Ah, it’s that time to experience Makoto, Chinatsu, and the rest of the crew’s merry lives just once a year again!
Flying Witch Volume 9 plops us straight into the summer, where there’s not one, but two festivals (one of them’s a secret) and the crew taking a trip to the beach. But it’s not all go out and play for the crew — something’s occurring with the mandrakes Makoto’s been caring for that gets one scholar of magical plants to analyze how they view Makoto, while Inukai stares down the “bear” reporter Okuma — can she manage to hide that supernatural things exist or will it all come crashing down?
Well actually, a few things do get knocked down…
The combination of supernatural and humor while still staying relaxed continues to be the draw for this series, so of course that hasn’t changed here. Makoto ends up taking part in the normal summer festival with friends and family, which allows her to see fellow witch Kazuno become beloved, but to the point where tales of her unparalleled beauty by two other school girls stick out a bunch. But before that, Makoto, Kazuno, and Chinatsu head to a secret festival full of spirits celebrating animals and the three meet a very special deer that provides great gifts…and where the gifts come from out of said deer gets Chinatsu to “freak out!”
Speaking of Chinatsu, as she continues her path to becoming a witch we see her continuing to make friends (or frenemies) with Beachy, the little creature by the beach. While the general highlight is everyone in their swimsuits (and Kei deciding who looks the best out of everyone), Chinatsu ends up mysteriously going with Beachy into a part of the sea and meeting its mother, who is not what she expected she would be. It’s been fun to see how Chinatsu, who was an ordinary girl, continues to find herself drawn into the witches’ world, and how she acts has been quite entertaining.
The volume again touches upon the witches still working out how to reveal themselves to the wider world, but for now, it must remain hidden; like that’s going to stop Okuma, who is able to interview Inukai in an attempt to uncover the supernatural. Despite her getting close though — and we even get a bunch of stuff knocked down due to Inukai’s hamster doing a poor job of hiding — once the crows arrive, it’s a wrap…and it’s back to square one! I’m basically expecting Okuma to find out about the supernatural whenever the manga decides to end.
Ultimately though, while these chapters were nice, the one where I laughed like a madman was when Makoto is introduced by Akira to Shirley Flores, a scholar of magical plants from America who ends up seeing the mandrakes Makoto’s taking care of. Remember when those mandrakes would kill your eardrums? Instead nowadays they steal things around the house and have built a shrine to further appreciate their caretaker.
So yes to them Makoto is very much their idol or a god. Forget being a parental figure, they appear to take time to worship her so intensely! Anyways, between that and the usual spirits that need to be taken care of (including two very stubborn ones), this is yet another enjoyable volume of Flying Witch. And now, to wait another year for the next one…