As you might be able to glean from the title, The Witch's Servant and the Demon Lord's Horns (henceforth Witch & Horns), this manga is about a witch’s servant and their quest to obtain the Demon Lord’s horns. At the same time, Witch & Horns also explores gender identity and tolerance among different cultures. The way Witch & Horns best explores these themes is through the characters. In the beginning of the manga, the reader is introduced to characters who are from different countries, may or may not practice religion, and are of different species. But, the main thing Witch & Horns focuses on is gender,which has multiple characters change their gender through magic. It’s such a relevant theme that it isn’t much of an exaggeration to say that one of the characters practically faces the reader when describing their own gender fluidity. Similarly, Witch & Horns also deals with romance between characters who can magically change their sexes, which is explored with the protagonist, Arsenio, and their potential suitors. Questions like “What gender should Arsenio be?” or “Which love interest will they pick?” end up being just as much as an important driving force for Arsenio along with still needing to obtain the Demon Lord’s horns.

And that is to say nothing about the world building! The ealry world building in Witch & Horns is done subtly, as it is effectively a magic version of Earth with countries that all have different views on the magic system, while basing it off of the same framework. The countries each have their own sets of tradition, such as Hispania being more theocratic compared to Eriland or Hyperborea. This goes a long way in making the setting of the manga feel lived in, and gives a lot of charm to the backgrounds.

On that note, the art of the series is something that’s difficult to segue naturally to. Over the course of the series, the mangaka makes many improvements in their art (which you could see by looking at the manga covers), but the early portion is undeniably stiff. For instance, side profiles always have an ‘off’ look to them, but it improves over time. This manga also has instances of going a little bit too horny with the art; which I didn’t enjoy, but I realize your mileage may vary.

Overall, Witch & Horns is a manga that is worth reading. While the initial premise and early chapters may be pretty rough to get through, once the manga gets going it becomes something special. The moral of accepting yourself and not putting others down is something that resonated with me, so if this sounds like something you might enjoy I recommend you give it a try!