Imagine you just began an open world game with an interesting premise and rich history. Yet, you can only explore small portions; the entire map or main plot is inaccessible to you. That’s how the final volume of A Witch’s Love at the End of the World felt to me. What started out as my most anticipated series of 2021 ended up being a huge disappointment a year later.
So, what exactly happened in the last volume? Basically, not enough and too much all at the same time. In the previous volume, some spiteful classmates summon a demon to retaliate against Alice and Mari because they’re jealous of the two girls’ relationship. Unbeknownst to them, the demon has a vendetta against both witches and humans. Its past is also connected to the witch academy and played a crucial role in witchcraft history.
Volume 3 consists of Mari and Alice fighting this demon’s evil plans, complicated by the fact witches lose their power when they fall in love. And there’s also a lot of complex backstory. A LOT.
Let’s go back to that game analogy for a moment. Imagine if, after exploring micro-portions of the open world, the final boss battle appears out of nowhere, with everything from enemies and vital plot points being thrown at you all at once. Do you see where I’m going with this? The short page count in Witch’s Love really hurt its overall strength. The quickly approaching final chapter resulted in a whirlwind of hard-to-follow information, along with a rushed climax and conclusion. Everything happens too fast, including Alice and Mari’s romance or lack thereof. They’re very cute together, but the story was focused on too many other things to give us much yuri.
This could have been such a great series if it had more time to be fleshed out. Not sure if the short length was the mangaka’s decision or the publisher’s (probably the latter), but it’s still a shame. The concept of this series is amazing in my opinion, as I said in the first review of Witch’s Love. Sapphic witches who need to resist their desire to fall in love among other interesting ideas… It’s almost perfect. Almost. If only there was time for it to be explored to the fullest!
Even without the hasty ending, the manga does have some notions that rubbed me the wrong way. Because witches cannot fall in love without consequences, apparently most of them, excluding two main characters, tend to be cold, emotionless, and cruel. Witches already have a bad reputation IRL, and this adds to that narrative. Oh, and the fact many witches want to indiscriminately get revenge on (murder) all humans without questioning the bigger picture. I know it’s fiction and doesn’t apply to the real world, but it still annoyed me because I thought I finally found a series with some positive witch representation.
A few things in the overall story were baffling as well. As mentioned briefly, the demon is connected to the witch academy’s history and it all ties back together. I can’t explain what happens without giving away major spoilers, although I’d have trouble explaining it anyway since it was so confusing. A full explanation of the demon’s origins and powers were yet another thing sacrificed thanks to the page count. Again, the length may have not been the mangaka’s fault, or there could have been other factors contributing to it. Nonetheless, it’s disappointing. I want to understand more about this world: witches, humans, demons, and how they all intertwine. Seeing more witches in love would be awesome too.
The final pages of the manga are not satisfying at all. It’s an ending all anime and manga fans have seen before, and it feels like a cop out. There IS a bonus chapter, though, that I recommend reading because we’re given some more answers and see a little more of Alice and Mari. I felt more gratified after the bonus chapter than any other chapter in this volume.
This manga did not live up to the hype I created in my own mind. The reason I’m so upset is because I saw the potential… I believe that if the series was longer, at least one or two more volumes, things could have been explained much more thoroughly, and my review wouldn’t be as negative. That being said, I still love the premise as well as some of the other concepts in Witch’s Love. Mari and Alice are a cute couple even if we don’t get to see much of them actually being a couple. I will mourn what this manga could have been, praying that maybe one day Kujira can revisit and expand it!