Guardian of the Witch (Relook): Research Notes

Tucker

Title: 

• Japanese: Majo no Moribito『魔女の守人』（まじょのもりびと）

• English localization: Guardian of the Witch

  • Pretty much a direct translation of the Japanese title, but keep in mind that plurality is not a thing in Japanese the same way it is in English, so “Guardians of Witches” would also be a correct translation. 

Author

• Sakano, Asahi 坂野 旭（さかの あさひ)

  • Sah-kah-no, Ah-sah-hee

Characters

• Fafnir (OR Fafner(?) OR Fafnar(?)) Leorenge(?) ファフナ・レオレンジ

  • My preferred pronunciation for the personal name: “Fahf-neer” 

  • Second name pronunciation: Lay-o-renj …maybe? 

  • Protagonist's name is almost certainly an allusion to Fáfnir, a dragon in Norse mythology that gets name-dropped a lot in Japanese media. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fáfnir

  • The author is probably only familiar with English and though that the "ir" at the end would be pronounced like in English "sir," so the character's name is written in Japanese as ファフナ ("Fafuna"). Words ending in "er" in English are often given "a" endings when borrowed into Japanese.

  • The Viz translator saw that, probably did not know about the original mythological beast, and just assumed that the name should end in "er"...resulting in "Fafner"

  • So, neither the original Japanese text OR the English translation accurately reflect the author's original intent!

  • Can’t really make heads or tails of the last name. It’s like it’s trying to be French or English, but it’s pretty fucked up.

  • MAYBE the author was going for “l’Orange” or something and messed it up super bad (in katakana it’s “reorenji”)

• Manasfa (OR Manasufa) Lustacia マナスファ・ルースタシア

  • Mah-nass-fah Loo-stah-see-ah

• Narta (OR Nahta OR Nata OR Naata)  Interina ナータ・インテリナ

  • From the way it’s written in katakana (“Naata”) , the first syllable of the first name should probably end in an “r” sound, but it’s written as “Nata” in the wanted poster in chapter 2, so even the author doesn’t seem to know or care what the hell it’s supposed to be 

  • I guess I would suggest that the first name is supposed to rhyme with “Martha” without the “th” sound, while the family name is like a ballerina who’s an intern. But again, by reading these words you have officially put more thought into this than the author did

• Drake Marduke ドレイク・マルドゥック

  • Pronounced how you would expect…wow, a Western-style name that isn’t mangled!

• Looly Leelala (????????) OR Ru’uri Rirara(?) ルゥリ・リララ

  • Holy shit, I have no idea what the author is going for here. What the fuck is ルゥ supposed to even signify? Katakana doesn’t work like that! I looked it up in a Japanese dictionary, and the only entry that has that character combo is a Japanized version of the English name “Ruben,” which doesn’t need a special combination of characters, so I guess it’s just a stylization thing? WTF?

  • Pronounce this however you see fit, honestly. It’s written like “Ru’uri Rirara” in katakana. And that “Ru’u” is me trying to find some sort of Roman-letter equivalent to ルゥ. Maybe it should be like a Greek letter or something instead.

• Gen O’Double(?) OR Gen Ordbull(?) OR Gen Oldblue(?) OR who the fuck knows ゲン・オードブル 

  • First name pronounced like it’s spelled, as long as you remember that it’s a “hard” G sound (as in “garden,” not “giraffe”).

  • Family name is…who the fuck knows. In katakana it’s “O’odoburu.” It sound the most like it’s trying to be a fake-ass Irish name like “O’Double,” but whatever

• Speeker Klarn? Speaker Clan? スピカ・クラーヌ

  • It’s written as “Supika Kuraanu” in katakana. Your interpretation of that is as good as mine.

MaxyBee

• Asahi Sakano

  • Notable people they were an assistant for

    • Yuki Tabata (Black Clover, Hungry Joker)

      • on Black Clover (credited in-volume)

  • Notable people they had as assistants

    • None known

      • Credits in-volume only use partial names/pen-names, and I didn’t recognise anyone

  • Other works

    • Kuro no Shinobi (2018, 3 chapters, Jump GIGA)

      • Back when Jump Giga ran six times a year, they would publish these three-issue miniseries. This one featured a modern day ninja, Zen Kurono, as he reluctantly takes jobs instead of living the normal school life he so deeply desires. 

    • Fire Beast Alan (2019, 3 chapters, Jump GIGA)

      • Another miniseries. I wasn’t buying GIGA at the time, but considering the titular flame swordsman Alan looks EXACTLY like Fafner, it feels safe to say this is something of a prototype for Guardian of the Witch. 

    • If I Can’t Find Love I’m Going to Die - How to Find True Love in 60 Days (2020, 1 volume, published by Bunkyosha)

      • A self-help guide to love, presented as a manga with accompanying essays as to the benefits of love. I dunno. 

        • Sakano also illustrated a new version of George S. Clason’s The Richest Man in Babylon for this publisher at the same time, so maybe he and fellow Black Clover alumni  Teruaki Mizuno (of Metallica Metalluca fame, and who you’ll remember did a poop kanji manga for the same publisher) just love teaching people about stuff. 

    • Beast King and Medicinal Herb (2023-present, 2+ vols, Manga One/Ura Sunday) written by Tatsukazu Konda, character designs by Momochichi

      • A bit of a breakout hit for Sakano, as the artist of this tale of Tina, an adventurer who forges a pact with the king of beasts to save her own life, and now she has to work for him as they… heal other monsters. A fantasy medical manga for fans of Frieren!

• Publishing

  • Run Dates: 

    • February 3rd, 2020 to June 22, 2020

  • Series it replaced

• Dr. Stone reboot: Byakuya by Boichi (1 vol, miniseries)

• Series that replaced it

  • Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin (5 vols, flop, Shonen Flop episode 41)

• Series that started at the same time as it

  • Undead Unluck by Yoshifumi Tozuka (21+ vols, HIT)

  • Mashle: Magic and Muscles by Hajime Komoto (18 vols, HIT, Shonen Flop episode 9)

• Chapters/Volumes: 

  • 19 chapters/3 vols

Manga Itself / Misc thoughts

• This series has a remarkable amount of text handwritten in English, notable mostly for being clearly written and (mostly) making sense, and as this is also true of his early one-shots, it stands to reason that Sakano is pretty okay at English.

• Volume extras include:

  • One-shots:

    • Flower on the Battlefield, 2014 (debut)

    • The original one-shot for Guardian of the Witch, 2016

    • Strawberry Punch, 2020 (drawn after Witch’s cancellation, but early enough to make the final volume)

  • Inter-chapter gag strips

  • Character designs

  • Character profiles

  • An illustration gallery

  • Preliminary cover design for vol.2

  • “Nahta’s hearsay memo”, notes building the world of the manga

  • Staff credits

  • A final note from the author thanking readers