Witch Watch Vol. 1 Review – The Magic of Love

Witch Watch is a newer series in Weekly Shonen Jump that is simul-published weekly on the Shonen Jump App, but Volume 1 has just been released with upgrades to the art from the original posting in the weekly format. Despite its name, Witch Watch isn’t your stereotypical Shonen Jump magic manga with the over-the-top action scenes to get you hooked in the beginning; instead, it’s a cute slice-of-life series about Nico the Witch and her childhood friend Morihito, the Ogre. 

This manga stands out for its simple yet effective backstory, which covers the circumstances behind the manga’s story. Without saying too much, Nico and Morihito are to live together for an unknown period, while Morihito’s father is out of town for business. Nico has just come back to their town from Witch training, and now she has her eyes set on Morihito to be her “familiar,” a witches “companion,” and of course, Nico is the oddball Witch who wants her ogre childhood friend. 

Interestingly, Morihito isn’t the stereotypical Ogre with horns on his head, all green and ugly. Instead, he’s quite handsome but still has the stereotypical strength of an Ogre. As a familiar, Morihito has to protect Nico at all times, basically being her bodyguard from both normal and supernatural occurrences.

To make matters even more complicated, Nico is very proud of her magic and will use it whenever she feels it can be of use to herself or others, especially Morihito. I’d call these moments in Volume 1 the most entertaining for me personally because of the hilariousness behind the scenarios.

Still, at times I did find myself uninterested because I wanted to get into the more profound lore that may have been brought up before the gag moment within the chapter. 

When it comes to comedy manga, they can be very hit or miss, especially with the East and West’s cultural differences. However, I think Witch Watch’s first Volume has done an excellent job of tone-setting while leaving enough to be desired to evolve the story later on if it gets more serious. So, if you decide to pick up Witch Watch volume 1, you are in for fun, laughs, and cute moments between childhood sweethearts!