Witch on the Holy Night Story is awesome

Article at a glance:

• Witch on the Holy Night isn’t just another Nasuverse story—it’s the perfect deep dive into True Magic, mage politics, and why the Aozaki sisters are legends.
• Meet Soujuurou Shizuki: the most unusual protagonist in the Nasuverse, a feral outsider who doesn’t care about magic—until it tries to kill him.
• Two True Magics, a witch hiding in plain sight, and a family feud that reshapes the Nasuverse—Mahoyo packs more lore into one story than most series do in ten.

You know how I have been doing Fate lore articles for a while now? Well, that was all to lead up to this one. I needed to finish talking about the Magic system and True Magic before I could touch Witch on the Holy Night because all those deep aspects of the lore play an important part in the story of MaHoYo. And I have to say, I think that MaHoYo has a case for being Nasu’s best work, I think it is up there with the best of Kara no Kyoukai. And I don’t say that lightly.

My thoughts could change after I get a chance to play the Tsukihime remake. Come on, release it on PC already, Type/Moon, it has been ages.

But yeah, today we are talking about Witch on the Holy Knight or Mahoutsukai no Yoru and why its story is so awesome. There is a lot to talk about in this light novel. And of course, spoiler warning. If you haven’t yet played MaHoYo, I strongly recommend it. It goes on discount quite often on Steam, pick it up whenever you like. But yeah, with that said, let’s get started.

Who is Soujuurou Shizuki?

I think starting with the protagonist and the character you play as is the best way to go about it.

Shizuki is an interesting character even among the other Nasuverse protagonists, you see, Soujuurou has a true outsider perspective of events. Whatever’s happening in the story does not concern him in any way. He gets involved because happens to encounter Aoko and Alice killing monsters and that’s it. You would think that this would make him boring, but that’s just not true. Soujuurou grounds Aoko’s ambition and Alice values his unique perspective on things.

Soujuurou was raised by a village of assassins in the mountains. He is far from normal and he lacks a fear impulse whatsoever. He lacks the function that makes complex tasks simple for us. For example, moving an arm is a complex task but we don’t have to think about it. But with Soujuurou, he has to think about moving every single muscle to perform even a simple task like that. This gives him a very unique fighting style that relies on perfection.

Soujuurou lacks a presence and in a crazy twist, he actually gets weaker as the story goes on since he starts to develop a sense of self.

The Aozaki Family

As you might expect, the Aozaki family is central to understanding the plot of Witch on the Holy Night.

Aozaki Touko serves as the main antagonist while her sister, Aoko is one of our protagonists. Since Witch on the Holy Night takes place before Tsukihime and KnK, this is a very different Touko from the one we are familiar with. This isn’t the mentor-figure Touko we know. Touko in MaHoYo is relentless and menacing. You see, the Aozaki family, really wanted to create a mage that could inherit The Second Magic, Kaleidoscope. And they were blessed with two very capable daughters, despite having mediocre magic circuits as a family.

Touko was born with exceptional magic circuits, having some of the best circuits ever seen in a mage. These allow her to utilize really complicated spells and make puppets that are almost indistinguishable from real humans. Meanwhile, Aoko showed signs of having the Second Magic so she was chosen as the family heir and this just didn’t sit right with Touko.

As we all know though, Aoko doesn’t inherit the Second Magic, she ends up awakening a new true magic, The Fifth Magic, Blue. The rivalry between these sisters is a key part of what makes Witch on the Holy Night so good. The Fifth Magic ends up being such a cool surprise at the end.

Alice Kuonji

You thought The Fifth Magic was the only involvement True Magic had in the story of Witch on the Holy Night? Well, think again. Alice has inherited the First Magic…well, kind of. Still sucks that we don’t know what the First and the Fourth Magic entail.

Still, Alice Kuonji has apparently inherited traces of the First Magic. Alice, again, has a rather interesting backstory. Her mother was considered a True Witch by the Mages Association and hence, they did not like her. Alice’s father met her while he was out studying and soon they fell in love. Witches are not allowed to fall in love because the daughter born to them will also be a Witch and would have to carry the same burden.

On the surface, Alice appears cold and collected, and to an extent, that is true. Alice is not good at showing emotion but, she is surprisingly aggressive and even self-destructive at times. She is fiercely protective of her Ploys, she is very unstable at times, and an absolute monster in combat. She is friends with both the Aozaki sisters which makes her interactions with them quite interesting. Alice is a friend and teacher to Aoko but Touko is the only one who understands Alice. That said though, she is more than happy to let the sisters fight for some reason.

The Lore

What makes the story of Witch on the Holy Night even more interesting is how much lore it’s filled with. This is the first time we have seen True Magic be such a focal point in a Nasuverse story. Yeah, Tsukihime has some of it, Fate deals with the Third Magic as well but here, we have two. And not to mention, the story marks a very important occasion, that being the unlocking of the Fifth Magic.

MaHoYo also contributes a lot to world-building as we get a different perspective on the Mages Association. Yeah, being against the Mages Association or the Clock Tower is nothing new, we have seen many characters exhibit this sentiment. But Alice’s kind are actively shunned by the Mages Association which forced her to keep her true identity hidden and well, they don’t get along well with the Aozaki family either, let’s just say.

The Aozaki family also provides an interesting lens into how a typical mage family functions. Because they had been trying for generations to create an heir to the Second Magic. That didn’t quite happen but Aoko got her own True Magic which may be capable of similar things to the Second Magic. Either way, the way the Aozaki family behaves throughout the VN is why Touko went rogue, right?

That is all for now

There is a lot to like in the story of Witch on the Holy Night. I hope that this article was able to explain some things. I just wanted to do an article going over the plot of MaHoYo because despite the setting and story being simple, there are a lot of easy-to-miss things here. But yeah, with that said, I will take my leave here. I need some sleep. See ya!