Witch Watch
Japanese manga series by Kenta Shinohara From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Witch Watch (Japanese: ウィッチウォッチ, Hepburn: Witchi Wotchi) is a Japanese fantasy and romantic comedy manga series written and illustrated by Kenta Shinohara. It has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since February 2021, with its chapters collected into twenty-one tankōbon volumes as of April 2025. By November 2022, the manga had over 1.1 million copies in circulation. An anime television series adaptation produced by Bibury Animation Studios premiered in April 2025.
| Witch Watch | |
First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Nico Wakatsuki | |
| ウィッチウォッチ (Witchi Wotchi) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Kenta Shinohara |
| Published by | Shueisha |
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Jump Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Jump |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | February 8, 2021 – present |
| Volumes | 21 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Ikehata |
| Written by | Deko Akao |
| Music by | Yukari Hashimoto |
| Studio | Bibury Animation Studios |
| Licensed by | |
| Original network | JNN (MBS, TBS), BS NTV, AT-X |
| Original run | April 6, 2025 – present |
| Episodes | 2 |
Synopsis
The series focuses on Nico Wakatsuki, a teenage witch who, after completing her magical training, moves into a house with her childhood friend Morihito Otogi, a human-looking ogre. Due to their families' ancestral history, Morihito is to become Nico's familiar and protect her. Nico also hopes this will help them become a couple, as he is her longtime crush. As the story progresses, Nico and Morihito find themselves forced to deal with the various supernatural and legendary beings they encounter while also trying to solve all the unpredictable problems Nico's magic causes in their daily lives.[3]
Characters
Main
- Nico Wakatsuki (若月 ニコ, Wakatsuki Niko)
- Voiced by: Rina Kawaguchi[4] (Japanese); Lily Ki[5] (English)
- A teenage witch who is in love with her childhood friend Morihito. She is a very kind person who often tries to help people with magic, but usually does so without fully knowing the details or side effects of the spells. She has feelings for Morihito, but struggles to reveal them.
- Morihito Otogi (乙木 守仁, Otogi Morihito)
- Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki,[4] Natsumi FujiwaraEp. 1 credits (young) (Japanese); Stephen Fu[5] (English)
- An ogre with extreme physical strength due to practicing Ogre Qigong. He was childhood friends with Nico, who calls him "Moi" (モイ), and is the only one who does not know she is in love with him. In contrast to the other major characters, Morihito is a serious and responsible person. He is very fond of denims.
- Kanshi Kazamatsuri (風祭 監志, Kazamatsuri Kanshi)
- Voiced by: Kōhei Amasaki[4] (Japanese); Caleb Yen[5] (English)
- A tengu who can control wind and befriended Nico during her training. He is Nico's "crow familiar", and moves in with her and Morihito as he is also tasked with protecting her. Kanshi has good social skills and speaks in the Kansai dialect.
- Keigo Magami (真神 圭護, Magami Keigo)
- Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa[4] (Japanese); Kevin K. Gomez[5] (English)
- A werewolf who transforms into another person, referred to as "Wolf" (ウルフ), when he sees a crescent shape. Keigo is usually a quiet person, but becomes arrogant when showing off his knowledge of obscure culture. Wolf, however, is always arrogant and rude. He is a classmate of Nico and Morihito, and eventually moves in with them.
- Miharu Kiryu (霧生 見晴, Kiryū Miharu)
- A young vampire, who feeds by absorbing people's life force, from a family of futsumashi or exorcists. He is a third-year middle school student and usually carries a parasol to shield him from the sun. Although appearing polite and graceful, he has no filter and will say whatever is on his mind. He moves in with Nico and the others.
- Nemu Miyao (宮尾 音夢, Miyao Nemu)
- Voiced by: Tomori Kusunoki[4] (Japanese); Cristina Vee[5] (English)
- A witch who lives in the town next to Nico's who can transform into a black cat, but automatically reverts back when she sleeps. She originally came to Otogi household to recruit Morihito to be her familiar, but always failed to do so because Morihito's always petting her in cat form into slumber.
Asunaro Private High School
- Kara Minami (南 伽羅, Minami Kara)
- Voiced by: Rie Takahashi[6] (Japanese); Erica Mendez[7] (English)
- Yūri Makuwa (真桑 悠里, Makuwa Yūri)
- Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu[6] (Japanese); Rosie Okumura[7] (English)
- The homeroom teacher in Nico's class who is a closet otaku.
- Kukumi Ureshino (嬉野 久々実, Ureshino Kukumi)
- Voiced by: Konomi Kohara[6] (Japanese); Xanthe Huynh[7] (English)
- Nico's classmate who is very open about her otaku hobby. She is also an illustrator with more than 10,000 followers on Chitter.
- Tenryū Kiyomiya (清宮 天流, Kiyomiya Tenryū)
- Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka[6] (Japanese); Howard Wang[7] (English)
- Ibara Ibu (伊武 荊, Ibu Ibara)
- Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro[8]
- Yuzuru Kenmochi (剣持弓弦, Kenmochi Yuzuru)
- Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama[8]
- Syrup (シロップ, Shiroppu)
- Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya[8]
- Kuromitsu (クロミツ)
- Voiced by: Misaki Kuno[8]
- Riro Takumi (工理路, Takumi Riro)
- Voiced by: Noriko Hidaka[8]
- Burst (バースト, Bāsuto)
- Voiced by: Kenta Miyake[8]
- Kyōki Saiko (西古凶奇, Saiko Kyōki)
- Voiced by: Jun Fukushima[8]
- Daiki Sakai Mk. II (酒井大樹マークII, Sakai Daiki Māku II)
- Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa[8]
Production
Kenta Shinohara revealed that it takes five days to draw the characters in Witch Watch, while the storyboards take two and a half days.[9] In January 2023, Shinohara stated on Twitter that Witch Watch would probably be his last weekly serial. He explained that he is "physically unable" to do one, even if he wanted to.[10] The February 6, 2023 chapter of the manga began a crossover with Shinohara's previous Weekly Shōnen Jump series, Sket Dance.[11]
Media
Summarize
Perspective
Manga
Witch Watch is written and illustrated by Kenta Shinohara.[12][13] The manga began its serialization in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump on February 8, 2021.[14][15][16] Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on June 4, 2021.[17][18] As of April 4, 2025, twenty-one volumes have been released.[19]
Witch Watch has been licensed for simultaneous publication in North America as it is released in Japan, with its chapters being digitally launched by Viz Media on its Shonen Jump website. Shueisha also simulpublishes the series in English for free on the Manga Plus app and website.[20] Viz Media also publishes its volumes in digital format.[21]
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in August 2024. It is produced by Bibury Animation Studios and directed by Hiroshi Ikehata, with assistant direction by Masao Kawase, scripts written by Deko Akao, characters designed by Haruko Iizuka, and music composed by Yukari Hashimoto.[22][4] The series premiered on April 6, 2025, on the Nichi-5 programming block on all JNN affiliates, including MBS and TBS, and will run for two consecutive cours.[6] The opening theme song is "Watch Me!", performed by Yoasobi,[23] while the ending theme song is "Mahō Spice" (魔法はスパイス, Magic Spice), performed by Aooo.[24]
GKIDS acquired the license to the series in North America with Crunchyroll and Netflix streaming the series worldwide, alongside other platforms such as Hulu (United States), Animation Digital Network (several European territories) and Aniplus (South Korea).[25][26] The anime's first three episodes were also screened in theaters outside of Japan under the title Witch Watch: Watch Party with screenings beginning March 13 in Asia and in North America on March 16 via GKIDS.[26]
Episodes
| No. | Title [27][28] | Directed by [a] | Written by [a] | Storyboarded by [a] | Original release date [29] | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Witch's Return" Transliteration: "Majo no Kikan" (Japanese: 魔女の帰還) | Tatsunori Sakamoto & Hiroshi Ikehata | Deko Akao | Hiroshi Ikehata | April 6, 2025 | |||||||||||
|
Morihito Otogi, a member of an ogre bloodline, learns that his childhood friend Nico Wakatsuki is returning home from witch training. It is ultimately decided that Morihito will live with Nico as her familiar and bodyguard. Nico arrives at Morihito's house and is eager to show off her newly learned magic spells to him. She cast a spell to turn herself into paper, but is accidentally blown away by the wind and trapped in a crevice between two walls. In order to save her, Morihito taps into his ogre powers and demolishes the wall, with Nico repairing it with her magic. Morihito then advises Nico not to use her magic in public, but she explains witches are oathbound to help others. They then come across a burning building and rescue a trapped woman, though Nico's spell to make her and Morihito lighter backfires when it wears off and temporarily makes them heavier. As Morihito and Nico prepare to start living together, Morihito recalls his father warning him that Nico's mother divined a prophecy that disaster would befall Nico within a year, and only Morihito will have the power to protect her. | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | "A Giant Rookie" Transliteration: "Ōgata Rūkī" (Japanese: 大型ルーキー) | Masao Kawase | Akao Deko | Hiroshi Ikehata | April 13, 2025 | |||||||||||
| "Let's Go to a Diner!" Transliteration: "Famiresu Iko!" (Japanese: ファミレス行こ!) | ||||||||||||||||
| "The Flying Classroom" Transliteration: "Tobu Kyōshitsu" (Japanese: 飛ぶ教室) | ||||||||||||||||
|
Morihito and Nico attend their first day of high school, with Morihito warning Nico not to reveal she is a witch or use any magic. However, during homeroom, Nico blows her cover when she accidentally casts an Embiggen spell on herself. After class, classmates Kara Minami and Kukumi Ureshino ask Nico to eat with them at a nearby diner, which Nico accepts. They ignore the advances of a trio of delinquents as the enter the diner and quickly become friends, while Morihito secretly beats up the delinquents to prevent them from further harassing the girls. The next day, Nico ends up being the most popular girl in class as everybody asks her to show off her magic. Nico sets up a field that allows her classmates to fly, but a truck accidentally drives into it, forcing Morihito to use his ogre powers to rescue the driver. Despite Morihito's fears, his classmates accept him as well. | ||||||||||||||||
| 3 | "Fresh Transparent Fashions for Spring" Transliteration: "Haru no Shīsurū Kōde" (Japanese: 春のシースルーコーデ) | TBA | TBA | TBA | April 20, 2025 | |||||||||||
| "Witch's Delivery Service" Transliteration: "Majo ni Takkyūbin" (Japanese: 魔女に宅急便) | ||||||||||||||||
| "Lost Dogs and the Patter of Rain" Transliteration: "Maigo Inu to Ame no Bīto" (Japanese: 迷子犬と雨のビート) | ||||||||||||||||
Reception
Popularity and sales
In June 2021, Witch Watch was nominated for the seventh Next Manga Award in the Best Printed Manga category and placed tenth out of 50 nominees.[30][31][32] It was also nominated for the same award and placed second out of 50 nominees in 2022.[33][34] By November 2022, the first eight volumes of the manga had over 1.1 million copies in circulation.[35]
Critical response
Timothy Donohoo of Comic Book Resources compared Witch Watch to Kouji Miura's Blue Box and Shigure Tokita's Don't Blush, Sekime-san! due to both series having concepts and romantic aspects similar to Witch Watch's.[36]
Notes
References
Further reading
External links
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.