Content warning: slavery; suicide. In 1213 AD, in the city of Tus, a young girl named Sitara is sold as a slave. The family that buys her is kind, even teaching her how to read the Quran and to practice Islam. At first distraught over losing her mother, Sitara eventually comes to accept her circumstances and even love her owners. But after eight years, an army of nomads sacks Tus. The leader of the nomads decides to make off with a copy of Euclid’s Elements that belongs to Sitara’s owners. When Sitara, knowing that this is one of their most precious belongings, berates the leader, one of the soldiers strikes at her with his sword—but Sitara’s mistress takes the blow for her. As she dies, she calls Sitara “daughter.” Now Sitara has twice lost a mother figure. She meets up with the other slaves from her household who have been captured, only to lose them in various ways: one who loses the will to live after seeing her brother shot with an arrow, another who decides she doesn’t want to live any longer and charges at one of the soldiers. One by one, everyone and everything that Sitara thought she could rely on is taken away from her. Then, unexpectedly, as Sitara is contemplating throwing away her life too, another slave restrains her. “Don’t you want to get that book back?” he asks. And once more, Sitara finds something to live for…
Well, that escalated quickly. Jaadugar (in these first two episodes that have been released together) lures us in with its initially idyllic setting (apart from the slavery, natch), then rapidly pulls the rug out from under us. The storytelling is masterful, enchanting, and helped along by the distinctive visuals: Line art is minimal, the color palette more muted than in many anime series, and the figures more rounded than the linear, angular characters we might expect. The result is a more fantastic, fairy tale feel that nevertheless fits this historically grounded tale. Sitara is adorable, and the world through her eyes is captivating, both in its beauty and its ugliness. One example of the incredible detail in the story stood out to me: Early on, the son of the family for which Sitara works drops a bucket, which is heavily dented. Thereafter, in various scenes spanning the years of Sitara’s life there, the damaged bucket can still be seen, used in various ways or resting in the background or foreground. The attention to detail floored me. This promises to be a very rewarding, if emotional, series. I will be back for more.
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia is streaming on Crunchyroll.
