From Wikipedia - Reading time: 25 min
| The Witch and the Beast | |
First tankōbon volume cover | |
| 魔女と野獣 (Majo to Yajū) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Kousuke Satake |
| Published by | Kodansha |
| English publisher | |
| Magazine |
|
| Original run | November 6, 2016 – present |
| Volumes | 10 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Takayuki Hamana |
| Written by | Yūichirō Momose |
| Music by |
|
| Studio | Yokohama Animation Laboratory |
| Licensed by |
|
| Original network | TBS, BS11, RKK, TBS Channel 1 |
| Original run | January 12, 2024 – April 5, 2024 |
| Episodes | 12 |
The Witch and the Beast (Japanese: 魔女と野獣, Hepburn: Majo to Yajū) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kousuke Satake. It started serialization in Young Magazine the 3rd in November 2016, before moving to Monthly Young Magazine following Young Magazine the 3rd publishing its final issue.
The series went on an initial two-month hiatus after January 2023, which was later extended upon due to Satake's health.[3] As of August 2022, its individual chapters have been collected in 10 tankōbon volumes.
An anime television series adaptation produced by Yokohama Animation Laboratory aired from January to April 2024.
The world consists of eight continents where magic saturates the environment, influencing both nature and civilization. Magical disasters are collectively called "Paranomena", while spellcasting involves inscribing runes, known as "Lettering", either in the air or on prepared surfaces. The Global Holy Church regulates magic from its seat on the First Continent, with technological advancement decreasing in more distant lands. However, the eighth continent is able to develop its own unique brand of magic technology, allowing it and the seventh continent to have prosperous societies. Between them lies the Fall, a seventeen-tiered abyss created by the Origin Witches, each level containing its own isolated world known only to the powerful elites.
The Church's Paladin Corps handles major magical threats, while their Executioners branch ruthlessly hunts all witches. Three holy women lead the Church: the Healer, the Defender, and the Seer, who periodically awakens to prophesize future turning points called the Great Flow. Witches descend from the seventeen Origin Witches, inheriting vast power marked by Ultoma sigils when casting spells. Though outwardly human, they live two centuries without aging. Humans who master magic become mages, with the five strongest recognized as Archmages. Magic interferes with machinery unless purified, and practitioners can be neutralized through pressure points or finger injuries. Other beings like the nearly immortal vampires are capable of challenging mages.
The Order of Magical Resonance, an independent coalition of magic-wielders and supernatural beings, frequently opposes the Church's methods but maintains an uneasy truce to prevent outright war.
The story follows Ashaf, a tall, soft-spoken agent of the Order of Magical Resonance, and his unruly partner, Guideau, whose soul resides in a female body, yet her true form is that of a powerful, masked "beast", contained within a coffin strapped to Ashaf's back. They are tasked by the Order of Magical Resonance to solve cases involving magic, especially those concerning witches. As they go about their missions, they travel the world seeking a particular infamous witch, Angela Anne Huell, who casts a curse on Guideau and is the only Origin witch still alive.
Due to unknown reasons, Forbidden Instruments, dark magical tools that grant the wielders immense power at the cost of blood sacrifices, are being spread around the world. At the core of it, Angela and a coven of witches and mages are prophesized to become a "great enemy" to society, causing the Order and the Holy Church to scramble to stop them.
The series is written and illustrated by Kousuke Satake, and started serialization in Young Magazine the 3rd on November 6, 2016.[11] Following Young Magazine the 3rd publishing its final issue in April 2021, the series was moved to the new Monthly Young Magazine, starting on May 20.[12] The first tankōbon volume was released on September 20, 2017.[13] As of August 2022, the individual chapters have been collected in 10 tankōbon volumes.[14]
At New York Comic Con 2019, Kodansha USA announced they licensed the series for English publication.[15] As the series is ongoing, the latest serialized chapters are simultaneously published with the Japanese release on Kodansha's K Manga platform.[16]
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 20, 2017[17] | 978-4-06-382968-6 | October 27, 2020[18] | 978-1-64651-021-4 |
| 2 | December 20, 2017[19] | 978-4-06-510306-7 | November 24, 2020[20] | 978-1-64651-022-1 |
| 3 | September 20, 2018[21] | 978-4-06-512701-8 | December 8, 2020[22] | 978-1-64651-023-8 |
| 4 | February 20, 2019[23] | 978-4-06-514555-5 | February 9, 2021[24] | 978-1-64651-024-5 |
| 5 | September 19, 2019[25] | 978-4-06-516935-3 | June 22, 2021[26] | 978-1-64651-171-6 |
| 6 | March 18, 2020[27] | 978-4-06-519002-9 | July 20, 2021[28] | 978-1-64651-225-6 |
| 7 | October 20, 2020[29] | 978-4-06-521003-1 | November 9, 2021[30] | 978-1-64651-237-9 |
| 8 | April 20, 2021[31] | 978-4-06-522941-5 | February 8, 2022[32] | 978-1-64651-302-4 |
| 9 | January 20, 2022[33] | 978-4-06-526484-3 | September 26, 2022[34] | 978-1-64651-391-8 |
| 10 | August 19, 2022[14] | 978-4-06-529081-1 | February 28, 2023[35] | 978-1-64651-607-0 |
In August 2022, it was announced that the series would be receiving an anime adaptation.[36] It was later confirmed to be a television series produced by Yokohama Animation Laboratory and directed by Takayuki Hamana.[37] Yūichirō Momose is writing the scripts, Hiroya Iijima handling the character designs, and Hanae Nakamura and Natsumi Tabuchi composing the music.[6] The series aired from January 12 to April 5, 2024, on TBS, BS11 and other networks.[4][7][a] The opening theme song is "Soumonka", performed by Sokoninaru,[39] while the ending theme song is "Hikari no Trill", performed by Yoshino Nanjo.[40] Crunchyroll streamed the series outside of Asia.[41] Plus Media Networks Asia licensed the series in Southeast Asia.[42]
| No. | Title [43][b] | Directed by [c] | Storyboarded by [c] | Original release date [a] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Witch and the City of Blazing Red" Transliteration: "Majo to Guren no Machi" (Japanese: 魔女と紅蓮の街) | Takayuki Hamana | Takayuki Hamana | January 12, 2024 | |
|
Ashaf and Guideau arrive in a town seeking a particular witch, and find a powerful witch who is considered the community's hero and protector. However, the witch plans revenge on the anniversary of her grandmother's death and Ashaf and Guideau try to stop her. After Guideau, in her female form, is unable to defeat the witch, Ashaf unleashes her true form, a towering masked figure which beats the witch into submission. | |||||
| 2 | "The Witch's Pastime: Opening Act" Transliteration: "Majo no Tawamure ―Jomaku―" (Japanese: 魔女の戯れ ―序幕―) | Masahiko Suzuki | Toshiyuki Sone | January 19, 2024 | |
|
Ashaf and Guideau spend time solving cases involving the misuse of magic, but Guideau is only interested in finding and defeating witches. A witch is committing serial gruesome murders in Hayden, capital of Pheres, possibly using a grimoire, and they are assigned to investigate. They meet with Keira Haines, a mage who is part of the Hayden police, to catch the perpetrator before the international Paladin Corps are called in. Haines agrees to work with them. Meanwhile, the murders continue. | |||||
| 3 | "The Witch's Pastime: Final Act" Transliteration: "Majo no Tawamure ―Shūmaku―" (Japanese: 魔女の戯れ ―終幕―) | Jang Hee-kyu Shinya Kawabe | Motohiro Abe | January 26, 2024 | |
|
Following up on phrases left by the witch serial killer, Ashaf, Guideau, and Haines investigate a bookshop, but they find the owner gruesomely murdered. Haines refers to the current murder spree as a "Witch's Pastime" because she believes it's just a game to them. After the witch attacks Ashaf and Guideau, they deduce the witch is somehow linked to Haines. They confront Haines, who admits that the witch killed her children and then her lover, targeting those close to her. The witch stages an attack on the police headquarters, but Ashaf uses his crows to follow the witch to her hideout. They discover that Haines's two adopted sons, Shulk and Loran, are the perpetrator after coming into possession of set of grimoires, Sarnouasuth. Although they claim the grimoire forced them to kill, Haines states they went too far and shoots them both dead. Ashaf takes the grimoire for safekeeping. | |||||
| 4 | "Beauty and Death: Opening Act" Transliteration: "Bi to Shi ―Jomaku―" (Japanese: 美と死 ―序幕―) | Kim Hye-jeong Shinya Kawabe | Shinji Itadaki | February 2, 2024 | |
|
Ashaf and Guideau intercept and stop an undead on a rampage, who appears to have not been "maintained" by his necromancer. Ashaf calls in the Order's necromancy specialists, Phanora Kristoffel, accompanied by her servant, Johan. When Sergeant Jeff Enker explains that six undeads have recently gone out of control, Phanora suspects an unauthorized necromancer is responsible. Meanwhile, Phanora has activated a special lantern to attract the undeads, and about forty of them converge on their location. She transfers the light to Johan, attracting the undeads to him so that he becomes their target and he is forced to kill them. Phanora, Johan, and Enker retrace the Undeads' footsteps to a mansion in the forest, where they are confronted by undeads under the necromancer's control, including Enker's dead fiancée. One undead slits Johan's throat, forcing Phanora to enter the building and confront the necromancer to save him. | |||||
| 5 | "Beauty and Death: Final Act" Transliteration: "Bi to Shi ―Shūmaku―" (Japanese: 美と死 ―終幕―) | Masato Tamagawa | Hiroyuki Yoshii | February 9, 2024 | |
|
Phanora and Enker enter the mansion to be greeted by the necromancer and a number of undead servants. She explains to Enker that the necromancer fundamentally resurrected them to achieve some personal objective, taking them out of the spiral of death and rebirth. By poorly maintaining them, if they die a second time, their souls will fall into the Void with no hope of ever rejoining the spiral. The necromancer explains that he desires Phanora's beautiful body to resurrect the decaying and badly burned corpse of his lover Mireille to restore her former beauty. When Phanora reveals that she is a witch, he brings forth a hoard of "combat model" undeads. Phanora manifests her Death Knights to stop them. The necromancer flees, but is caught and tortured by Johan, who reveals to be an undead. As retribution for his misdeeds, Phanora kills the necromancer, brings him back to life, and then tasks him with eternally maintaining all the undeads he had previously resurrected as complete human beings. | |||||
| 6 | "The Witch and the Demon Sword: Opening Act" Transliteration: "Majo to Maken ―Jomaku―" (Japanese: 魔女と魔剣 ―序幕―) | Takayuki Hamana | Takayuki Hamana | February 16, 2024 | |
|
Ashaf and Guideau receive an assignment to investigate a series of killings in a city attributed to a witch. Meanwhile, Commander Matt Cugat of the Paladin Corps is assigned to capture the witch thought to be responsible for the killings, Helga Velvette, and is assisted by an emissary from the Holy Church. He sends out the avatars of a team of Seekers from the Corps' castle fortress floating above the city, but Helga destroys them. Ashaf also finds Helga and sends Guideau in to fight her, giving him enough time to cast a compression spell to confine Helga within a small ball. Ashaf recognizes Helga as a descendant of an Origin, the Dauntless Witch, Quena Velvette. Ashaf realizes that Helga is not the murderer, but suspects the real danger is Demon Sword Ashgan she possesses, which has the power to destroy the world. Ashaf offers to protect Helga from the Paladin Corps and the sword itself agrees, but Helga refuses and she is soon confronted by Cugat. | |||||
| 7 | "The Witch and the Demon Sword: Act II" Transliteration: "Majo to Maken ―Dainimaku―" (Japanese: 魔女と魔剣 ―第二幕―) | Kim Hye-jeong Masahiko Suzuki | Toshiya Niidome | March 1, 2024[d] | |
|
Ashaf instructs Guideau to delay Cugat so Helga can escape, but Cugat eventually overwhelms her. He takes Guideau, Helga, and Ashgan into custody, imprisoning both women in magical armor. However, Ashaf intercedes, and suggests to Cugat that Helga was framed for the murders by the Executioners. Meanwhile, the Paladin Corps guards touch the sword, which causes them to fight over it, until they are stopped by a Paladin commander. Guideau breaks free and tries to escape with the sword and Helga, but Helga is pulled back the Holy Church's emissary, who turns out to be an Executioner, and Guideau escapes with the sword and vows to return for her. | |||||
| 8 | "The Witch and the Demon Sword: Act III" Transliteration: "Majo to Maken ―Daisanmaku―" (Japanese: 魔女と魔剣 ―第三幕―) | Kang Seo-ki Shinya Kawabe | Shinji Itadaki | March 8, 2024 | |
|
Ashgan tells Guideau that only Helga can break its seal. Guideau finds Ashaf and the wounded Cugat, who is now convinced that Executioners exist and that one has control of the floating castle. The Executioner soon arrives with the Paladin Corps and Helga under his mind control, aiming to possess Ashgan. He forces the Paladin Corps to kill themselves as a sacrifice and commands Helga to attack Guideau and seize the sword. The Executioner then draws Ashgan from its scabbard and stabs Helga, lifting the seal and releasing the demon within it. Believing that he now controls the demon, the Executioner unleashes its destructive power Cugat uses his elemental power to protect Ashaf ad the others. Ashaf encourages Guideau to kiss Helga to unleash Guideau's beast form. | |||||
| 9 | "The Witch and the Demon Sword: Final Act" Transliteration: "Majo to Maken ―Shūmaku―" (Japanese: 魔女と魔剣 ―終幕―) | JOL-chan | Toshiyuki Sone | March 15, 2024 | |
|
Guideau kisses a reluctant Helga, unleashing Guideau's beast form. Guideau attacks Ashgan while being assisted by Cugat's elemental power. Ashgan proves more powerful than they expected, but Guideau prevails and Ashgan is again imprisoned within the sword. The Executioner and his assistant attempt to rejoin the townspeople, but Guideau incapacitates him. Cugat imprisons the Executioner and his assistant in ice and takes them away to receive their punishment. Ashaf asks Helga to join the Order of Magical Resonance and she agrees, with the promise to repairing Ashgan and helping to keep him sealed. | |||||
| 10 | "Origin Witch" Transliteration: "Kigen no Majo" (Japanese: 起源の魔女) | Oh Eun-soo Honami Inamura | Shinji Itadaki | March 22, 2024 | |
|
Helga goes with Ashaf to a magically hidden doorway leading into the headquarters of the Order of Magical Resonance, leaving the still injured Guideau outside with instructions to wait. When Guideau overhears children talking about a witch, she goes with them to a cottage to investigate, but only finds an old woman. An Executioner arrives at the cottage and uses his cloak to take Guideau, the old woman, and children to another dimension. Suddenly, Angela Anne Huell, the powerful Origin witch who cursed Guideau, arrives. Angela takes the Executioner's cloak, kills him, and challenges Guideau to follow her. Later, Guideau is furious that Ashaf intentionally left her in a weakened state and she attacks him, cracking his ribs. He apologizes and promises to protect her, reminiscing how it has been three years since they first met. | |||||
| 11 | "Eloquence and Silence: Opening Act" Transliteration: "Yūben to Chinmoku ―Jomaku―" (Japanese: 雄弁と沈黙 ―序幕―) | Masahiko Suzuki | Shinji Itadaki | March 29, 2024 | |
|
Three years earlier, Ashaf travels to the Fifth Continent, far from the Global Holy Church's headquarters on the First Continent and relatively untouched by magic. He investigates rumors that a witch is dismembering cattle, which falls from the sky. He encounters the young mute witch, Falvell Farmington, a descendant of the "Mystic Witch", Luna Farmington. While meeting Falvell, her brother Ownet, and their friend Craig, Guideau attacks them until a dark monstrous figure appears and easily casts her aside. While talking to the children, Ashaf learns of Guideau's curse and that Falvell is also cursed that prevents her from casting her vocative magic. After offering the Farmington siblings to join the Order, Ashaf learns that the mayor is attacked and killed by the monster, causing the townsfolk to believe Falvell is responsible. He then realizes that the Executioners are in town and deduces Craig is one of them. Meanwhile, the other Executioner leads a group of villagers towards Falvell's cottage. | |||||
| 12 | "Eloquence and Silence: Final Act" Transliteration: "Yūben to Chinmoku ―Shūmaku―" (Japanese: 雄弁と沈黙 ―終幕―) | JOL-chan | Takayuki Hamana | April 5, 2024[e] | |
|
As the Executioner and villagers arrive at Falvell's cottage and set it ablaze, Guideau presses Ashaf for information to lift the curse on her, who agrees to tell her if she saves Falvell. Falvell arrives home and finds Owent dead and is confronted by an Executioner, a man she trusted as a neighbor. Guideau arrives and saves Falvell, but is badly injured by Craig. Ashaf's crows deliver him to the scene and delays the Executioners long enough for Guideau to kiss Falvell. The kiss lifts the curses on both of them and they were able to defeat the Executioners. Falvell restarts Owent's heart and brings him back to life. With the siblings in tow, Ashaf offers Guideau to join the Order in exchange for aid for her mission. Back in the present, Ashaf tells Guideau how she has slowly changed since they first met and that he wants to teach her about love. Sometime later, Ashaf and Guideau travel to the “Fall", following the clue Angela left. They descend to Level 4, Orlencia Sett, where vampires dwell. | |||||
As part of Anime News Network's Fall 2021 manga guide, Rebecca Silverman and Caitlin Moore reviewed the first volume for the website. They both praised the art and concept, whilst also being critical of how the concept of the series is executed.[47] Sarah from Anime UK News also praised the artwork, while criticizing the characters.[2] Contrary to other critics, Che Gilson from Otaku USA praised the plot and setting in addition to the artwork.[48]
The series has over 500,000 copies in circulation.[49]