- Mangaka : Ato Sakurai
- Publisher : Yen Press
- Genre : Comedy, Fantasy
- Published : September 2020 - Ongoing
Majo Raba, Majo Reba (If Witch, Then Which?) Introduction
Crossdressing and entering an exclusive school is somewhat every high schooler’s dream. Why? Let’s just blame it on hormones. Anyway, it’s been done pretty much a lot of times in the past decade or so. Thinking that we'd pretty much be bored with it by now is rather a bad statement. We still love ourselves a good story about a pseudo gender bender. Of course, that’s only if it has something new to offer on the table. If not, we’ll still read it, but no promises.
Contains Spoilers
Discussion Time
As what the title pretty much has given away at first glance, If Witch, Then Which? follows the story of a witch, Maruna Rinjou, and her friend, Haruka Kaze. Kaze literally owes Rinjou his life after Rinjou offers her blood to him when he got into an accident during his childhood. Rinjou being a tsundere, however, made it impossible for Kaze to properly thank her. That changed when he learned of Rinjou’s most hidden secret -- being a witch. As a budding witch, she has to enter a specialized academy for witches. She, however, can’t seem to properly control her power. With Kaze’s help, they figure out that her power is triggered with a little blood pumping, literally. One surefire way to do that is for Kaze to do something sweet to Rinjou. Thus, he cross-dresses to enter the academy with her for the next three years.
1. Interesting Take on Witch-ducation
We’ve seen tons of stories featuring wizards and witches. Some even feature academies, but If Witch, Then Which? features a different take on the typical magic fighting witch education. In this series, the true source of a witch’s power is love. Cheesy it might be, but that’s what this series is founded on. That said, the education in this series focuses more on how the witches grow. In fact, there isn’t even a single fighting scene. At least, not yet. On the other hand, everything reeks of normalcy. It’s just that instead of learning typical subjects like math, science, and language, they’re learning cool witch stuff like broom riding, using glass crystals, etc. Even the romance isn’t forced. Heck, it’s even too subtle to notice at times.
1. A Slow Start
The series starts by telling how Kaze and Rinjou are acquainted. But instead of going the typical childhood friend route, the author chose the tragic almost dying route. Okay, maybe that’s also not that original. Honestly, that also makes it a tad bit boring. Still, don’t let that impression last. Literally, right after the first chapter, things get pretty interesting. No, not because of some action scenes. The second chapter offers a twist highlighting Kaze’s analytical skill, as well as what the series actually offers. As to what that is, we’ll leave it for you to find out.
Final Thoughts
If we’re going to be really honest here, we initially thought that this will be a very boring read. We mean, the premise is all about a tsundere witch and her boyfriend that’s pretending to be a girl to accompany her in school. That sounds like clicking all cliche from Hana Kimi. However, we couldn’t be more wrong. In reality, we were into a more exciting and fun adventure we didn’t sign up for. But boy did we love it. Just endure the first chapter, and we’re sure you’ll love it too.
Author: Christian Markle