The first Japanese light novel I read from start to finish holds a dear place in my heart. Be it from a sense of accomplishment, or my love for a cute love story, I’m deeply fond of this novel.
Written by Eiko Mutsuhana, “Hello, I am a witch and my crush wants me to make a love potion” is an incredibly sweet, somewhat stereotypical, feel good story.
Embarrassingly, although it took me almost a half year to complete it, I was always able to jump right back into the story whenever I picked the book up. As the story flows together quite comprehensively, I never found myself having to backtrack to understand plot devices, or character names.
Some information about the author
“Hello, I am a witch and my crush wants me to make a love potion” isn’t this authors only light novel, and she also has a few manga series that I really recommend!
For my Canadian readers, you can check out the translated English manga adaptation of this story, along with another light novel and its manga adaptation here!
What’s the story about?
Written mostly from the perspective of the good witch Rose, the story centres around her seemingly one-sided love for the impressively elite royal knight, Harij. It’s a rather stereotypical love story, but in my opinion that adds a bit of charm. The story is set in a fictional world where witches are seen as evil outcasts, and thus live outside of the major cities. Our protagonist Rose lives by herself in a tiny house on a tiny island, separated from the outside world by just one boat. As she is seen as inherently evil by some ignorant townspeople, she comes into trouble several times throughout the story, which gives her consistent savior, Harij, a chance to shine.
The good
A way with words
One of my favourite things about this light novel is Mutsuhana’s artistic writing style. I learnt at least one new phrase every chapter, and more words than I can count. There was more than one instance of needing to contact a Japanese friend to get some linguistic clarification. This just made me want to read more however, as I gained a sense of accomplishment when I was eventually able to read and understand these more difficult phrases.
The wholesomeness
If I were to describe this story in one word, it would be “cute”. From start to finish, I happily followed along on the magical love story.
Something a bit peculiar about me: I’m not a fan of drama. I once stayed up until 4am watching a certain K-drama, where the leads finally got together.. for the scene to end in a car crash leaving the female lead with amnesia, and just like that the relationship was over. My poor heart couldn’t take all of the emotions.
If you are like me and have a weak heart, I think you will enjoy this story! Whenever Rose is in trouble, it’s safe to assume that Harij will come to her rescue. Likewise, in the end, you can rest assured that the two will end up together. There’s no room for negative emotions in this cute love story.
The art
One of my favourite things about reading light novels is the images spattered throughout the novel! I always like to see if the character look how I imagine them (especially if I’m reading in a foreign language). The images found in this story are just beautiful. They come at the (to me) most important parts of the story, and always add a bit more emotion.
I mean, just look at how cute these two are together!
The less than good
- Age-gap relationship
The only thing I didn’t love about this story was the crown princess’s arranged marriage to a foreign king, a man more than twice her age. It was a seemingly small plot line, but it certainly rubbed me the wrong way. She was shown to have a happy ending just like our main couple, but still I was not a fan. I had secretly hoped she would end up with Rose’s mysterious merchant friend, but alas.
To summarize…
As I said previously, this light novel holds a special place in my heart. Though I am bias, I do recommend it to Japanese learners who wish to improve their vocabulary while enjoying a very cute story.
If you are interested in reading this in English, you can click here for more information. For the Japanese version, the paperback or kindle version can be purchased here.
If you have read this light novel, please let me know your thoughts!
Maddies Manga 
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