Burn the Witch

nathandouglasdavis Nov 22, 2021

2

As far as I have heard, the creator of this manga still intends to continue it at some point, but is gathering feir thoughts or something before doing so. Personally, if I'm being completely honest, I don't find the world-building or storytelling within this series to be worth the effort. Just drop it, cut your losses, and try again with something new. This manga feels like it has a lack of potential and is just a flashy, magic-powers action manga with a group of peeps who are in some ways special and who have at times been targeted specifically by the powers that be (in other words, it has a lot of similar elements as Bleach, but with dragons instead of spirits). For the first three chapters, there wasn't anything solid to latch onto. The fourth one did have some engaging moments with the dragon Elly, but even that aspect wasn't handled as well as it could've been and didn't leave me interested in reading any continuations that this series might eventually have (the Marchens as a concept just aren't all that novel or interesting). The artwork is great. It's the artist who did Bleach. A very good artist. The fight scenes and explosions and clashes look cool. That said, I thought the plant-pot dragons looked dumb and I didn't care for Noel's perpetual stone-faced stare. Ninny's character did seem a little more fleshed out than it was in the pilot chapter, but all of the characters still feel pretty shallow and bland. Disappointing, especially since Bleach had so many iconic and lovable characters. There was one quote in chapter two that slightly irked me. It was when Noel said, "Generally, organizations are structured so that superiors bear most of the setbacks as well as the benefits." Why is this manga including an apologistic statement defending the managerial hierarchies and often exploitative power structures within businesses and other organizations, while simultaneously minimizing any complaints from the workers? It does nothing to advance the plot and is just a throwaway piece of pro-corporate, anti-worker's rights propaganda. Who would want this type of thing in the dialogue of their action manga?