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Majou Taisen: 32-nin no Isai no Majo wa Koroshiau

Year:

2020-

Nationality:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Writer:

Homura Kawamoto

Artist:

Makoto Shiozuka

Publisher:

Coamix, MangaHot, YenPress

Genre:

Action, Dark Fantasy, Seinen

Other websites:

Summary
Walpurgis is a one-on-one tournament among the witches. The witches will fight to the death against each other as they advance to the next round. Those who die in Walpurgis will have a permanent death. The winner will be granted any wish by Agrat Bat Mahlat. (Majou Taisen wiki)
Cleopatra, The Love Witch (Source: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/majo-taisen/images/b/b0/Cleopatra.png/revision/latest?cb=20230302113738)
Cleopatra’s meeting with Caesar after the carpet episode (Source: https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/ZnQAAOSwmDViszZ1/s-l1200.jpg)
Zenobia, the War Witch (Source: https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/majo-taisen/images/b/b2/Zenobia.png/revision/latest?cb=20221024200519)
Egyptomania narratives or motifs
Majou Taisen: 32-nin no Isai no Majo wa Koroshiau (魔女大戦 32人の異才の魔女は殺し合う), also known as The War of Greedy Witches, is a manga series that revolves around the deadly tournament, called “Walpurgis” and organized by female demons. In Walpurgis, 32 female historical characters who have been branded as “witches” must fight to the death to fulfill their true desires. The losers will have their souls disintegrated for eternity. These witches all come from different time periods and have different abilities according to the type of witch they are. Two of the witches are related to ancient Egypt: Cleopatra and Zenobia.

Cleopatra is presented as The Witch of Love, for she has the power to seduce any man and make him submit, which recalls both the Augustan propaganda employed against her as well as the accounts of Graeco-Roman authors. She is introduced in the manga as the witch “who defended her country with her beauty” and first appears carried by a group of men devoted to her. Cleopatra is depicted as a light skinned woman with short white hair and dressed in a sexualised, Egyptianising outfit composed of golden attributes, bandages, jewelry, a diadem, and cat ears, an allusion to the Egyptian cult of the goddess Bastet. She is also referred to as a woman of incomparable beauty whose skin shines like lapis lazuli, which is a reference to Egyptian royal attributes.

Cleopatra is depicted as fickle and arrogant, but also a curious woman who speaks in the 3rd person and who gets bored easily when people shower her with love, for she cannot love them back. Her main desire is to find “True Love” and to find someone who is worthy of her love. She is also depicted as cruel, for in the first chapters she dismembers a few men who attempt to touch her because they “didn’t have enough love”. In the flashbacks on her life, she is represented as a woman who was loved by the entire world and who managed to seduce the stern Caesar, to the point that he was obsessed with her and she convinced him to give her Rome. In the manga, they first meet at Caesar’s camp after the famous carpet episode, which recalls literary accounts of their encounter. Their son, Caesarion, also makes a brief appearance in the comic.

In Walpurgis, Cleopatra fights against the Japanese shamaness-queen Himiko, the Witch of “Oni” (demons), and after a long battle, she ends up being defeated by her. Before disappearing forever, she realizes with satisfaction that the fight Himiko gave her was the true love that she had been looking for.

Both Cleopatra’s techniques and abilities allude to her depiction as a seductress, as well as to her Graeco-Egyptian background: her main ability is called “Love Magic: Aphrodite Brachiolas”, which gives her the power to make any wish she has, as long as she touches it and vocalizes it, come true. She also attacks by summoning huge snakes, alluding to Pharaonic royalty. Finally, her outfit is called “Magic Vestment: Aphrodite Moira” and her main weapon is a khepesh sword called the Crescent Moon Sword.

Later, Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra who conquered Egypt, is introduced in the manga as the War Witch. While much has not been revealed about her yet, she is presented as a lazy, emotionless woman who doesn’t care about Walpurgis but who belongs to a group of witches who have united to win the competition. She is depicted with an eye-patch and a modern-like outfit with chains.

Author: Esperanza Macarena Ródenas Perea

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