This wasn't for me. I found the plot very predictable and I didn't enjoy the artwork, particularly as almost every scene depicting Hort or their guide/teacher Loux portrayed them in a unnecessarily sexual way, focusing on their boobs, crotch or bum with small amounts of clothing covering those areas. There was just no need for this and it just annoyed me after the first few times.

Our main character Saybil is boring and barely even a focus until the last section of the story, which by then, I didn't care and the plot twist seemed very convenient to allow the story to progress into a future volume.

I requested this because the blurb sounded really interesting: Saybil has no memories of his life before meeting a mysterious silver-haired woman in an alley (who we see on the first page and never again). Saybil is travelling alongside some of his peers and his teacher for 'special training' but the trip doesn't go as expected.

After looking at other reviews I can see I am not alone on disliking this and being annoyed by the overly sexualised female characters and that's a shame. What I thought was going to be a great magical manga, was boring and frustrating instead. I'm sure some people may like this but I personally did not.

My thanks to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Fan service is not my thing. If it is yours, you will enjoy this. If you don't like to see female characters every other panel showing off their panties and huge mammary glands, then you won't want to read this.

Also, the Big Bad was knocked unconscious with a group of the Good Guys. He was trying to kill them before he was knocked unconscious. You are telling me that when he came to before the Good Guys did that he just RAN instead of slitting all of their throats while they were vulnerable?!? Bad writing and poor plotting.

Also, someone in the Good Guys group admitting to being in cahoots with the Bad Guys and NO ONE was upset by that betrayal?!? Not believable.

This book was wretched and I can't recommend it unless you prefer fan service over a believable storyline. Skip this one. 1, I really didn't like this one, stars.

This Book was requested from Netgalley for an honest review

So this manga really wasn't for me. It uses a lot of tropes that I don't really like thus it really lowered the rating. Firstly lets talk about the positives, the artwork was really good, and the character design for many of the characters was interesting.
That being said the characters fell flat for me, as did the world. I also found it to be a bit too fan servicy, which i felt detracted from the whole story.
I think if people like borderline ecchi fantasy manga this may be for them but I'd say steer clear anyone else.

Unfortunately I'm not a fan of this so far. The world and characters have potential but there was SO much telling rather than showing. It just felt like massive chunks of this manga were spent re-explaining the same few plot points over and over and whenever something would happen to complicate the plot and add challenge... the solutions just fell together too simply (whilst also being explained, in length, exactly what they were doing and why).

The premise seemed amazing but alas it just fell short, to me anyway.

The Dawn of the Witch Volume 1, published by Kodansha Comics, is written by Kakeru Kobashiri, illustrated by Tatsuwo, and translated by Jacqueline Fung. The new series is a spin-off of Kobashiri’s previous series, Grimoire of Zero. Volume 1 introduces readers to Saybil, a magic student who does not remember anything about his past life before meeting a silver-haired stranger in an alley. In the present day, Saybil must travel with two of his classmates and their teacher, Loux, as a way to make up for his academics at the magic academy. This trip they’re all going on is “special training” that will improve their academic standing, but things take a turn when an ominous force lurks in the shadows.

Not having any real knowledge of Kobashiri’s previous work, I was excited to check out this new series. However, there could be some worry about how much readers will need to know about Grimoire of Zero to understand the basics of The Dawn of the Witch Volume 1. It was reassuring that this new series does an incredible job at setting itself apart from the original series. If anything, this new series will make readers interested in Kobashiri’s previous work to see just how everything is connected.

The amount of world-building that was established in The Dawn of the Witch Volume 1 is incredible. For one, the new magical world that the series is set in is established well and easy to understand. The rules of academics that students of the magic academy must follow are laid out in a way that sets up the story without making things too complicated. The way in which spells are cast fits a more traditional sense of what has been seen in other works. There are, however, special magic incantations that are unique to the story, which will leave fans excited to see just how far magic can go in this series. The Dawn of the Witch series also delves into witch-hunting and the role that the church plays in this. Using historical context while incorporating novel ideas could attract readers that don’t normally read manga.

One major downside of The Dawn of the Witch Volume 1 is the consistent amount of fanservice in its art. There were several times where certain characters were drawn in revealing positions that were distracting from the overall plot. Many manga have done this before, but that still doesn’t mean that it should be a continuing trend. There is also the way certain characters are designed that don’t seem to fit the much darker tone that the series establishes. However, the upside of the art is that the fight scenes throughout the first volume were done incredibly well. They flowed well from panel to panel and were easy to follow.

Overall, I enjoyed reading The Dawn of the Witch Volume 1. Not having any real sense of the story or knowledge of any previous work from its writer, the story still made sense and was a great read. The world-building throughout the first volume sets up the world excellently as well as the tone and the dangers that lurk in the shadows. However, the art could at times distract readers from the story in terms of how characters are designed and drawn. Ultimately, this is a series that I will continue to read.

The art was really cute. However, I really don’t like it when women characters have huge (and very unrealistic) boobs, it directly makes me like the manga less.
The story is quite basic, a student really bad at magic discovers he has the most magic. That’s why I am expecting a lot from the next volumes to see if the story becomes more original or not. It was nice to read. We have friendship, solidarity, adventure and magic. However, everything is done so fast that there is no time to get attached to the characters. I hope there is more development in the next volume.
I think I would recommend this manga but I want to read the next volume to be sure of that.
3/5

Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this manga in exchange for an honest review. This was one of those wonderful situations where I was browsing and realised I’d seen nothing of this manga – usually I recognise the ones that are available – Beastars for example, but this was entirely unknown, and I went in as such. The cover was bright and intriguing, and the idea of a magic student with no memories really lured me in. I enjoy both shonen and shoujo manga, so hit request and crossed my fingers.

On page one we’re shown the mysterious woman that Saybil remembers, and I only noticed she was half dressed as I scrolled back up to write this review. But, as we get to the title page…the fanservice really leaps at you. We have a background character with a broken spine; showing us her breasts and ass at the same time; and one in the front who’s the poster of ‘loli’ if I’ve ever seen it. Large face, tiny body, tiny underwear.

The sinking feeling began to hit me. Is this the ‘woman’ – somehow the oldest character and yet visually 8 years old? Old enough to make it acceptable for the male readers to lust after her? I desperately hoped not. (My suspicions were correct about her age though. “She may look like a child…but she’s really a lot older than either of us”)

On page 7 I accepted that the fanservice was here to stay, as we have the appearance of ‘sock boobs’, and I knew I had to look past it to focus on the plot. On page 8 I had to remind myself again, as the suspiciously young looking character appeared again, legs spread, underwear showing.

I love manga, and I love shounen manga but honestly at this point I considered whether the plot was worth it. Everyone likes the odd ‘day at the beach’ chapter, but when there’s spread legs on my screen before I even know her name…

But, the plot. We’re introduced to a world where magic and religion are at odds, but have managed a rocky agreement. As expected though, there are roaming bands of religious zealots aiming to take out the witches. With this in mind, the headmaster of their magic school has decided to start up a ‘special course’ – sending young, vulnerable mages out into the southern areas where magic hatred is bad, to try and make them see mages as fine and standard, rather than something inherently wrong.

I don’t know about you, but if I have a dangerous area where people hate magic, badly trained mage kids are 100% the people I’d send there too.

We then have a spattering of body horror, a la the lizard mage; captured by one of the hunters who appears half way through the volume to give us our antagonist.

And that’s about it – it’s a decent first volume, we have our main cast of characters, some backstory, some revelations that I won’t spoil in case anyone wants to give this a go; but overall this isn’t one I’m going to come back to unless Netgalley offers me volume 2. The story didn’t particularly grip me, and the characters weren’t that likeable. The designs are good, though far too fanservicey.

There’s some twists in here that could have been hints rather than just immediate revelations. Something to make me want to read the next chapter, rather than struggling to find something to say. There’s so much incredible manga out there, but this one missed the mark for me, unfortunately.

*Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for providing this digital eARC in exchange for an honest review*

While I believe this manga series has potential, this volume fell short. My main issue with this manga was the portrayal of the female characters and “fan-service” - it was wayyyy over the top and excessive. I’d be willing to continue with the series to see where the plot goes IF the fan service was toned down a bit. The over-sexualization of the female characters was uncomfortable and took away from the plot & world-building.

*Cross-Posted on Goodreads*

Huge thanks to Kodansha Comics and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this in exchange for an honest review. All the views expressed are my own.
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I went into this story not knowing that it's a spin-off of the author's other work Grimoire of Zero. However, The Dawn of the Witch can be read on its own as well. Having read this first volume, I am definitely going to be checking out Grimoire of Zero.

The Dawn of the Witch is an interesting first volume in that it does an excellent job of setting context and developing character motivations, something that could take several volumes' time in many other manga series.

I really like the main cast of characters. They are interesting and this first volume hints at many fascinating aspects of their past. I especially liked the Beastfallen character and am eager to learn more about him.

The world-building is rich and well-developed. Context is given without too much infodumping and such that the plot does not seem to slow at random points in the story. The pacing is great and the story itself is full of constant action.

Overall, this is a fantastic first volume and I'm excited to continue the story!

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.5/5 stars

"We are going to get expelled, either way, I'd rather get kicked out after doing something cool."

Sayab is a magic student with no memories of his life before attending mage school. He must travel with his teacher and other students for special training when their plans suddenly change. I really enjoyed the art style, character design and composition of the scenes. I appreciated any world-building given, just because of how nice it looked. You don't go wrong with a magical school and hot headmasters named Albus.

The main character is fairly boring and one dimensional, but he doesn't have many memories so I will give him a break. The other characters were far more interesting, Loux is hands down the best character. For the most part, the story was interesting, and the plot twist did surprise me. Even though I was taken even more off guard by the fact all the characters completely disregarded that new information. It was an okay read and want to thank NetGalley and the publishers for giving me a copy of this book to review.

DNFd at 40%. The loli character is just too weird. She looks like a little girl but she's really older than all of the characters? It's just not my thing.

Holy Fan Service Batman!! The fan service is out of control in this volume. Just pantry shots every single which way you turn. It was HIGHLY distracting at the beginning but about 35% in I just got used to it. That is also around the point when we start to get some actual plot. I ultimately ended up enjoying this volume. I am intrigued to see what will become of Sayb and the mastery of his magic. I am also interested to see more fights between the mages and church bent of destroying them. This volume almost lost be, but it found me again and I'd give volume 2 a try.

Special thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for giving me a digital #ARC of this volume. #DawnOfTheWitch1

Heavy exposition, plain and forgettable characters, heavy fan-service. This combination unfortunately won’t make me pick up the next volume.

I couldn't get that far in this one. The art style is ridiculous, especially the way girls and women are drawn. I accept some of that when reading manga, and have some fan-service favorites... but this just made me put the book down.

[Originally Posted on NookGaming.com]

The Dawn of the Witch is a magical fantasy with plenty of action. Be warned though, while not shying away from more lighthearted moments of comedy and fanservice, it does have some rather dark moments. This review will be looking at the first volume in this series published by Kodansha.

This manga is a spin-off of Grimoire of Zero, Kakeru Kobashiri’s previous work. While it focuses on a new set of characters, some do make an appearance here too. You do not need to have read Grimore of Zero to understand The Dawn of the Witch, so you can jump right in here if needed. Illustrations are by Tatsuwo, who notably worked on the art for Macross Delta.

Story

The Dawn of the Witch opens by introducing Saybil. He’s an amnesiac found alone in the rain. Despite seemingly having no talent, he’s enrolled in the academy of magic. Unsurprisingly, he ends up as the worst student there and in danger of being kicked out.

For Saybil being kicked out isn’t just a problem of academics. It’s a rule that anyone kicked out of the academy of magic will have their memories related to magic sealed; For Saybil, that’s practically all of what remains of them.

In a last-ditch effort to pass, he enrolls on a special course. This takes him and several other students to go live in the Witches Village. It is explained that until recently magic users weren’t accepted in many parts of the world due to religious indoctrination. Even now, despite peace being recently made with the church, there are still groups of witch hunters and general intolerance in places. This village is one way that magic users try to create a more positive image. Unfortunately, their journey doesn’t go according to plan…

Characters

Some rather interesting characters are coming along on the journey. Loux Krystas is the titular Dawn Witch. Quick-tempered, occasionally impulsive, and sometimes harsh. She’s shown to be particularly talented, but certainly has faults. We do see her kind side though. Despite looking like a child, she’s shown to be a knowledgeable witch. She guides the students to the village.

Holt is shown to be an exemplary student. Brilliant at magic, kind to Saybil, and seemingly liked by everybody. She has her own reasons for enrolling on the course, even though she could easily graduate without it. Her backstory is particularly interesting and helps with worldbuilding quite a bit. Quite a lot is revealed in volume one that I’ll not reveal here. What I will say is that her smile is hiding more than you might think at first.

While we don’t get as much time with him in volume one, we do meet Kudo. He’s a Beastfallen – a half-human, half-beast. In this case, he’s essentially a Lizardman. Quick-tempered but seemingly good-at-heart, he seems likable. I’m hoping we get to see more of him later, as hints were given of his own history being worth reading.

At times the writing here can be particularly intelligent. It had why characters acted in certain ways reasoned out quite well. Whether directed stated or not, they generally had a motivation for what they were doing.

Worldbuilding

The world is the most interesting part of The Dawn of the Witch so far. It’s a horrible place in many ways and more sensitive readers may find some aspects disturbing.

Staring with the magic system; Unlike some titles, it uses what may be seen as a more traditional type of magic at times. While some magic is cast with thoughts and incantations, we also see the use of a bloody ram’s head in old magic and bones in divination. Sacrifices are made in casting sometimes. It’s a less sanitized take on magic than in many other anime or manga series.

The history of the church and the persecution of witches goes into a good amount of detail. From ways the church finds witches weaved into the chat to maps of the dangerous parts of the world, it covers quite a few things. It shows some of the atrocities caused by the hunter groups too. This even involves the slaughter of whole villages and showing the bodies of dead children. One thing I liked was that it also briefly showed a reason why people may legitimately hate the witches too, making it not just a one-sided good versus evil view. I’ll be interested to see if they continue to add more and more detail in future volumes.

Art

One of the first things I heard about The Dawn of the Witch was that it has a lot of fanservice. This isn’t wrong. It uses a lot of angles that emphasize certain body parts. Holt is particularly busty and it certainly has a focus there. We seem to see Loux’s panties in quite a lot of her scenes. The fanservice is often present, though it’s not directly pointed out. There are no aptly timed gusts of wind or overly perverted protagonists here. It has a more serious tone than that.

What I found more interesting were the action shots. They’re very well detailed and flow from one to the other brilliantly. It uses lines quite heavily to emphasize the movement.

Overall I liked the art. It felt high quality, particularly in those action scenes.

Verdict

The Dawn of the Witch has certainly caught my interest with this first volume. Holt is the only character who I feel like I’ve really gotten to know a lot about, but I’m interested to find out more about the others. The world that they’ve started to build is what I really want to see more of though. I’m curious how things will proceed from here on.

THE DAWN OF THE WITCH VOL.1 IS RECOMMENDED

Many thanks go to Kodansha Comics who provided a review copy of this title.  A free preview of this manga can be found on their website.

I did not like it . Both, the plot and characters, are boring. The only thing I liked was the art style.

While this definitely holds true to the sanctity of fan service, I am pleased to say that the plot was more than just 'hot chicks doing hot things'.

I've always enjoyed a good 'magical fantasy' manga, and this one is no different.
Mages-in-training Saybil and Hoyt journey across the land with their new professor Soz, to try and better their powers with some near-death experiences and teaching others that Mages are not to be feared, but are trying to help others.

While adding in some additional acceptance of other races with 'Beastfallen'; part human-part animal-all misunderstood, the series carries itself with a light air of comedy as it crosses into territories of 'Witch Hunts' (literally and figuratively), Judging a book by it's cover, and Accepting oneself.

When I added this to my Goodreads shelf, I was really shocked to see how bad all the reviews are.

Now I know why.

I got about 75 pages in before I skim read the rest. The story was bland, filled with more exposition than anything else. Everything happened to neatly and conveniently.

The parallels to racism were so quickly dealt with and everyone saying "whoops my bad." It rubbed me so wrong. Racism deals with ingrained prejudices against oppressed, or formerly oppressed, people. It just felt way too neat and tidy how quickly the group got over their racism and were like sorry I had these awful ideas about who you were without ever taking the time to get to know you to someone whose people were literally being used as ritual sacrifices by witches and mages not too long ago. There's just so much to unpack with that, but I'll leave it at that.

Like a lot of other reviewers pointed out, the way women were drawn was ridiculous. They were sexualized for no purpose other than a chance to have cleavage covering a whole page or looking up their skirts. And it wasn't that the male characters were doing any of that, it was entirely the reader. It made me so uncomfortable to have this level of gross voyeurisms toward these female characters who, admittedly, aren't half bad if they were given any personality and character development past sexualizing them.

There's trauma added into this that could have been handled a lot better, long, drawn-out fight scenes that contrast so poorly to the pages and pages of heavy dialogue and exposition. So little of this felt like I was experiencing it with the character, and it instead felt like I was just getting shown different portions of a TV show's "best scenes" reel.

There's potential in this, but honestly with just the poorly attempted discussion on racism and persecution and the way women are drawn makes me never want to pick up another book in this series.

Sayb has no recollection of life before he became a student mage, he is struggling with his studies and is put into a program with a child like professor and a girl with secrets behind her smile. Together they travel the country writing wrongs and learning about each other and about Saybs powers .This could have been good but the needless panty shots and were annoying .

I really didnt want to give this manga a 3 star as I really did enjoy the story. I enjoyed the magical and friendship themes and how the plot developed. However, I really found it difficult to get past the fact that the two main female characters were extremely over sexualised. Now I completely understand that manga has these traits but I found it extremely distracting to the story. The storyline was aimed at kids however the illustarations were aimed at adults and that was extremely confusing. I wouldnt read any more of these due to this issue.