Azami no Shiro no Majo
Witch of Thistle Castle

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*Updated as scans are now available*

I feel like witches are some topic of sorts that never fails to catch at least some attention and this stands true with regards to this medium too. I've previously compared it to Witch Hat Atelier based on the first few chapters as that was the vibe it surrounding it, but I feel like the latter half of the story took a turn for the worst in some regards. It contains some of the usual tropes and themes you see in this type of stories: burn the heretics and so on. I thought it might go a bit of different ... way at first with the whole witches/Church dichotomy, but it didn't. That's not exactly a bad thing as it was... serviceable at worst. It has its limitations, It'd be pretty hard to craft a more complex world based on the aforementioned dual system in such a short span. Instead, we ended up with some standard themes like discrimination, some sort of 2nd hand theory of criminal liability that was presented as mind-blowing (got a bit triggered, -2 points), even some lowkey anti-xenophobic messages, but they aren't further explored. They're great in themselves, but the execution was a bit lackluster.

It's a very short read tou and I'd say it's worth the time even for the art alone. It is amazing, even mesmerizing at times. It's not one of those works where there is a good panel and it hits you - 'Wow, this looks so cool!' and you prt sc it and share it over social media in exchange for 'based' and other extremely insightful comments. Instead, it is consistent, high-quality artwork, resembling a bit the art of Witch Hat Atelier and it also has some of the nicest-looking covers I've seen. In the latter half, it didn't feel as impactful, but it remained a pleasure to ogle at. And the setup is rather nice, taking place in an alternate modern-day Edinburgh.

You've got an aloof witch taking in an assistant whose magic affinity is too high for his own good. It starts off rather light-hearted, but it becomes a bit gritty towards the end. Nothing wrong with that, I'd say. The transition between these two is somewhat natural, but limited by its length and it feels like some middle chapters are missing. Some plot twists here and there, but that's about it.

Gave it initially a 7, as I've felt like it had a lot of potential to do great things, but in the end it fell a bit flat towards the end. It is still an ok manga, but it lacks that element that would make it stand out from the crowd. It brought nothing new and it didn't execute existing concepts flawlessly either.

TL;DR: At the end of the day, I've somewhat enjoyed it, despite the unexploited potential. Very nice art, serviceable story, likeable characters and a pretty enjoyable manga overall.