Name: Liselotte & Witch's Forest
ISBN: 9780316360197

Natsuki Takaya

Despite being completely hopeless at endeavors like farming and cooking, Liselotte, a young lady of noble birth, picks up and moves to a remote land with her twin attendants Alto and Anna. At the easternmost reaches of her new home lies a forest where it's said witches roam. When Lise one day finds herself at the receiving end of an attack by one such witch, she's saved by the sudden appearance of a young man named Engetsu. Though they're strangers, Engetsu is remarkably similar to someone she already knows...?

Liselotte & Witch's Forest

altlovesbooks

Liselotte is a girl from a wealthy family who finds herself exiled (for reasons hinted at but not spelled out in this first volume) along with two twin retainers. Together they've moved to a remote, inhospitable land that reportedly has witches inhabiting a nearby forest. As is the way of these things, one confronts Liselotte, and it is only through the intervention of a mysterious white-haired stranger that nothing worse happens.

Evidently this was written by the same person who wrote Fruits Basket, and it's fairly clear now that someone spelled it out for me. The art style is very similar, as is the setup for the plot. There's something mysterious hinted at in flashbacks and Liselotte's thoughts, but I guess we'll have to wait until the following volumes to know more. I thought this was a fine first volume, but a bit light in terms of action or unpredictability.

Liselotte, daughter of a feudal lord, has been exiled to the lands east of the east of the east, now living with her servants Anna and Alto, the mysterious Engetsu, and the impertinent familiar Yomi at the edge of the witch's forest. Despite Alto's objections, Lise's new family somehow continues to grow. But her troublesome past has caught up to them and Engetsu is seriously injured. Can Lise save him and also continue to live as optimistically as her heart desires...?

We get a bit of Engetsu backstory in this volume, bringing the entire melodrama level up another ten notches or so. Liselotte has to deal with Engetsu's change in personality and not get caught up in it herself, and the house gains a few new unexpected residents (how large of a house is this, anyway?). 

I'm starting to get a little bored with the constant melodrama with not a lot of payoff. We're still left wondering whether or not Liselotte was exiled for real reasons, and what the connection is, exactly, between Liselotte, Engetsu, and her brother. It seems like every volume sort of hints at the same series of events, but then pulls away right when things might become more clear. Rather than encouraging me to continue, I almost feel a little annoyed by it. 

I'm also not in love with Liselotte as a character. She's very....bland as a stand alone character. All her personality comes from the people she interacts with. Like the tofu of personalities, I guess. 

I don't know, maybe I'll grab the next volume eventually, but certainly it's fallen a bit on the priority list for me.