The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

The Witches' Marriage

What's It About? 

Opening the Door of Truth is the ultimate goal for many a witch. However, gathering enough power to do so is no easy feat, and a popular method is entering into a “Witches' Marriage,” a contractual bond that generates more power the closer they grow. Melissa is one such witch—but is her heart truly immune to the adorable Tanya as she claims?

The Witches' Marriage has a story by studio HEADLINE. The English translation is by Eleanor Summers, with lettering by Bianca Pistillo. Published by Yen Press (September 5, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

The plot here is almost too simple: witches (who appear to be exclusively female) can only open the Door of Truth by sharing power in what is largely framed as a predatory relationship known as a “witches' marriage.” Melissa is determined to open that door and thinks she'll use Tanya to do it. Still, Tanya thinks of marriage (and thus their relationship) much more romantically, making this a grumpy/sunshine yuri romance. Despite the fantasy setting and detailed fantasy art, this is a slice-of-life piece about Melissa fighting her emotions in pursuit of a goal she probably doesn't understand.

There's nothing wrong with that unless you go into the book expecting something more tense. The back copy makes it sound like this is much more fraught than it is, doing its level best to make Melissa sound cold-hearted. That feels like a disservice to readers because it's so misleading, although it may very well be how Melissa sees herself. She's so determined to open the Door of Truth to follow after her mentor (who may have been her first partner in marriage; that's not clear) that she's lost track of why she wants to do it in the first place. From what we can see, Melissa's mentor left at least a decade ago, and Melissa's been chasing after her ever since. Could her determination have undermined her ability to live her life? That could be the case, especially when seeing how she and Tanya interact.

Tanya is the equivalent of an excited, adoring puppy, and she balances out Melissa well. She's drawn to appear substantially younger than her partner, which can be uncomfortable. However, it's probably not that big an age gap, given the flashbacks we see, and her character design seems planned to show how much more innocent and naïve she is than the tall, elegant Melissa. Tanya is open with everything she feels, and while that at first makes Melissa uncomfortable, as the book goes on, it seems like that's less because she doesn't reciprocate and more due to her worry that she'll fall so hard for Tanya that she'll lose sight of her goal. Tanya is living in the moment while Melissa is stuck in the past, and that dynamic works when the book is in story mode – although it must be said that it spends a lot of time in CGCT mode instead.

Interestingly, this is a series done by committee in the literal meaning – studio HEADLINE is a collaborative of thirty-odd manga creators who all worked on this together. That may explain the odd tonal shift that pops up occasionally, but the art is consistent and detailed throughout; if you didn't know how many people worked on it, you wouldn't be able to tell. Like many a first volume, this gets better as it goes on, and everyone gets a feel for what the story is (as opposed to what they might have thought it was going to be), and while it isn't the best yuri out there, it's worth a look if you're a genre fan.

Is It Worth Reading?

MrAJCosplay

Rating:

Lesbian spellcasters get married for the sake of increasing their power? Sure, why not? The Witches' Marriage is a very light-hearted and laid-back series. There is a story here and a solid sense of narrative progression, but you don't read this for any sense of intensity or because you want to be surprised by anything. You read this because you want to see two cute lesbians be incredibly cute, with one of them getting less stubborn about how cute they are as time passes. Throw in some adorable and diabetes-inducing artwork that will leave you with a recipe for success.

This one is a little tricky to review because it's a classic example of “what you see is what you get.” We have two women training to go through a ceremony together to be better witches, which means they are required to spend a lot of time together. But wait, one is very cynical and has no intentions of falling in love with the other because she wants to use the ritual for power! What's that? She genuinely loves her partner over time through the power of innocence and cuteness. Who would've thought this was the direction the story would go?

Do you see what I mean? The artwork is impressive, with light fluffiness that makes your cheeks warm as you read it. It's especially good with many of its character expressions, going for more of a loose, almost doughy style of elastic expressions rather than anything remotely resembling realism. I like it a lot. It's a good book for a smile on a quiet afternoon in the bookstore, but that's about it.