The Witch and the Beast, Vol. 1 (2024)

Well this is an interesting one. We've been seeing a lot of good witches in literature, but in this manga, witches are very very bad. Our two main characters work for a magic order that takes care of anything magic-related--anything from opening a box with a magic seal on it to the dispatching of witches. It starts off with us not knowing who or what either are, and while we do find out who they are, and what one of them is, the more brutal and aggressive one is still somewhat of a mystery. I really liked Ashaf from the start but I didn't like Guideau until about halfway through when they started to grow on me. The art was good but the action panels were very confusing to my eyes, and there were quite a few of them. All around, it's a strong start to a manga, and I definitely look forward to learning more about this world and its mythology, so on to the next volume we go.

Our two main protagonists of The Witch & The Beast are Guideau, an impulsive young woman witch a vendetta against witches, and Ashaf, a refined, low level mage who works for a company that operates by magic, for magic, of magic.

I struggled to get into this one as it starts off quite fast paced with a lot of action and very little context. However the second story arc in here I found to be a lot more compelling, with mystery elements and more of a slow build.

The art style is detailed and beautiful and played a large part in my enjoyment.

The Witch and the Beast is the dark story about two associates that are looking for a witch, and in the meantime they also solve other issues that have to do with magic.
This volume is an introduction, so there are many subplots left unexplained. I found it intriguing as a first volume, it takes you inside this magical world from the beginning.
The artwork is detailed and detailed, which makes the story much kore enjoyable.
I can’t wait to read the upcoming volumes.
If you enjoy supernatural manga, you will adore this one!

Rating: 4.7 stars.Outline of the story: In a modern Europe-looks-alike fantasyworld, there are magic-users and the unearthly powerful beings known as the 'witches'. The witches are seemingly all evil and love to curse people and cause mayhem, so the witches are widely feared and hated by the general public and are hunted by the Church and an unknown organization of magic users.

Whenever there are 'witch'sincidents', a man carrying a coffin and a young girl with eyes of a beast would show up to 'investigate' and capture the witches? Who are this pair and what is their goal?

First thing, the artwork in this series is lovely, stylistic and highly skilled. Although the character's designs and the settling doesn't break any new ground, still the fight scenes are well drawn and exciting, it's a pleasant and delightful read. I look forward to more explanation and exploration in this fantasy world and the mysteries of the witches and their origin.

This is a case of fascinating concept, not-great execution. The world, which looks a bit like a steampunk/gaslight fantasy setup, offers us interesting ideas about witches driven to the dark side by the persistent belief that they're evil, mingled with fairy tale lore about how to break curses, but it fails to adequately explain it. The protagonists are either "deliberately vague" or "definitely annoying," which doesn't help, and even the fact that Guideaux isn't in her real body isn't handled quite as well as it ought to be. It's interesting, but fails to really build on that.

I cannot BELIEVE I was going to pass on this book.

I loved this debut volume. From the stunning artwork to the intriguing premise to the characters, this volume had everything I could ask for and more. Before I discuss my favorite aspect, the characters, I want to discuss what makes this series so special: the twist on the fairytale script.

Generally speaking, fairytale heroines have the same default personality: demure, soft-spoken, and most importantly, a woe-is-me mentality. You'd think someone who's put in horrific situations would deviate from these personality traits, but apparently not. Obviously, this is because a) most of these tales were written by men with a strict view of how a woman/girl should act and b) having them be inherently good and pure makes them more likable and will make readers cheer them on. What I love about Guideau, our "damsel in distress," is that she has a MOTHERFUCKING TEMPER.

Guideau's personality is so refreshing because she wants revenge on the witch for cursing her and is pissed nearly 24/7, and honestly can you blame her? From what I can tell, she's been cursed so that her powers have been taken out of her indomitable, monstrous form and into a powerless, human form. Who wouldn't be pissed about that? And while many fairytale heroines go on quests to fix their circumstances, curses or not, the biggest difference again is Guideau's rage. I don't think I've read a single fairytale where the heroine is angry about what's happened to her; she's usually sad and waits for someone to fix it for her, or is determined to fix it, but determination and anger are not the same thing.

The other, more amusing, aspect of her character is that there are 3 methods to removing a witch's curse: 1. Have a prince give a true kiss 2. Hope that the witch has a change of heart and removes it 3. Touch the lips of the witch that cursed you. Now, ORDINARILY most women/girls would aim for method #1 as finding the witch that cursed them would be more difficult. But Guideau? NOPE! We're goin' for method #3, folks! And THAT'S what I love about her! Going for the option that offers her revenge! I will admit her character is pretty one-dimensional right now, but I am looking forward to seeing how her character grows.

But now I want to gush about Ashaf's and Guideau's character designs because I LOVE THEM. I love the dark circles surrounding Ashaf's eyes and how bright they are. It's such a stunning contrast and his effeminate design adds to that (plus, love his piercings!) Guideau's design is striking as well, with her prominent fangs, cat-like eyes, and long hair. Her piercings really add to it as well and she comes off as beautiful but dangerous.

Okay, I think I've raved long enough, I'll wrap this up. Basically, I really enjoyed this first volume and am looking forward to the rest of the series. If you're looking for a twisted fairytale with some badass characters, give this one a read.

This is the story of a pair of hot and cold-headed minds who are out there to hunt with dark fantasy and gore. ⚫

The artwork and the character design are gorgeous. One can really appreciate its setting in Europe.

Unfortunately, the manga is not for me. 😟

The Witch and the Beast by Kousuke Satake is a manga to watch out for!

Do you love fantasy? Thrills? Incredible art and illustrations? Then grab this manga!

This one took me a bit to get into, but honestly it's a fun little read. It's a series I wouldn't mind continuing on with if I got the chance. Hunting down a witch isn't easy, and I'm sure this is gonna take a few volume (at a minimum!) to deal with this witchy problem. Oh, did I mention there is lots of magic?

Overall, this is a great manga to add to your collection if you want some fantasy and action.

Three out of five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodsansha Comics for providing me a free copy of this book in exchange of an honest review.

This series looks like it takes place in Victorian England or something, but turns out it's a made-up fantasy world. Cool.

I tried reading this a while back and was enjoying it but I didn't even finish the first volume for some reason. I watched the anime recently and then went back to the manga, and like it more now that I have a good sense of the tone, the characters' voices, and can better understand the story. Those things just didn't come across plainly before, I feel. Now I feel like I've got a handle on it.

The story follows two witch-hunters, a creepy-lookin dude (who is less creepy if you watch the anime) and a young girl who has been cursed by a witch, but she doesn't know which one so she's just gonna kill them all.

It's dark and gory and just cool AF. I'm into it.

An interesting start to the series but which lacks a little something...
The story is quite mysterious for the moment: we discover Guideau, a young woman visibly under the influence of a witch curse, and Ashaf, his strange companion who carries a coffin on the back. Well...we don't learn much more. We know that they are looking for a particular witch and that they will intervene in all matters relating to them, but that's all. We're immersed in the plot as everything was obvious, which can read a bit complicated because we don't know what to focus on. But this is the first volume, so to see it later.
For the drawing, the line's pretty, and the action scenes both very gloomy and full of action. It goes well with the title, which isn't for everyone but will appeal to those who are not afraid of hemoglobin.

In short, an interesting reading even if it's a little too fuzzy for the moment, to see later! ^^

Okay so I actually grabbed the wrong book here and didn't realize it till I got home but it was already on my TBR so definitely a unexpected win as I enjoyed it.

It was nice to have a break from the cute, happy, and oh so very good witches I've been reading about lately as in this series witches are evil, like serial killers with magic evil. Kind of a bit of a Witch Hunter Robin feel to it for those who have watched that classic.

Character wise I enjoyed Ashaf and Guideau, their personalities play off of each whether well, they are however, a bit cliché.

The art was really well done and I enjoyed that this was a bit more action packed that some of the mangas I've been reading recently.

That all being said I did have to knock a star off because this first volume did feel a bit like I'd read this story before. There are some original elements here so I've got hope for future volumes though. I would have loved to have had a bit more of a backstory about the world we found ourselves in as well.

Overall, I wasn't disappointed, I think there are just enough original elements thrown into this that as the series progresses and more of the Lore of the world is revealed that this will be a solid series.

What I liked most:

* The drawing style
* Supernatural creatures
* A badass female character (Guideau)

What I liked least:

* I need more information. I've found kind of lost sometimes. And I also need to know a bit more about the main characters, so I can really say if I like them or not/empathize with them.
* Witches are the bad ones

The story is about two particular characters, Guideau and Ashaf who work for The Order of Magical Resonance. Guideau wants to find the witch that cursed her, in order to break this curse and take revenge by killing the witch. So she partners up with Ashaf and go after the malevolent creatures that are behind the gruesome acts in different places. Most of the time they're witches. In the end, they're sent to deal with a witch who's murdering people with abominable cruelty.

Thanks to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for providing me with an e-arc in exchange for my honest review.

I have read much famous manna like Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, Death note, bleach, etc. I still follow one piece, every week I land on the viz site to read the latest episode. So when I saw a manga available on Netgalley I applied for the review copy. I got it eARC in exchange for an honest review.

The book I got had 3-4 chapters of "The Witch and the Beast 1". The protagonist duos are pair of the beast (Guideau) and a magician (Ashraf) working with order. The prime goal of (Guideau to capture the witch who gave her a curse. The book covers 1 full and one-half adventure of the duo. Read the book to know more.

The story is entertaining and dramatic. The Mangaka, Kausuke, had a good grip over the story as well as the artwork. Characters and detailing of artwork were visible throughout the comic.

I liked it. Would give it 3.5 out of 5.

This was featured as a library staff's recommendations for fans of dark mystery/horror, but I found it incredibly boring. There's way too much going on with the plot all over the place (not in a complicated way, but the author is just throwing out everything at once, a lot of it superflous). There are few specific details of the world that are named, but rapidly moved past and the character and story development are non-existent so there's no reason to care about anything taking place or feel attached to anyone involved.

The Order of Magical Resonance is a group that works by magic, for magic, and of magic, but this forced catchphrase fell flat with little to back it up aside from the repetition.

The main characters are glossed over in this 1st volume aside from one seriously hates witches and will interrupt any dialogue happening to make sure it is known to everyone around them with a snarl. The art is the only slight draw (although not much of one). The shading in some gritty panels can be confusing to decipher close ups of murder scenes since there's not enough contrast between the line work and negative space to clearly portray any difference between the very same tones of gray.

Series dropped

Not going to lie, I'm not 100% sure how I feel about this book.

In terms of the plot and writing of the story, there's a lot left out and you're basically holding on for your dear life as you're dragged at breakneck pace through this story. There's a lot of repetition about one specific thing regarding the witches, but I felt like that was easily remembered since it was the first page of the story. I would have liked to have learned more about the two main characters, what they're doing, the society they work with, and what's going on in the world. All of those topics were touched upon in this volume, but it felt more like a trailer for a movie or tv series instead of building a solid first installment into a series.

That being said, I'm intrigued enough to continue, but if the story continues to hop around and not explain stuff, I will be putting it down.

My favorite type of thing to read when I need a pallette cleanser. There are dangers and mysteries and even violence but it doesn't overwhelm, which is really helpful when you suffer from anxiety. It follows the traditional "monster of the week " format where several chapters make a small story arc in which our two main characters go to investigate some magic (or specifically witch) related incident. It may not be everyone's favorite narrative structure but I really love it and find comfort in it. And thankfully The Witch and The Beast are a good example of the genre. It has enough mystery to make me want to read the next chapter faster. There is enough violence and mature content for an older audience. The main characters are intriguing and I want to know more about them. Let me just say that "the witch" and "the beast" do not refer to who you think it would. The arstyle is pretty great. There are some close-ups of faces that remind me of Miura Kentaro's arstyle and he is one my favorites. Overall if you like fantasy manga this is a good one to pick up.

Satake's The Witch and the Beast has so much potential. The first volume is dark, violent, and full of cases to solve as Guideau and Ashaf hunt for a witch. Guideau and Ashaf are not fully fleshed out in the first book, but I really enjoyed the relationship between the two. I will be reading more from this series because I think it's super interesting. Oh, and the art is fantastic.

Thank you to the publishers for giving me a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

This manga was so different from anything that I've read and I really loved it. I especially loved how you were just thrown into the story without knowing much! I had no clue about what the whole witch thing was and in the beginning when they go into the shop if they've seen a witch made no sense to me and I was very confused, however everything gets explained as they go and that makes it very fun to read.
The story is very cool! I'd never heard of something like this before and I thought it was very unique!
The art is also as before the same as usual, it does have some of its own characteristics in it which makes it a bit more unique and extra.

Overall I really enjoyed this one and would definitely recommend it :D

Okay, first things first, I loved the cover and that's what made me want to get into it asap, and it did not disappoint, although I was expecting the whole thing to be coloured which it is not, it's a black and white Manga save for the first few pages. I think it'd look really cool and more to it if it was coloured. The plot is interesting and thoroughly enjoyable, but it sure took me some time to get the hang of the storytelling style. I felt a bit confused initially about what was happening and why given there isn't much background to either the characters or the story. That said, the graphics are nice and striking, even in black and white, and the panels flowed smoothly. The story was a bit confusing in some places but great overall, and I loved the darker gory parts. Would love to see how it develops further. Not that I didn't enjoy it but I think this would appeal more to teens, and no I don't think Manga is for teens only, lol.

Thanks to Netgalley, author, and publishers for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

9.25 stars out of 10
Wow.

Keywords: manga, dark, horror, witches, magic, action
Trigger warning: gore and violence, torture

REVIEW
The Witch and the Beast is a terribly dark manga about witch-hunting. The story is gripping even from the first few pages. I'm scared yet I keep turning the pages because I need to know what would happen. As the trigger warning suggest there are a lot of gore and blood, the tone itself is very grim and bleak. You need to brace yourself for some scare if you intend to read this manga.

Artstyle is very pretty and the flow between panels or dialogues is good. I could certainly feel the emotions intended.. The horror parts are scary and action parts look smoothly cool.

Thank you Netgalley and Kodansha comic for giving me e-arc of this manga in exchange of honest review, it's good.

The Witch and the Beast is an enjoyable opening volume with intriguing characters and an engaging plot. Ashaf was my favourite; he comes across really well on the page. The first volume closed in a way that certainly left me keen to know what would happen next. Regarding the artwork, although the style was not my absolute favourite, the images were clean and easily legible both in static scenes and in the action sequences. Worth checking out if you are a fan of fantasy manga with a darker edge.

I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Las “brujas” son usuarias mágicas que siempre son señaladas independientemente de si son buenas o malas. Para Guideau, un mago, y Ashaf, una criatura bestial, eso es lo que menos les interesa, mientras existan las brujas irán tras ellas. En especial el segundo, quien quiere cobrar venganza por el hechizo que le lanzaron.

Los protagonistas tienen la meta de encontrar a la bruja de la cual Guideau de quiere vengar, pero esto lo hacen a la par de que trabajan para una sociedad que trabaja con magia y se encargar de mantener está a raya. Estoy muy intrigada por todo el asunto de la sociedad secreta, hasta ahora no hay nada claro porque los trabajos los señalan en cartas, me parece muy curioso.

De verdad, que buena forma de aperturar un volumen y que dúo de personajes más novedoso, sin lugar a duda he quedado fascinada por ambos y disfruto mucho la dinámica entre ellos. Me muero por saber mas del pasado de ambos personajes porque si bien Guideau puede ser la que tenga el pasado con más ganas de descubrir, Ashaf me parece tan misterioso que siento que oculta una historia muy trágica.

Las escenas de acción son demasiado épicas y me encanta que haya batallas de cuerpo a cuerpo, que no únicamente lancen hechizos. También me agrada que conozcamos varis casos y como el mal uso de la magia y la maldad de las brujas pueden causar tanto daño a la sociedad.

Deseo conocer más sobre el sistema mágico porque por lo poco que se nos ha contado de las brujas, de como romper el hechizo de Guideau y de la sociedad secreta, he quedado muy intrigada.

https://lapommequirougit.com/2021/05/...

Une nouveauté Seinen très intrigant très les premières pages. Ambiance sombre et enquête se mêlent.

Ashaf et Guido font partie de l’Ordre de l’écho noir. Ils utilisent la magie pour stopper les soucis d’origine magique. Ils enquêtent sur divers phénomènes liés à la sorcellerie, utilisée à mauvais escient. Une fois le responsable trouvé, ils se débrouillent pour l’empêcher de nuire plus qu’il ne l’a fait.

Dernière cela, on y découvre surtout l’envie de vengeance de Guido envers une sorcière en particulier qu’elle recherche en vain. Guido est victime d’une malédiction et seule la responsable peut lui enlever, de ce fait, elle n’a qu’une envie, la retrouver.

Ce manga est passionnant. On se retrouve plongé dans un univers steampunk avec une ambiance sombre et hypnotisante à la fois.

Ce que j’ai adoré dans ce manga, c’est le style de dessin du mangaka qui m’a beaucoup plu. Certaines doubles pages étaient de toute beauté.

On alterne entre vie quotidienne et affrontement épique. De ce fait, je ne me suis pas ennuyée un seul instant au cours de cette lecture. Même si ce premier volume reste assez classique sur quelques points, il n’en est pas moins intéressant.

En bref, un premier tome intrigant. Une ambiance sombre et agréable. Un univers captivant. Des enquêtes intrigantes et une fin de tomes qui ne peut que nous pousser à lire la suite !

I love the art style! I love the darker theme of having to chase down a witch that put a curse on our female main character but I I felt so confused at times... I was thrown into this world and had to play catch up the whole time. Now, I don't need a book to hold my hand and over explain but some explanation is needed for the reader know what's going on. It does get better as you go but for the first little bit I was just left scratching my head.

So if you can hang in there, it gets pretty good!

*Got this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

Uh that was not what I was expecting at all...and I loved it!

It’s pretty gory so content warning for that, totally not what I would expect from the cover.

But, I love the dark academia atmosphere, supernatural elements, and dynamic characters. I will totally be checking out the next volume. The art is beautiful and although the storyline isn’t exactly unique I really love our main characters and the dynamic between the two of them. It’s also got enough fast paced action that I am constantly intrigued.

I picked this up on a whim at my LCS because it was the manga-of-the-month and so on sale. I'd never heard of it before.

This manga wasn't for me at all. I honestly considered DNFing it at multiple
points, which is why it's getting such a low rating.
It was a combination of things that didn't work for me as well. The characters were very one-dimensional and kind of extreme in their simpleness, and I found how they were written to be grating. The translation was also done somewhat poorly - or maybe it's actually how this book was written, which doesn't help it in my eyes. And the art was simple and messy all at once, making it hard for me to see what was going on.

Read 2 volumes

It’s overwhelmingly just okay. I can see the plot but I don’t like anyone in it and it’s very fast paced with a lot of words to explain things that don’t really matter to the big plot. I’m curious about it enough to continue the series if I can get it from the library but I’m getting rid of the first two I own. Didn’t like it enough to keep.

I like it

I’ve talked before about how touchy I can get when witches appear in media. “Witch” is still used as a soft replacement for when adults want to say “bitch” but don’t want delicate child ears to hear a naughty word. Witches are Halloween costumes, monsters in fairy tales. Witches are teen girls who discover empowerment for the first time but then get slapped down when they discover that goddess-worship comes with fantastical powers and a steep price. More recently, “witch” has become an aesthetic term, a sort of “I wear dark clothes and am a strong independent woman,” descriptor.

Why take exception to a lot of this? Because a witch is a practitioner of a particular religion or umbrella or religions, and yeah, it kind of stings to see my own religious practices and terminology get misused. It’s not exactly, “We’re a culture, not a costume,” but it is, “We’re a religion, not a costume, cautionary tale, or clothing style.”

I do, however, tend to make exceptions when the term is used in secondary-world fantasy, even when the witches there are purely negative characters. That world isn’t this world, it has its own dynamics, and I also tend to assume that any fantasy world I’m reading about does not have the English language and all of its history and connotations, and so everything is being “translated,” in a sense, for the reader’s benefit. Sometimes you go with the closest term that already exists. Sure, you could use the word fsnargletump to describe the same thing, but when you’ve got a convenient word your readers already understand, why not use it?

Besides, witches in fantasy worlds don’t tend to be, you know, part of a legitimate religion.

In The Witch and the Beast, witches hold great magic power and generally use that power to abuse those weaker than them, causing mayhem and destruction and all manner of badness. Guideau and Ashaf are part of a guild that hunts down the magical evils of the world and eliminates them. Guideau has a personal vendetta against witches in particular, intent on finding and destroying the witch who cursed her some years ago. Their attention is directed to a witch who might be the one who cursed Guideau, but rather than finding a vicious tyrant, they find instead a young woman who seems to be the darling of the town, who helps others rather than hurts them.

That’s how this volume starts, though the story does progress a bit past that first, “Let’s figure out what’s going on with this witch,” encounter. And I have to say, it subverted my expectations more than once, which was rather nice. I expected a bunch of the story to involve Guideau being convinced that she was wrong to hate all witches, that witches are really just misunderstood, etc. But no, even the nice witch has a lot of darkness to her, and cheerfully uses people as pawns when it suits her whims. I’ve said before that sometimes stories can be notable for what they don’t do as much as what they do do, and The Witch and the Beast set me up to think one rather stereotypical plot twist was going to happen, only to toss it aside for something else.

I didn’t see it coming, so I will give it that. Ironic, seeing as how what I didn’t see coming was something Guideau had been saying all along. It’s funny the traps of assumption that we can get into, when we’ve seen enough stories play out. Even as we hope for something a bit different, we tend to assume that things will play out as we’ve come to expect, and then get surprised when we’re actually given something else.

I swear, reading manga makes me reflect more on myself as a reader than it does on the manga itself, sometimes…

Either way, the story within The Witch and the Beast is compelling enough that I want to continue reading to see where it all leads. I want to know more about Guideau’s curse, about the witch that cursed her to begin with, about just what the heck is up with Ashaf. We might not get to see much of them in a single volume, but there’s enough to convince me that there are interesting things ahead in the story, enough hints dropped that things in the next volume will be something worth reading. The subject matter and art can be a bit disturbing at times (I won’t say it’s not for the faint of heart, because I’ve definitely see more graphic violence in manga, but be warned that there is blood and violence aplenty in here), but nothing that particular stuck with me beyond the moment. I’m counting that as a good thing.

So overall, a pretty good start to a series, and one I’m looking forward to continuing when I get my grubby little hands on the second volume.

(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)

It’s pretty dark, with some gore. Do I love the vibe/characters/action? Maybe…

Dark fantasy and supernatural procedural starring an ominous pair who works with the Order of Magical Resonance to solve grisly magical murders committed by evil witches and enormous magical beasts.