Burn The Witch: Everything You Need to Know

What is It?

Burn The Witch is a brand new limited series from Bleach series creator Tite Kubo. The first new work from the creator since Bleach came to an end three years ago, and was spawned from a popular one-shot that he first released back in 2018. It turns out that this one-shot was such a hit with Shueisha that they requested Kubo expand the story further with a series developing alongside an anime project. As it turns out, Kubo did just that with a four chapter limited manga series that continued from that original debut.

The series follows two witches named Noel and Ninny who work for an agency that operates in an unseen version of London. Tasked with wrangles dragons and other mystical threats before they can harm the other side of the world, the two of them end up embroiled in an inter-organizational struggle when their friend becomes a dangerous magnet for dragons.

There's an Anime?

Yup, there's an anime for it too! When Burn The Witch was first announced as Kubo's next big project for Shueisha during a digital presentation for Kubo's works, one hilarious bit was that the editors loved Kubo's original one-shot idea so much that they wanted to develop an anime project for it. Here we are with four chapters under Burn The Witch's belt and a theatrical anime project that is making its debut next month. This will screen in Japanese theaters, but fans in other regions will get the release in smaller episodic parts.

When and Where Can I Watch the Anime?

Burn The Witch's anime will make its debut in Japan on October 2nd. Crunchyroll will be streaming an episodic version of the release alongside its debut for fans North America, Central America, South America, Europe, Africa, Oceania, the Middle East, and CIS. This will be a Japanese language release with English subtitles, and unfortunately no English dub release for the anime has been confirmed as of this writing.

The confirmed Japanese cast for the series currently includes the likes of Asami Tano as Ninny Spangcole, Yuina Yamada as Noel Niihashi, Shimba Tsuchiya as Balgo Parks, Hiroaki Hirata as Chief, and Rie Hikisaka as Osushi-chan are Mugihito as Wolfgang Slashhaut (Personal Affairs Divine Punishment Corps: Gallows), Chikahiro Kobayashi as Bruno Bangnyfe (Magical Circle Corps: Inks), Haruka Shimizu as Sullivan Squire (Tactical Corps: Sabres), Miou Tanaka as Roy B. Dipper (Incantation Corps: Anthems), and Saori Hayami as Macy Baljure.

Where Can I Read the Manga?

The anime will be adapted the four chapter limited series, so if you wanted an idea of what to expect in the upcoming anime release of the series luckily there is an easy way to do so. You can currently find Burn The Witch through Viz Media's digital Shonen Jump library at the link here. It's completely for free to do so, but if you wanted to check out the original one-shot that started it all you need a monthly subscription to unlock it along with all other series in the library (such as Bleach!).

Do I Need to Read Bleach?

Burn The Witch's original one-shot confirmed that this new series takes place in the same universe as Bleach, but you don't need prior knowledge of Kubo's first work to enjoy the newest release. Burn the Witch is a completely new story with completely new characters that don't reference Bleach in any real material way that would potentially distance new readers. Older fans will enjoy knowing that it exists in the same universe, but at this point it's nothing more than a fun Easter Egg. At this point.

Will There Be More?

Tite Kubo has officially announced that a "Season 2" of the Burn The Witch limited series was in the works. There are unfortunately very few details about this outside of the fact that the story will continue, but this does leave the door open for potential connections to Bleach in the future. There most likely won't be considering Burn The Witch is seeking to tell its very own story, but you never know! As for the anime, it has yet to be confirmed whether or not it will continue with a second project but there will be story to adapt should they decide to. At least you can check out Burn The Witch's manga and anime knowing there is more on the way in some official capacity!