Diana Cavendish & Atsuko “Akko” Kagari (Netflix’s Little Witch Academia)

“I believe in you.”



Now I never said they had to be just Western Animation ships or that they were just going to be straight ships only. Little Witch Academia is not an action show so maybe I’m stretching the badass part a little much. When I try to talk up the show, I tell people it’s like Harry Potter except I actually like it. All the Harry Potter fans then attack me in a rage. I saw the series first on Netflix then watched the OVAs so I’ll be more series focused on this blog post.





Little Witch Academia is an anime about a girl named Akko who wants to become a witch like her favorite performer, Shiny Chariot. She signs up to go to the same school as Chariot did except Akko isn’t from a witch family nor does she have any talent for magic. Compare that to Diana Cavendish who is from a long line of famous witches and is a prodigy in her own right. I thought it was going to be something similar to Harry and Malfoy but thank goodness I was wrong.





The Badass Blonde

Like I said, Little Witch Academia isn’t an action show. Diana isn’t badass in that sense. She is disciplined, diligent and a hard worker. Diana organizes a lot of the school’s events and assists the staff. As part of the Cavendish family she has her family line to uphold. Because of this (not unlike Allura from my previous post) Diana believes she has to behave a certain way to match her family name. Diana can come off as cold or callous. People assume that she’s a haughty brat.

The truth is she does care. She loves her friends and appreciates the kindness and praise the teachers give her. Diana holds herself to a high standard because she believes she has to. Her mother encouraged her to find a way to restore honor not only to the Cavendish name but also to all witchkind. She’s not beating people up every episode, but she her work ethic is at a level that puts everyone else to shame.





The Dorky Brunette

And now for something completely different. Akko follows the footsteps of her childhood idol to become a witch to make people happy. Akko puts her best foot forward and buckles down giving every subject her complete attention.

She doesn’t do any of those things. Akko is obsessed with her hero, Shiny Chariot. It’s all she ever talks about. Her love for Shiny Chariot extends to also collecting all kinds of merchandise. She has trading cards and posters. Akko is one of those people who likes to talk about her dreams but has a hard time actually doing them. The part of her character that really surprised me was how innocently insensitive she is. When she wants to do something, she’ll do it without any consideration on how it affects the people around her. Check out The Enchanted Parade and you’ll see exactly what I’m talking about.

Akko is hyperactive and has a hard time focusing. She’s loud and short sided. Akko is really childish for her age. One of her saving graces however is that she is genuine. She is open and honest about how she feels. Her dream to be like Shiny Chariot is to use her magic to make people happy.





Their Relationship (Canon)

Diana and Akko are not explicitly in a romantic relationship in canon. At the start of the series, the couple is at odds with each other. Diana takes offense to how little Akko respects the traditions and history of witches. She’s also annoyed (like everyone else) by how much Akko keeps talking about Shiny Chariot. Akko thinks that Diana is a stuck up brat. No one likes to be criticized, but Akko takes it up to eleven whenever Diana chastises her. My main concern is that Akko seems to misplace her anger whenever Hanna and Barbara make fun of her. I guess because Diana never stops them she seems complicit in their teasing.

This changes little by little. Akko learns to appreciate how hard Diana does work. She even takes her criticisms as tough love instead of insults. At the Samhain Magic Festival, Diana is blown away by Akko even more so than everyone else. When Diana is named the Moonlit Witch, she questions why Akko wasn’t chosen. Diana sees the value of Akko’s creativity and recognizes that she does work hard in her own way.

Their relationship really gets an upgrade when Diana leaves school to take care of her family’s estate. There’s a part where Diana asks why Akko even cares. Akko says that she doesn’t want to see her rival just walk out and Diana responds by saying that she’s never considered Akko her rival. Akko takes it the wrong way, but I like to think it’s because Diana never considered her relationship with Akko an antagonistic one. Akko helps Diana save her family from a curse and convinces her to come back to school. After that Diana softens around Akko. They legitimately do becomes friends at this point.





It’s pushed even further during the finale. Akko loses her spirit and it’s Diana who brings her back. They team up with their friends to save the day, but at the end it’s Diana standing tall with Akko.

I do have to bring up the character Andrew. He seems to be positioned to be the love interest. I did a little research and it seems that part of Akko’s original character was to fall in love with every handsome boy she met. This was met with grave pushback from the staff at Trigger so it was dropped. It’s been mentioned that Diana and Andrew would be perfect for each other due to their social status. However according to TV Tropes, Word of God has said that Diana just straight up doesn’t like Andrew. Rewatch the series and you’ll notice it.





Their Relationship (Fanon)

Everyone in the fandom seems to have a very similar view of how they see this ship. They are portrayed as being very affectionate with each other. Akko tries her best to get Diana to be more lovey dovey in public. While Diana has no problem showing Akko love, she gets annoyed whenever Akko does something she’s not supposed to like writing love poems in her class notes. The only major change I can think is who was the first confess. Some say Akko. Some say Diana.

fan art by ticcy





Theme Song

“Love Like You” by Rebecca Sugar



Picking a theme song for this ship took longer than I’d like to admit. The lyrics match the pair perfectly in my opinion. The two are opposites but are still in awe of each other.









Thanks for reading. Follow me or the tag badass blondes and dorky brunettes to get updates or read my previous blog posts.