The time is pre World War II that looks like Europe in an imaginary world. A large scale war abrupts and bloody battles are taking place through out the world. Eylstadt is a small country without a strong military force or natural resources. Finé who is the crown queen of Eylstadt decides to use a secret weapon against larger countries which was unheard of at that time to battle against larger countries. The secret weapon was using a witch named Izetta and her magical force to fight the war. Izetta is young (same age as Finé) and the last surviving witch with burning red hair.
I’d expected something more along the lines of the Valkyria Chronicles from that description, where any similarity to the real World War II is quickly abandoned, but it turns out Shuumatsu no Izetta just changed the names of the countries somewhat, has its not-nazis go “sieg reich” rather than heil and called it a day. Even Eylstadt is basically only an enlarged Liechtenstein. So far the series seems to track real history close enough that reskinning the countries as Germania, Thermidor, Brittannia etc seems pointless, but of course it’s only the first episode. There’s also less scope for causing offence this way as frex your not-Stukas now don’t have to be painted with swastikas.
The first episode opens with the princess and her escort fleeing from the not-nazi soldiers searching the train they’re taking into not-Switzerland, as she is on her way to see the not-British ambassador to get support from the allies against not-Germany’s threat. They of course end up on the roof, trade shots with the soldiers, then climb into a luggage car where they stumble across a strange device. A second gun battle occurs, one of her escort is fatally shot and they jump out of the train into a river. It’s an action sequence familiar from hundreds of adventure and WWII spy movies, well executed and showing off princess Finé character. She’s not slow to take the lead in organising her own escape. We also get a bit of exposition by way of the two not-Gestapo officers also onboard the train discussing the princess and the legend of the Weisse Hexe — the White Witch — of Eylstadt.
The second half of the episode sees the show’s writers having reached deep into the anime fanservice cliche playbook, as we see the princess having a shower of despair, mourning the death of her escort. It’s short and doesn’t really add anything. Perhaps the idea was to show off her scars, but to be honest I never noticed them when first watching the episode. There were better ways to have handled that. If we’d gone straight from the shot of her bodyguard sitting outside the room looking down to Finé stepping out of the shower and giving herself a pep talk, nobody would’ve missed the shower scene. Her scars could’ve been shown while she’s doing so (and indeed, we see them again when she’s drying her hair and talking to her bodyguard through the door). It’s not just that this scene is unnecessary and prurient, it also makes you skeptical about other directional choices made elsewhere in the episode. Such as why when the witch finally appears, she’s wearing only a white shift and nothing else.
Which is a bit sad, because it’s such a great scene, as the re-awakened witch saves princess Finé from captivity by exploding the plane she’s on in mid-flight, grabbing what looks like an mg-34 machine gun and turning a boomstick into a broomstick to chase the falling princess down with. It’s clear from the hints in this first episode that princess and witch share a history and are at the very least good friends. So far, apart from the fanservice hiccup this was a great episode, full of things that tick my boxes: resourceful heroine, semi-historical spy thriller setting, gorgeously depicted setting, a bit of witchcraft and a hint of a romance between the witch and the princess. Hopefully the series can keep up this good performance and doesn’t let fanservice spoil it.