Witch Watch (Japanese: ウィッチウォッチ, Hepburn: Witchi Wotchi; stylized in all caps) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kenta Shinohara. It has been serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump since February 2021, with its chapters collected in 27 tankōbon volumes as of August 2026. An anime television series adaptation produced by Bibury Animation Studios aired from April to October 2025. A second season has been announced.
By October 2025, the manga had over 4 million copies in circulation.
Contents
Synopsis
The series focuses on Nico Wakatsuki, a teenage witch who, after completing her magical training, moves into a house with her childhood friend Morihito Otogi, a human-looking ogre. Due to their families' ancestral history, Morihito is to become Nico's familiar and protect her. Nico also hopes this will help them become a couple, as he is her longtime crush, though he does not reciprocate in the slightest. As the story progresses, Nico and Morihito find themselves forced to deal with the various supernatural and legendary beings they encounter while also trying to solve all the unpredictable problems Nico's magic causes in their daily lives.
Characters
Otogi Household
Nico Wakatsuki (若月 ニコ, Wakatsuki Niko)
Voiced by: Rina Kawaguchi (Japanese); Lily Ki (English)
A first year high school student who is the "Witch of Thousand" (千の魔女, Sen no Majo), a witch who appears once every thousand years and possesses great magical powers, which lets her spells various magic. She often tries to help people with her magic, but usually does so without fully knowing the details or side effect of the spells. She is in love with her childhood friend Morihito Otogi, whom she affectionately calls "Moi" since as a child she was unable to correctly pronounce his name. She also struggles to reveal her feelings for him, despite it being obvious to pretty much every other character besides Morihito himself. Her mother Ibuki is the "Witch of Premonition" (予言の魔女, Yogen no Majo) and has foreseen that a disaster will befall upon Nico. To prevent this from happening, Ibuki lets Nico live with Morihito in the Otogi household and gathers other familiars to protect her.
Morihito Otogi (乙木 守仁, Otogi Morihito) / Moi (モイちゃん, Moi-chan)
Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki, Natsumi Fujiwara (young), Asami Seto (Hitomi Mori) (Japanese); Stephen Fu, Heather Gonzalez (young), Laura Post (Hitomi Mori) (English)
An ogre with extreme physical strength due to practicing Ogre Qigong. His family is a familiar to Nico's family, who is also his childhood friend. He is very overprotective towards Nico but at the same seems to not reciprocate her feelings. While Morihito is a serious and responsible person, he can be eccentric in his interests and hobbies, such as being very fond of denims and other heavily detailed trivia items. He often acts like the mother in the household, doing the most chores as well as nagging and scolding the residents for the sake of their own. It is later revealed in a note that Nico gave him in the past that she "will always be Morihito's friend", which works as an unintentional curse that makes Morihito only see Nico as a friend, thus making him unable to realize that he is also in love with her.
Kanshi Kazamatsuri (風祭 監志, Kazamatsuri Kanshi)
Voiced by: Kōhei Amasaki, Yui Tsukada (young), Naomi Ōzora (Kanna) (Japanese); Caleb Yen, Kimberley Anne Campbell (Kanna) (English)
Witches
In the series, "witch" refers to people who have magical power. Witches generally believe in making good deeds for people, whereas those who misuse magic for their selfish gain are referred to as warlocks; they act as the main antagonists in the story. The warlocks are after Nico's ability in order to resurrect the previous "Witch of Thousand" Jura; their main purpose is to create paradise for the witches. Modern day witches are capable of detecting a presence of warlocks from certain distance. While most witches are women, there are some male witches.
Nemu Miyao (宮尾 音夢, Miyao Nemu)
Voiced by: Tomori Kusunoki (Japanese); Cristina Vee (English)
The "Shape-Shifting Witch" (変身の魔女, Henshin no Majo), whose family specializes in the magic form. Nemu lives in the town over from Nico's. She is capable of transforming into a black cat, but automatically reverts back when she sleeps. As she dreams of having a strong humanoid familiar, mainly for the servitude benefits it could provide, Nemu frequently comes to the Otogi household to recruit Morihito to be her familiar, but always fails because she always timidly turns into her cat form, leading Morihito and the others to dote on her. This in turn makes her fall asleep, but she is always able to flee while the rest get distracted, leaving humiliated but otherwise intact. She ultimately approaches the group as a human to assist them against the warlock contracted with Keigo, leading her to become friendly with the household and frequently visit as a human as well. Despite this, only Wolf knows of her secret, having learned it during the fight with the warlock. Wolf agrees to keep her secret, on the condition that Nemu visit the house and enable his transformation once a month. Nemu later gives up on recruiting Morihito out of respect for Nico's feelings for him, and in turn starts developing feelings for both Keigo and Wolf.
Momo Kuramochi (倉持 桃, Kuramochi Momo) / Momochi (モモチ)
A 19-year-old "Witch of Teleportation" (移動の魔女, Idō no Majo) who is capable to teleport anyone but at the cost of her body weight. As a teenager, she was struggling with how her body easily gets fat. After learning that she's always been a witch, Momo started to embraces her body and keeps her body weight so that she could help people in need. She moves to Morihito's neighborhood to support Nico. She has a motherly personality and tends to spoil the residents in Otogi household.
Asunaro Private High School
Yuri Makuwa (真桑 悠里, Makuwa Yūri)
Voiced by: Mikako Komatsu (Japanese); Rosie Okumura (English)
The homeroom teacher in Nico's class who is popular in the school for her "cool-beauty" personality. In reality, she is a closet otaku who is desperate to hide this side of her from her students. She and Kukumi become otaku friends through their shared favorite manga, Uron Mirage, where two of them later form a doujin circle called "Fave Artist File" (オシエシニッシ, Oshieshinisshi).
Kara Minami (南 伽羅, Minami Kara)
Voiced by: Rie Takahashi (Japanese); Erica Mendez (English)
One of Nico's best friends in high school. She is incredibly friendly and always willing to make friends with people that are struggling socially, though she is often embarrassed about it afterwards. Thus, Kara is very welcoming about Nico's real identity. She is a priestess in training at her family's shrine. When playing around with one of Nico's spells, she accidentally creates a Shikigami familiar she nicknames "Shiki".
Kukumi Ureshino (嬉野 久々実, Ureshino Kukumi)
Voiced by: Konomi Kohara (Japanese); Xanthe Huynh (English)
Nico's other best friend in high school, nicknamed "Kuku". She used to be a shy otaku in middle school until Kara befriended her, breaking her out of her shell while still retaining her otaku hobby. She is also a fan artist with more than 10,000 followers on Chitter, one of whom is Yuri. Upon discovering this, they quickly become friends, much to Yuri's dismay.
Suzuka Kiyomiya (清宮 涼華, Kiyomiya Suzuka)
Voiced by: Yū Serizawa (Japanese); Brianna Knickerbocker (English)
Warlocks
Ayako Makinose (牧之瀬 文子, Makinose Ayako)
Voiced by: Kujira, Aino Shimada (young) (Japanese); Jessica Gee-George, Xanthe Huynh (young) (English)
An elderly woman known as the Enchanter (付与の魔女, Fuyo no Majo). Growing up in a strict household, she ran away from home after graduating in order to avoid an arranged marriage. At some point, she discovered that she had levitation magic and she used it for shoplifting. Later on, she was approached by a mysterious warlock who offered her great power in exchange of making her diminutive.
Ryohei Fuchi (淵亮平, Fuchi Ryōhei)
Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu (Japanese); Khoi Dao (English)
Known as the Water Warlock (水の黒魔女（ウォーロック）, Mizu no Wōrokku), Ryohei can use magic to manipulate large bodies of water. After being swindled by a loan shark, he fell off a bridge and nearly drowned before awakening his power. His magic is removed using Nico and Miharu's abilities, and Miharu's father takes him in to help him repent for his actions. He stutters when he speaks.
Shikimi (樒)
Known as the Forest Witch (森の魔女, Mori no Majo), he can use magic to manipulate plant life. He desires to revive Jura, a powerful warlock from the past, and he requires Nico to do so. Although he is rarely seen, he is responsible for many of the Otogi household's many battles by manipulating others.
Characters appearing in Uron Mirage
Uron Mirage (うろんミラージュ) is an in-universe fantasy battle manga series by "Moko Utakata" and published in Weekly Shōnen Jump. The manga and its anime adaptation tell the story of a group of young swordsmen who hunt monsters. The series is notably of rather poor quality, but it attracts fans who acknowledge this yet are nonetheless invested, in large part due to its fan fiction. It is the favorite manga of Yuri and Kukumi, the latter of whom is also one of its most popular fan artists.
Utsuro Akizuki (秋月 空, Akizuki Utsuro)
Voiced by: Ryoko Shiraishi (Japanese); Casey Mongillo (English)
Utsuro is the rookie of Feint, a swordsmen group, whose catchphrase is "go in one go".
Oboro Namisaki (浪崎 朧, Namisaki Oboro)
Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese); Kevin Andrew Rivera (English)
Oboro is the lone wolf of Feint. He is conscious of ranking and considers Utsuro to be his rival.
Sagiri Kusama (草間 狭霧, Kusama Sagiri)
Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese); Alejandro Saab (English)
Sagiri is a senior of Utsuro and Oboro who deliberately say cynical remarks in order to train them.
Zack Balan (ザック・バラン, Zakku Baran)
Voiced by: Tomokazu Sugita (Japanese); Mick Lauer (English)
Zack is a mysterious man who wears a lion mask. He is a powerful swordsman.
Production
Kenta Shinohara revealed that it takes five days to draw the characters in Witch Watch, while the storyboards take two and a half days. In January 2023, Shinohara stated on Twitter that Witch Watch would probably be his last weekly serial. He explained that he is "physically unable" to do one, even if he wanted to. The February 6, 2023 chapter of the manga began a crossover with Shinohara's previous Weekly Shōnen Jump series, Sket Dance.
Media
Manga
Witch Watch is written and illustrated by Kenta Shinohara. The manga began its serialization in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump on February 8, 2021. Shueisha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on June 4, 2021. As of August 4, 2026, 27 volumes have been released.
Witch Watch has been licensed for simultaneous publication in North America as it is released in Japan, with its chapters being digitally launched by Viz Media on its Shonen Jump website. Shueisha also simulpublishes the series in English for free on the Manga Plus app and website. Viz Media also publishes its volumes in digital format.
Voice comic
In February 2022, a three-part video of "dubbed manga" were posted online. In May 2022, another series of voice comic adaptations that highlights the comedic parts were posted. The characters are voiced by three voice actors: Mikako Komatsu, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka, and Jun Fukushima. Yumiri Hanamori joined the cast in August 2022.
Another voice comic featuring the franchise's in-universe manga series, Uron Mirage, was also posted online in June 2022 as part of the celebration for the manga's volume 6 release. The voice comic features voice acting by Shōya Chiba, Ryōta Suzuki, Yūichirō Umehara, and Tomokazu Sugita.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in August 2024. It was produced by Bibury Animation Studios and directed by Hiroshi Ikehata, with assistant direction by Masao Kawase, series composition by Deko Akao, characters designed by Haruko Iizuka, and music composed by Yukari Hashimoto. The series aired from April 6 to October 5, 2025, on the Nichi-5 programming block on all JNN affiliates, including MBS and TBS. It ran for two consecutive cours. The first opening theme song is "Watch Me!", performed by Yoasobi, while the first ending theme song is "Mahō wa Spice" (魔法はスパイス; lit. "Magic Is Spice"), performed by Aooo. The second opening theme song is "Tokihanate!" (ときはなて！; lit. "Unleash!") by Hashimero, while the second ending theme song is "Tsuki to Watashi no Kakurenbo" (月と私のかくれんぼ; lit. "Hide and Seek with the Moon") by Yutori.
The in-universe anime series Uron Mirage is featured in episodes 14 and 23. Who-ya extended performed the opening theme "Bitter end", while ALI performed the ending theme "Flashback Syndrome".
GKIDS acquired the license to the series in North America with Crunchyroll and Netflix streaming the series worldwide, alongside other platforms such as Hulu (United States), Animation Digital Network (several European territories) and Aniplus (South Korea). Tropics Entertainment licensed the series in Southeast Asia. The anime's first three episodes were also screened in theaters outside of Japan under the title Witch Watch: Watch Party with screenings beginning March 13 in Asia and in North America on March 16 via GKIDS.
Following the airing of the final episode, a second season was announced.
Cultural impact and reception
Popularity and sales
In June 2021, Witch Watch was nominated for the seventh Next Manga Award in the Best Printed Manga category and placed tenth out of 50 nominees. It was also nominated for the same award and placed second out of 50 nominees in 2022. By October 2025, the manga had over 4 million copies in circulation.
Critical response
Timothy Donohoo of Comic Book Resources compared Witch Watch to Kouji Miura's Blue Box and Shigure Tokita's Don't Blush, Sekime-san! due to both series having concepts and romantic aspects similar to Witch Watch's.