Shonen is the preferred style in manga, with its target market being largely adolescent boys and younger males. Over the a long time, this style has produced a number of the most profitable manga in historical past, together with Dragon Ball, Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and newer hits like My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen. When the latter two each resulted in 2024, there was a lot dialogue round the truth that Weekly Shonen Leap, the flagship journal of writer Shueisha, would have a tough time discovering worthy successors that might assist the unshakable pillar that’s One Piece.
Nevertheless, followers of Shonen Leap, and of manga basically, can relaxation simple, as a result of the captain of a brand new technology of nice shonen is right here. Anointed by its victory within the Subsequent Manga Award 2025, Ichi the Witch is a superb new sequence that mixes darkish fantasy, motion, comedy, and a fragile but detailed creative type. If that wasn’t sufficient to influence you to take a look at Ichi the Witch, then know that this manga would go well with the tastes of any fan of the legendary late Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball and Dr. Hunch.
The Subsequent Manga Award is an annual prize for manga sequence introduced by Kadokawa Company’s Da Vinci journal and Niconico web site. Collection eligible should be presently serialized and with not more than 5 volumes in print, which means the award is often a superb highlight for brand spanking new sequence which are making waves. Notable winners over the previous 10 years embody My Hero Academia (2015), Kaguya-sama: Love Is Conflict (2017), The Apothecary Diaries and Spy x Household (2019), Oshi no Ko (2021) and Kagurabachi (2024).
This yr, Ichi the Witch grabbed the primary prize within the Print class, adopted by COSMOS at quantity two and Tremendous Psychic Policeman Chojo at quantity three. Ichi the Witch comes from an all-women staff of mangaka: Osamu Nishi (Welcome to Demon College! Iruma-kun) is the author and Shiro Usazaki (Act-Age) the artist. It is clear that is the work of two mature creators somewhat than a debut to long-term serialization, because it typically occurs with new Shonen Leap sequence. Ichi is aware of the place it is going and learn how to seize readers week by week, crafting a compelling story that hits some fundamental shonen tropes whereas staying recent and authentic.
The titular character, Ichi, is a feral boy who lives alone within the mountains in a incredible world populated by magical beings referred to as Majiks. It is potential to seize and tame Majiks to acquire their powers, however solely girls have the capability to do this — or, at the very least, that is the widespread perception. When Ichi manages to subdue the extraordinarily highly effective and unruly Majik Uroro, the witch Desscaras is compelled to recruit him in her affiliation, making Ichi the primary male witch.
Ichi stands out instantly because the “odd protagonist”. In a world imbued with magic, he hunts counting on his instincts alone. He is the basic feral youngster, which creates countless comedic moments when he’s launched into the delicate world of witches as a part of staff Desscaras. As he retains buying Majik powers, he integrates them into his searching method. His killing intuition is such that even scary magical creatures are compelled to worry and obey him. In the meantime, a world-ending menace seems within the type of the World-Hater Majik, a being of unfathomable energy who’s bent to do precisely what his title spells out: hate and destroy the world.
On prime of the basic motion shonen components, Ichi the Witch incorporates plenty of levity. The characters are naturally humorous by advantage of their excessive personalities: they goof round in the course of the motion, and the manga offers house to gags and comedy aid, one thing that isn’t quite common in shonen these days. Levity additionally comes within the type of exploring the emotions of the characters and the bonds which are forming between them. Ichi and his staff showcase the basic “discovered household” trope, with Desscaras because the mom. It is nothing new, however it’s executed very well.
In truth, Ichi the Witch‘s greatest benefit may very well be that it isn’t attempting to reinvent the shonen wheel. It is a sequence that appears on the classics (each fashionable and from earlier generations), including sufficient to make the story authentic and fascinating. The world is whimsical and light-hearted, far faraway from the darkness that permeates Jujutsu Kaisen and the vast majority of My Hero Academia, however with hazard nonetheless looming proper past the horizon. The relationships and backstories are usually not too advanced, however they’re developed meaningfully and successfully: I problem anybody to not really feel moved on the climax of Gokuraku’s arc.
I am unable to assist however assume that Akira Toriyama would love Ichi the Witch and its basic fantasy setting. He labored on basic JRPGs like Chrono Set off, the Dragon Quest sequence, and Blue Dragon. A lot of his post-Dragon Ball works, corresponding to Sand Land and Kajika, had a particular fantasy feeling too. Furthermore, considered one of Toriyama’s logos was the usage of comedy. Dr. Hunch is as hilarious as it will possibly get, and even Dragon Ball has plenty of levity, particularly in its first half. Whereas it isn’t a comedy manga, Ichi the Witch strikes an important stability between motion and humor.
Dragon Ball shouldn’t be a very advanced or refined work, however it resonated with generations of followers due to its creator’s potential as a storyteller. It’s easy sufficient that anybody can take pleasure in it, however it additionally reaches deep to faucet a few of our most real and highly effective feelings. It could be quickly to say, however it appears like Nishi has that very same potential, and the talents he refined throughout Iruma-kun can be in full show with Ichi the Witch, with some added nuances, in comparison with Toriyama, that come from the evolution of the style.
One other factor that Toriyama is remembered for is revolutionizing manga artwork together with his reasonable type. Whereas I do not need to make extreme comparisons, Usazaki is a superb artist who was rightfully praised for her work on Act-Age, a promising sequence lower brief as a result of a scandal involving the author. Her stroke right here is delicate however, on the identical time, not sparing within the particulars. The uniforms worn by Ichi and the opposite witches are notably dazzling, and the world involves life vividly by the artist’s type.
Dragon Ball is probably a very powerful shonen sequence in historical past. Toriyama’s torch was carried by a brand new technology of artists who crafted successes like One Piece, Bleach, and Naruto. When two of these sequence (often known as “the large three”) ended, a brand new technology stepped up, giving us Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, and Jujutsu Kaisen. Now that these have all additionally ended, that void should be crammed in Shonen Leap, and I believe Ichi the Witch has all the pieces it takes to do this. In spite of everything, Eiichiro Oda should relaxation in some unspecified time in the future. Proper?
