December 19th, 2016 
AstroNerdBoy Izetta: The Last Witch 12
Shumatsu no Izetta episode 12
Izetta, Die Letzte Hexe 12 (Finale)
SPOILER Summary/Synopsis
Finé’s group escapes the checkpoint. Berkman bails on them when they abandon their car. Sieg provides a diversion and gets killed in the process. Finé and Bianca manage to make it to the conference of world leaders. Finé counters Germania’s dominance claim by stating that Izetta is battling Sophie. Even if Sophie wins, there will no longer be magic on Earth. Sophie and Izetta battle. Germania brings out another clone to control their V-2 rocket, but with Sophie and Izetta using up all the magic, the clone dies and the rocket crashes. With the witches gone, Germania loses the war in December 1941.
Thoughts and Review
And so Izetta: The Last Witch 12 brings the series to an end. Sadly for me, it just didn’t feel very satisfying.
Those Who Die and Those Who Don’t
I wasn’t surprised that Sieg died. It was a bit cliched that as he’s fleeing, he is stopped and shot by a Germanian soldier that reminds him of Jonas. However, I supposed one could say his character has come full circle.
I thought that Berkman would die. I guess that in the end, Basler just wounded him. The episode was sadly lacking on details there. We just know that Basler caught Berkman, apparently shot him, but Berkman survived and came to “America”.
Speaking of Basler, we didn’t see his ultimate fate either. We saw him go off into the wild blue yonder at the end of the war.
Sophie does apparently die. I was sad that she died still enraged and bitter. More on that in a bit.
Izetta doesn’t die either. That surprised me since I figured she would die for Finé and Eylstadt. That said, I’m glad she didn’t. Why the episode couldn’t show her face is more of a mystery to me. I think that leads to some of the dissatisfaction for me.
The Witches
For some reason, the final battle between Izetta and Sophie fell short for me. I’ve been struggling to figure out why. There was a lot of action, but I didn’t feel myself caring that much about it. Maybe it is just because things have been so hectic for me.
We finally learn the ultimate truth about Sophie’s betrayal. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that the then king of Eylstadt betrayed Sophie to protect the country from the wrath of the Catholic Church. As I mentioned earlier, I was disappointed that Sophie didn’t have a change of heart. However, it isn’t surprising that she didn’t.
Izetta stays alive, but she is paralyzed for life as a result. I loved seeing the older Lotte being Izetta’s caretaker in the place where Izetta and Finé met as kids. Naturally, the home is new, but that’s what happens when one is friends with royalty.
Final Thoughts and Conclusion
- Interesting that Germania lost the war in December of 1941. However, it felt wrong to me. I mean, Germania apparently had a powerful military without Sophie, so their sudden, rapid loss doesn’t feel right.
- Volga Federation is Russia. I guess no Soviet Union in this universe.
- No more magic in the world. That saddens me for some reason.
- I’ll probably write a series review a before the month ends.
In the end, Izetta: The Last Witch 12 brings the series to an end. While I’m happy Izetta survived, the episode ended the series on what felt like an anti-climatic note.
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All good things come to an end, like Izetta the last witch.
I wasn’t surprised that Berkman survived. He was, for me, so deliciously crafty, that it would have been ”out of character” for him to die.
I also liked the fact that the ending included the magic draining plot. Without it, we might have had an ending where Izetta beats Sophie and is then hunted down by every big power for her magical skills. In essence draining the magic from all them ley lines was the only way Izetta would have survived afterwards.
I think the ending of the war was rushed too. Though, in this alternate history scenario, Atlanta and Volga both attack Germania simultaneously.(In our own timeline, Russia and Germany were at war some 5 months before the US entered..there was no true two -front war till 1944)…hence the quick end. I also kind of think that the Germanians put all their eggs in the magic basket. Once that option vanished, things became a bit tougher. Then , it is something of a myth that Germany’s war machine during WW2 was a well oiled machine…it had a lot of problems(chronic shortage of raw materials,especially for the wonder weapons projects, and chronic labor shortages)…and I daresay that was the same problem for Germania too.
All in all, a good and interesting anime.
Well, it is true that they did after they got Sophie to awaken. However, when they started the war, even though they were doing magic research, they started conventionally. But you are probably right about the other things like shortage of materials ans such. If Hitler had been patient, Germany might have won. Heck, even after they started WWII, had they done a few things different, they would have won. Glad they didn’t, but it just goes to show.
I wondered how the last episode will conclude. I felt it showed different darker aspects to war.
Sieg dying for his country is honorable, yet showed his human side by him hesitating just long enough to be killed, by someone as young and looking very close to Jonas – its like ironic justice for the killing of Jonas. Hesitating in a battle, it usually means getting killed or dying.
Basler, showed he was a loyal germanian soldier. His flying alone probably for the last time, symbolic of his service to his country. With Berkman surviving Basler’s shot, said to me Basler wasn’t a murderer, no matter how bad the person deserved to die or to make sure Berkman was dead. I think it was his way of making peace with what was happening, and went back to being a fighter pilot, leaving Berkman severely injured, hoping he would die of the GSW.
Berkman – hints of Operation Paperclip on bringing German rocket technology ie Werner Von Braun story – to the US of Atlanta with the handing off a briefcase probably full of secret documents of the V1 and V2 to men in overcoats and sunglasses (classic fbi agent look).
The ending also showed something with Operation Overlord in Normandy, and the supposed second front of Volga/Russia attacking in the east.
Seems in this anime it was magic that powered and controlled the V1 and V2 rockets, and all the nuclear bombs, so without Sophie, only Germania was left with the same armament as the allies.
Heir Otto – commits suicide – like Hitler not with a Eva Braun but as a witness, his blind assistant by his side.
Then it ends at a good time, in Dec 1941 – a good way to avoid any Japanese influence with nothing of the Pearl Harbor attack in December. Convenient.
Yeah, I was hoping to see Izetta’s face, at least see how she is handling her disability. Still I thought the ley-lines were a renewable source of magic or energy than a one time use kind of thing, since there were more clans represented by the symbols of the castle like Izetta’s, but yeah, she was the last of the witches….
I enjoyed it, and its real life references. Sad to see it end so quickly.
Ha!ha!ha! I don’t know why I missed that, but you are spot on. End the war before Japan’s attack and suddenly Japan is OK, even though they were fighting in China. Japan’s role in the world for this series is very much MIA. 😉
I was told that WW2 has been difficult to teach in Japanese schools. Part is the war atrocities, and Japan was a losing aggressor. WW2 may have historical parts missing in those Japanese schools. So I was watchful on how the writers would end this story. I think they did well in avoiding Japanese references… if they even showed any.
This anime series followed the theme of good over evil, good overcoming greater odds against evil, and self sacrifice for the good of the group. Working as a group over being a isolated individual.
I felt sorry for Sophie, for she’s the only true victim, was again the pawn for humans. I really couldn’t get angry at her actions and anger for what humans did to her, basically humans betrayed, tortured, and then killed her because of politics, power and religion. That’s is one tough life. Also falling in love with someone already married didn’t help her cause, and betrayed by the person she loved — it hurts thinking about it. Its also using a far superior power of magic via a witch over conventional weapons of that time . A real good reason why witches were to stay away from getting involved with humans.
My WW2 techie side is also sad… it only showed early WW2 weaponry. Was hoping to at least see some B17s or B29s, and upgraded panzers from the MK IIs and MK IIIs, to show at least a Panther or Tiger II, some allied aircraft like the Spitfire or P-51, or a Me262. I think its more the limited ability of the sketchers/animators.
I keep wondering why they didn’t show Izetta at the end. I think the original story had Izetta dying or disappearing at the end in the explosion of the red gems, which would leave people like me sad, or wondering forever. So they had to make her alive somehow and give it a nice ending. The only plausible story assumption I could think, is Izetta gave the ultimate sacrifice short of dying. She may have been alive but a empty shell of a person, as the result of all the damage done with that magic usage and destruction in the battle with Sophie, and no magic left in the world. She was already paralyzed when she initially fought Sophie, and showing her even worse and handicapped, may be too harsh to be seen by children, being a anime, and that Izetta is the heroine of the series. It was just nice to know she was still alive and didn’t die.
The tech for cloning Sophie should have been used on Izetta to heal her… but I guess that would be too much and would have made another episode.
I agree. She was a pawn in the past, and a pawn in the present.
I also agree with your analysis on Izetta. She’s probably a shell of her former self, but she’s well cared for.
I may be busy between now and Monday, so Have a Happy Christmas ANB!
Merry Christmas to you as well. ^_^