Review: SPELL OF DESIRE

This October I want to look at some manga about some decidedly un-wicked witches, such as this josei romance title. 

SPELL OF DESIRE (Majo no Biyaku), by Tomu Ohmi.  First published in 2011 and first published in North America in 2014.

PLOT:

Ever since her grandmother died, Kaoruko has spent her time running her grandmother's herbalist shop, fending off both pests and the attention of other men.  Her quiet days come to an end when Kaname Hibiki steps through her door with some stunning revelations.  Kaoruko is the latest in a long line of witches, and not only is Kaoruko's long-absent mother still alive, but a witch queen.  Kaoruko possess the same magic potential as her mother, but that same power makes her enticing to both strange men and strange creatures.  Her only defense is Kaname, a magical knight who can defend her from all threats and seal her runaway magic with a kiss.

STORY:

Much like Midnight Secretary before it, Spell of Desire is a romantic power fantasy ripped straight from the romance novel aisle.  You've got the humble, virginal heroine with the sort of untapped beauty that makes her desirable to virtually every man who crosses her path.  You've got the dashing yet mysterious male lead who protects her from harm while sweeping her off her feet with heart-pounding kisses.  Add in a secret past and a bit of romantic misunderstanding and baby, you've got a stew going.  It's all to be expected for this sort of storytelling, but how enjoyable it all will be will depend upon your tolerance for this sort of frothy, formulaic indulgence.

Alas, my tolerance for it was...limited, at best.

Most of my frustrations were with Kaoruko and it's a frustration I have with a lot of romantic heroines in this vein: she's completely naïve not just about the world outside her shop but her own desires.  It's a hard enough sell when you're telling stories about teenaged shojo manga heroines, but Kaoruko is a grown-ass 23 year old woman.  It's not as if her grandmother sealed her away from the world - we meet some of her regular clients and even her handsome handyman/Childhood Best Friend.  Yet Kaoruko spends so much of this volume being embarrassed at the notion of people thinking she is in a relationship with Kaname and absolutely baffled why she keeps getting flustered by the hot guy who keeps kissing her.  That's not even getting into how Kaoruko's supposedly incredible magic power conveniently leaves a weak, panting victim to make it all the easier for Kaname to swoop in and save the day yet again.

As for Kaname, he's not bad as far as love interests go but I didn't find him as alluring as Tomu Ohmi clearly wants me to believe.  On one hand, he's the only person who give Kaoruko any sort of clue about her mother and her powers.  On the other hand, he kind of low-key negs her on the regular and by the end of the volume he's clearly getting some enjoyment from flustering Kaoruko.  We're clearly meant to be intrigued by his cool demeanor, to wonder what passions may lie beneath his still waters, but frankly there's not much depth to him.  

The only mildly interesting thing about him thus far is his loyalty to Kaoruko's mother, as an orphan who was taken in by her.  Even then, it's interesting only in the sense that it's likely setting up some later drama where Kaoruko questions if his loyalty to her mother is stronger than their own feelings or if he's projecting his feelings towards her mother onto her.  At the very least, he does keep his hands to himself when he's not giving her cool-down kisses with tongue and keeps his cool around the Childhood Best Friend, so he's at least a step up from the more macho types who tend to show up in these sorts of stories.

ART:

Spell of Desire feels a little bit like a throwback.  This is most obvious in the character designs.  While Kaname's proportions are very modern, his tousled hair and narrow eyes and face feel like something you could have seen in a similar sort of book 20 or 30 years ago.  The same goes for Kaoruko with her large, hatchy blushmarks and her lushly dark eyes.  That being said, it's clear that most of Ohmi's focus went towards Kaname, as he gets countless panels to show off his looks for the benefit of Kaoruko (and through her, the audience).  

I do wish Ohmi had been more willing to lean into the spooky vibes during Kaoruko's magic overflow moments.  At most it's just visualized with black creeping tendrils with the panels getting more angular and off-kilter as all eyes turn to her.  I wanted thing to get more (literally!) dark - more shadows, more staring figures, really play up the change in mood visually and tonally, maybe even get a little surreal.  A little more moodiness would have gone a long way towards punching up her otherwise cute and comfortable art.

RATING:

I liked Spell of Desire better than Midnight Secretary, but not by much.  The premise isn't terrible but I constantly found myself desiring more from it, be it more backbone from the heroine, more personality from the male lead, or something darker from the art.

This manga is published by Viz.  This series is complete in Japan with 5 volumes available.  All 5 have been released and are currently in print and digitally.