Tobenai Majo

ialex32 Sep 26, 2022

3

I'm not sure how this series has such high ratings, because the author has no idea how to show, only tell. The premise is quite promising: a witch named Karin longs to reunite with her childhood friend Lisette, with them promising to reconnect one they could both ride broomsticks. Karin, now an adult, is still unable to ride a broomstick and runs a magic shop in town. When a competing shop in the neighboring forest starts taking all of her customers, run by a mysterious witch named Lise, she investigates to discover it's her friend Lise, who is actually a man. They open shop together, run errands for various patrons, and fall in love. The art is beautiful. The premise is solid. And the author has no idea how to write a story. It's as if the two leads kissed, and rather than show the kiss, a text bubble appeared saying "and they kissed". It's necessary sometimes to tell, especially for such a short story, but a majority of the dialog is telling the audience what is happening and speech bubbles overwhelm the panels. Most one-shots have much better exhibition and storytelling than this, despite the limited number of panels they have to work with. Do yourself a favor: skip this manga altogether.