Burn the Witch (stylized asBURN ☩HE WITCH) is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated byTite Kubo. It was first published inShueisha'sWeekly Shōnen Jump as aone-shot chapter in July 2018. A serialized continuation of the one-shot is being published in the same magazine with a seasonal release schedule. The four-chapter first season was published from August to September 2020. A second season of the manga has been announced. The series' title comes from a2016 song by the English bandRadiohead.[2][3]
Ananime film produced byStudio Colorido premiered in October 2020. A television film adaptation of the prologue chapter,Burn the Witch #0.8, premiered in December 2023.
The story ofBurn the Witch takes place in theBleach universe and follows two witches, Noel Niihashi and Ninny Spangcole, working for the Western Branch of Soul Society, located in ReverseLondon.[4]
Written and illustrated byTite Kubo,Burn the Witch started as a 62-pageone-shot published inShueisha'sWeekly Shōnen Jump on July 14, 2018.[13] In March 2020, it was announced that a miniseries would be published inWeekly Shōnen Jump as a companion to the also announced film.[14][15]Burn the Witch's "first season" is a continuation of the one-shot chapter and ran inWeekly Shōnen Jump for four weeks, from August 24 to September 14, 2020.[16][17][18] A "second season" was announced with the release of the first season's final chapter.[18][19][20] Shueisha published the series' first season in a 260-pagetankōbon volume that included the one-shot chapter on October 2, 2020.[21][18]
Viz Media published the one-chapter inWeekly Shonen Jump on July 16, 2018.[22] Viz Media simultaneously released the English-language version of the series.[23] In February 2021, Viz Media announced that they would release the first volume ofBurn the Witch in English.[24] It was published on October 19, 2021.[25]
In March 2020, it was announced that the series would receive an anime film adaptation byStudio Colorido, directed by Tatsuro Kawano.[27] The film is distributed byShochiku and premiered on October 2, 2020, in Japan.[28][29] The theme song for the film is "Blowing", performed by Nil.[30][31] The film also streamed in other territories outside Asia, with a different version from the Japanese theatrical release.[8]Crunchyroll streamed the film in a three-episode format on October 1, 2020.[32][33]Viz Media released the series on home video on October 18, 2022.[34][35] In Southeast Asia and South Asia,Muse Communication has licensed the film and released it on YouTube.[36]
In September 2023, it was announced that the prologue chapter, "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover", would receive an anime adaptation.[37] It premiered onTV Tokyo and worldwide on December 30, 2023.[12][38][a] It was streamed by Crunchyroll.[40]
In October 2020, the series collaborated with the mobile gameBleach: Brave Souls, featuring Ninny and Noel as playable characters.Brave Souls x Burn the Witch collaboration merchandise was also given out to 150 random people who interacted with the game's Twitter account.[41] A year later, a second round of the collaboration debuted, introducing Bruno Bangnyfe as a new character, with the previous two returning; it was followed by a third round.[42] The series had a crossover event with Oasis' mobile gameBleach: Immortal Soul in May 2022, featuring Ninny and Noel as characters.[43][44]
Burn the Witch's first volume sold 86,066 print copies in its first week and 68,810 print copies in its second week.[45][46]
Skyler Allen ofThe Fandom Post wrote that despite lacking the same "spark" asBleach's beginning, theBurn the Witch one-shot is still enjoyable and has plenty of potential for growth in a full serialization, but too much time is spent on its setup to work as a standalone story. He had strong praise for Kubo's art and memorable character designs, but criticized the one-shot as "unfocused" for ideas that did not get properly fleshed out.[47]
^Romero, Pedro (October 11, 2020)."With Burn the Witch, Bleach's Tite Kubo Doubles Down on His Alt-Rock Love".Comic Book Resources.Archived from the original on November 23, 2022. RetrievedNovember 23, 2022.Mangaka Tite Kubo, aside from the fact that he created the famous manga/anime seriesBleach, is also known for incorporating an endless amount of references into his body of work. And in continuing this trend, Kubo namedBurn The Witch, his Bleach one-shot-turned spinoff miniseries, after the 2016 song of the same name by alternative rock band Radiohead.
^Kubo, Tite (December 5, 2018). "Talk vol. 5: AboutBurn the Witch".BLEACHイラスト集 JET [BLEACH Illustrations Book: JET] (in Japanese).Shueisha.ISBN978-4-08-792525-8.—『BURN THE WITCH』というタイトルは Radioheadの曲からですか? 久保/そうです。元々のタイトルをきい て、響きがよかったので。曲の内容と話の内容は全然関係ないんですけど。 [—Is the title "Burn the Witch" from a Radiohead song? Kubo: That's right. After hearing the original title, I thought it had a nice ring to it. The content of the song and the content of the story are completely unrelated though.]
Shimada, Kazushi (October 22, 2020).『ジャンプ』はいまや「少年」だけのものではない！ 『BURN THE WITCH』かわいい魔女たちの力強いメッセージ ["Jump" Is No Longer Just for Boys! The Strong Message of the Cute Witches in "BURN THE WITCH"].Real Sound (in Japanese). Blueprint Co., Ltd.Archived from the original on January 30, 2021.
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