Now more than ever, the anime and manga spheres are gravitating toward exceptional fantasy series. Last year witnessed remarkable successes such as Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End, Delicious in Dungeon, and the manga series Witch Hat Atelier, which is on the verge of its upcoming anime adaptation. Although none of these series fit the shonen (boys) demographic, a new Shonen Jump series meets all the criteria for an outstanding fantasy premise. Moreover, it continues the time-honored tradition of featuring an overpowered mentor.
Ichi the Witch, written by Osamu Nishi and illustrated by Shiro Usazaki, is a fantasy series set in a world where only women can be all-powerful witches. That is, until a boy named Ichi acquires the power to use magic, becoming the first man to do so. Much like Goku in Dragon Ball, or Gon Freecss in Hunter x Hunter, Ichi is a feral child whose time hunting in the wilderness honed his hunting skills to be an apex predator.
In quick succession, Ichi becomes a formidable force, acquiring rare Magiks such as the king of Majiks, Uroro (similar to the Nine-Tailed Fox from Naruto), and other creatures using his hunting prowess and newly acquired magical skills. However, due to his simple and naive nature and an unconventionally unhinged hunter mindset, Ichi lacks the sophistication and dignity of the coven of witches who are still trying to integrate him into their society. Fortunately, he has come under the mentorship of the “Abysmal Witch,” Desscaras—also known as “the world’s greatest, most powerful witch.”
While Ichi’s sensibilities are closely linked to the shonen protagonists of old, Desscaras is more akin to Jujutsu Kaisen‘s brazen, haughty mentor, Gojo Satoru. Aside from being a Black female lead in a shonen series (a rarity for the medium), Desscaras is in equal measure one of its goofiest and overpowered mentors in shonen manga.
Desscaras embodies the anime archetype who’ll throw their chin up and laugh at an enemy as she picks them apart. In tandem with being incredibly beautiful, she’s also extraordinarily vain. So much so that she’s written her in-universe manga in the stylings of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, debriefing her fellow witches, ordinary folk, and the reader about her exploits. Whenever she’s not in the heat of battle, she’s either lazing about, pouting, or throwing a hissy fit about bending to the witch institutions’ will. While the manga has yet to venture deeper into her glamorous exterior, it laid the groundwork to establish Desscaras as a contender for one of shonen manga’s most overpowered mentors.
The magic system in Ichi the Witch is not dissimilar to conventions in series like Pokémon. In the series, around 3,185 known magic creatures, Majiks, are rampaging on Earth. Of them, 402 Majiks have been acquired by witches after completing tailored trials tied to their attributes (this will be important later). For instance, an ice shark challenges Ichi to give her a glamorous makeover, which he does in kind by turning her into a sashimi boat (the series is very goofy). Once Majiks are acquired, they become Majiks gemstones that witches can use, like a Final Fantasy summon, to assist them in battle.
In chapter 15 of Ichi the Witch, its eponymous hero comes into contact with the personification of death, a humanoid named World-Hater Majik. Their seemingly one-sided battle has already escalated to the end of Attack on Titan-style rumbling, with the summoning of colossal Eldrich horrors and the power to warp entire cities in the blink of an eye.
While Ichi is incapacitated in their scuffle, Desscaras enters the fray and backs up her claim of being “everyone’s favorite uber-talented badass” witch. In quick succession, Desscaras summons a giant Majik of her own, obliterating World-Hater Majik’s monstrosities—then calls them weak, splits them in half, and decapitates them in an effortless display of power.
When World-Hater Majik has a moment of reprieve to ask Desscaras how many Majiks she’s acquired, she strikes a lackadaisical pose while levitating in the air with 35 Majik gens floating around her before saying, “Who knows? Lost count.” As folks in the fandom who crunched the numbers have found out, Desscaras has single-handedly acquired at least 8.72% of all known Majiks. In short, her claim as the “g.o.a.t” isn’t unfounded.
Despite releasing in September of last year, Ichi the Witch has already become one of the top series in the shonen manga sphere. According to Tsutaya Bookstore in Japan, Ichi the Witch‘s first volume was the second in sales in its rankings, placing it behind Sakamoto Days and above Dandadan and Jujutsu Kaisen. Mind you, this is all from only having 19 chapters to its name compared to its contemporaries 100+ chapter runs.
Ichi the Witch‘s glittery panelwork and vibrant double-spreads rival those of Witch Hat Atelier. Its sharp eye for comedy and intriguing magical lore is comparable to Delicious in Dungeon, and its unmistakable shonen vibes exemplify how female mangaka often operate on a different level from their male counterparts. Hopefully, the series will become another Shonen Jump classic with an anime adaptation to cement its legacy further.
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