Flying witch vol 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka

Makoto and her cat Chito move in with her distant relatives away from Tokyo in Aomori, a small town in the countryside of Japan. There, Makoto hopes to complete her training as a witch. Her family knows about her powers, but Makoto isn’t supposed to talk about it to non-relatives. That doesn’t stop her from telling Nao, a girl at her school she befriends. Makoto often gets lost around Aomori, so occasionally she’ll take Chito with her, who has walked the neighborhood enough to not get lost. Makoto does some basic magic with her young cousin, Chinatsu, who isn't a witch. The two, along with Kei, Chinatsu's older brother, ready an abandoned plot of land to make a garden, as growing plants is part of Makoto's study of magic. Makoto's sister, Akane, also makes a surprise visit to see how Makoto is settling in, and Akane accidentally has Makoto unleash a pretty powerful spell to summon crows. 

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This story is pretty cute and fluffy. The chapters are related, so it’s not quite slice-of-life, but the storytelling feels very much like that genre. The overall story moves a little slowly and lacks some in substance, but that may pick up in later volumes. There are only a few bits of actual magic in this volume, so hopefully we’ll get to see more magic and learn how it works in this universe. I'd also like to see more about how Makoto is going to learn to be a witch. Aside from what she does in her normal school, Makoto doesn't study much magic and we don't see her learn much aside from the one spell Akane gives her. 

​The art style Ishizuka employs in this title is very simplistic. There aren't very many backgrounds, but the few Ishizuka includes do bring the reader right into Makoto's little world.  Characters are designed fairly plainly, but they are still expressive and kind of cutesy.

Kodansha rates this as 13+, but there first volume was extremely sweet and had nothing that would be inappropriate for younger audiences. Later volumes might change that, so stay tuned.

Sara's Rating: 7/10
Suitability Level: Grades 5-8

Publisher: Vertical Comics (Kodansha)
Publication Date: March 28, 2017
ISBN: 9781945054099 (Paperback)

​Tags: Rating: 7/10, Suitability: Elementary School, Suitability: Middle School, Manga, Magic, School Age, ​Family, Kodansha