Quick Summary • Best Moment • Setup • Delivery • Other Posts
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 8 Review – Quick Summary
In Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 8, “The Ripper,” Elaina traveled to a new city that seemed pleasant enough, but it had an unusual trait. There were dolls everything. Not just here and there or displayed in windows. They were everywhere. Pronouncing it “creepy,” she sat down to eat lunch and overheard a witch named Sheila questioning the townsfolk about a series of apparent murders. Everyone was quite worked up about it, but none of their testimonies matched. Not descriptions of the suspect or even the the crimes themselves. Will Elaina stick around to help Sheila solve the mystery? Why can’t anyone agree what happened? And what’s with all the dolls?
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
Favorite Quote from Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 8
Someone stole Elaina’s hair, and she was not happy about it. Capture from the Hulu stream.
Elaina was most displeased when she awoke to find most of her hair cut off. True, the styling was attractive and showed off her elegant neck, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Elaina didn’t want her hair short, and someone had taken that choice away from her.
When Sheila discovered that the doll Elaina had placed in the closet was gone, but that its hair remained, it seemed clear that magic had been involved. Sheila asked Elaina if she’d stick around and help search for the culprit.
Elaina said (11:43), “Of course I will. Let’s catch that cowardly culprit, cut off their head, and send them to hell to regret what they did!”
I don’t think she was being hyperbolic.
Best in Show Moment for Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 8
Elaina was nowhere near, but Saya still acted on her feelings. It’s hard to fault her devotion! Capture from the Hulu stream.
Setup: Saya and Elaina’s Twin Necklaces
You know when Sheila and Elaina were sitting in the secret auction? Do you remember their reaction to the bunny girl doll, then the pole dancing doll? I mean, the bunny girl in particular looked like some, I don’t know, anime figures?
I kinda felt they were trying to say something… about some of us fans! And their disgusted expressions certainly didn’t help me feel any better about it! This show knows how to sink psychological barbs!
I sometimes wonder if this is the expression my wife and daughter wear when I show them my latest anime figure. I still think Ram was a great choice regardless! Capture from the Hulu stream.
But that wasn’t my favorite moment, though seeing Elaina in a state over how the doll-making witch had treated Elaina’s hair was fun. My favorite moment instead goes to pure-hearted and devoted Saya. She didn’t even get to see her beloved Elaina in this episode, but their relationship was front and center. As Sheila investigated Elaina’s room, for example, Sheila noticed Elaina’s necklace and immediately recognized it as the twin of Saya’s.
To get the full impact of my favorite moment, please remember that Ningyou-ten tenshu, the doll-making witch, really enjoyed people’s expressions. I mean, like, really, really enjoyed them. To the point I’m pretty sure she experienced what most of us would consider a private moment if the expression was just so.
Saya, it turns out, can make an expression that was just so. She just needed the right inspiration.
Delivery: Saya Expresses Herself
Sheila brought the doll-making witch back to the United Magic Association’s base. Saya warmly welcomed her. Apparently, Sheila is Saya’s teacher, and they seem to get along very well.
Saya noticed the cage with a heavily-breathing Ningyou-ten tenshu staring at her. Saya asked Sheila why the doll-maker was “looking at me with strangely bright eyes” (21:28). Sheila was about to give a flippant answer when she saw the opportunity for some fun. Leaning in close to Saya, she explained how this woman was the Ripper who went around stealing women’s hair.
You could easily see the moment Sheila decided she’d have some fun at Saya’s expense. Though the doll-making witch actually had the most “fun.” Capture from the Hulu stream.
In fact, she’d cut the hair of a traveling witch — a traveling with who just coincidentally had the same necklace as Saya. And the same kind of hat. And just in case it wasn’t clear, Sheila added (21:54), “She had pretty, ashen hair.”
Saya was so furious she went silent. The doll-making witch seemed beside herself in anticipation of Saya’s angry face. Well, she got Saya’s angry face. And Saya’s lightning bolts. Saya’s feelings for Elaina are honest, and she did not take kindly to the doll-maker mistreating her beloved.
Though Ningyou-ten tenshu did seem to enjoy the punishment quite a lot…
What did you think of Elaina’s reaction to realizing her hair was cut? What was your Best in Show moment? Let me know in the comments!
Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 8: Other Posts
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit: Majo no Tabitabi – Episode 8 discussion
- RABUJOI: Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina – 08 – The Dollmaker
- Random Curiosity: Majo no Tabitabi – 08
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 1: Elaina, The Apprentice Witch
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 2: The Land of Mages
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 3: The Girl as Pretty as a Flower / Bottled Happiness
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 4: The Princess without Subjects
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 5: Royal Celesteria
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 6: The Land of Truth Tellers
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 7: The Wall Etched by Travelers / The Grape-Stomping Girl
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 8: The Ripper
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 9: A Deep Sorrow from the Past
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 10: The Two Teachers
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 11: The Two Apprentices
- Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina Episode 12: The Everyday Tale of Every Ashen Witch
Elaina thinks someone’s slashing women: Well, that’s too bad. So where do I sleep tonight?
Elaina finds out someone’s cut her hair: Now it’s personal!
What’s the point of travelling when you don’t really care what happens around you but get annoyed when something happens to you? She should have booked the Nike-specialty-package tour and brought a camera and complained to the guide about all the mishaps.
LOL!
Interesting point.
This show has made me think more than most, and it’s along the lines you’ve brought up.
She’s a powerful witch. Shouldn’t she get more involved?
Then I think about the last trip I took. Well, not the last, but a major trip. I live in Ohio, and I traveled to San Francisco. I watched the local news to get a sense of the local flavor. There were stories of murders and robberies and other stuff like that.
In the abstract, I felt bad for the victims. I might even have said a prayer for them.
But I didn’t have the slightest inclination to help them. In fact, I distinctly remember eating Subway, kinda like Elaina was eating her lunch, and listening to those news stories.
True, I’m no witch. I don’t have the offensive capability, and I don’t have any special powers. On the other hand, I used to shoot competitively. I can put a 50 calibre lead ball, shot from a black powder primitive weapon, in a circle the size of a dime at 25 meters.
Should I go after murders?
At the rate of 1 shot per minute (muzzle-loaders are really a pain to reload), I’d be at a disadvantage. But if could substitute and AR-15 or AK-47. I’d be more accurate with modern weapons. Should I go hunting for murderers the next time I travel?
Good heavens, no.
Then, why should I expect Elaina to do so?
I’m not attacking your position at all. It’s honestly a question I’m grappling with. Elaina is a very different protagonist than I’m used to. She’ll abstractly lament murders, but steal her hair? She’s ready to unleash Armageddon.
She could do it, too.
I like Elaina because she makes decisions I don’t expect. In retrospect, with some thought, I can trace her decision tree. But I’ve never been able to anticipate where she’s going.
I like that about a show!
********Should I go hunting for murderers the next time I travel?
Good heavens, no.
Then, why should I expect Elaina to do so?**********
That isn’t actually my point. Unlike many people I’ve heard talk about the show, I’m not saying she should get involved. What I’m saying is that she seems oddly disaffected: that’s the attitude I might have when I read the Nike book, not the attitude I have when I actually see things in person. When do her emotions generally flare up? When someone disturbs her vanity, or when something inconveniences her. (See how much more into the grape stomping she got once she was insulted.) It makes me wonder what she even expected from travelling.
I’m sure you remember how little fondness I have for the fools-rush-in mentality of My Hero Academia, so I don’t expect vigilante justice. But she’s quite fine with using her witch status for whatever, and it’s mostly personal whims. No restrictions, no “local humility”. There’s no sense of trying to “feel the place”. She feels like an annoying five-star hotel entiteled tourist, not a backpacker, but the narrative suggests the latter rather than the former. There’s a strange mismatch I just can’t figure out.
Whether or not she gets involved is a side issue of how she appears to react to things.
Ah! Thanks for taking the time to explain.
“It makes me wonder what she even expected from travelling.”
I have a feeling that’s the point — I don’t think she knows. The problem with abundant talent, where success comes before a lot of negative experiences, is that it fosters unrealistic expectations. So, maybe her immature expectations are part of the process.
“There’s no sense of trying to “feel the place”.”
Thinking back, I think you’re right. I can’t remember her ever delving into a town’s local flavor — the modern equivalent, for example, of looking for “hole in the wall” restaurants that the locals frequent, but tourists don’t. To me, this looks clear enough that I think it’s part of the writer’s intent.
“but the narrative suggests the latter rather than the former. There’s a strange mismatch I just can’t figure out.”
I’m a little unclear on this. How do you think the narrative implies that Elaina is trying to get the “feel of the place?” The most interest she showed in a particular place was the city with the wall.
*********I’m a little unclear on this. How do you think the narrative implies that Elaina is trying to get the “feel of the place?” The most interest she showed in a particular place was the city with the wall.***********
Hm, the more I think about this, the more I think I might just have assumed this. Maybe there was something in episode one, but all I remember is her thinking the book was cool.