Witch Watch is at times creative, fun, and experimental. For instance, a few early chapters frame a character’s inner monologue as a reality show interview. In another chapter, the characters find themselves in a death game that is so poorly designed, they (the ones captured and forced into said death game) re-structure the game from scratch only to find out it was a ploy to get a viral Youtube video. Additionally, it is consistently creative exploring the unintended consequences of Nico’s magic for humorous effect.
Further, the romance between the two leads has been tender-hearted, satisfying, and fun. While it knows it is purposely dragging it out, the leads are easy to root for and are a good match for each other.
However, Witch Watch really wants to be a gag comedy more than anything else. Unfortunately, to me the humor does not land frequently enough to justify veering away from its primary plot as frequently as it does. It detours for the sake of mostly unremarkable banter or shenanigans between the residents of Moi’s house. So, when there is a relatively large amount of text per chapter for a manga, chapters can feel dull even though the ideas within them are consistently interesting.
I want to love Witch Watch. Its art, premise, and characters are distinctive and fun. However, even after 63 chapters I still can’t say I’m ‘hooked’. However, One Piece didn’t hook me until Chapter 81, so I am hopeful I will be by the time I catch up with the current chapter. People interested in the genres I listed above (slice-of-life, comedy, shonen action, and romance) will find a lot of good things in this manga.
