Whenever you watch a low rated series like #177, there's always a fear that it won't live up to the standard of greatness and it won't be fun watching it a second time. But like many other low ranking series (Dimension W, Ao Haru Ride, etc), there was no problem. Just because you're near the cutoff line doesn't mean you should actually be cut off, that's what being under the line means. Izetta is an elite, great, top ranked masterpiece, 177 or no.
My ability to rewatch the series and love it the second time is proof positive of that (in just a few days no less.)
The Last Witch was a very beautiful series that not only captured the wonderful scenery of the Alps, trees, rivers and mountains; but also the beautiful fashion of the 1940's, the mesmerizing weaponry of World War II (still the most magnificent war in human history), the unrivaled European cityscapes (even the Eiffel Tower makes a guest appearance), the cool looking cars, interiors with gorgeous rugs, tapestries and wallpapers, furniture, statues and chandeliers, all drawn in such detail that you swear you could see each thread individually. The magic effects were also pretty, and the dogfights looked like they were straight out of old war footage.
Izetta would be an artistic masterpiece even if it were just a silent film with no dialogue and no plot. But thankfully it's better than just that.
Izetta is really two different series. The first includes episodes 1-8, and is about magic vs. science, and spy vs. spy. There's a lot of diplomacy, espionage, and thrilling intellectual duels where one side is probing the other's secrets while the other attempts to deflect the probes (much like Death Note). In the first eight episodes it's not at all clear whether Izetta really has the upper hand over the Germanian forces, for instance with her fight against the Germanian carrier it felt like it could go either way the whole duration. Eylstadt still feels like a proper underdog, and the role of the other characters in protecting her secret while conducting diplomacy to get aid from foreign nations seems relevant.
However, starting in episode 9, all the way until the end with ep 12, all that goes out the window. It becomes more like a super sentai show, with a good witch fighting an evil witch on a ridiculously grandiose scale, where mankind can no longer intervene but can only cheer on from the sidelines. It becomes very boring because all the characters feel untethered from the action, form the plot, from reality itself. What was before an interesting remake of World War II suddenly becomes Goku vs. Vegeta, with the mages able to casually destroy the world if one of their beams goes astray. Even worse, the whole secrets, spies, and espionage thing goes out the window as Izetta and her opponent Sophie no longer have any weaknesses, it just arm-waves away the entire crux of the drama and tension that had supported the story all the way until now via a deus ex machina magic stone.
I almost wonder if they fired the writer behind the script of the first eight episodes and hired a new guy for the last four, the break is so severe.
While the first eight episodes of the series are definitely great, the last four aren't. They're more a chore to get through than a pleasure. The very fact that they didn't kill Izetta when they had the chance in episode 9, thus eventually dooming the Germanian Empire, is infuriating. Evil Incompetence always rears its head and leaves you wishing that once, just once, the bad guys would take decisive action and actually try to win a fight in any story, ever, anywhere.
So what do you do when 2/3 of your story is great and 1/3 isn't? You rank it at #177 of course, great, but not very great. I think my initial placement of the series was genius and have nothing to correct about it the second time around.
Maybe ten or twenty years from now, we won't need the likes of Izetta in our top 200 rankings. Maybe by then many better shows will have been created more deserving of the limelight. But for now, Izetta's still one of the best anime ever made, and a must-see for any anime fan.
With Izetta done, the next logical option would be www.Working. I'm not very fond of that series, though, so I'll put it off for now. I can't watch any more Sailor Moon Crystal until the blu-ray of the third season comes out, so that's also out. Instead, I'll take advantage of Hayate Cuties coming out in blu-ray, and rewatch the entire franchise from the beginning. That should take up more than just a few days.
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