The Witches’ Marriage Volume 2 Review
Melissa is a powerful witch, who has her sights on the Door of Truth to find her mistress and is willing to form sham Witch Marriages and take powers from others to do so. But her current partner, Tanya, is different from the rest; Melissa finds her so cute and is slowly developing feelings for her. After passing the first Trial, requiring Melissa to be vulnerable with Tanya for the first time, the pair start to grow closer. But with Tanya’s powers growing, a new emotion in Melissa emerges…jealousy!
The first volume of The Witches’ Marriage surprised me as I was expecting the comedy series to wear a particular gag into the ground: many one-shot chapters of Melissa trying to increase her own power, by using Tanya through various means, only to find herself warming up to Tanya instead. My feelings for the second volume are very similar; the book opens with several chapters of Melissa having to save Tanya from various magic-mishaps by having to be more forward with her budding feelings (via kisses or kind words to cheer her up) and again I expected the book to stay on that path. But once again, the manga surprised me, by not only progressing their relationship but also giving Melissa a new arc. It would have been easy for Melissa to just keep denying her budding feelings and have that just be her arc, but no, we get more depth than expected, this time, with Tanya becoming more competent and showing promise of being able to activate rare spells, Melissa starts to feel jealous of Tanya. Why now? Well at the start, the smaller witch was just a tag-along for Melissa for her various schemes and seemed to worship the ground Melissa stood on. Since the passing of the first trial, however, not only has Tanya accepted Melissa’s more vulnerable side with open arms, but is starting to show real promising power, and takes the initiative multiple times when it comes to their relationship (such as looking out for Melissa’s needs and helping her when Melissa goes in over her head). Tanya is now on the path to becoming an equal to Melissa, with strength in casting spells that Melissa cannot, and that’s why Melissa starts to show resentment and push away Tanya at key points in the book. But the ‘Witch Marriage’ that they’re bonded to cannot grant power without a two-way relationship of trust and companionship. This book pushes both ladies in different ways across the manga, in terms of sheer power and how far their love can go to help each other, and it’s satisfying across the book. It shows that despite the comedy-heavy tone, there’s enough foreshadowing and writing skill to make these long-term character conflicts and developments really work, both as a stealthy way to keep the audience engaged through the gags, and to build up to the emotional pay-off when the mangaka goes for it at the right time.
As in the first book, there isn’t more in terms of worldbuilding, but there are still a few nuggets here and there. In this volume we’re introduced to a special witches’ marriage school where partners can test their bonds to reach the Door of Truth faster. Luckily the school environment is mostly a set piece to allow different magical tests for our heroes to overcome. There’s no weird arc where they’re suddenly put into racy school uniforms or must attend boring classes. We also get some nifty spells in this book too, and like the rest of the art, it’s all gorgeous and beautifully portrayed but also creative, from the water protection spell to the candy that makes someone say the opposite of what they meant. There are a few snags however; unlike the first book, Volume 2 has no flashbacks for either character and does not divert from the POVs of Melissa or Tanya, so we’re not learning more about their pasts here. There are also a few new characters introduced due to the school setting, but there’s one that caught my eye in the wrong way. There’s a fortune teller that makes an appearance in the first chapter but comes back later in the book when the school arc begins, as a teacher/judge of the various pairings. Her design is very stereotypical ‘Romanian fortune teller’ style with the face veil, cloak with a hood, yet also wearing a bikini top and having large boobs, not helped by the fact that her character is ‘devious’ in nature at times. I’m not sure if ‘cultural appropriation’ is the correct term here, but considering how carefully considered the wardrobe has been for all the characters have been so far, with a very distinct style for the world the story is set in, this design sticks out like a sore thumb and is a misstep, sadly.
Eleanor Summers once again translates this book and there’s no translator’s notes, nor even any mangaka afterword this time. But the book is still an easy, fun read with each character having lots of personality, and the comedy timing is just right as well.
The Witches’ Marriage continues to surprise me in all the right ways; there’s a small misstep in character design and the worldbuilding isn’t quite there yet, but the characters and their arcs are enough to keep the audience engaged and excited to see if they’ll ever make it to the Door of Truth at the end, together or apart.
Our review copy from Yen Press was supplied by Diamond Book Distributors UK.
