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118
17
Finished
Mar 5, 2010 to Feb 7, 2022
6.0/10
Average Review Score
0%
Recommend It
2
Reviews Worldwide
Witchcraft Works is a manga that just seems aimless. By that I donât mean that it doesnât have a plot, but rather that it doesnât really try all that hard at it or anything else. Itâs just very meandering at everything. The central premise of the manga is that the main male lead, Takamiya, is being protected by the main female lead, Kagiri, who is a powerful witch. This is a pretty standard gender role reversal and it isnât all that uncommon in manga so I donât think that itâs enough to make the manga interesting. Rather, I think the execution here was rather weak. Theproblem is that Takamiya is a really lame protagonist. Even for a main character whose primary role is to be protected, heâs really kind of useless. In other manga, the protectee usually support their protectors in some way, whether it be as physically supporting them or even just emotionally supporting them. But Takamiya doesnât really do much of anything. He just kind of goes with the flow being protected and occasionally throwing out generic shounen heroic lines without actually contributing much of anything. A lot of that has to do with how he doesnât really grow at all as a person. Both in terms of not having a character arc, but also in terms of not really getting any better at magic. Early in the manga Kagiri takes him on as an apprentice and begins teaching him magic, but that goes nowhere, and he never uses the magic he learns for anything all that important. Thus, the only thing that matters is the power sealed inside him. And while that is important plot wise, itâs not really used all that much. And furthermore, when it is used, it feels like less Takamiya is a proper character using the power and more so like heâs just a vassal for the power without much individual autonomy. And that combined with his motivations pretty much just being wanting to be a generically good person, results in him being incredibly hollow and impossible to get invested in. Kagiri doesnât really fair all that much better. Sheâs definitely a kuudere, but beyond that sheâs a very hazy character. There are different types of kuudere. The type that has emotions but has trouble expressing them and over time learns to do so. The type that genuinely doesnât have emotions but grows to have them. And the type thatâs just genuinely cold and doesnât care at all about most things. Kagiri seems to flip flop between all three. Now in addition to that, also add in a major yandere streak and it becomes really hard to get a read on her. The two of them also have terrible romantic chemistry. Kagiri has a pretty unique personality, but Takamiya doesnât really seem to respond to it at all. He has no reaction to most anything she does and ignores pretty much everything strange about her. But it isnât written as if heâs accepting of who she is. It feels more like heâs just not looking at her at all. On the flip side, there is some background given regarding their past as to why Kagiri is so devoted to him. But there are never really any events in the present where it feels like sheâs getting closer to him or loves who he is as a person. Thereâs not really any sort of relationship arc shown. Theyâre just kind of in love with each other and thatâs that. The ending in terms of romance is fine I guess, but thatâs it. I found Takamiyaâs younger sister, Kasumi, a lot more interesting than Kagiri. Sheâs weird as heck in that sheâs a major bro-con that doesnât seem to even understand that sheâs a bro-con and considers herself and everything she does as perfectly normal. But that made her fun. Iâm certainly not saying that she should have replaced Kagiri, but rather that she in her role as the jealous little sister was better written than her. She was consistent in how she behaved even in the extremes, and was just all around really amusing. The rest of the cast unfortunately was also really weak. There are a lot of characters, but the vast majority feel incredibly underdeveloped. They have very little personality, little to no character development, and no clear purpose in the plot. They donât really have any sort of major motivations driving them or background that pushes their actions. They just kind of get pulled into whatever else is happening and thatâs pretty much it. For example, Chronoire, beyond the beginning where she gives Kagiri a magical candy, does not actively do anything at all for the rest of the manga. And Medusa at some point just starts helping the protagonists for some vague reason and never really stops. This stems in part from how the world building in the manga is really weak. Early on there is some really cool development regarding how there are two factions of witches, workshop witches and tower witches, each with their own rules and philosophies. The conflict between the two seems to be important. But in the end, it doesnât really seem to matter at all. The magic is also just random nonsense. No oneâs magical abilities or the systems that govern magic are even close to well defined. So magic is whatever it needs to be in that particular instance with characters being as strong or weak as they need to be without really any sort of explanation for whatâs going on exactly. That results in the action also being pretty weak. While this isnât entirely an action manga, it does play a pretty important role and thus that detracts from the serious half of the manga a good amount. The other half of the manga is slice of life and comedy. This was good at first, but I feel it started getting kind of trite as things progressed. I do think it improved towards the end a bit though, in that it started taking the serious parts less seriously and throwing comedy into them in ways that felt pretty fresh. The art in the manga I kind of feel got worse as the manga progressed. It definitely improved in terms of quality. However, I feel it declined in terms of style. The style starting out can get really extravagant. Sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. Itâs somewhat like a combination of old school scary witches and fluffy and frilly magical girls, which can look weird but also really cool. The mangaka also did some crazy stuff, like just casually drawing strange stuff in the backgrounds with no explanation, like a tank parked in front of the school or a lion just walking around. It felt full of personality. The stuff later on was much simpler and more generic. The way characters were drawn was especially boring. tl;dr: A manga thatâs pretty charming early on, but that doesnât really use any of itâs charm points all that well.
Honoka Takamiya is an average student. Ayaka Kagari, his classmate who sits next to him in class, on the other hand is the class "Princess." Ayaka is tall, strikingly gorgeous and has a regalness to her that almost exudes a royal attitude. Despite their proximity in school, over the school year the two have never shared much conversation...until today. So today as class ended, Takamiya was suddenly attacked by a catered witch and her band of bunny-costumed thugs! And if that were not enough of a shock, this average joe would then be saved, like a princess by none other than Ayaka Kagari... a witch herself! (Source: Kodansha USA)
Witch Craft Works was a bit of a struggle to finish. Even though I haven't watched the anime, from what I can see, I have a pretty good idea of which parts of the manga it covers. And I can safely say it adapts the absolute best part of the series, because after that point, the manga's quality drops significantly... Story: 6 I'm not sure exactly how faithful the anime adaptation is, but if it's a good one, I'd 100% recommend just watching it and stopping there. After the first major arc, the story basically turns into a slow-paced slice-of-life. They rely way too much on backstorychapters, which completely stalls the actual plot progression for several chapters at a time. While I usually appreciate getting a few extra chapters after the climax to see the aftermath and where the characters end up, they completely overdid it here. It almost feels like the author had leftover chapters to fill before ending the serialization. Characters: 6 For this section, I'm focusing specifically on the personalities and the dynamics between the cast. The reason I'm giving it a 6 is that, even though the factions are straightforward (good guys vs. bad guys), everyone constantly hates and fights with each other within their own groups. Or, conversely, you have "good" characters getting along better with the villains than with their own allies. Another negative point is that they introduce some really interesting characters right at the very end, only to save their actual development for the manga's sequel... Art: 7 Here I'm just evaluating the backgrounds and the fight choreography. Overall, it's pretty good; I don't really have any complaints about it. Character Design: 9 This is where I have to give a standing ovation, and it's honestly one of the main reasons I even finished the manga. The character designs are amazing. The witches in their battle outfits look incredible, and the manga showcases this really well. Every battle costume is unique and wonderfully over-the-top, making each character's final form look absolutely stunning. Overall The story definitely drags after the point where the anime presumably ends, making it a bit of a slog to read, though not impossible to finish. However, the character designs (especially the outfits) are incredibly detailed and carry the series. The manga wraps up decently enough, but it doesn't give a fully closed ending, intentionally leaving the door open to continue in the sequel.
