Champignon no Majo Ep.01,02 - Luna is just way too adorable. So this is the prologue of sort...

I just finished watching episodes 1 and 2 of the newly airing fantasy series Champignon no Majo (シャンピニオンの魔女), adapted from the manga of the same name written by Tachibana Higuchi, which is still ongoing with six volumes released. I went into this without any previous knowledge, and honestly, I was not expecting it to be this good.

The story follows Luna, a young witch who lives alone in a forest and is shunned by villagers because of her identity as a "Black Witch." Apparently, in this kingdom, they divide witches into two categories: those who work for the government are "White Witches," and those who do not are "Black Witches."

Essentially, it is a way to discriminate against and isolate the witches who do not make themselves useful to the King. In extreme cases, this can even result in a Black Witch being executed. We do not know yet why Luna is living alone in that forest or what her past involves, but I can guess it has something to do with her parents. She is supposedly much older than she looks, but at some point, she must have had a family, right?

Luna herself is quite a nice and gentle witch, trying to help the villagers despite how she is treated. She makes a living selling potions cheaply and was even trying to heal a man with a missing leg using her potions, even though the merchant discouraged her from doing so to avoid attracting too much attention.

The main focus of these two episodes was on Henri, who I guess can be considered Luna's "first love." Henri is a womanizer, but he seemingly fell in love with Luna. The two are separated by the fact that Henri comes from a family of White Witches, so he really should not be involved with Luna. However, they use Luna's magic to materialize drawings so they can see each other in secret.

Using this magic to see each other in secret makes Henri sick, and within a short time, he ends up near death. Luna removes the memories from his body, which take the form of a poisonous mushroom, to restore his health. This causes him to forget about all their time together.

I am unsure exactly what caused Henri's disease though. Was it Luna's magic? If so, does that mean anything she uses magic on can end up yielding these disastrous results? Or was it merely the "overuse" of this magic to see each other frequently as shown during the episode?

I understand that the author wanted to show the contrast by highlighting how Luna was completely alone without any way to change her situation, only to subvert that expectation by introducing the second main character of the story, who is apparently named Lize, right at the end of the second episode when things calmed down.

I read a bit of the synopsis online after watching the episode, and it seems like Lize becomes Luna's disciple. I am honestly curious where he comes from in the first place. Is he a royal child discarded due to internal strife, or just a kid from one of the White Witch families who was thrown away for some other reason?

By the way, I can see why they aired two episodes at once, because the story of these two episodes acts as one big prologue setting up the narrative to come. It would have felt quite weird to just air the first episode and wait a week to get to the resolution and the introduction of the second main character shown at the very end.

I am looking forward to watching more of this series, and it is definitely one that I will follow weekly.