Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an ALC in exchange for my honest review.

OMG!!! This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

I highly enjoyed the narrator of the audiobook. Kept me listening.

I really wanted to love this. I was really excited for it, but something was missing. I enjoyed Balgo and Osushi for the comic relief, but this just felt really reminiscent of Fire Force.

The dragons were kinda cool and the fact that there are two Londons (Front and Reverse). Maybe the second volume will be better? I truly hope so. It has some work to do to make up for this one.😬🫠

I really didn't get to read all of this manga but the art was really good. I would still recommend it and I will try to read it in the future

Fair warning: I am not familiar with Bleach, so I'm coming at this from a completely fresh perspective.

I did not find this engaging at all. I do wonder how much of this storyline relies on an in-depth knowledge of the world of Bleach. This was absolutely not for me.

I haven't seen the anime, and I had a really hard time understanding what was going on and how all the characters were connected? Like randomly someone is in a band and their band mate is raising a dragon? Like I literally could not follow this. Maybe it's me, but it's also maybe this book. Also, can we stop normalizing trying to look up girls skirts? Like his friend calls him out on it, but then the friend is a dead demon/dragon, so...

While I enjoyed Bleach this extended universe which Burn The Witch takes place in did not draw me it. The start of the story was nothing amazing to me and made it very hard to go back to and continue reading and as the plot went on it just overall felt very lacking compared to the story of Bleach. I want to give the manga credit for the amazing art style, it did not disappoint.

Behind our world there is land of magic and fairy tales. This is the story of that world. It is by the creator of Bleach which was one of the first manga I read all the way through so this already had a special place for me. It is set in London and has dragons. It is the witches job to keep the dragons under control. So it fast paced and a lot of fun. I couldn't help but see a lot of comparisons with Bleach, they were just dragons instead of Hollow. But even thought it was similar to other manga, this was so much fun to read. I couldn't put it down. It brought all my favorite things about this type of manga into one book. I can't wait to get my hands on volume 2.

5 stars.

Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole are witches working for Wing Bind in Reverse London. While tasked with conserving and harvesting dragons, they often find themselves in battle with them, while also keeping an eye on Balgo Parks, a Dragonclad (those who, through contact with dragons, are able to see and attract them). This series comes from TIto Kube, creator of the long-running Bleach, and it takes place in the same fictional world as his prior series.

Tito Kube's Bleach was a bit of a slow burn, taking a significant amount of time to set up characters, relationships, and the fictional world before ultimately getting to the meat of the story. Burn the Witch is apparently much the same, with this first volume establishing our heroines, the world of Reverse London, and their roles in Wing Bind. It's really just four installments of battles with dragons, with the latter part of the book starting to establish what will apparently be the larger story.

Noel and Ninny are appealing characters, polar opposite in many ways, with Noel being cool, calm and reserved, while Ninny is loud and hot-tempered. Their primary supporting cast initially is primarily Balgo, who here serves principally to be a pest with an extreme crush on Noel.

There's world-building aplenty here, with plenty of opportunities for the author to explain about Reverse London, dragons, and the rules surrounding them. Structurally, though, this is really not much more than another version of Bleach, with factions and hierarchies within Wing Bind and powers and abilities akin to those of Soul Reapers.

As an introduction to the series, this volume accomplishes its task, but the adventures of the characters don't advance the story enough to really motivate much to move on to the second volume. Additionally, the action sometimes muddles the actual storytelling, such that some stories don't so much seem to end as just to stop. Ultimately, anyone who enjoyed and had the patience for the early volumes of Bleach might find enough to keep them interested, but the sometimes confusing storytelling and slow set-up of an overarching plot makes this somewhat forgettable, though at times entertaining.

Thanks to Netgalley and Viz for providing the ARC for review.

Bleach fans, rejoice! Tite Kubo is back with a new manga set in the universe of Bleach. Burn the Witch, a manga following two high school witches that contain and control dragons is finally out in stores.

The first volume starts with Kubo’s original one-shot which introduces main characters Noel Niihashi, Ninny Spangcole, and Balgo Parks. The setup is exactly what you think; Noel is a cool and mysterious student and Ninny a hot-headed idol to the average people of London. However, in Reverse London (London but with magical properties), these two girls are witches that work for a special agency called Wing Bind. Wing Bind’s main duty is to protect regular humans, collect resources from dragons, and keep the peace of Reverse London. Noel’s high school friend Balgo is attacked by a dragon and now Noel needs to expose her alternate identity to her human friend. Once Balgo is safe, he is under Wing Bind’s watch for the foreseeable future due to his contact with a dragon.

Burn the Witch, at its core, is a really fun concept. It’s upbeat, action-packed, and the character designs are super cute. However, it has an incredibly slow build-up. Maybe this is because Kubo’s last series ran for 15 years, but if a series doesn’t have at least some semblance of a plot by the end of the first volume, it feels empty. There is a wink and a nod at a possible plot, but with the main cast not even fully assembled yet, one can’t be too sure.

If Bleach was never something you bothered to read but this manga sounds like something you’d love, have no fear. Though set in the Bleach universe, no understanding of the original series is needed. Each piece of equipment is explained and each character’s place in Wing Bind is laid out to first-timers quickly and smoothly, so you never miss a beat!

Overall, Burn the Witch is underwhelming but holds real protentional. With a series as rich and exciting as Bleach as a sister series, one can only hope it can soar to the same heights as Tite Kubo’s magnum opus.

Noel and Ninny are witches and part of the Piper segment of the Wing Bind, a group of witches and wizards who are tasked with keeping dragons away from ordinary humans. Dragons are harmful to humans because humans have no magical abilities. Wing Bind, and most of the witches’ tasks, are in Reverse London, the opposite of Front London, where magic is much stronger and dragons more prevalent. One of the cases the witches get called for involves Noel’s admirer, Balgo. Balgo’s best friend turns into a dark dragon, which exist only to hurt people and destroy things. Being so close to a dragon for so long means Balgo has absorbed lots of dragon magic, and now he has to be watched by Noel and Ninny constantly. The three of them continue to take on cases involving dragons getting too close to humans, including one involving a girl Ninny knows, and an extremely powerful dragon that either influenced or was named from fairy tales.
This series is exploring the greater world of Bleach, but I don’t thing readers necessarily need to be familiar with Bleach in order to read this story. Nonetheless, there is a LOT going on in this volume. Kubo exposes readers to a whole group and bureaucratic system within a few pages without much exposition. Noel is the calm, collected foil to Ninny’s explosive, fiery personality, but we don’t get much else in terms of character development of these two ladies. What does develop is the prominence of certain parts of Noel's body. In the first few chapters, Noel’s bust is not really prevalent, but as the story progresses, Noel's curves become even more pronounced, and there is more emphasis on her large chest in panels and in poses. Balgo is fairly obsessed with seeing Noel’s knickers at the beginning of the story, and it evolves into a persistent goal of getting swished by her bosom later in the volume. Aside from the problematic emphasis on Noel's body, this title suffers from just being too packed with disparate plot points that Kube tries to cram in to the story with little time to digest it all.

Sara's Rating: 5/10
Suitability Level: Grades 10-12

This review was made possible with an advanced reader copy from the publisher through Net Galley.

Collecting the One-Shot and Chapters 1-4, the story begins within Reverse London, inhabitants of Reverse London who live in the hidden “Reverse” side of London can see the dragons. Even then, only a selected few become qualified enough as witches or wizards to make direct contact with them. Here’s an interesting fact, historically 72% of all the deaths in London are related to dragons, fantastical beings invisible to the majority of the people.

While it is a mystery to a few, but there have been people who have been standing up to dragons, it involves an organization called Wing Bind, or WB. An organization for dragon conservation and management. Their mission is to protect and manage the dragons within London on behalf of the people, we meet our protagonists, witch duo Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole who are protection agents who work for Wing Bind. Ninni and Noel find themselves on the run with a fugitive who’s like catnip for dragons. Will they manage to pull off a happy ending, or has their story just been cursed?

It truly was a great and fascinating idea to bring the Supernatural world of Bleach and merge it with this world of fantasy and magic. I was impressed with Kubo’s artwork and his detail in Character Designs and his taste in fashion. As I have mentioned before in the review for the Anime Adaption, whether it be the partnership involving Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole, from the banter, temperament, and their ways to handle a situation right up to their fighting style is written and displayed well; The balance between expository story elements and action-adventure elements is perfect.

Tite Kubo, the creator of Bleach, is back with a new series. It started off as a one shot, but popularity seems to have guaranteed at least a short series. Noel and Ninny are two witches who work to protect London from rogue dragons. With lots of action and plenty of humor, it is a fast paced jaunt through the supernatural side of "Reverse London" where those working as witches keep the public safe and generally unaware of the chaos. Could have done without the panty obsession by the male side character. I am looking forward to seeing more of this series.

I'll say up front that I haven't read bleach, so I'm not sure how much context and backstory I missed because of coming to this series cold. That said, I was pretty disappointed. The world building was really cool (with dragons, a reverse London, and magical office politics), and the art is very manga cool (with the added bonus of well drawn and choreographed fight scenes), but the plot was incoherent and the character motivations were tropey, overly dramatic, inconsistent, and unbelievable. I'll read the next volume, but I'll have lower expectations and enjoy this for the fun candy it is.

Burn The Witch Volume One is set in the Bleach universe, although this series is set in England instead of Japan.

Burn The Witch Volume One
Written by: Tite Kubo
Publisher: Shueisha Inc.
English Publisher: VIZ Media
Release Date: October 5, 2021

The series focuses on two witches named Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole, who work for the western branch of Soul Society. This branch is located in Reverse London. Noel and Ninny have lives in regular London (aka Front London): Noel is a high school student and Ninny is in a band. As characters, they are as different as night and day. Noel tends to act calmly while Ninny is the loud one. As witches, it’s their job to conserve and control the “dragon” population. In this series, “dragon” is a term used for any aberration the citizens of Front London can’t control.

Noel has an admirer, a classmate named Balgo. In the first chapter of the volume, Noel and Ninny have to save Balgo after his dog turns into a “dragon.” It also turns out his best friend turns into a “dragon” as well. These dragons are “disguisers,” which are dragons that inhabit corpses. In this world, if someone from Front London interacts with a dragon, the penalty is either a hundred year prison term or execution. However, what saves Balgo is the fact that since he was bitten by one of the disguisers, he is now dragonclad. But it’s now up to Noel and Ninny to take care of and keep an eye on Balgo. What a scenario for Noel, though… having to be in charge of the guy who’s been crushing on you. As this volume progresses, it becomes clear that Balgo is one of the major characters in the series.

The next story in the volume sees Noel and Nina trying to protect Balgo from a dragon that was attracted to the dragonclad youth through his innate character. But as Balgo is being saved by our two protagonists, a group of magic users from Reverse London gathers and decides to eliminate Balgo because he’s been causing a bit of an uproar since becoming dragonclad. This is the point in this volume where it truly feels like the stakes have been raised.

The third story focuses on Macy Baljure, a former member of Ninny’s band. Ninny finds herself coming face to face with her former bandmate and discovering that she has been in contact with a dragon. This comes to light when Noel, Ninny, and Balgo are sent to investigate a report of an illegally reared dragon. Ninny’s not too happy to be joined by Balgo, but his disposition for drawing out dragons makes him useful for the mission. Ninny is surprised to find Macy in Reverse London, and it turns out her former bandmate there to carry out a plan of revenge against a tabloid that’s been publishing negative stories about Ninny. This chapter really gives Ninny a chance to shine.

In addition to Ninny’s story, this chapter also introduces another character: Bruno Bangnyfe. He’s the one who has been tasked with eliminating Balgo. It turns out that Balgo is being framed for the attack on the newspaper office, and Bruno is using this as the justification for taking Balgo into custody. Fortunately for Balgo, Noel rescues him in the nick of time. Ninny also gets Macy out of the area as well. This section allows us to learn a little more about Macy, her relationship with her dragon, and the type of person she is.

Near the end of the volume, Balgo officially becomes a punitive dragon, which means that every witch and wizard in Reverse London will have their sights set on him. But it comes out that the dragon Macy has been taking care of isn’t just a regular dragon… it’s a marchen, one of the seven dragons named for fairy tales that existed before the formation of Reverse London. But with the revelation of what Macy’s dragon really is (the marchen named Cinderella), Bruno stops going after Balgo and goes after the dragon instead. There’s a climactic battle between Cinderella and several of the main characters.

Well, it turns out that Macy also has a slight case of dragonclad, so at the end of this volume she is now also under the watch and care of Noel and Ninny. If this story continues, I hope Noel and Ninny don’t end up being in charge of a collection of people who are dragonclad. I don’t want to give out any potential spoilers, so all I will say that in addition to this, the manga ends with a surprising outcome for Balgo.

I was familiar with Tite Kubo’s work from reading the Bleach manga. I was curious to see what else Kubo had to offer. Admittedly, this series is set in the same universe as Bleach, but the concepts between the two series are quite distinct due to the cultural differences of a story set in Japan and a story set in England. It would be nice at some point, though, if Kubo could come up with a story set in its own universe and not have any connection with Bleach whatsoever. If you’re familiar with Kubo’s work, then you will instantly recognize his art style.

After reading this volume, I can say that Burn the Witch isn’t bad for what it is. However, it felt like it took longer for this series to interest the reader than Bleach did. While this volume does establish our two main characters, I’m just not as riveted by them at this point in the series as I was with Ichigo in Bleach.

This volume is labeled as “Volume One,” and at this point, this is all that’s available for the manga. By the end of the volume, enough has been established, set up, and put into motion that it seems like there should be more to the story. I’ve read that Kubo is planning to work on and release a “second season” for the Burn the Witch manga. I hope that at some point, Kubo will continue the story, because there’s still too many loose ends hanging at the end of this volume. I’d like to read more and find out what happens to these characters… but as of this writing, Kubo has not published any new chapters for Burn the Witch.

I wanted to love this. I love fantasy. I love graphic novels. The description on the book sounded amazing-like this was going to be exactly the sort of thing I love. The cover looked like this might be funny. I was a bit bored reading this. And the jokes seemed to be mostly of the Boobies! Panties! variety. If that’s how you get your chuckles no harm no foul but…. No thanks.

Ninny Spangcole and Noel Niihashi work in Reverse London to keep everyone safe from the dark side of fairy tales. They work for Wing Binders to deal with dragons which come in all sizes and uses from potted plant holders, to transports to scary, evil creatures! The girls get a babysitting job for Balgo, a dragonclad human who seems to attract dragons where ever he goes. But he ends up being handy when they have to face off with a dragon out of legend. It will be interesting to see what happens in volume 2!

Thanks Netgalley for the chance to read this title!

Thank you NetGalley and Viz for allowing me an arc of this manga.

I have not watched the anime of this so I went in blind to this manga. I loved the Bleach anime and I've read Zombie Powder.

This takes place in the modern world, but there is another world just beyond this one. It's like the other side of the coin. This second world is where magic happens.

The two main characters are hunters for the alternate realm but have day jobs in the normal realm. They run into a person that they know and find a dragon, which they hunt. After certain circumstances, they end up having to babysit him.

Since this is a first book, there was a lot of introductory material with the worlds, the people, and the magic systems. The art was minimalistic without a lot of background when focused on the characters.

I liked it enough to want to find out more about the complex society of the second realm.

Thank you again NetGalley and Viz.

Wing Bind are a government agency that police Reverse London, it is their job to protect people in the event of a dragon attack. Ninny and Noel are witches in the Wing Bind agency and when a dragon attacks it is up to them to deal with it. Unfortunately an annoying young lad called Balgo is attacked by a dragon, but rather than execute him by law, they decide to keep him restrained and monitor his new dragon powers.
This is a fast paced exciting read from Tite Kubo.

Thank you to Negalley and Viz Media for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Style is at the forefront of Tite Kubo's Burn the Witch, Vol. 1, and that may be to its detriment. Burn the Witch may have benefitted from a tighter editorial read. Although this is a spin-off from Kubo's previous series Bleach, this world felt completely separate, and I didn't find myself drawn to the characters or world in a meaningful way. I was a fairly ardent Bleach fan, but this book wasn't quite for me.

While I was on the Bleach train as a kid, it was never a series I felt inclined to finish or return to. This made entering its extended universe through Burn the Witch an... interesting experience.

In Bleach, the Soul Society is something of a spirit realm where souls and death gods dwell. While the former work focused on the Eastern branch of this space, BTW instead centers on the Western branch. Noel and Ninny, our protagonists, are two witches who herald dragons to prevent them from rampaging a parallel "reverse" London.

In many ways BTW is perhaps tailor made for Bleach diehards who are already steeped in the worldbuilding Tite Kubo has accomplished with that series. As such, I struggled to really jump into this world the way I'd imagine others could.

While Noel is an intriguing character, her dynamics and treatment by the rest of the cast was something I struggled with. While Baldo's lechery and Ninny's temperamentality are played for laughs, I just found them irritating.

Very little really worked for me here sadly but a true highlight was Tite Kubo's trademark excellence in character design.