I’ve read the first volume of the light novel. I’ve seen the anime. But after reading the second volume of Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina…
The…the manga might be the best way to consume this series?!?
Volume 2 of Wandering Witch presumably closes adapting the first volume of the light novel. We get the story involving the happiness in a bottle, the princess of a ruined country, a sickly young man in a village, and Elaina meeting her teacher Fran in the royal city Celesteria. For light novel readers, the chapter with the two brothers who run a magic scam on the road service (and the muscleman appearing) is again pretty short and at the end of the volume, but at least they’re shown in manga form. Still somewhat disappointed those couldn’t be included in the anime.
For those who watched the anime, you might be in for a big surprise when reading this manga. Aside from the sickly young man story (that wasn’t animated), happiness in a bottle, the princess of a ruined country, and Elaina meeting Fran will likely feel completely different in tone and empathy. The closest to the source though was the one where Elaina finds out about Nino is actually a slave in the happiness in a bottle story.
Even in the light novel it was hard to understand where Elaina stood regarding the kid collecting happiness in a bottle, who was unaware that the one he wants to give that bottle to was bought by his father. It’s slightly amended here — she still doesn’t try to save Nino, but we are actually shown she’s angry and gives encouragement not just to the boy but also Nino in a way neither the light novel nor the anime really did well. Of course, once she remembers the true tale about the bottle that she read long ago, she soon realizes she didn’t give the best advice. Warning though — the manga actually shows what Nino did to escape her despair, which the light novel and anime danced around.
From there you can tell the one adapting the manga, Itsuki Nanao, could follow the basic tenets of the original source but was free to make the best interpretations possible. This kinda doesn’t work when Elaina meets Mirarose in the ruined country, as the personalities and the actual content jive a bit with each other — but it certainly works when she meets Fran again. In both the light novel and anime, Elaina had to escape a bunch of students around the city, but the manga instead has Elaina talk to Fran about what she’s experienced, which she doesn’t do at all in the anime. It was fun to see her flying around the city and teaching those students how powerful she is that way, but her reflecting on her actions, what witches are able to do, and eventually, finding her purpose for traveling with Fran felt a lot more natural and more realistic.
In general, the manga establishing a timeline is a big help in seeing areas where Elaina’s growing, which makes the stories feel like they’re making an impact one way or another. It does also feel like it just works better visually in manga form, with an artist that knows what they’re doing. The visuals do stand out again in volume 2, though you might question some of Elaina and the rest of the character’s cutesy or funny faces juxtaposed with some of the darker content for these chapters.
All in all, reading this makes me think the anime staff dropped the ball even harder than I realized; I must be the only one who wanted to see the towns of rice and bread story adapted in some format, but sadly, it’ll have to remain in light novel form; and as mentioned earlier the stories still have to use the source material, but it’s clear Nanao is able to sharpen some story elements and Elaina’s character if they choose. For now at least, I’m definitely more curious to see how the rest of Wandering Witch plays out in manga form.