[Spoilers] Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina - Episode 04 Discussion

I take what you say at heart because you asked what I think is the most crucial question to understand this anime, namely: why did Elaina want to be a witch?

As you said, she became a witch, her childhood goal is achieved. But perhaps being a witch, rather than becoming, has brought that same crucial question back to light. She is now writing memoirs, and this continuous endeavor is a testimony to her learning. She learned to become a witch, and it could be that now she learns to be a witch. I don't have an answer to this "crucial question," but you'll have to forgive me for piggybacking on your angle of thinking to share mine. As an opponent of post-modern literature it rings as curious to me that you relate Majo no Tabitabi to it, as it is an anime in which I discern plenty of purpose, but I can see your point. It is a typical travel story in terms of showing someone neutrally adventuring through the world. And when I say I'm piggybacking here I really mean it, which means you aren't necessarily meant to reply to me.

Some of my close online friends don't like this anime, but I do, and something about it invites me to revel in its sheer nature. Majo no Tabitabi's recent episodes have been wretched right on the surface and would break open a lot of feelings for one who isn't accustomed to indignation. It's no wonder some people wouldn't know what to feel about it or would straight-up feel annoyed by it.

Elaina travels around the world with no known aim. Everywhere she goes, she encounters various cultures and customs and meets many people, but to never stay in one place and to go on with your journey is what makes a traveler, a traveler.

There are various things that you can focus on when writing a travel story. For example, touching on unknown cultures and customs can be a theme. However, it is important to know that, in this work, the author makes it a point to focus on "encounters and farewells generated through travel" (to roughly put it in his words).

In the original novel, and as proven by the anime, there are some episodes in which the newly encountered character has no saving grace. The author willingly wrote his stories this way. He was inspired by foreign serialized detective dramas in which the characters often have an unfortunate demise (he calls it "thorough misfortune"). The author recognizes that readers would not be pleased with a constant allegiance to dark stories, and that is why he has set himself a standard to keep dark content in moderation (perhaps we will get happy stories now and then). However, he also considers that "stories with no salvation from start to finish" can be imagined precisely because of an episodic format. Perhaps a good comparison would be 19th century European fairy tales that were short and commonly had unfortunate endings.

The author also mentioned his liking for the dialogue ridden with cynicism you can find in British drama, and that this particular taste has transferred into Majo no Tabitabi's dialogue. This could explain Elaina's attitude at certain points.

It's interesting to know that the author has not planned an ending for the story, although he does have a vague idea that it would be about Elaina's hometown. And so we could wonder if some kind of apotheosis will be reached and if Majo no Tabitabi could be said to be a story about Elaina's growth as a person. As I implied in my first paragraph, I don't believe the first episode was meant to put a final stop on her development. We'll have to see what the anime has to offer in that case.

I don't agree with anyone who has called Elaina "a narcissist who is full of herself." She does take pride in the hard work she previously put in to become a witch, and does not shy away from any opportunity to brandish her witch emblem as proof of that, and to reveal a smirk whenever someone is excited to meet "someone like her." That much is true— but Elaina is the opposite of a narcissist if we take the word for its true meaning.

The myth of Narcissus tells of the vulnerability hidden beneath the strong personality of certain people (in the case of the myth, the character Narcissus represents these people). Without control over other people's feelings, the narcissist feels weak and disgraced. They have unconscious disdain for their own vulnerable feelings of shame, as they evoke their need for someone to rely on, which would ultimately expose them to rejection. They attempt to overwhelm this shame by compensating with independence, courage, and strength, ideals with which they identify.

The point here is that while narcissists feel superior to others, they depend precisely upon others to reflect back a positive image of themselves. Elaina has little to no negative feedback projected her way, therefore she cannot do that. A narcissist Elaina would be dismissive of others, criticizing and belittling them for their way of doing. She would monopolize situations. In other words, what some people who call Elaina a narcissist wish she were acting like, is what would actually make her a narcissistic person. I understand the term is used lightly by most, but to me it does absolutely no justice to Elaina to describe her with the sole term of narcissist.

On the other hand, the Echo archetype also found in the original myth doesn't expect to be loved for who they are, only for what they give or do. Perhaps in this case we can relate it to Elaina's pride as a witch. Echoists are generally passive and self-effacing, satisfied with only being accepted. They erase their rights and naturally go along the needs of others.

Elaina isn't absolutely passive, though you could make a reasonable case that she often is. After all, the whole idea is that she is the vehicle for us to encounter the environments she visits. But a third person is never a no-person. By watching, you notice that she does voice out her ideas, for instance when she suggested to Emil the right time to give his present to Nino. I think people who dismiss her as someone who is too passive (or, alternatively, as someone who fails to act out "the good") partly do so because they wish for a grandiose resolution of problems. But wishful thinking can only get you so far when you want to truly understand an anime's approach.

In the myth, Narcissus is overly self-absorbed, and Echo is overly other-absorbed. When you are met with a character who stands too much in the middle like Elaina does, you could indeed get this feeling of an empty character → but perhaps that is because you unconsciously see narcissism and echoism as the only spectrum of traits that define her.

Furthermore, you could see her as lacking attachment to the world (Kino from Kino no Tabi, a character with a flair similar to Elaina's, is well loved because she at times displays a profound attachment to the world) → but perhaps that is because you are not seeing what could possibly be worthy of attachment about the world depicted in Majo no Tabitabi.

To emerge in a new environment that defies your wishes and to brandish against it your fundamental moral superiority and how you are standing for the right thing— that is what the Greeks have called a display of fabricated virtue when they thought up of the myth of Narcissus.

It might seem too peculiar on my end to bring vaguely understood personality traits such as narcissism into a discussion about an anime, but well, Elaina's case is particular when you filter it with this symbolic backdrop. She is a witch, she has magical powers. It is very possible that she could change things for the better in a way your standard human could never hope to achieve. But I think that this is precisely one of her struggles. It is precisely because she has higher power that she is reluctant to apply it to the world (especially to humans, as shown in episode 3 when she was brandishing her wand towards the master). To hit on the machine with ardour will not fix it— what has any chance to fix it is a careful inspection of its circuitry, and deep knowledge on how to interpret their state. Elaina is not at that stage, and she understands it. She excels in magic, but knows little of the world and humans. How could she then imagine what is born of applying magic to the world and humans? That is why she fled the field of poisonous flowers from as high in the sky as possible, as if to say "I cannot afford to touch it." To confront the field could bring to surface evil forces yet to be apprehended.

Think of it this way. Such a trivial act, bringing a bouquet of flowers, gave rise to such tremendous consequences. Such an act of goodwill, bringing to someone what that someone lacks (the outside world), installed horror and regret in their soul. The sheer weight of these small actions overwhelms Elaina.

All of this to say... while the story has been written with the seemingly simple-minded intention to tell unfortunate stories, that does not say anything about the inner depth of the author. For that reason, I would be careful about dismissing the writing as sub-par. So why is Elaina a witch? Is it to save the world of its suffering? We could watch episode 1 to get an answer, but we could watch all of the remaining ones to get another. And so I defend continuing this anime. It does need to be a bit more poignant to fully get my praise, but to me it keeps something important going.