Can a magical curse turn a childhood crush into a permanent friendship?
In short: In Kenta Shinohara's manga series Witch Watch, Nico Wakatsuki is a powerful witch who appears once every millennium. While she hopes her new living arrangement with childhood friend Morihito Otogi will lead to romance, an unintentional curse might be keeping them stuck in the friend zone forever.
Serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump since February 2021, Witch Watch follows Nico Wakatsuki, the "Witch of Thousand." This rare magical designation means she possesses immense power but often struggles with the unpredictable side effects of her spells. To protect her from a predicted disaster foreseen by her mother, the "Witch of Premonition," Nico lives in the household of Morihito Otogi.
The dynamic between the two is complicated by ancestral ties and a linguistic mishap. Morihito, an ogre with extreme strength from practicing Ogre Qigong, is destined to be Nico's familiar. While Nico harbors a deep crush on him, a past note she wrote—stating she "will always be Morihito's friend"—has acted as an unintentional curse, preventing him from seeing her as anything more than a friend.
The world is populated by diverse supernatural beings, including a wind-controlling tengu named Kanshi Kazamatsuri and a shape-shifting witch named Nemu. While most witches use magic for good, the series introduces warlocks as antagonists—individuals who misuse magic for selfish gain. These warlocks seek Nico's unique abilities to resurrect a previous Witch of Thousand named Jura to create a paradise for witches.
As of October 2025, the manga has reached over 4 million copies in circulation. The story blends supernatural chaos with the daily struggles of high school life, featuring characters ranging from a vampire who feeds on life force to a student council president who hires students based on anime tropes.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Witch Watch
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