Sometime following the series finale of renown series Bleach, mangaka Tite Kubo began work on a series that he’d hope would expand the franchise’s world into new territories. This would end up being a one-shot under the title of “Burn the Witch” about two witches named Ninny Spangcole and Noel Niihashi living in an alternative version of London where humans and dragons struggle to co-exist. Though initially promoted as it’s own thing, the ending of the one shot revealed it’s connection to Kubo’s previous work with crossover potential down the line. An anime film continuing the story is out now on Crunchyroll.

Burn the Witch is a 2020 shounen anime film, it is produced by Studio Colorido and licensed by Crunchyroll. It currently streams in English and Japanese audio.

Editor’s Note: This review may contain near complete to complete spoilers for Burn the Witch’s anime film and source material. 

Having read the near 70 page one-shot I was excited to learn that it’d be adapted into a film. A couple of things to note for those who haven’t experienced it yet. Tite Kubo makes it very clear that while Bleach and Burn the Witch are within the shame universe he wants Burn the Witch to be different from it. So much so that it features different terminologies, weaponry, enemy types, and character abilities. If that’s something you’re not quite ready for from Kubo then it may be tough getting into even more so with Bleach’s upcoming anime sequel. So if you’re curious try to keep an open mind when going in. Another thing to keep in mind is that the film is NOT a panel to panel adaptation of the one-shot. In fact it actually seems as though they’re treating it as a direct continuation of the source. Which, while a good way to keep fans of the source invested could be confusing to newcomers. I should also note that the first chapter of the now serialized manga is just a retelling of the film. 

THE GOOD: The film opens sometime following the one-shot with Ninny giving a narration of her disdain for fairytales calling them fake while also avoiding the paparazzi. She later meets with Noel who’s attempting to capture a deer-like dragon on her own. After disposing of the dragon they collect their earnings while debating over the way compensation for pay works which involves two systems; points and actual monetary earnings. These are seemingly split depending on how the job was performed. They encounter Balgo Parks who’s being flown around by his dog-like dragon Osushi. Meanwhile the higher ups of the organization Wing Bind who Ninny & Noel work for are conversing on what to do about Balgo who is a Dragonclad; a person with a unique ability to attract dragons. Viewing him as a danger they ultimately plan to kill him with Bruno Bangnyfe volunteering for the job being the most outspoken of the bunch over it. After retrieving Osushi and Balgo upon being tasked with watching over him by Bill Blanx Jr., Noel & Ninny scold Balgo about not being more careful with Osushi considering his status as a Dragonclad. Balgo also seemingly causes Osushi to transform if he displays a high amount of emotion.

A huge dragon suddenly appears due to being attracted to Balgo and begins destroying London. Noel seemingly kills it with her gun slicing it’s face in half while Ninny blocks off civilians. The dragon still alive attacks again revealed to be a powerful Dark Dragon and Ninny is able to defeat it with a powerful spell. Later that night Ninny’s old bandmate Macy Baljure & her pet dragon Elly are watching a news report by tabloids discussing Ninny defecting from their band making it seem as Ninny abandoned Macy. Macy’s dragon responding to her emotions destroys the TV. Back at Wing Bind Ninny and Noel are informed of someone who may be keeping a dragon in London and are given the mission to dispose of it. Ninny announces her displeasure of having to babysit Balgo comparing it to looking after the class frog. Nearing the reported location of the dragon Ninny attempts to use Balgo to find the dragon’s whereabouts, but he reminds her that dragons are merely attracted to him and that he can’t communicate with them. Just as Ninny is about to yell at Balgo an explosion is seen taking place at the HQ of the tabloid that ran the story on Ninny & Macy. Ninny and Noel debate whether or not to check out the explosion due to terrorism being out of their jurisdiction.

Noel ends up going anyways with Ninny following behind who is stunned to find Macy there accompanied by her dragon Elly. Ninny asks why Macy is there and she explains that she came to attack the tabloids for the false stories made about her and Ninny. Noel appears and Macy attempts to attack her believing she & Ninny to be a couple. Noel subdues Macy’s dragon Elly before it also attacks. Ninny asks Macy to hand over Elly promising to keep quiet about her involvement. Macy refuses as Ninny & Noel come up with a plan to subdue her, but an explosion occurs on the top of the building. Bruno (who caused the explosion) appears and orders his men to capture Balgo. At HQ Billy encounters Sullivan Squire who converses with him about her transfer. She warns him of Bruno’s attack on Noel, Ninny, and Balgo. 

Balgo is annoyed that Noel doesn’t know his identity with Ninny informing her. He makes a false claim that Balgo is the person behind the terrorist attacks as part of his plan to capture him. He also reveals the order of Balgo’s execution and blocks off citizens as he orders his men to take Balgo. Bruno warns Noel & Ninny not to interfere over Balgo who now has a bounty on his head or he’ll be forced to kill them. After Noel insults his hair Bruno gets angry and decides to kill her & Ninny as well, but they run surprising him until he realizes they’re going to Balgo rescuing him. Ninny threatening Bruno with her weapon questions him about Macy who reveals that she is a Watcher; a person born with strong magic and the ability to see dragons. Noel catches Ninny’s weapon and fires it along with her own at Bruno causing a powerful explosion that allows them to escape with Balgo & Macy. Bruno summons his dragon and gives chase as night begins to fall.

The group hide on a construction crane as Noel casts an invisibility spell. Macy gets Ninny to confirm that she never enjoyed being apart of their band. Macy states that had Ninny not joined she would have quit a long time ago while recalling her first encounter with Elly initially believing her to be a drug induced hallucination. After taking care of Elly, Macy thought she was meant to take her some place special. As Macy begins to talk to Ninny again Bruno appears and breaks the invisibility spell. Bruno runs down the group’s crimes stating that Balgo’s bounty was finalized, but Elly attacks and reveals her stealth abilities. Elly lands a successful attack on Bruno’s dragon and transforms into her true form Cinderella a powerful dragon with high threat levels. Bruno and his dragon fight Cinderella but are beaten. He forms a truce with Noel & Ninny and the three work together to fight Cinderella. Macy attempts to stop Cinderella, but ultimate fails. Cinderella proves to be too powerful for the combined forces of Bruno, Ninny, and Noel. As she nearly destroys Reverse London with a powerful attack Macy calls out to her one last time. Cinderella reacts, but she’s killed by a long range beam fired from Billy’s finger. The next day Billy’s involvement goes unrecognized and Bruno takes credit for the defeat of Cinderella. He has Wing Bind call off the bounty and execution of Balgo surprising his coworkers. Ninny argues with Billy over her and  Noel not receiving compensation for the Cinderella job. Macy enters suddenly with Billy informing Noel & Ninny that they’ll be watching over her like Balgo from now on. Squire investigates the scene of Billy’s attack insinuating that she knows he killed Cinderella. Noel meets up with Balgo and hugs him saying something good happened. She starts chasing Osushi after he asks to see her panties. Ninny and Macy watch a damaged sign being repaired revealing Wing Bind to be apart of the Western Branch of Soul Society. Noel damages the sign again during her chase of Osushi.  

Something viewers may find enjoyable about Burn the Witch is that it’s not a particularly long film clocking in at about an hour and three minutes. Crunchyroll has made it even easier to watch by splitting it into three parts amounting to upwards of twentyish minutes each. It packs in quite a bit of storytelling and world building to be an hour. The film mention the laws concerning dragons, the fact that people receive insurance for dragon attacks, as well as other tidbits like how witches are compensated for job completions. There’s even hints of corruption within Wing Bind. The focus of the film is mostly given to Noel, Ninny, Balgo, Bruno, Macy, and Billy but also introduces more for a bigger spotlight down the line. The characters with the most focus get fleshed out well enough for such a short amount of time. We know that Noel & Ninny just want compensation, Bruno wants recognition, Macy wants Ninny, Balgo wants Noel, and Billy wants Noel & Ninny to be more noble with their roles. The animation uses brighter colors that contrast with Bleach’s usually darker coat of paint. And it does give the sensation that Burn the Witch is much more light-hearted than Bleach. Not to say Bleach avoided light-hearted moments, but when it wanted to go dark with the tone it could really go there. The Espada & Fullbringer arcs come to mind in this regard.

THE BAD: Burn the Witch’s biggest problem is that it isn’t given too much time to grow, but when you consider that this was essentially a pitch for a bigger anime adaptation that’s ok. I also think some viewers who read the one-shot may be confused by the film being a direct sequel over a panel to panel film adaptation. However, the first chapter of the serialized manga adapts the film if they do get interested in the source beyond the one-shot.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Burn the Witch explores the potential of Bleach venturing outside of it’s recognized canon. With a focus on the Western side of it’s world and magic & dragons the familiarity never strays too far without sacrificing or inconveniencing it’s own originality. Noel & Ninny make an interesting opposition to Ichigo & Rukia as selfish characters doing good things for a price and self-service. The main problem with the film is that it wants to do more to express the new world, but it isn’t given the proper time to do so. Which can of course be rectified with a full anime adaptation. Otaku Dome gives Burn the Witch a 75 out of 100.