I mentioned some time ago that a bunch of sweet-looking Yuri manga were coming out and that I was going to get a few for my collection. I did and I have been reviewing them slowly. 5 Seconds Before a Witch Falls in Love is the last one of that batch.
And it’s sort of a great manga to review in October, isn’t it? That’s when witches are most active and therefore most likely to fall in love!
Why I Picked up 5 Seconds Before A Witch Falls in Love
This is going to sound very odd but I like witch-themed romances. I enjoyed Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches as well as Witchcraft Works. Actually, I should totally read the Witch Craft Works manga. I’m adding it to the stack.
Official Summary
A magical enemies-to-lovers yuri romcom! Solitary witch Meg likes to be mischievous and make trouble in the forest for her nemesis, Lilith the Witch Hunter. But when an altercation goes sideways and Meg turns Lilith into a cat, a cascade of unfortunate events means witch is now responsible for saving witch-hunter!
My First Impression
At least these girls have some personalities
Review
I only found this out after finishing the first volume but one volume is all there is. It’s a complete story. And it feels like a complete story which is a bit surprising.
Actually, the way I’m wording it there is misleading. It’s in fact three short stories. The first is 5 Seconds before a Witch Falls in love, telling us how Meg is hopelessly smitten with her arch nemesis Lilith, from Meg’s point of view.
The second story is Demon’s Harem. About a young girl who can see demons, yokai and angels and she is also just so darn charming that all of them fall in love with her. Of course, they all happen to be very attractive lady demons and angels.
The last story is 5 seconds before falling in love with a witch. This one more or less retells the events of the first story but from Lilith’s point of view and then goes a bit beyond it.
And all these stories are just adorable. They were a breeze t read and I was smiling the whole time. Sure you won’t get epic character arcs, these are short stories at best, but the nuggets we did get were wonderful. Also, I personally found that Meg and Lilith had way more personality than a lot of romance leads I have seen even if they only get a few pages of development. That’s usually a sign of a well-written character.
However, when I say I breezed through this manga, I really breezed through it. I had taken it with me to work thinking I might get a chance to start it on the commute home. I usually write posts on the commute but I had been pretty good about writing ahead of time, now that my commute is longer I can write more than one post a day. So I figured I would finish up a post in the morning and have a nice relaxing manga read in the evening.
And I did…but I finished the entire book about halfway through my commute. And it’s not that long. Also, I don’t read all that quickly. What I’m getting at is that 5 Seconds Before a Witch Falls in Love is kind of light on substance. So, unless you specifically want the book to complete your bookshelf or something, I would definitely opt for the digital version of this one.
I don’t regret having bought a hard copy, but I would have been just as happy reading it on my tablet and I would have saved some money.
Partly because there just isn’t all that much to 5 Seconds Before a Witch Falls in Love, there’s also not much to complain about. It’s cute, it’s fun, the pacing is good and it’s even a somewhat Halloweeny romance manga the entire family can enjoy.
