REVIEW: ‘The Witch And The Beast’ Episode 4 — “Beauty And Death: Opening Act”

Probably the darkest fantasy series airing during the Winter 2024 anime season, The Witch And The Beast has been surprising. Morphing into a case of the week structure, the past episodes have focused on Guideau (You Taichi) and Ashaf (Toshiyuki Morikawa). Guideau is set on finding the witch who cursed her, and Ashaf is her caring guardian, or maybe partner is the better word. That said, The Witch And The Beast Episode 4, “Beauty And Death: Opening Act,” isn’t about our odd-couple duo.

The Witch And The Beast Episode 4 opens with Guideau and Ashaf meeting local police in a city that the undead has plagued. Ashaf is out of his depth in solving the unprecedented amount of feral undead. So, he trusts the Order to bring someone in who can. They send in the necromancer Phanora Kristoffel and her hapless assistant Johan.

Like Episode 2, this “Opening Act” episode sets the stage for the narrative. In this case, The Witch And The Beast Episode 4 uses this to establish the ground rules for necromancy, showing the audience the rules as much as using its intro to tell them. The crazed undead attacks aren’t the only state for those that necromancers bring back.

In this world, raising the dead requires two conditions to be met: 1. The dead must agree to be resurrected before their passing. 2. They can not be directly related to the Necromancer. Once you clear that, a necromancer can take up the responsibility of maintaining the undead and grant them full autonomy. Here, the undead are nearly indistinguishable from the living. Those who are not maintained regularly and imprinted to a task in the world become strays, and strays cause violence and primal problems.

The Witch And The Beast is a phenomenal series for two reasons. The first is because of the beauty that the Yokohama Animation Laboratory has captured in their animation. As an adaptation, the animators rely on gorgeous faces and people to balance the story’s darkness. The second thing that the series does phenomenally well is build out its world into something cohesive without ever feeling overstuffed. The series has found the perfect balance of showing and telling by utilizing small vignettes to bring the audience into each episode’s concept.

In The Witch And The Beast Episode 4, both strengths are on full display. The animated effects for Phanora’s cold breath make her beauty all the more haunting and add to the episode’s lore. The cold moves with her, which works perfectly when shown against greenery and the warmness of Johan’s skin tone.

While it doesn’t feature our duo for much of it, The Witch And The Beast Episode 4 never feels empty. It isn’t because their presence isn’t missed so much. It’s apparent that Yokohama Animation Laboratory is building out an entire world in their episodes, not just one for two characters. To make a series that continues full-speed without its leads is a huge accomplishment and one that this episode hits.

Additionally, the tension and execution of the crime’s reveal are handled extremely well again. The twist doesn’t feel contrived, and ultimately, it fits perfectly in line with everything we’ve seen established so far. The cases that Ashaf and Guideau are called into are affronts to the magical order of things. They’re aberrations, making them all the more intriguing as we see them unfold.

The Witch And The Beast Episode 4 is another stunning episode of the best dark fantasy out right now. It’s beautiful to watch, thorny to explore, and its darkness continues to push the envelope on expectations. Ashaf and Guideau are fantastic, but Phanora and Johan are equally as compelling. But with another cliffhanger ending, there is a lot to explore in how the undead problem is handled with everyone pushed into a corner.

The Witch And The Beast Episode 4 is streaming now on Crunchyroll.