Witch Hunter

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
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It's that kind of manhwa.

Witches declare war against people, decimating two thirds of the civilized world. They summon monsters called Supporters and devastate human residences... but why?

The surviving humans gather those with extraordinary powers into an organization dubbed 'Witch Hunter'. Aided by a Jack O Lantern-esque supporter, Tasha Godspell is one of the strongest Witch Hunters around. True to his moniker, The Magic Marksman, Tasha crushes Witches with devastating accuracy -- yet he cannot come to hate them...

An ongoing Manhwa written and illustrated by Jung-Man CHO. Witch Hunter is equal parts comedy, drama, action, and intrigue, fueled by Rule of Cool and a truly lovable Power Trio. Despite its epic scope, Witch Hunter favours character dynamics over politics; Tasha and his comrades (and enemies, and in-betweens) spend more screentime interacting than playing Mr. Exposition. Also: Every man is Badass, every woman a Hot Librarian or Cute Witch, and awesome binds the universe together. You'll find little Angst here -- unlike that other Asian graphic novel about hunting witches, Jung-Man Cho's title never takes itself too seriously.

The series has been licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment where it will be released in Ominbus format starting June 2012. And in an unusual move, the translated pages are also being released on a MWF schedule over at Zoom Comics.

Here's the character page. If you're looking for a trope about a type of character, it's The Witch Hunter.

Not to be confused with Witch Hunter Robin.


This manwha provides examples of:

  • Absolute Cleavage: Guinevere, to begin with.
  • Action Girl: All the Little Miss Badasses and then some. Witches fight via supporters, but Halloween, Bari and Elmar actually fight hands-on. And in chapter 52, D-Class Visul reveals she's actually a more competent fighter than an A-Class.
    • Though she gets brutally beaten by said witches in the span of two chapters and needs to be saved by Tarras anyway. This is also comes as Crowning Moment of Awesome from Tarras who make embarrassing short work of said witches.
  • Adult Child: Guinevere, to the point Tasha calls Lancelot out about it in an omake. Tarras and Xing, being in their twenties and thus ancient by Shonen standards, count as well.
  • Ascended Extra: The author notes that Tarras was originally supposed to be a 'no-name extra'. He changed his mind partway through the first volume, and Tarras has been the Ego to our Power Trio since then.
  • A Love to Dismember: Used as a joke in an omake. Two witches suspect Lancelot is a necrophile when Tasha's severed arm falls out of his cloak.
  • All Myths Are True: Let's see... We've got characters of Arthurian legends running around, a Chinese dragon, the Greek Moirae, the Hindu goddesses Parvati and Prithvi, an old Korean kingdom in the sky, the Norse god Surtr and a few more references to Norse mythology with Cooga's emblem and attacks. And then, of course, witches.
  • All There in the Manual: Some volumes include character profiles, which detail everything about the featured characters from height and weight to the author's personal thoughts, as well as Q&A sections giving lots of information about the world and the WH organisation.
  • Almighty Janitor:Visul is more powerful than a squad of elite assassins or a regular A-Class though she still needed to be saved by Tarras.
    • Then again, She saved him when her brother appeared. It was really more who the opponent was.
  • Always Someone Better: Yue is this to both Lee and Xing, for different reasons.
  • Anachronism Stew: 'Guns in a medieval occidental country' barely scratches the iceberg's tip.
    • If it's set during the witch-craze, it's likely to be 1400's-1600's, and yes, that means guns and plate-armour.
      • The steam train is a little harder to explain...
        • Word of God has stated that it's all magic running everything, from the lamps to the laptops and cellphones. Notice there are pentagrams on most machines.
          • The hair blow-drier at least is specifically stated by Tasha to have been created by witches.
  • Art Evolution: While maintaining the same proportions, the characters are drawn with somewhat sharper angles towards the sixth volume. Cho himself noted a change in art style on his blog. One Korean blogger put up a chart of Tasha's face as drawn over the course of several volumes.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority: The WH are ranked by strength, with big leaps in power from one rank to the one directly above: D-Class just do paperwork, C-Class are the Redshirt Army, and S-Class Vihyungran and Tania scare the crap out of the A-Class. Probably also the case with the Four Great Witches, if South is any indication.
  • Author Appeal: To the point the author's editor supposedly warned him against putting too much of his 'personal tastes' into the comic. (And by 'personal tastes' we mean large breasts.)
  • A Witch Did It
  • Back-to-Back Badasses: Xing and Tarras.
  • Badass Boast: Tarras. Even though he, Tasha, and Xing are all A Class WH, he constantly reminds them of his 'superiority'.
  • Badass Longcoat: A seemingly standard part of the WH uniform.
  • Badass Nickname: All the high-ranking WH have official aliases relating to their special ability.
  • Bare Your Midriff: Some witches, Halloween, and Prince Yue.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Tasha and Halloween are such jerks to each other (except when they're [1]), it's impossible to deny they're probably gonna end up the Official Couple.
  • Berserk Button: Yue's is hurting Xing, or even mentioning it. Lee makes full and deliberate use of this in vol 11.
    • When the yet unnamed WH D-Class dared to insinuate something... unbecoming of Cooga (whether it was the pet or the bastard part is left vague), Words reacted rather... harshly.
  • Big Brother Attraction
  • Big Brother Mentor: Subverted, in that Tasha wants none of Xing's friendly guidance. Cho intended Xing to play the role straight, but claimed it gave him an 'awkward, heavy air' and thus reworked his character.
    • As of Vol 7, Xing's played this trope straight at least once. His bro, Lee, seems to play the same role towards Lancelot.
  • Big Bad: The Great Witch of the North
  • Big Damn Heroes: Almost everyone at some point, and boy are they smug about it.
    • In the latest chapter Tarras came to save Visul and, for a moment, rest his Chew Toy title. The beating he gave was epic... his gloating no so much.
  • Bishonen: Tasha, Tarras, Xing, Yue, Lee and Words.
  • Blinding Bangs: Tarras has got one over his left eye, which has earned the loving Fan Nickname of Emo Haircut[1]. Tanya's hairstyle mirrors his, hiding her right eye. Also North, when we see her above the chin.
  • Blood Knight: South and her henchwomen seem to be this. They are much to happy to pick up a fight, even with other witches.
  • Bloody Murder: Elmar Hyacinth.
  • Boobs of Steel: Tania.
  • Break the Cutie: Becoming a witch didn't do much good for Aria. She is torn between her wish of being with Tasha and the hard facts that what she has done and what she is make it impossible for her to return.
    • It is implied that the corruption from magic power both initiates and prevents this, as the lack of mana resulted in Aria's old personality resurfacing, utterly broken and woobifying her. The exhilaration and mania coming from the power keeps the witches relatively sane. Kinda throws a different light on the witches being kept in Alcatraz.
    • Yue, Well, Xing got broke hard. He loved his people and yet within a year, someone was trying to kill him. He made peace with his assassin, and over two years were falling in love...and then she gets assassinated.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Aria's fondness for her brother Tasha goes above and beyond the call of duty.
  • Butt Monkey: Tarras. He's mocked by his own sister, teammates, personal assistant, and the Witch who tramples his attempts at a CMOA. The author lampshades Tarras' Buttmonkey status in an omake, where Tarras mopes in a corner about his lack of good scenes. If you revisit Monica's arc, where at least Xing respects him, you'll see just how much of a Buttmonkey Tarras has become.
  • Cain and Abel: Yue and Lee.
    • And now Xing has joined the "Slap-Yue-Around" game.
  • The Caligula: Hint: Do NOT become the emperor of Bailong.
  • Call Back: When Tasha sees Tania using her Flower of Earth, destroying the scenery trying to beat Lancelot, he remarks that it's just like "burning down the house just to catch a flea". Later, Tarras, her brother, uses the same technique against a witch, destroying a few houses in the process, and Visul uses that exact same line against him.
  • Can't Catch Up: Only one of the reasons for the three-way Sibling Rivalry between Yue and his brothers... although 3 years later, it seems Lee's got scarily good.
  • Catch Phrase: Quoth Words, "Feel the weight of your sins."
  • Chainmail Bikini: Halloween's uniform. Handwaved as "allowing her complete freedom of movement" and occasionally Lampshaded (Halloween is vaguely uncomfortable at first, and Aria later has a jealousy fit over the thought of her brother hanging out with a girl 'dressed' like that).
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Xing.
  • Clothing Damage: Inflicted to Visul in volume 11. (Yue just bypassed that and shed his coat himself.)
  • Combat Stilettos
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Oh, Tasha.
  • Covert Pervert: East insisted on healing, washing and dressing Ryuhwan.
  • Cool Shades: Xing's entire collection of eyewear. He's even got spares in his coat! Lee wears similar ones (which they remark upon in an omake, wondering where the other found such cool glasses), Ryuhwan has magical goggles, and Poine wears aviator/bug goggles.
  • Crack Fic: A plethora in Korean (and perhaps French.) Vihyunrang/Ryuhwan Slash Fic is second only in crack-ness to a Witch Hunter cooking contest fic.
    • Not to mention Words/Vihyunrang.
  • Custom Uniform: Everyone has a different uniform... if that makes any sense.
  • Cute Witches
  • Crystal Dragon Jesus
  • Demoted to Extra: Poor Monica's made less than five appearances since her arc ended.
  • Determinator: Tasha. Getting beaten to the point where it is physically impossible to move and having his arm which supplies him with magical energy cut off does not stop him from continuing to fight Lancelot. Or from using his magic-fueled gun.
  • Designated Girl Fight: As of Vol. 9, Halloween and Aria.
    • Any female WH getting to actually fight is going to be this, but chapter 52 notably ends with Visul facing three witches. All odds are in favour of a Curb Stomp Battle though...
  • Destructive Saviour: Tarras and his Flower of Earth, full stop. Then we learn about his older sister and it seems the Technique has been passed down the DOBERG line for generations!
  • Dead Little Sister: Tasha's, though she's not so much dead as turned into a Witch.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: One of the reasons Lee hates Xing aka Yue is because Visul, Yue's servant saved him from being killed outside his own doorstep for no reason other than her master does not wish for him to die.
  • Dropped a Bridget On Him: Tania initially calls Tasha "Miss Godspell", which Cooga of course finds hilarious. That's because only females are supposed to have a mana source in their body. The official French translation adds the sexual-orientation issue and even more hilarity by having Tania call Tasha a flirty (and feminine-only) word for "my cutie". Just a little later, Merlin drops one on Tasha by revealing he's in the same situation.
  • Elemental Powers: Vihyungrang can command the spirits of Earth and Fire.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: This leads to a witch's downfall in Chapter 9 when she tries to convince Monica, now a witch herself, to help her escape. She forgets to take into account that she just spent the last month or so killing villagers including Monica's best friend. Monica tells her to piss off.
  • Evil Twin: Xing's got/is one, depending on how you look at it. Two of them, in fact.
  • Exactly What I Aimed At: Tasha pulls this off very nicely in chapter 12: Ryuhwan has proved very good at dodging bullets, but notices that Tasha completely missed one particular shot, and looks back to see the bullet has hit his supporter... and gone through its head to hit Tasha's real target: one of Halloween's seals.
  • Eyepatch of Power: Words.
  • Face Heel Turn: Tasha's trying to end Aria's. As of chapter 58, the real Xing has had one. What is with that family?
  • Fantastic Racism: Witches versus everyone else, not helped by the witches' most known characteristic of being Ax Crazy. Considering most of the witches are gayer than Christmas, one wonders about the Unfortunate Implications. (Though the lesbian part might be just because all witches are women and they don't like humans either.)
    • By that logic Merlin and Tasha won't have to worry about ever being lonely, since they are mages.
  • Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Cho makes explicit references to Britain and Arthurian legend around Vol. 6. The Bailong Empire is more-or-less analogous to China.
  • Flat What: Tania's reaction when she learns that Tasha is actually a boy. (Probably also many a reader's reaction to her mistaking him for a girl in the first place.)
  • Foe Yay: In chapter 15, Tasha dreams about Varete. The current Fan Wank is that she's his mother, however.
    • Not according to Chapter 5. Alternately, Varete is a sexy woman and Tasha is a teenage boy.
    • Lee's glee about fighting Yue is rather... suspicious.
    • Aria and Tasha (the foe thingy is one of perspective, the yay thingy not) as well as Tasha and East.
    • Some saw a bit of this between Ryuhwan and Aria as well.
  • For Want of a Nail: The whole problem with Bailong is that "Yue" is emperor and most of the kingdom wanted Xing to be emperor. Except Xing is "Yue" but only Xing's father, the former emperor and Xing's other brother Lee know that. It goes down hill from there.
  • Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Xing to Tasha, in a rare moment of non-subverted Big Brother Mentor skillz.
  • Godiva Hair: Tyrfing
  • Goggles Do Something Unusual: Ryu Hwan's seemed to just be cool-looking but useless, but chapter 42 revealed they can actually track mana.
  • Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: So far, all the evil witches seem to have needlepoint pupils.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: Yue and Lee gave each other pretty large ones. Lancelot is also responsible for the one over Gawain's eye, apparently.
  • Good Witch Versus Bad Witch
  • Grand Theft Me: The Emperor did this to his own son, after crushing every ounce of hope he had and sacrificing the empire to do so.
  • How We Got Here: Used often, the most mindbreaking example being vol 5, which treated us to a sudden three-chapters long flashback and immediately followed by a flash-forward showing Tasha with his arm ripped off. Then vol 6 picked back up to before the flashback started, and the next three volumes or so show us the long way to getting Tasha in this predicament.
  • Hot Mom: Guinevere, and how!
  • Hot Witches
  • Ho Yay: For a skirt-chasing fiend, Xing's attachment to Tasha seems a little bit conspicuous. (Shamelessly admitted to in the French official translation, Squee!.)
    • Lee's manservant, Eunwon, shows a depth of understanding and devotion towards him that may raise eyebrows.
    • Words and Cooga. This pairing used to be the stuff of Slash Goggles, but this page seems to have added some substance. Who's your little 'pet', Words?
    • Palgeuk and Vihyunrang have amassed enough Foe Yay to warrant fanart. Go back ~10 pages at one of JMC's blogs and you'll find a goldmine of Witch Hunter fanart.
  • Hypocritical Heartwarming: Don't compare Tanya to her "stupid brother"... but don't call her brother stupid. She'll show you exactly why he's so afraid of her.
  • I Didn't Mean to Turn You On: Indirect. When Tarras comes up with a plan to get back at Tasha for all his abuse, Xing gets... really excited at the thought of Tasha getting furious at him. Tarras is creeped out.
  • If It's You It's Okay: In the French publication, Xing cheerfully explains to Tasha that "I've never liked men, but know what ? I'm willing to make an exception just for you~ !", securing him a spot in the heart of the yaoi fangirls upon his very first appearance. (Not in Tasha's, though.)
  • Important Haircut: All three of the Bailong Princes (also a Close-Call Haircut in one case), which makes things interesting since they're triplets, initially only differentiated by their hairdos.
  • Impossibly Cool Clothes: Must be the reason why there's so few cosplayers...
  • Improbable Age: Black Class WH Tasha and his rival Cooga are only sixteen years old.
  • Insufferable Genius: Tarras, oh so much. For all his power and skill, the first part seems to blur the second to oblivion thanks to his constant status as Butt Monkey.
  • Informed Ability: Both subverted and, erm, inverted, due to No Export for You. Visul is revealed to be actually stronger than a Black Class in #52, which was a surprise to most readers... but actually it had been mentioned in the extra character file a few volumes in advance. And #57 makes it straight it again as for all her reveal, she needed a Black Class to save her... which he does with almost embarrassing ease.
    • The Blackstar Brothers are A-class hunters. The only time they get to do some Kung Fu action they get utterly destroyed.
  • It Runs in The Family: You thought Tarras was bad? Check out Tanya. There's also a case of taking Sibling Rivalry too far in the Bailong family, but that's almost Family Curse territory... there's a good chance having 50+ voices in your head makes you a little loopy.
  • I Was Just Passing Through: Played with when Cooga fries a witch that was threatening Tasha, who of course complains that he didn't need his help. Cooga replies that he'd actually been aiming to get Tasha in the back, but he missed. Tasha dares to be shocked.
  • Ki Attacks: Implied to be the nature of Xing's abilities.
  • Kick the Son of a Bitch: In chapter 57, a witch is stabbed in the back. She and her friend had just spent the last few chapters making zombies of several Witch Hunters and stealing several people's movesets.
    • To be fair, the characters' shocked reactions are probably mostly due to the backstabber saying he'll kill all intruders, which seems to include them, too. [2]
    • YMMV, the witch in question has been thoroughly beaten, captured and was about to be sent to Alcatraz. Considering that it might in fact be a fate worse than death to witches,it might've as well been an unnecessary kill or a Mercy Kill.
  • King Arthur: Except the "canon" is played with to hell and back.
  • Knight Templar Elder Sister: Only Tania is allowed to make fun of Tarras. Anyone else had better keep their mouths shut.
  • Lampshade Hanging: Visul calls Xing out on his uncanny attraction towards Tasha.
  • Large Ham: Tarras. And Tania. But mostly Tarras.[3]
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: Played with when Ryu Hwan convinces his supporter that boasting a red horn will make him three times more powerful. Seems like JMC has heard of Char Aznable.
  • Les Yay: Eclipse Shadenon and her teammate Alv Bronte.
    • As of chapter 36, witches South and Poine.
      • Also, North and Neptis.
  • Little Miss Badass: Loads.
  • Living MacGuffin: Tasha himself is a crucial part in the plans of North, East and Varette. Aria, Diana and Vihyungrang also have a special interest in him.
  • Loads and Loads of Characters: Minor characters, really, but loads all the same.
  • Magic Skirt: Everyone's except, notably, Visul's.
  • Medieval European Fantasy: More or less.
    • Also, the Empire of Bailong. Based of medieval Korea.
    • Albion is entirely European, however. Except for the plate armor.
  • Meet Cute: Tasha and East meet in prison. Monica gets to know Tasha through pick-pocketing.
    • Subverted in East's case, she set that up. How is an enigma, though.
  • Mega Manning: In Vol 11, Myun, one of the witches in Bailong, has that power.
  • Mercy Kill: What Lee did for Xing. Yue was not amused.
  • Mind Rape: Becoming the Emperor of Bailong involves this.
  • Mr. Fanservice: Xing rarely covers his stomach.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Visul, plus most of the witches.
  • My Friends and Zoidberg: Tarras and Xing get that a lot. In chapter 10:

Tasha: "Monica... ! ... and others."

Xing: I wouldn't dare to leave this world before I killed you with my own hands, Yue...

    • Don't forget the end of volume 12 when Tasha decides what to do about giving up Halloween:

Tasha: I will quit WH.

  • What the Hell, Hero?: Tasha is this trope. Tarras also routinely destroys villages while on mission; Xing often calls them both out on it.
  • Whip It Good: Tanya apparently owns a whip... or maybe Tarras was being overdramatic, but somehow I doubt that.
  • Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: In chapter 52, Lee tells Yue he's responsible for the Bailong Empire being destroyed, thus ruining Xing's life, and in general it's all Yue's fault Lee ended up killing Xing. Worst thing? Judging from Yue's reaction, he probably agrees. We got a master Manipulative Bastard here.
    • As it turns out, he's not entirely wrong. It seems the reason the rebellion happened anyway is because the kingdom and its officials thought Xing was Yue and rebelled because of it.
      • Actually, the rebellion happened because of their Father needing to lure the brothers back.
  • With Friends Like These...: Tasha routinely shoots his allies. Sometimes just with anaesthetic bullets. Xing gets that particular treatment so much that he's apparently got himself an antidote for the anaesthetics for the times when he gets to team up with Tasha.
  • With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Seems to be what happened to Aria. Magic is stated to take its toll on the human user's mind and body. Temporarily happens to Tasha in vol 8.

"So... this was how Aria was feeling. This ecstasy...!!! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

  1. Not that you can blame anyone with cover art like this
  2. Interestingly, though, this might be the first time Tarras sees someone die, which could explain his shock... but that's probably giving the guy too much credit.
  3. *Smack!* Ow.