I already knew the story going into Burn the Witch (vol.1); the graphic novel is an adaptation of a limited episode series, and they match pretty closely. What I don’t quite get is the title; there aren’t really any witches. There are people with special powers but it’s not really magic exactly in that there is no real system explained and those who are licensed aren’t vilified. The concept is partially familiar: there is a mirror world to our own in which dragons are real, and they are not the wise benevolent kind. Either they are minor creatures who can be adapted for human use (like the Planty Potty- I wonder if the original translators realize the problem with name- who are shaped like clay pots and prefer to carry around plants that can grow in their pots), or dangerous creatures who do a lot of property damage and kill people.
The organization that protects people from Dragons is called Wing Bind, and there is so little information about it, how it runs, peoples titles (what’s the difference between ‘First Umbrella’ and ‘Second Umbrella’?) that it’s basically just there, no development at all; the key thing is that they are the only ones allowed to even touch dragons; touch one and you’ll be contaminated somehow and arrested and probably executed, as is supposed to happen to the idiot side-kick with probably more to him, Balgo. The two main Wing Bind agents are about high-school age, as is Balgo, and he seems to have a thing for Noel; Ninny sort of ignores him.
The thing I don’t get is that Balgo spends a good bit of the first chapter trying to upskirt Noel; she outwits him, but it’s still kind of ick, and is made ok once Balgo is put in danger and the two girls have to rescue him and maybe they’re actually friends? Ninny has a former colleague who is apparently super obsessed with her (as in stalker scary obsessed, but since Macy gets endangered too by an association with dragons, so it’s all ok again?). Why is the stalkery-ness ok? I get that this kind of thing is a trope in a lot of manga and anime, but it’s really time to get rid of it.
Anyways, the premise is kind of interesting, but there’s no world building, the characters are kind of flat, and the plot has little behind it but a little bit of mystery and some good action sequences.
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