#yuunagi

Author: Fujino Omori

Illustrator: Yuunagi

Original Creators: Fujino Omori & Toshi Aoi

Label: GA Bunko

Release Date: 14 July 2024

My Score: 3/5 stars

This is a prequel to the Wistoria series, taking place when Will and Elfy start attending the magic academy and covers the events leading up to Elfy becoming a Magia Vander.

There is some cool stuff in this volume. We get to see more of Elfy's personality, even as it does all end up boiling down to "loves Will". We see how at the end of the day, she's still a child. And she seemingly hasn't had a chance to build any deep connections outside of Will. I also guess I never realised that Elfy would have known characters like Shion and Julius prior to becoming a Magia Vander. While I feel like this might contradict some scenes in the manga (I swear there's a scene where Julius is surprised to learn that Elfy is Will's childhood friend but I could be misremembering), it is interesting. The scenes of Will and Efly being separated are hard to read due to just how traumatic it is for the both of them and they are very well written. We also touch on Collette's past and why she's attached to Will.

But I found myself wishing that this volume had done more. It doesn't reveal all that much new about the characters that we don't already know. I was expecting to get Collette's full back story here but it's only briefly touched. I feel like it would have been cool to see how Kiki ended up with Will as well but there was none of that. And the events of this volume ultimately end up feeling inconsequential in the long run. We already knew the important bits here and nothing of significant value was added.