Black Wind Pandora Manwha (Webtoon) Review

Witches are real beings. Different than humans and hunted by Templars they have been hidden away for

hundreds of years. Kang Woohyun´s best friend begins the revival of the witches. Her death leads to Kang Woohyun being revived by two six hundred year old witches. Witches who are at the center of a death battle between Templars and humans. 

My Thoughts (Half of them)

Witch hunts were the result of a very real fear

I chose Black Wind because the witch theme goes well with Halloween. In real life there are humans who do describe themselves as witches. I was thinking this was what Black Wind meant. Instead the webtoon blew me away with proposing the idea of witches being non-humans. All those witch-hunts of the Middle Ages we dismissed as innocents being killed by superstitions had truth to them. The witch hunters who were able to catch and kill their query did overlook one HUGE detail. In this webtoon witches are more or less able to live forever. They can be revived from their current death state through the blood of a human. The human then is linked to them in a strange relationship where the human cannot die but do not transform into a witch themselves.

Those of you familiar with a book like the Davinci Code may remember the Knights of Templar. In Black Wind the Knights of Templar are also non-humans. They have their own brand of powers used to hunt down witches. If a human gets in the way they get killed as well. The relationship of humans-witches-and Templars are described on the right. Personally I believe we get a shady deal. I get the witches wanting

The human-templar-witch triangle of power

 to kill us in revenge. I can see their angle. The Templars, on the other hand, are supposed to be our Saviors. Yet they don´t think twice about killing a human to keep their existence a secret! I would call them just as much as a risk to humans as the witches. Perhaps more because they definitely fit the bill for psychopathic serial killers. I am on the witches side when it comes to the Templar existence. Take them out before they take us out.

The Characters
The main character is a young man named Kang 

Dana rescues Woohyun from his abusive childhood

WooHyun  who is visiting a childhood friend Dana when chaos breaks out. In the beginning he seems like a happy-go-lucky guy but as the manga goes Woo Hyun´s sad past is revealed. He saw Dana as his Savior. Her death brings out the darker side of him intent on revenge. 

Literal Witch Doormat

Simulatenously he has a great deal of kindness for his new family. Even though Jeanne accuses him of being selfish, beats on him, and treats him like a doormat he never runs out on them.




Jeanne is the witch ´tied´ to Woohyun who was brought back by his blood. Unfortunately her actual

Jeanne explains why she appears like a child

body was swapped with her sister´s. She is pint-size power with an angelic look but devilish temper. Jeanne cares deeply for her sister but remains conflicted over Woohyun´s role in their lives. She is quick to tear him down for being human. Then turns around to guilt him over not treating her sister better. Her sister who had an incident in the past which makes her extremely child-like with zero distinguishable vocabulary. She has a lot of power but acts out to defend those she cares for but doesn´t understand the reality of their situation.

Kyle & Naska

There are numerous Templar characters just like there are other witches as well. Kyle is the highly unusual witch. He is male (clearly) which makes his power work differently. At his side is Naska who is extremely powerful but acts like a bratty younger sister. The two are close in their own way even though Kyle is supposed to be merely the protector. 

Geil 

Out of all the Templars, Geil is the one first met in battle by a witch. She is a powerhouse. Geil can keep up with witches who are out of most Templars leagues. Her power partly comes from an immense desire to destroy the witches who took away her family. No matter how much damage her body takes she is unwilling to give up. Geil is not just muscle. She is a strategist with a high respect for her ´ḿaster.´   

The Art

Kyle fights the Templars

Black Wind is beautiful in so many ways. I am a very big fan of the artist´s use of colors. The backdrops for fights are often done in rich darker shades which contrast beautifully against the white witch. Pages often have a great deal of white which serves to highlight the scenes shown. Scenes which use colors ranging from soft pinks to sky blues to fiery orange.

The white witch first moments after rebirth

 Templars are typically clothed in dark serious colors befitting their ´intense´ job while witches get clothed in pastels which add a pop of color to this dark webtoon.

Colors aside Black Wind does have

its´ share of artistic difficulties. One of the most noticeable (to me maybe not to everyone) was the look of a character´s movements in battle. They appear ´stiff´ at times like the anatomy of them is not quite right for the action. I will try to explain as

best I can how I think of it. When reading a manga fight scene I get the sense of it being very fluid. One move flows into the  next even though they might be on seperate pages. Part of the character´s ´fluidity´ comes from reading a movement through their whole body language. I look at the picture on the left and love the feel of the characters she cut through. They are in mid-movement but Geil herself is bland. She looks like a poorly posed mannequin. Her whole body hardly fits the scene of someone who just slashed apart a hated opponent. The upper arm is supposed to give an impression of using her sword but it´s just stiff with her lower one looking to floppy to do anything. And the pose of her legs just doesn´t fit

the overall picture. In the webtoon the artist usually does an excellent job on the witch battle scenes making me wonder just why Geil is so awkward in battle. 

My Thoughts (Part 2)
I felt extremely rushed at the start of Black Wind. You get an episode in when suddenly there´s crazy fighting, people are getting annihilated, and no one

Because of you we need more info on plot background please

ever explained just what the hell is going on here?! You feel like you missed a chapter somewhere! Agh. One of my pet peeves in mangas is when they immediately start referencing past events without ever indicating what is this character about right now. Black Wind started out like a freaky flash flood. Suddenly all this information is flooding you without so much as a ´Warning´ Seriously Plot Downpours expected. 

The rushed beginning evens out further into Black

Tsukune moment? Wimpy human transforms to powerful character?

Wind. Unfortunately once the plot downpours have slowed I got a sense the author had lost enthusiasm for his own webtoon. Sink holes in the plot started opening up all over. The characters are fighting but why? Every ´episode´ started to feel like it was trying to rush getting to the ending. The ending which left me wondering if somehow there were more chapters somewhere or a second ´season´ in the making. For having high hopes at the start of this webtoon I felt pretty disappointed with how Black Wind ended up.

To the Reader
Those who enjoy a manga fight or ten should consider

Black Wind a possible read. You don´t need a real plot

to appreciate the action. Readers interested in webtoon art should take a quick look at what Black Wind has to offer. There is a definite beauty to the white-haired witch. Fans of little girls with lots of sass type humor may go for Black Wind´s later chapters. 

***I´ve decided to give a final rating to all manga I read with 10 being mind stunning amazing and 0 being worse than 24 hours of explosive watery stool.

Final Rating: 6.7

Details

Name(s): 블랙윈드 ; Black Wind Pandora; Black Wind
Author(s): Jay-gyuun
Artist(s): Jay-gyuun
Chapters(s): 39
Genre: Mystery, Drama, Tragedy, Fantasy
Status: Complete (?)
Anime: No
Webtoon: Yes