🐦‍⬛ Meet the Crow Witch

When Kabu and Kabocha first stumble into the woods in Episode 1, it’s the Crow Witch who greets them. She doesn’t appear as a villain—at least, not at first. She’s sprightly, sings when she speaks, and offers them exactly what they’re desperate for: a sunflower whose seeds will feed their starving village. One seed per person, per day. That’s the bargain.

But like any good folktale, bargains are never what they seem.

The Crow Witch thrives on cracks in people’s armor. She doesn’t create flaws—she finds them, waters them, and lets them grow. Where there is pride, she offers praise. Where there is doubt, she whispers certainty. Where there is love, she tempts with betrayal. Every deal feels like a gift, but always comes with a shadow.

Her magic is tied to cursed seeds, which she scatters across the land like a farmer of corruption. Each seed twists human weakness into monstrous form. Yet she isn’t chaos for its own sake—she serves the Tengu of Mount Madarao, ferrying souls to him in exchange for her own power. That service is both her crown and her chain.

In song, she reveals her philosophy: that trust only leads to disappointment, that loyalty is a trap, and that power belongs to those willing to take it. But under the regal menace, there’s a hint of tragedy. She was once free, soaring high on her own wings, before binding herself to Madarao’s mountain. Now, every seed she plants is both an act of defiance and a reminder of her debt.

She isn’t a cackling villain. She’s cunning, elegant, and frighteningly convincing—the kind of figure who can make you question if she’s truly the enemy, or just the only one honest enough to point out the cracks in the world.

👤 Quick Profile

• Name: The Crow Witch
• Age: Timeless, though she wears the mask of a sprightly elder
• Appearance:
  • Disguise: Elegant, beautiful older woman, sprightly and whimsical.
  • True Form: Karasu-Tengu — a crow demon with feathers, claws, and a black fan.
• Personality: Trickster, manipulative, playful but calculating. Not purely malicious—her chaos always has an underlying purpose.
• Role: Catalyst of the story. Gives Kabu the cursed sunflower, setting everything into motion. She is both antagonist and mirror—revealing flaws the heroes would rather ignore.
• Power: Seeds that tempt and corrupt, amplifying human flaws into monstrous form. Uses contracts, bargains, and half-truths.
• Flaw: Bound to the mountain tengu Madarao, she must ferry him souls. Her cleverness masks servitude, and her pride won’t let her admit she is trapped.

🎭 Why She Matters

The Crow Witch isn’t just a villain; she’s the embodiment of temptation and survival. She reveals the fractures already there—greed, pride, envy, mistrust—and lets them grow until they become curses.

To Kabu and his friends, she’s a test: of their ideals, their bonds, their very understanding of what makes someone a hero. To the mountain tengu, she’s just a servant paying a debt. But to herself, she’s something more—a queen of flaws, feathers, and fractured truth.

Whether she falls, or finds freedom, is one of the central questions of the story.