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Witches / 魔女 #1-2
Witches: The Complete Collection
AN AWARD-WINNING COLLECTION OF INTERWOVEN TALES OF WITCHCRAFT!
On a visit to the capital of a small country in the far west of Asia, a British girl named Nicola falls in love. The object of her affection is Mimar, a young man who works at a bazaar—yet despite her attempts, he turns her down. Upon returning home to England, the ache of her unrequited love festers. After years spent obtaining wealth, fame, and the Secret of the World, Nicola returns to the bazaar to exact her deadly revenge upon Mimar and those he holds dearest.
This story is one of many in this haunting collection that features tales of witches and dark magic set around the globe and in outer space. Winner of the Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival, Witches is written and illustrated by Daisuke Igarashi, the critically acclaimed author of Children of the Sea.
On a visit to the capital of a small country in the far west of Asia, a British girl named Nicola falls in love. The object of her affection is Mimar, a young man who works at a bazaar—yet despite her attempts, he turns her down. Upon returning home to England, the ache of her unrequited love festers. After years spent obtaining wealth, fame, and the Secret of the World, Nicola returns to the bazaar to exact her deadly revenge upon Mimar and those he holds dearest.
This story is one of many in this haunting collection that features tales of witches and dark magic set around the globe and in outer space. Winner of the Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival, Witches is written and illustrated by Daisuke Igarashi, the critically acclaimed author of Children of the Sea.
392 pages, Paperback
First published May 3, 2022
About the author
Daisuke Igarashi
49 books144 followersDaisuke Igarashi (五十嵐 大介 Igarashi Daisuke) is a critically acclaimed manga artist. He began his professional career in 1993. Igarashi is known among manga fans for his bold, detailed art style and innovative storytelling.
While he is not a major commercial force in Japan, Igarashi is well respected in critical circles. His manga Witches received an Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival. Another one of his works, Little Forest, was nominated for the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 2005. His manga Saru has been nominated for the 4th Manga Taishō.
While he is not a major commercial force in Japan, Igarashi is well respected in critical circles. His manga Witches received an Excellence Prize at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival. Another one of his works, Little Forest, was nominated for the Osamu Tezuka Culture Award in 2005. His manga Saru has been nominated for the 4th Manga Taishō.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews
May 4, 2022
Top-tier artwork, even in the stories that come across as slightly underbaked. Igarashi's art is sketchy yet exquisitely detailed, full of lovingly rendered animals and natural landscapes interspersed with black-and-white psychedelia and some extremely upsetting body horror. The sense of awe, danger, and spiritual mysticism throughout this volume is exactly what I want from "witch stories", too; these aren't Halloween characters with magic wands and pointy hats, but women who are powerfully connected to nature, the sensory/sensual, and the "world beyond words".
October 15, 2023
Some mildly eerie and artsy short stories about witches from around the world, sometimes helping others and sometimes exacting a vengeance but always finding themselves on the outside of society. Lovely tone pieces with highly detailed illustrations.
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents: Arc I. Spindle, Part I -- Arc I. Spindle, Part II -- Arc II. Kuarupu -- Arc II. Bird-Riding Witch -- Arc III. Petra Genitalix -- Arc IV. Thief of Songs -- Arc IV. Beach
FOR REFERENCE:
Contents: Arc I. Spindle, Part I -- Arc I. Spindle, Part II -- Arc II. Kuarupu -- Arc II. Bird-Riding Witch -- Arc III. Petra Genitalix -- Arc IV. Thief of Songs -- Arc IV. Beach
July 3, 2023
Interesting, inspiring, but too messy and too shallow.
This is a collection of stories about witches. It successfully explores the themes of what most people would call "spirituality", contrasting instinct with rationality, thoughts with experience, humanity with nature, church with paganism, and men with women.
The art works very well as the medium for conveying many of these themes, in a way words alone will have trouble succeeding -- which ties well to one of the main theme of this work, that words limit the truth of experience.
It has some very interesting things to say, and also some very silly things to say. It manages to beautifully covey the difference in mindset between the rational, calculating minds of industrial and church-going men, with the instinctual, experience-based spiritual minds of the witches. But it idealized bad concepts that should probably be labelled "new age", for example: atoms vibrate, therefore everything made of atoms vibrates, therefore by tuning your mind to these vibrations you can make the world do what you want. It's as silly and shallow as any of its contemporary new-age beliefs are.
The story is a bit of a mess. It jumps around, not only from story to story but within each individual story. A witch living in a cabin in the woods is suddenly called to protect humanity from a magical space-rock which warps reality (the story of the book/movie Annihilation comes to mind), and it's hard to tell what kind of story it tries to be.
Here's an out of context quote: "Hmph. So we fire an ICBM, not loaded with a nuclear warhead, but a nude witch." It actually happens in the story. While being completely wacky, it delivers the intended message: in the right context, spiritual knowledge can be more powerful than a nuclear warhead. Read the story for the full context, obviously.
This is a collection of stories about witches. It successfully explores the themes of what most people would call "spirituality", contrasting instinct with rationality, thoughts with experience, humanity with nature, church with paganism, and men with women.
The art works very well as the medium for conveying many of these themes, in a way words alone will have trouble succeeding -- which ties well to one of the main theme of this work, that words limit the truth of experience.
It has some very interesting things to say, and also some very silly things to say. It manages to beautifully covey the difference in mindset between the rational, calculating minds of industrial and church-going men, with the instinctual, experience-based spiritual minds of the witches. But it idealized bad concepts that should probably be labelled "new age", for example: atoms vibrate, therefore everything made of atoms vibrates, therefore by tuning your mind to these vibrations you can make the world do what you want. It's as silly and shallow as any of its contemporary new-age beliefs are.
The story is a bit of a mess. It jumps around, not only from story to story but within each individual story. A witch living in a cabin in the woods is suddenly called to protect humanity from a magical space-rock which warps reality (the story of the book/movie Annihilation comes to mind), and it's hard to tell what kind of story it tries to be.
Here's an out of context quote: "Hmph. So we fire an ICBM, not loaded with a nuclear warhead, but a nude witch." It actually happens in the story. While being completely wacky, it delivers the intended message: in the right context, spiritual knowledge can be more powerful than a nuclear warhead. Read the story for the full context, obviously.
April 9, 2023
Everything was all over the place and I didn't understand what the heck was going on.
May 31, 2022
dnf: art is absolutely(!!!) gorgeous and i was excited to read a manga about west asia but i was literally so confused...the events of the story jump all over the place i had no idea what was happening. but again the art was boots
April 15, 2023
The artwork was impressive but I just couldn’t follow the author’s train of thought.
July 21, 2022
A witchy collection of short stories that kind of blew me away.
All I knew about this before going in was that it was called "witches". I found it so refreshing and interesting that these weren't your everyday black cat and broomstick tales, these stories explore the theme of witchcraft and nature and magic in ways that I have not seen before.
Several times I had to stop and just absorb the wonderful artwork and take in the story, it's really fantastic. I really love the way that witchcraft and witches are explored in this book, and I would have to wholeheartedly recommend it.
4.5/5 Stars.
All I knew about this before going in was that it was called "witches". I found it so refreshing and interesting that these weren't your everyday black cat and broomstick tales, these stories explore the theme of witchcraft and nature and magic in ways that I have not seen before.
Several times I had to stop and just absorb the wonderful artwork and take in the story, it's really fantastic. I really love the way that witchcraft and witches are explored in this book, and I would have to wholeheartedly recommend it.
4.5/5 Stars.
March 18, 2023
This is a collection and I liked the drawing and the stories, some more than the rest. I'd give individual stories higher rating. I think my favourite was the Thief of songs story, which was the most character-driven story. The themes were clearer and my favourite sequence was in this story. Most stories deal with nature/magic as opposed to the modern tech. They feel out of time, with some elements seeming to be set in the past, but there's space travel. The stories are not subtle in their message, like an ending where a hamburger talks as the collective spirit of the forest and animals. Still, surprising to see this image in a manga.
September 12, 2022
DNFed at 160..? pages. This book was all over the place. I didn’t care for the characters at all. I had no idea what was going on. The extra star is for the incredible artwork but other than that I really didn’t like this book.
July 7, 2022
Cool, minimal, cinematic...definitely doesn't hold your hand and allows its mysteries to lurk in the details. Like most manga, you can read it in a flurry of a weekend.
June 21, 2023
3.5*
I don’t think I’ve ever read a graphic novel with such intricate, detailed artwork before. So many pages filled with incredible work! Unfortunately, I just felt like the stories were lacking a bit, especially the first one. I almost didn’t continue reading because of how boring/almost confusing it got to be, but thankfully most of the other stories flowed decently.
I still think this is worth a read, especially if you love witchcraft + mythology, but I don’t think anybody is missing out by not reading this.
I don’t think I’ve ever read a graphic novel with such intricate, detailed artwork before. So many pages filled with incredible work! Unfortunately, I just felt like the stories were lacking a bit, especially the first one. I almost didn’t continue reading because of how boring/almost confusing it got to be, but thankfully most of the other stories flowed decently.
I still think this is worth a read, especially if you love witchcraft + mythology, but I don’t think anybody is missing out by not reading this.
May 29, 2024
milo mi się czytało, najbardziej spodobała mi sie historia 'kuarupu'
March 26, 2023
2.5/5 but not feelin a three start round up, my fave was thief of songs, i love igarashi’s sketchy n broken line style but it was a bit too far down that road n difficult to decipher in certain bits, igarashi does a great job of attaching description to the burst of life felt in nature, just didn’t fully connect to all of these stories n some felt a bit skeletal
March 6, 2023
Underwhelming. The art just hardly redeems it.
July 23, 2024
2.5/5
Ilustracje w mandze jak i kreska są przepiękne ale historie które są w tej mandze dzieją się zbyt szybko i są bardzo chaotyczne. Przez pierwsza część mangi podziwiałam kreskę która jest bardzo przyjemna dla oka jednak w historiach często się gubiłam i musiałam wracać do poprzednich stron przez to jak szybko dzieje się akcja, druga część mangi spodobała mi się bardziej jednak dalej akcja dzieje się moim zdaniem zbyt szybko i chaotycznie oraz mogła by być kontynnowana w następnych tomach.
Ilustracje w mandze jak i kreska są przepiękne ale historie które są w tej mandze dzieją się zbyt szybko i są bardzo chaotyczne. Przez pierwsza część mangi podziwiałam kreskę która jest bardzo przyjemna dla oka jednak w historiach często się gubiłam i musiałam wracać do poprzednich stron przez to jak szybko dzieje się akcja, druga część mangi spodobała mi się bardziej jednak dalej akcja dzieje się moim zdaniem zbyt szybko i chaotycznie oraz mogła by być kontynnowana w następnych tomach.
May 17, 2024
3.25/5
Trudno mi opisać moje zdanie na temat tej pozycji, z jednej strony przekonują mnie myśli przez nią przekazywane, z wieloma się zgadzam (druga z historii która nie była moją ulubioną uderzyła mnie mocno końcówką i tym przekazem), historie nie są jakoś bardzo mocno skomplikowane, z drugiej strony coś mi trochę tu nie pasowało, ale nie potrafię dokładnie ocenić co
Trudno mi opisać moje zdanie na temat tej pozycji, z jednej strony przekonują mnie myśli przez nią przekazywane, z wieloma się zgadzam (druga z historii która nie była moją ulubioną uderzyła mnie mocno końcówką i tym przekazem), historie nie są jakoś bardzo mocno skomplikowane, z drugiej strony coś mi trochę tu nie pasowało, ale nie potrafię dokładnie ocenić co
October 22, 2023
So good and weird. I mean there's a story in this about a witch who goes to space in order to save humanity from the next Cambrian Explosion. Also the art is perfect. Read this and Igarashi's Children of the Sea.
June 18, 2024
I wanted to like this so bad. The concept is really cool! Yet with each story, it gets more confusing and difficult to follow. And as much as I enjoy the art, it's hard to make out what's going on at times.
August 4, 2024
wild and fucked up road
but the art is insane!!!!!
but the art is insane!!!!!
December 9, 2023
,,witches don’t think. witches just know.”
2,5
kreska piekna ale to bylo tak choatyczne ze nic nie rozumiem prawie
2,5
kreska piekna ale to bylo tak choatyczne ze nic nie rozumiem prawie
August 5, 2022
Lovely. What an adventure through time and space and witches. Swept up right away. Impressive art. Impressive scope. And Petra Genitalix? Yeah.
July 30, 2022
Beautiful stories connecting nature and the divine messengers (witches) of the world together as one.
August 8, 2022
A preponderance of greed that skirts the intuition of the infernal. The deliberate and tactical abuse of nature's resources and the indigenous people who nurture them. Vast logical contradictions birthed from a narrow-minded religious intelligence. In WITCHES, the fundament of observing, documenting, interpreting, and relaying natural and cosmic phenomena occurs by way of the witch. But the function or application of the knowledge or insight obtained, one quickly finds, is often at the discretion of said greedy, abusive, or hypocritical authority figures. WITCHES is about witches, absolutely; but this manga is also, unfailingly, about the vulgar disruption of the natural order of which witches seem apt to value or protect.
Collected as vignettes, WITCHES focuses on a branch of witchcraft and divination conveniently overlooked most casual consumers of such fare: translating ancient messages written on pieces of firewood; manifesting fog-induced hallucinations; listening to the rhythms and vibrations of all living beings; star-gazing. That is to say, acts of intimate focus and control meant to intuit something greater (or more fearsome) than can be had on one's own. Here, witchcraft is not supernatural; witchcraft is nature itself. And any individual trained or perceptive enough to read or interpret its omens effectively is thus a very, very special individual.
Not all vignettes are the same. Some are long, multi-part endeavors. Others are a short, escapist rendezvous with the hidden, the unusual, or the finnicky. "Spindle" is an expansive two-part story about a weaver, a girl from a Central Asian community of nomads, who journeys to Istanbul to deliver a message of warning (and shame) to a woman of woeful corruption and ego. "Spindle" is not a particularly engaging story, but its climax is remarkably clever: "You who think in words cannot think beyond words," the girl says. "You cannot obtain that which is greater than yourself."
The short story "Petra Genitalix" is phenomenal. In terms of genre affinity, the vignette traverses speculative fiction, science fiction, and surrealist fantasy. As the tale begins, a kind but stern witch, Mira, and her apprentice and house-mate, Alicia, are summoned by the clergy to ameliorate an existential threat to humankind. "Petra Genitalix" is beautiful for its intertwining of the small and the large. Tracking fox prints in the snow. Rebuking cocky cardinals overlooking a dying metropolis. Querying the power of rebirth while studying the lifecycle of wheat. Intuiting when the danger or hardship of others is of equal or greater import than the hardship afforded a single person: "Could you return love to someone who simply shrugs when a loved one is in peril?" Mira says. "Witches don't think. Witches just know."
Igarashi's style is primarily a tepid fix of illustrative line art whose warm shapes and kind movements grant the artist the opportunity to add or remove detail as scale and perspective allow. The grass between a little girl's toes. The wrinkles of an old woman's face. An extraordinary cityscape, melting under otherworldly forces. In WITCHES, readers' closeness with the manga's running themes of abandonment, uncertainty, and the many gradients of human foolishness is increasingly teased and tested by the artist's careful affection for page compositions whose function is never without purpose.
Collected as vignettes, WITCHES focuses on a branch of witchcraft and divination conveniently overlooked most casual consumers of such fare: translating ancient messages written on pieces of firewood; manifesting fog-induced hallucinations; listening to the rhythms and vibrations of all living beings; star-gazing. That is to say, acts of intimate focus and control meant to intuit something greater (or more fearsome) than can be had on one's own. Here, witchcraft is not supernatural; witchcraft is nature itself. And any individual trained or perceptive enough to read or interpret its omens effectively is thus a very, very special individual.
Not all vignettes are the same. Some are long, multi-part endeavors. Others are a short, escapist rendezvous with the hidden, the unusual, or the finnicky. "Spindle" is an expansive two-part story about a weaver, a girl from a Central Asian community of nomads, who journeys to Istanbul to deliver a message of warning (and shame) to a woman of woeful corruption and ego. "Spindle" is not a particularly engaging story, but its climax is remarkably clever: "You who think in words cannot think beyond words," the girl says. "You cannot obtain that which is greater than yourself."
The short story "Petra Genitalix" is phenomenal. In terms of genre affinity, the vignette traverses speculative fiction, science fiction, and surrealist fantasy. As the tale begins, a kind but stern witch, Mira, and her apprentice and house-mate, Alicia, are summoned by the clergy to ameliorate an existential threat to humankind. "Petra Genitalix" is beautiful for its intertwining of the small and the large. Tracking fox prints in the snow. Rebuking cocky cardinals overlooking a dying metropolis. Querying the power of rebirth while studying the lifecycle of wheat. Intuiting when the danger or hardship of others is of equal or greater import than the hardship afforded a single person: "Could you return love to someone who simply shrugs when a loved one is in peril?" Mira says. "Witches don't think. Witches just know."
Igarashi's style is primarily a tepid fix of illustrative line art whose warm shapes and kind movements grant the artist the opportunity to add or remove detail as scale and perspective allow. The grass between a little girl's toes. The wrinkles of an old woman's face. An extraordinary cityscape, melting under otherworldly forces. In WITCHES, readers' closeness with the manga's running themes of abandonment, uncertainty, and the many gradients of human foolishness is increasingly teased and tested by the artist's careful affection for page compositions whose function is never without purpose.
May 23, 2022
Witches: The Complete Collection by Daisuke Igarashi weaves a spellbinding tapestry of stories about witches from around the world from the same mangaka that brought us Children of the Sea.
I’ve got to say, I feel like this collection was made for me. It blends myth and philosophy through jaw-droppingly surreal and haunting imagery, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that some pages legitimately gave me chills.
It’s difficult to choose, but I think my favorites from this anthology include:
Spindle – A witch seeks revenge in Istanbul as a girl travels to the capital to deliver an ancient message. This one is filled with some really grotesque and macabre imagery that I absolutely loved, and I don’t think I’ve been this impacted by a series of pages since the Darkness Devil sequence in Chainsaw Man.
Petra Gentialix – A mysterious rock arrives from outer space and begins to transform everything around it, and one witch may be the key to saving Earth from its destruction. I may be biased, but I adored the cosmic horror and Colour out of Space vibes in this one.
Overall, I think you’ll really fall in love with this manga is you enjoy esoteric themes paired with psychedelic visuals—along the lines of Taiyo Matsumoto’s No. 5.
I’ve got to say, I feel like this collection was made for me. It blends myth and philosophy through jaw-droppingly surreal and haunting imagery, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that some pages legitimately gave me chills.
It’s difficult to choose, but I think my favorites from this anthology include:
Spindle – A witch seeks revenge in Istanbul as a girl travels to the capital to deliver an ancient message. This one is filled with some really grotesque and macabre imagery that I absolutely loved, and I don’t think I’ve been this impacted by a series of pages since the Darkness Devil sequence in Chainsaw Man.
Petra Gentialix – A mysterious rock arrives from outer space and begins to transform everything around it, and one witch may be the key to saving Earth from its destruction. I may be biased, but I adored the cosmic horror and Colour out of Space vibes in this one.
Overall, I think you’ll really fall in love with this manga is you enjoy esoteric themes paired with psychedelic visuals—along the lines of Taiyo Matsumoto’s No. 5.
July 12, 2022
4.5
A collection of very vague and surreal stories, that feel more like a hazy dream than stories with an ending and beginning. Beautiful, expressive art style. Exactly what I was looking for. I think I liked „Petra Genitalix” the most.
A collection of very vague and surreal stories, that feel more like a hazy dream than stories with an ending and beginning. Beautiful, expressive art style. Exactly what I was looking for. I think I liked „Petra Genitalix” the most.
July 4, 2022
“Go out and take measure of the world. Use your own self as the ruler.”
Beautiful art, beautifully unexpected stories about unconventional and unlikely witches.
Beautiful art, beautifully unexpected stories about unconventional and unlikely witches.
August 11, 2022
I really liked this collection.
My boyfriend bought this for me out of the blue because he knows I like witchy things and this really hit the spot.
It showcases the different ways women can embrace the magic of the world around us (I say women because the book doesn't feature anyone who isn't cis and while male witches are hinted at, they don't feature prominently). It doesn't use stereotypes (at least Western ones), it will not be quite what you expect, and draws on really earthy/mystical themes. My favourite part was that in each story I expected magic to be a secret, when it was actually more of an open secret and people weren't scared of it.
I tried to read this book in portions so I could remember each story distinctly and I almost succeeded. I couldn't pick out a favourite but there are some real surprises that you wouldn't expect in this genre. I really like "Beach" which is only included as an extra! But it almost slaps you with its shocking imagery after the dreaminess of "Thief of Songs. "The Witch Straddling the Bird" was really fun, clocking in at only 5 pages but still managing to be completely delightful. And of course the other longer stories are memorable in their own ways.
I may not remember the characters' names but I'm definitely going to carry these girls with me for a while. A very dreamy, thought-provoking collection that is worth a read if you have even a passing interest in this subject!
My boyfriend bought this for me out of the blue because he knows I like witchy things and this really hit the spot.
It showcases the different ways women can embrace the magic of the world around us (I say women because the book doesn't feature anyone who isn't cis and while male witches are hinted at, they don't feature prominently). It doesn't use stereotypes (at least Western ones), it will not be quite what you expect, and draws on really earthy/mystical themes. My favourite part was that in each story I expected magic to be a secret, when it was actually more of an open secret and people weren't scared of it.
I tried to read this book in portions so I could remember each story distinctly and I almost succeeded. I couldn't pick out a favourite but there are some real surprises that you wouldn't expect in this genre. I really like "Beach" which is only included as an extra! But it almost slaps you with its shocking imagery after the dreaminess of "Thief of Songs. "The Witch Straddling the Bird" was really fun, clocking in at only 5 pages but still managing to be completely delightful. And of course the other longer stories are memorable in their own ways.
I may not remember the characters' names but I'm definitely going to carry these girls with me for a while. A very dreamy, thought-provoking collection that is worth a read if you have even a passing interest in this subject!
May 14, 2022
3 for the story, extra star for the intricate art.
December 15, 2023
The anthology series about different witches and mystical phenomena is drawn in the perfect style. Rough sketch-lines that still manage to convey impeccable detail. The art is without doubt incredible, very artistic and something to truly behold with awe.
The stories are a bit vague and weirdly paced. It is clearly made that way but can be a bit daunting for the average reader. The panelflow suffers the same fate. I can believe this is the intention of the mangaka, it makes you feel different, not really comprehending what is happening to just the story beats. This way you can kinda feel how the characters must feel.
I felt a bit confused what should not really be the purpose.
The stories are a bit vague and weirdly paced. It is clearly made that way but can be a bit daunting for the average reader. The panelflow suffers the same fate. I can believe this is the intention of the mangaka, it makes you feel different, not really comprehending what is happening to just the story beats. This way you can kinda feel how the characters must feel.
I felt a bit confused what should not really be the purpose.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 114 reviews