Makoto, Sayo, Kei and Chinatsu get on a ship and travel to Shimokita. Why? So Makoto can see Enigumo, someone who can determine what type of kokonotsu, or element, she has. As it’s witch tradition to understand what type of affinity they’re suited for, she’ll use it to know what she really wants to do and what type of magic she needs to learn. Of course, while knowing that is simple, actually meeting the person behind it turns into something wild…
With Vertical having caught up to the Japanese releases of Flying Witch, reading this manga once a year is terrible…because it’s just so relaxing. The way witches act here makes it seem like it’s any other profession. This is obviously idyllic — just as there are good witches, bad ones certainly do exist — but sometimes, as long as everything else feels together, then that’s ok in a work. So returning to Flying Witch is always great for me.
And in this one, Makoto ends up discovering the type of element she has…thanks to dropping coins many times in some sand!
While Flying Witch volume 8 dedicates a fair amount of time to showing us:
- Chinatsu’s facial reaction to getting a gust of wind blown in her face by Sayo.
- Learning of an advanced race from another world living in Japan.
- What happens when you meet someone who makes machines explode once a month.
We still get numerous normal events, just with witches. Anzu, the one who runs the “abandoned” cafe, runs into a ghost samurai from many centuries ago; Akane returns from her latest international adventure and teaches Makoto how to learn (and maybe eventually manipulate) her newly discovered element; we even get to follow two young girls teaming up to create a manga, which gets Kei fired up to shoot a movie based on that manga. This manages to end with the star volleyball player, Aino, swatting a zombie-fied Makoto in the face.
…I’m definitely not missing any details from that last one right? Surely there’s nothing I failed to explain about the volleyball zombie manga turned student-created live-action right?
Well, just know that everything in this volume is still chill. Heck, this maybe is as chill as this series has been so far. Makoto probably would not think an owl attacking her counts as chill though so she’ll have to work that one out. So yes, each chapter continues to explore not just Makoto but the rest of the cast of characters. We can see Chinatsu panicking when she ends up messing up a witch’s recipe (and making the house smell awful); Makoto frightened by owls; and Kei’s reaction when he discovers he has a harem with him in school. So as always, the art is lovely, and every character’s expression is always a delight in every way.
Now the only problem — waiting until next year to see what these cast of characters will be up to next. Maybe by then Makoto will have learned what type of shadows she can “take” to scare someone. Or we get to see the real estate business run by the owl…
