The Black Witch life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Tomu Ohmi
Translation/Adaptation: Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane/JN Productions
What They Say
Kaoruko Mochizuki runs an herb shop in a small seaside town. One day, a mysterious man dressed in black named Kaname Hibiki enters her shop and reveals that Kaoruko is actually a witch. And what’s more, Kaoruko needs Kaname to help control her awakening power!
In order to become a Black Witch, Kaoruko makes a pledge with Kaname. However, that means that Kaname will be breaking his pledge as a knight and betraying the Witch Queen! If the Witch Queen awakens, Kaname will suffer a terrible punishment… Meanwhile, Kaoruko is being stalked by someone who is after her powers!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Kaoruko, for the most part, has been a fairly trusting heroine throughout the series, and that tendency comes back to bite her in this penultimate volume. Other witches are understandably hoping to gain something from Kaoruko’s mostly uncontrolled powers, but this being a smutty series kisses and sex with Kaname serve as a sort of protection for any predicament Kaoruko finds herself in. Two witches in particular, Sylvia and Isanda, are in a power play of sorts as they both work to train Kaoruko in the ways of the black arts. Isandra is the more sinister of the two, and to her credit Kaoruko quickly realizes that an invitation to a ritual with a foreign client is more than likely a trap. An intense makeout session with Kaname prior leaves Kaoruko a bit more magically imbued than normal — Kaname was smart enough to cast some protection between breathes, apparently — but the ritual serves as a reminder that 1) Kaoruko’s powers are still wildly out of control and 2) the Witch Queen, her mother, could awaken at any time.
With the Witch Queen’s awakening imminent, Kaoruko and Kaname know their time together is severely limited. The two desperately cling to the time they have left with elaborate dates, impassioned bedroom confessions, and plenty of sex. Because of that, this volume feels a bit smuttier than the prior volumes. There’s nothing particularly wrong with that really, but it does serve as a bit of reminder that the plot is paper thin. Spell of Desire is not a series you want to read for the plot. It is there and it is mostly coherent, but there’s really just barely enough plot to take a small amount the “guilty pleasure” edge off. Readers stay for the attractive characters (both men and women) and the smut. Thankfully Ohmi’s art is pretty, and has seemingly gotten better as the series has progressed. Screentone is used effectively for Kaoruko’s various outfits, and Kaname stays your standard bishounen eye candy seen in other Ohmi series like Midnight Secretary. Ohmi also doesn’t shy away from having Kaoruko show off her body, especially in the various illustrations leading into each chapter. Ohmi at least seems to know where her strengths lie.
In Summary
Overall Spell of Desire has a sexy feel to it despite it’s somewhat occasionally awkward dealings with sex; Kaname and Kaoruko’s grand bedroom confessions of love are fairly over the top and unnatural sounding, but the art saves the smut. There is a plot there — How will Kaname and Kaoruko’s relationship fare in the face of the witch queen? — but it’s fairly basic and predictable. That said, I enjoy Ohmi’s series for what they are, as long as you know what you’re headed into.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 18+
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: May 5th, 2015
MSRP: $9.99
