The World's Strongest Witch casts Nana Mizuki as Yggdrasil
The first episode has a synopsis and four advance cuts, the world tree spirit has a voice, and a launch-eve stream lands on 3 October.
The World's Strongest Witch: I'm Starting My Free Life in a World Where Only I Can See the Online Strategy Guide has cast Nana Mizuki as Yggdrasil, the spirit of the world tree. The official site published her credit on 30 September alongside the synopsis for the first episode and four advance cuts from it.
What the opening episode sets up
Fifteen-year-old Rona Hermit is born into the distinguished Grugrecarth family and expelled for manifesting a skill her household judges worthless. The skill, Internet, turns out to be an SSS-rank ability that lets her search and browse anything in that world, including a walkthrough wiki, and she follows it directly to the strongest weapon the current balance of the world has to offer.
The four cuts released show Rona pointing, using the skill against an enemy, and fleeing a monster in a comic pixel-art style.
Who is playing Yggdrasil
Nana Mizuki, a voice actor with a parallel career as a singer, takes the spirit who entrusts the world's strongest staff to Rona. It is her first credit on the series. The previously announced cast is Azusa Tachibana as Rona, Fairouz Ai as Erimina, Honoka Inoue as Eruna, Kana Hanazawa as Aries Tear Bluemoon and Maria Naganawa as Ruru Ru Rie.
The pre-broadcast stream
Pony Canyon's anime channel will run a launch-eve programme on 3 October at 7pm JST. Azusa Tachibana, Honoka Inoue and Maria Naganawa are due to appear, and the stream mixes character introductions with preview footage and a puzzle tie-in with the Hatena Coffee mystery cafe.
When it airs
The series premieres in Japan on 7 October on Tokyo MX, BS11 and TV Aichi, with MBS following on 10 October. The official site also lists tie-ups with the Jiyukukan internet cafe chain and the Hatena Coffee mystery cafe.
Our opinion
The billing here is the familiar skill-that-looks-useless, and the actual joke is the wiki. A protagonist who wins by reading a walkthrough is a thin gag that has to be carried by timing, which is why four advance cuts matter more than a cast list: they are the first real evidence of whether the show can land it.
Putting Nana Mizuki behind Yggdrasil is a small part with a large name attached, and it tells you where the series thinks its grandeur lives. The world tree is the one piece of this setting that has to feel ancient, so the production is spending its credibility there rather than on the two leads, who are already carrying the comedy.