrected the younger witch that she was her teacher before Finnelan told the two to get back to work. The episode concluded with Akko and Ursula sharing a laugh before continuing their work.
Order of appearances[]
| Characters | Tools | Spells | Creatures |
|---|---|---|---|
Trivia[]
- As noted by some astute watchers, there are familiar names among the list of alumnae in the yearbook Akko consulted with:
- Elvira Diaz: Possibly an allusion to Elvira from Mistress of the Dark.
- Petronilla Meath: A nod to Petronilla de Meath, the maidservant of Dame Alice Kyteler, a Hiberno-Norman noblewoman who lived in Ireland in what is now County Kilkenny and was accused of witchcraft.
- Bridgid Kyteler: Shares the same surname as Alice Kyteler, the first recorded person condemned for witchcraft in Ireland.[4]
- Alcina Bonetti: Her name alludes to the namesake 1735 opera seria by George Frideric Handel and the namesake sorceress from the epic poem Orlando Furioso
- Chariot's leitmotif plays during Ursula's spirited defense of Akko.
- Lukíc's description of the punishment for those who perform necromancy and Diana's prediction of Akko leaving Luna Nova are later brought up in "Blytonbury's Undead Travelogue" and "Yesterday"[5][6]:
- Despite being responsible for reviving Mr. Holbrooke, Akko, Lotte, and Sucy were only assigned to fix broken brooms since they did so in a freak accident, something Headmistress Holbrooke correctly deduced.
- Akko leaving Luna Nova is not because of expulsion, like Anne Finnelan, Hannah England, and Barbara Parker hoped, but rather sitting alone in depression over the revelation of her idol's (accidental) role in her shortcomings with magic.
- It was Tetsu Amemiya's idea to add a sunken ship in the underwater scene, which could be easily overlooked by less astute watchers.[5]
- The presence of a sunken ship in the lake could be an indirect nod to Chapter 5 of Terio Teri manga.
- The episode title was a reference to The Beatles' 1966 song "Yellow Submarine".[2]
- Apkallu series, the film series Sucy mentioned in the episode, alludes to the mythical group of seven eponymous figures from Mesopotamian mythology, which at times are described as humanoid fishes, in addition to the 1954 classic horror film The Creature from the Black Lagoon and its sequels.[2]
- The first episode to feature a Shooting Star cameo in the newspaper, where, in this case, the front page of one featuring Akko in her merman form scaring a fisherman, who is later revealed to be a poacher.[2]
- Said newspaper tabloid, The Moon, might be a homage to real-life British Tabloid The Sun.[2]
- On a related note, among other news featured in the tabloid beside merman and Shooting Star sightings are The Three Secrets of Fátima (a series of apocalyptic visions and prophecies given to three young Portuguese shepherds, Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto, by a Marian apparition, starting on 13 May 1917) and what appears to be occult book of some kind.[2]
- During the ending outro, Akko, Lotte, and Sucy, in their fish form, appear as one of the visual cards of the closing credits.
- This episode and the exams take place in July, as stated in the Chronicles book.[7][8]
External Links[]
Reviews[]
- The Con Artists
- Rolling Review – Little Witch Academia (07) by CONARTISTDAN February 23, 2017
Gallery[]
| Orange Submariner has an associated gallery here. |
References[]
- ↑ Little Witch Academia's Netflix Release Date Announced - IGN
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30 2.31 2.32 2.33 2.34 2.35 2.36 2.37 2.38 2.39 2.40 2.41 2.42 2.43 2.44 2.45 2.46 2.47 2.48 2.49 2.50 2.51 2.52 2.53 2.54 2.55 2.56 2.57 2.58 2.59 2.60 2.61 2.62 2.63 Little Witch Academia Chronicles, Chapter 2, page 33
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Little Witch Academia Chronicles, Chapter 2, page 32
- ↑
- ↑ Little Witch Academia Chronicles, Chapter 4, page 116
- ↑
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