Review: THE ELEGANT COURTLY LIFE OF THE TEA WITCH

Of course, the world of light-novel-based fantasy has its own share of witches including this one.

THE ELEGANT COURTY LIFE OF THE TEA WITCH (Kocha no Majo no Yuganaru Kyutei Seikatsu: Cheat wo Hita Kakusu Saijaku Madoushi no Madogiwa Life), based on the light novels by Ameko Kaeruda with art by Yorifuji.  First published in 2022 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

The land of Shtora was once the site of a fierce war waged by armies of opposing court mages.  The land has been peaceful for years, but priority is still given within the court to the mages with the flashiest and most battle-ready powers...and that's precisely how Remy likes it to be.

Remy is the court tea witch, perfectly content to do nothing but hang around the castle gardens and provide the perfect cup of tea from her magic teacup.  That becomes much harder to do when the crown princess decides that Remy should be her new best friend, to say nothing of the assassins gathering in the shadows trying to destabilize the kingdom's fragile peace.

STORY:

I'll admit that I'm guilty of judging this series by its cover (and title).  Based on those alone, I would have presumed that this would be a slice-of-life series about Remy making friends and making people happy with her magic tea-making skills.  It would be unchallenging in its pleasantness, but not really my thing.  You can imagine my surprise then that The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch does in fact have more than castle tea parties up its metaphorical sleeve.

Kaeruda seems to have put some actual thought into the setting of Tea Witch.  Remy's world is one that's still getting used to peacetime after years of war and the court continues to grapple with all the anxieties, paranoia, and interpersonal intrigues that remain.  Nowhere is this more evident than with Remy herself.  She puts up a lazy, distant public image because she knows if others were aware that her magic can just as easily affect moods or manipulate liquids that she would be dragged into the petty factions and weighty expectations of the higher-ranked battle mages.  Things get even clearer when Remy's friend (and resident garden mage) Alicia shows.  It's all but stated that the two of them saw action during the war as some sort of shadowy faction, and that the two of them have not entirely left that line of work behind them.  That's part of the reason the two of them want to preserve their personal sense of peace as much as possible, for themselves and for Crown Princess Stella.

Most of what drives the actual plot is Remy's growing friendship with the princess, even if it's the least interesting part of the book.  Stella is a fairly flat character, with her childlike naivete and eagerness to learn about the world.  It's Remy's side of things that's a little more interesting, as she grapples with her desire to maintain a low profile and her genuine fondness for the girl and concern for her safety.  This will likely become even more prominent as the series goes on, as by the end we learn there are outside forces who want to restart the war and are not afraid to target Stella's life to achieve those goals.  

There's also some interesting subtext going on as far as how different jobs get gendered and the social value of "women's work."  I don't think it's a coincidence that all the high-ranked mages with the flashy, battle-ready elemental powers are all men, while those with seemingly trivial but surprisingly versatile powers are all women.  It's hard to say at this point if this series will do anything more with that subtext, but it feels like a purposeful bit of subtext.  It lends a bit of thought to a genre not often known for deep thoughts.  

ART:

The art for Tea Witch also has a little more effort put into it than what you typically see in a light novel adaptation.  You can see it in the background details like the garden landscapes and the details on the princess's fancy dress.  You can see it on the characters, be it the range of their expressions and the detail of everyone's hair.  Even the rare bits of action employ some dynamic angles and depth of field to make them all the more visually exciting.  It's not the most dazzlingly designed manga I've ever seen, but there is clearly thought and skill put into it with none of the fancy or horny overdesign that I see far, far too much in modern-day fantasy manga of all sorts.

RATING:

I'm as surprised as you, but the more I pondered The Elegant Courtly Life of the Tea Witch, the more I found to like.  It's nothing revolutionary, but the effort the creators put into its world stands out in a genre clogged with countless thoughtless copies of copies.

This manga is published by Titan Manga.  This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available.  3 volumes have been released and are currently in print.