Burn the Witch #0.8 Review

Ninny and Noel Are Back!

Burn the Witch #0.8 is a special episode prequel to the Burn the Witch “movie” (it’s three episodes). I watched Burn the Witch back in the beginning of 2022. But, we just did a group watch of it in the DoubleSama Discord server in December.

As luck would have it, the day we watched Burn the Witch was also the day Burn the Witch #0.8 released. So, after completing the movie, we decided to watch the prequel. Should we have watched the prequel first? It doesn’t matter what order you watch it in.

Anyway, I liked Burn the Witch and wanted more from the series. So, of course, I was glad to see Ninny and Noel back in action in #0.8. And, I’ll go on the record to say that this special did a lot for both of their characters.

Of course, adding a fourth episode (33% more content) to any series is probably going to be an improvement. Adding one more episode onto a series like One Piece isn’t going to do much. But, adding one more episode onto something with only three episodes is huge. That’s a lot of character-building and development.

In this special, Ninny and Noel bounce off each other a lot more. For the majority of the movie, they’re in work mode. They’re fighting dragons and stuff, so they’re a bit more serious. But, that’s not the case here. They have a lot more downtime, which lets them show off their personalities more.

For example, at the start of the episode, we see that Noel really wants Ninny to call her by her first name. And we learn that Noel is the kouhai. This is a cuter side of Noel that we didn’t get to see in the movie.

The Origin of Balgo Parks

Ninny and Noel aren’t the only ones who get character development in #0.8. We can’t forget about everyone’s favorite boy, Balgo Parks. In the movie, we didn’t really know much about Balgo. So, as with Ninny and Noel, this special did a lot for his character.

Alright, so we already knew Balgo was a dragonborn or whatever it’s called. He attracts dragons due to having come into contact with one. And, of course, the one he came into contact with is none other than Osushi-chan, his dog.

There are two new pieces of information we got. We now know why Osushi-chan is a dragon. And, we now know that Osushi wasn’t the only dragon Balgo had close contact with. Though, I don’t remember if we know which of the two dragons he came into contact with first. I think it’s the other one, not Osushi-chan.

Let’s start with Osushi-chan. He’s actually a corpse that a dragon’s spirit took over — or something like that. I don’t believe we know exactly when Osushi-chan became a dragon. But, in #0.8, we see the first time Balgo finds out that this is the case.

The other dragon Balgo had close contact with is far more interesting. Like Osushi-chan, it was a dragon residing within a corpse. But, unlike Osushi-chan, it was residing within a human corpse. When Balgo was younger, his best friend died. And, when he did, a dragon took over his body.

Since then, for a decade or more, this dragon lived as a human. It was living as Balgo’s best friend and was there through all of Balgo’s major life events. Again, Balgo had no idea. And, he only found out when the dragon tried to use Balgo to lure in and eat Noel.

Do We Still Need More Burn the Witch?

After watching the Burn the Witch movie, I wanted more of the series. And, Burn the Witch #0.8 gave me that. But, I don’t think #0.8 was as good as the movie.

As I’ve already mentioned, it was nice that it gave us more content of the three main characters. However, the fact that it was a single-episode prequel limited it. It didn’t further the main plot or anything like that. So, it didn’t provide everything that I was looking to get out of an addition to the series.

With that in mind, yes, we still need more Burn the Witch. At the end of the movie, Ninny and Noel help defeat one of the seven legendary dragons. What about the other six? There’s theoretically still plenty of content there. And, it doesn’t even need to be that long — one or two cours could cover it all.

There is one little problem with more Burn the Witch anime, though. As far as I know, there’s not any more manga content to adapt. The manga consists of five chapters in one volume released over a single month in 2020.

Still, I think this prequel shows that the Burn the Witch world is worth exploring more. Yes, I know it’s the same world as Bleach. But, I have no interest in that series, from what I’ve seen of it. I want more cute witches hunting dragons.

We already knew there were different kinds of dragons from the movie. But, this special showcased even more variety. My favorite was the giant, camel-like dragon with trees growing in its nose. That was awesome. That’s the kind of stuff I want to see more of. Will we ever get more, though? It doesn’t look good.

Final Thoughts

I ended up giving Burn the Witch #0.8 a 6/10, which is one point less than I gave the movie. With that said, if you liked the movie, the special is worth watching. And if you’re interested in Burn the Witch, you might as well start with this since it’s the prequel.

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