Review: THE DAWN OF THE WITCH

Of course, most witches in modern light novel adaptations are closer in quality (and tolerability) to this title.

THE DAWN OF THE WITCH (Mahotsukai Reimeiki), based on the light novels by Kakeru Kobayashi and character designs by Takashi Iwasaki with art by Tatsuwo.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2021.

PLOT:

Saybel doesn't remember much before he was taken in as a student at the magic academy.  All he knows is that he's grateful to the woman who saved him.  That woman is Loux Krysta, who tiny stature and youthful looks bely her true age (even if Saybel doesn't clearly remember it).  Unfortunately, Saybel is on the verge of failing and losing his memories yet again so Loux is supervising him on a trip to the outside world for a special practical course. Along for the ride is Hort, a star student with a personality as bouncy as her chest, as well as the grumpy lizard-man Kudo.  They're going to need all the skills they can muster when they become the targets of an unscrupulous witch hunter.

STORY:

I didn't expect much from The Dawn of the Witch.  After all, it is yet another fantasy light-novel adaptation.  The least you can say for it is that it's not literally Narou-slop.  Yet somehow it still couldn't manage to meet those low expectations through its own special combination of tedium, predictability, and grossness.

Saybel is ostensibly our protagonist, and in many ways he's like if you turned Eeyore into a potato.  He's a dour pill of a boy with no survival skills or seeming knack for magic, and his lack of memories prior to entering the school means he has no personality to anchor himself to.  If you guessed that Saybel's seeming lack of magic power was in fact just due to him having so much magic that it's almost impossible to measure or contain, then congratulations! You get the No Prize for guessing the very, very obvious twist, one that was already a cliché when this manga was new.

You would hope that the rest of the cast could make up for Saybel's sad-sack blandness, but you would be wrong.  Ludo is a grump who mostly exists to show how not racist Saybel is towards beast-people.  The same ends up being true for Hort, who turns out to be a half-demon double-agent for a nebulous, magic-hating church.  Any personal conflict that could arise from this is immediately squelched when she turns on them, continuing her previous task of being Saybel's life coach and potential love interest as well as the resident competent magic user.  

Then there's Loux.  We are clearly meant to be dazzled by her - the creators certainly are.  He are meant to marvel at her intellect, her haughty ways, her little kindnesses towards Saybel, and her ability to take down bandits not so much with magic but instead with Facts and Logic.  Thus we get many, MANY long-winded scenes of her monologuing.  In fairness, everyone but Saybel tends to monologue in this manga.  Even the shark-toothed witch hunter with the giant hammer can't shut up!  Like so many light-novel adaptations, it's forgotten that it has plenty of pictures now and thus can show instead of tell.  Instead, there are just pages and pages of yakking, including multiple extended flashbacks and clumsy "as you know"-style exposition.  It's an approach that takes a bad story that revolves around the stalest Potato-Kun I've seen and somehow makes it worse.

ART:

As per usual, Tatsuwo doesn't take many liberties with the original character designs as far as I can determine.  At most, he's given them a slightly simpler facial makeover.  I wish he had done the same for the costumes, as all the ladies here have the sort of overdesigned get-ups that are catered more to fanservice than anything else.  This is most evident with Hort and Loux.  The former has a top with a cross design that both emphasizes her massive chest and makes it look cut off from the rest of her body.  It doesn't help that she's so often drawn from low angles, which only serves to enhance that illusion.

It's with Loux that he truly lets his freak flag fly, a flag that he and the original author clearly share.  Loux is your classic "centuries old but looks like a small child" kind of loli character.  Her ridiculous costume makes her look like a child playing in mommy's closet, with her long, frilly slit skirt, thigh-high high-heeled boots with pointless ribbon spats, and a magic staff taller than herself.  The most noticeable thing about her is how Tatsuwo goes out of his way to have her sit in the most splayed, undignified ways just so he can show off her skimpy black panties.  It'd be laughable if it weren't so gross and obvious in its purpose.

RATING:

The Dawn of the Witch is dim, dull-witted, and horny.  I cannot imagine why Kodansha bothered licensing this other than the hopes of profiting from dipping their metaphorical fingers into the never-ending isekai slop trough.

This manga is published digitally by Kodansha Comics.  This series is complete in Japan with 7 volumes available. All 7 were released and are currently available through most digital manga storefronts.