This year things will be especially witchy at The Manga Test Drive. Witches can take all sorts of shapes in the world of manga, including as innocent shojo heroines.
THE GOOD WITCH OF THE WEST (Nishi no Yoki Majo), based on the novels by Noriko Ogiwara with art by Haruhiko Momokawa. First published in 2004 and first published in North America in 2006.
PLOT:
Firiel Dee is a gentle girl growing up in the countryside alongside her loving foster parents, her reclusive biological father, and his brilliant but terse apprentice Rune. On her fifteenth birthday, Firiel is given a beautiful necklace with a blue stone, an heirloom from her late mother. In truth, Firiel's late mother was a runaway princess and this jewel marks Firiel as a potential candidate to become the next queen. No sooner does Firiel learn about this than her life is thrown into chaos. Her foster family is murdered, her bio father has fled, Rune has been captured by a cult, and the only way for Firiel to make it right is to embrace her royal heritage.
