The Witch and the Beast is a classical reimagination of the Disney fairytale in more ways than one. What is so prominent and recurrent in the plot is the use of the character of the witch to evoke a sense of fear and insecurity, while at the same time ascribing the witch to a position of power and authority.
The Witch and the Beast anime is therefore explored as a modern-day fantasy anime that manages to withdraw from the traditional tropes of anime and Japanese culture and explores a Western idea of witch hunting. In this article, we will look at how The Witch and the Beast reimagines the classic Disney fairytale trope in a modern setting.
The Witch and the Beast anime – a basic plot summary
The Witch and the Beast is a manga series illustrated and written by Kousuke Satake. This is one of those undervalued manga series that has garnered little notice. The manga has recently received an anime adaptation, with the release of its first episode on 12 January 2024. The narrative of The Witch and the Beast follows Guideau and Ashaf, who are in a town when they meet a lady claiming to be the town’s hero.
- While the great majority believe her, this peculiar duo recognizes the actual identity of this entity: a witch who has malicious intentions.
- The two are on a mission for revenge – to find the Witch who had cursed Guideau, pledging to not stop until they settle the score!
The Witch and the Beast anime falls under the fantasy/horror genre. Yo Taichi and Toshiyuki Morikawa are the voices of the series’ two characters. The former portrays Guideau, a young girl with beast-like eyes and long fangs, and the latter plays the role of Ashaf.
Three ways in which The Witch and the Beast anime follows a Disney trope
It feels like The Witch and The Beast is inspired by many classical fairytale tropes that Disney has so meticulously crafted in the past. We see glimpses of it in the anime’s narration of the cure to a witch’s curse and the curse itself. Moreover, the anime is inspired by the idea of a villainous and evil witch that Disney has crafted to evoke a sense of fear and the looks and actions further negotiate with this sense of dread during the course of the story.
As the anime has suggested, there are three ways to break a witch’s curse-
1. The Snow White Effect
Firstly, a curse can be broken by a true love’s kiss from a prince who comes to the rescue riding on a white horse. The idea of a prince is extremely Disney core and resonates with popular belief – a prince riding on a white horse gives a kiss to the sleeping beauty and follows the savior complex. This is also evident in Disney’s fairytale classics like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Sleeping Beauty.
The anime also suggests that the kiss from the prince has to be a heartfelt kiss out of love, and it has to be mutual and consenting. That being said, it is almost always impossible for a cursed individual to break free from a Witch’s curse by this impossibly rare approach.
2. The Witch has a change of heart.
In this theory, the witch’s emotions come into play, much like in the case of Aurora and Maleficent. Maleficent was a wrathful witch, who cursed her former lover who cheated on her and married a princess- Disney’s portrayal of social norms through the marriage of the equal classes- leaving Maleficent extremely enraged.
The wrathful witch then proceeds to curse the King’s newborn daughter that she will eventually be entrapped in a death-like sleep, and can only be saved by a “true- love’s kiss”. It is all about creating the mystical experience and the fantastic idea of how powerful a witch’s curse is.
- We see another aspect of the Disney effect in the anime when we come across Guideau’s curse. Guideau is portrayed as a petite, young, and beautiful girl who is cursed by a witch.
- She seems extremely enraged about Witches and to our surprise, her curse is the reason that she is so pretty and powerless.
- Following the story, we witness that Guideau is originally a Beast– “a witch’s worst enemy and fear”. But, because she was cursed, she is forced to take the form of a powerless, young girl. This is also a very familiar and recurrent trope that takes its roots back to Disney fairytales.
3. To kiss a Witch as a temporary solution
It has been said in The Witch and the Beast anime that kissing a witch can temporarily lift the curse on an individual, however, that witch must be eliminated before the curse takes its form again. In the first episode of The Witch and the Beast anime, we see Guideau kissing the witch and transforming into her true form – the beast. However, this is evident in Disney’s narration of a fairytale and can be seen throughout major tropes and plots.
In the reimagined version of The Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent – The Movie, we witness how Aurora and Maleficent develop a relationship of their own which eventually leads her in attempting to revoke the curse. Although she does not succeed in revoking the curse, it is her at the end whose kiss wakes The Sleeping Beauty.
This makes the idea of a witch kissing the cursed individual a popular theory that the anime of the modern day has supposedly adapted, twisting the idea as a temporal reality and further provoking a violent understanding and portrayal of the figure of the witch.
Conclusion
We have seen how The Witch and the Beast anime negotiates with a Disney idea and experiments with it in the modern-day witch-hunting anime. Furthermore, we have seen how a Disney influence is omnipresent throughout the plot and how it makes the reimagination of a Disney fairytale a Shonen retelling. For more anime updates, subscribe to our newsletter at Spiel Anime!