Witch Hunter
Witch Buster

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-- [ Witch Hunter (WH) ] --

One liner: "Amazing artwork. Great narration and impressive story. Unfortunately, there is not much character development yet. A manwha that's definitely worth checking out"

- [ Story - 8 ] -

Witch Hunter revolves around witches that suddenly declared war on humans, and Witch Hunters, agents that are suppress witches. Witches are normally women that can use magic spells and invoke creatures known as Supporters in battle. The main character is Tasha Godspell and he (surprisingly) has a Supporter, Halloween.

From the line above, you could tell me: "Hey, it's just another shounen! Good hero battles evil bad guys!". You would be ... right. However, it is not like most other shounens in that the main character is not extremely strong from the start itself. In fact, in the first 10-15 chapters itself, this fact is clearly demonstrated. As opposed to a manga like Bleach where the good guy gets beaten, immediately discovers a superpower and pwns the evil guy, Tasha uses no super powers. He just uses a gun. His Supporter too, despite being powerful, is not overly powerful, and can get beaten down pretty badly too.

All this to say, the power balance in WH is well established and well-balanced. There are no immediate power-ups and no "good guys always win" kind of scenarios. This is something I particularly like. I've seen it in Berserk, and now I see it in WH.

Another point to note is that the story's narration is different from other manga/manhwa I've read. It uses flash-forwards and flashbacks. You may start a chapter with a battle scene and your characters down, and ask yourself, "did I just skip chapters?". But no, it's just that you've not yet saw the flashback that comes later in the chapter. This style of narration is interesting in my opinion. It's like getting spoilers at the start of a chapter, then going back to how the story actually progressed to where it currently is.

Overall, the story is interesting. Somewhat shounen-like in that "good guys battle bad guys" but it's much better balanced than your generic shounen.

P.s. I extremely appreciated that the story does not involve a "high-school girl" or a "high-school guy" as tons of manga seem to be about these days.


- [ Art - 9 ] -

AWESOME! I cannot say just how much I love the art in WH. It's detailed both detailed and clear at the same time. The witches are pretty and their clothes are well detailed. There has been effort dedicated to make pretty backgrounds, specially for interior scenes. The characters themselves are very detailed. Just see the clothes on Tasha or the Witches. All that must take a lot of time to draw. There is no sacrificing art quality in WH.

I cannot say the art is as good as the class-leader Berserk (imho), but it definitely beats most other manga and manhwa I have read. The art is comparable to Soul Eater, but being more "serious-looking" than Soul Eater.

Overall, great art. If you like artwork, do check out WH.

- [ Characters - 7 ] -

That's one of the dark points of WH. While reading this section, keep in mind that I've read only around 28 chapters at the time of reading.

My major complaint is the lack of character development. After 28 chapters, we still don't know a lot about the main character. Where is he from? How did he become a WH? Where did he train? Who was his mentor? OK, we know who his mentor was, but not much is said about that person. The same can be said for witches. Where did they come from? Why did they declare war? What are they? How do they have powers? You get the idea.

The same applies to the other Witch Hunters. We know virtually nothing about them. In the recent chapters, we have discovered a lot about a side character. We know where he is from, what caused him to adopt his fight style, etc... So there is hope for character development in the future.

I can only say, "let's wait and see".


- [ Enjoyment - 8 ] -

Personally, I like WH. I find it light and entertaining. The action is good. The story is interesting. The art is amazing. What more can I ask of. I like the pace too, neither too slow, neither too fast. There are sections which are really light in the manhwa with lots of jokes, humor and the like. The fight scenes are numerous and well made too. There is some violence, so it's not made for the younger readers but mainly older teenagers and above.

Another thing I like is that you don't really know what to expect with WH. You can be in the middle of a fight, and the next chapter starts with the characters all laughing on their way to HQ. Then in the middle of the chapter you understand what happened. Sometimes, it is in the next chapter that the fight concludes. Moreover, you cannot know in advance what will happen. For example, in One Piece, you could say, "Ah Luffy is going there next, and will do that". But you cannot do the same for WH. I enjoy this unpredictability.


- [ Overall - 8 ] -

If you want a good manhwa to read, check out WH. It has an intelligent, well-balanced plot-line as compared to all those "just fighting" shounens out there. I'm looking at you, Veritas. It has interesting characters, humor and above all great artwork.

I recommend checking out WH and add it to your reading schedule. You will not be displeased.

Witch Hunter is not a groundbreaking series. It does not do anything particularly new. It is, however, a fun read. Tasha, the main character, and his magical helper Halloween have an interesting relationship that is always amusing to watch. The characters have thus far not done much to show themselves to ba above the usual crop of manga characters, but it does not make them any less likable.

The art style is average. Well made, but, again, nothing to write home about.

In conclusion, I am intrigued by this series and wish to learn more.

In my truly honest opinion, I have mixed feelings about this series for a number of reasons.
The pros are that it starts out with an interesting premise, characters, and this is backed by an impressive art style. The cons are that the story is to abrupt in it's transitions between a dramatic to comedic tone. The second is that the characters are TOO deeply flawed and they never try to overcome them. The third and final con is that the central theme of the story is that Possession is good, which in my opinion is a bad message.