Kokage-kun wa Majo.

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I can't get enough of Komori Youko's manga. Once again, she's produced a lovely package of gorgeous artwork, unique narrative, and loads of charm.

Kokage-kun wa Majo follows Satou Yumeko, a high school girl infatuated with romance (and herself). Yume quickly became one of my all-time favorite characters due to her personality: Seemingly bold, hot-headed, hell, even confrontational, she's nothing like any romance lead I'd ever seen before. Kokage-kun wa Majo's story takes Yume through a mental journey as she comes face to face with conflicts that challenge her dreams, outlooks, and self-indulgences.

Largely through Yume's mind, Kokage-kun wa Majo explores some pretty personal and serious topics ... of exploring sexuality, like the meanings of love and the fears of having sex for the first time. One of the more prominent reasons I enjoyed this manga so much is how open and directly it often addresses these topics. Kokage-kun wa Majo's narrative of magic and fantasy also acts as a tool for sensible allegory and exploring relative themes. Despite not falling into its intended demographic (and this manga might be the most definitive "josei" story I've ever read), I still found much of Kokage-kun wa Majo's content very relatable, there's just so much emotional weight to the themes and how they're presented.

I'm a big fan of Komori Youko's art in general, but she really took things to another level with this project. Her uses of paneling and unique page layouts in Kokage-kun wa Majo are astonishing. I can't say much more than suggesting you take a look yourself – these are easily my favorite implementations out of all the manga I've read.

A big part of me feels that giving this manga only a 7/10 rating is unfair, perhaps at some point I will reconsider, and I certainly hope I'm not doing Komori Youko a disservice by being overly critical with Kokage-kun wa Majo out of recognition of her absolutely insane potential as an author. My main issues with Kokage-kun wa Majo lie with the progression of its story. I felt there were pretty noticeable tone and narrative shifts after the second volume which somewhat cheapened some of the manga's prior accomplishments.

Still, Kokage-kun wa Majo's positives greatly outweigh its downfalls and I find myself thinking about it occasionally, well after finishing. I know accessibility for this manga is not ideal since there is no scanlation, but I urge you to keep tabs on Kokage-kun wa Majo if it sounds even remotely interesting, it's worth it.