The One Isekai I've Enjoyed

I usually don't enjoy isekais. For those who aren't otaku or weaboos, "isekai" roughly translates to "different world," and it has become a metonym for stories that involve being transported or reborn into a different world - usually either a swords-and-magic fantasy world or a video-game. This has become a standard within the anime/manga/light novel world, with each iteration relying on increasingly ridiculous gimmicks and becoming unbelievably more generic than the last. I do enjoy isekai when it's done well - the first arc of Sword Art Online is iconic as a genre-defining anime; KonoSuba was a satire that came out right as the market was being saturated by isekais and mocked them with acerbic wit. But as they keep flooding out each season, with each of them vying of the prize of best power fantasy, I've lost any desire to consume any more. It gets to a point where the the cliches are so tired, the tropes recycled one too many time, that all of them start to blend together. That's the mindset that I came in with when I started reading Tricks Dedicated to Witches - yet I am pleased to say that I came away 4 volumes later cheering and praying for an anime adaptation. So, what made this manga so different and so good?

 

There will be a few spoilers for the manga below, so anyone interested, please go and give it a try first!

 

Tricks Dedicated to Witches, or in the original Japanese, Majo ni Sasageru Trick, is an isekai manga about a magician from modern day Japan who is transported to medieval Germany after a magic trick goes wrong. As far as I was concerned, this wasn't anything new. There have been a plethora of manga and anime about heroes bringing "modernity" to uncivilized psuedo-medieval peoples, which is simply an alternative power fantasy only with knowledge rather than magical or physical prowess. Having studied both history and anthropology, I find the premise of these stories rather ignorant. While the technology of a smartphone would be truly revolutionary, striding in and proclaiming that you know better than the people who have lived there for thousands of years simply reeks of imperialist delusions. Societies and cultures are built upon complex systems that have meaning in them, even if we as modern humans don't understand. I'm going to shamelessly steal from Prof. Bret Devereux and say: "People in the past aren't stupid - they're different" (if you have a chance, please visit his blog - his writings are uniquely enlightening). These stories usually depict these people as particularly greedy or stupid and unwilling to accept the "blessings" of modernity, while blissfully lacking any sort of self-awareness. If you look out the window (particularly out towards the Middle East, or Ukraine) you'll find that we are still very far from having all the solutions for all our problems, despite the belief in our infallibility.

What you might be surprised to find is that Tricks Dedicated to Witches engages rather heavily in this unfortunate trope. The modern magician, a Mr. Harry Makito, brings his magic tricks to medieval Germany, and everyone is utterly stunned, as if card tricks and magic wasn't invented until the 21th century. The townspeople and peasants are depicted as exceedingly insular and not particularly bright, which is very important as the story is set during the European witch hunts - and Makito's main goal is to save the women being persecuted. The witch hunts are usually held up as an example of the foolishness of medieval people, as the cruelty spurred by superstition and religion proved to be an alluring comparison to the rigorous science of the Enlightenment. And that's exactly what Makito uses as a comparison, by saying that he wants to bring the world into the industrial revolution out of the backwards era of "devils and witches" so that these women will no longer be so cruelly killed or tortured. Of course, the idea that the "Enlightenment" solved all our problems is ridiculous - just take a look at the study of phrenology that promoted a false belief of white supremacy, or the current replication crisis running rampant today in so many scientific fields. Even if witches weren't being persecuted, people turned to other perceived enemies, spurred onwards by so-called "science" - Jews, Blacks, indigenous peoples across the world were enslaved, killed, and their cultures erased with the blessing of men of logic. In some cases, science only provided ways to cause harm more efficiently.

So, knowing all this, why is Tricks Dedicated to Witches still worth reading? The truth is, it hinges on something very simple. The theme of the manga isn't modernity versus antiquity. Most of the other terrible isekai would just have the hero trampling over these bumpkins with modern technology and philosophy and call it a day, having fulfilled the power fantasy. But Tricks Dedicated to Witches' core theme is diversity versus homogeneity. For the author, modernity is a convenient vehicle for the ideas of diversity, as we have laws that defend rights to speech, belief, sexual orientation, and more. Persecution based on religion or skin color is considered a violation of human rights, and cultural plurality is seen as normal and sometimes even as a positive. The stereotypes of the medieval era is an easy strawman to set up as an opposite - easily understood and recognizable. As I have mentioned before, this can prove problematic. But the author took a very different approach to the story. At one point in the story, Makito needs to save a girl who was labeled a witch for her "supernatural" swordsmanship. The arc wasn't about the technology Makito could conjure up to save the witch, but rather the ideas of gender roles and the position of women in society. 

The witch, Helga, had trained in fighting with a sword since she was a child to protect her sister - but it all came crashing down when a man who lost a duel against her called her a witch. A priest called Father Valery murdered her parents and blamed her actions for it, saying that they would be still be alive if Helga had adhered to traditional gender roles - namely, being a meek and obedient housewife. Her spirit crushed, she was unable to even raise her sword against her captor, even as Father Valery mocked her body and sex. Then Makito came in to her rescue with a few magic tricks, but crucially didn't just bonk Father Valery over the head and call it a day. Makito instead set up an elaborate "quick change" trick, in which he changed into drag, to demonstrate how fluid gender and sex and the "rules" around them were. He was a weak man, and she was a strong woman; did that mean that she would let him get killed by Father Valery, just because fighting wasn't within a woman's remit? Here, his magic wasn't the trick itself, but rather his belief in the right to be oneself, without fear of persecution.

Makito, in a later chapter, would also bring up the idea of homosexuality. This was especially compelling, as he had charmed one of his underlings named Guile in drag previously. Rather than playing to the typical trope of being disgusted with gay relationships, Makito embodies his ideals of diversity. This is placed in opposition to the arch-villain, the archbishop heading the Inquisition. It is revealed that he, too, is a person from the modern world transported back in time like Makito. But unlike Makito, his knowledge of technology is used instead to pursue his ideal of homogeneity. Like many fascist leaders, he saw difference as something to be hated and feared, and thus developed the witch hunts as a way to both eliminate the out-group and create scapegoats to hate, fear, and blame. This villain represents the other side of modernity that most other stories avoid, as they seek to worship science and post-Enlightenment thought as the objective truth. 

Tricks Dedicated to Witches isn't perfect. It indulges itself in many worn out tropes from other isekai. Yet the theme of diversity and homogeneity that is threaded through the story serves to form a coherent and unique narrative that sets it apart from the power fantasy trash flooding the internet these days. It is rather a shame then, to see that it had been canceled. The author, Watanabe Shimizu, has written other stories that deal with some other interesting issues too, which I certainly will be reading in the near future. I wish them the best of luck going forward - their works represent a much needed uniqueness in the increasingly generic market.