Review of Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia

Unique artstyle, premise and setting, a semi interesting teaser and Science SARU as the studio behind it were enough for me to somewhat keep this show under my radar. Then I kept my expectations low, first after I was told that this anime is not like Chikyuu no Undo ni Suite or Viland Saga and more like Kusuriya no Hitorigoto, which I didn’t like nor even bothered to finish it as I dropped it out of boredom midway through its first season. And then later on I lowered them even more because I was told that it’s like a curious telenovella, and even another person told me that the beginning of the manga was crap. So as you see there was not much reason for me to watch it at that point but I still did that after I finished all the anime from its season that kinda interested me but not as much as this one. I gotta say that I don’t understand the warnings or comparisons I got.

The concerns about the astros are very small in the series to compare it with Chikyuu no Undo ni Suite, but I get it, it’s a historical drama about the importance of saving, conserving and passing down knowledge, and there’s another tiny bit about religion as well. Other than that the shows are not comparable so I don’t know why the other one was brought up, but I get it, this one is not as ambitiously intellectual nor as dramatic, is what I gathered.

The link with Vinland Saga is even thinner, like I guess this is also a historical drama about revenge, but instead of exploring the emptiness and self destructive nature of the path to it from that show, this one is about not forgetting that goal despite the passing of time and the apparition of a chance of moving on from it, at least from what was seen in this season, and that’s quite not the best message is it now? But I think I get it, this is not an action filled historical drama about revenge, it shares the theme but it’s otherwise different as it’s more chill and about political scheming.

The comparison with Kusuriya no Hitorigoto makes slightly more sense, as this anime is also about the internal political conflicts within an empire, but it is also slightly more serious, it’s not about episodic mysteries, and Sitara is nowhere near as capable as the almost Mary Sue Mao Mao was, which is what made me drop the other show. But oh well, the two are Josei series about internal political plots within an empire, I get it.

And finally I see no relation with a telenovella whatsoever. At least where I come from, that genre is about the melodramatic lives of middle class characters (usually) with lots of romance, cheating, breaking and getting back, and stuff. Encountering anything akin to that in this anime is what scared me the most, but luckily there was nothing of the sort here.

And the guy who told me that the beginning of the manga was crap ended up saying that it became good later on, so ok, no problem.

So in the end there was no real reason to be worried about when starting this anime, but let’s move on into its actual issues, all related to the narrative and some of which resulted in me not liking the show.

The most minor issue is the tone not being as serious as I would have expected and liked from the premise, as sometimes the characters can do something silly in the middle of what’s supposed to be a serious scene about a part of the plan of the protagonist in a historical drama series about betrayal and revenge, but oh well I guess that it seems like that’s inevitably going to happen with most anime out there. It’s nowhere near as bad as the main character in World is Dancing ruining everything else, in the early episodes at least, or Sparks of Tomorrow being mostly unserious.

Like I said, the protagonist is not very capable. Although it’s nice to have a different lead than Mary Mao Mao Sue, Sitara messes up in ways that sometimes are solved purely by luck or due to the will of other characters or for the lighthearted tone of the series at points. It's not like there aren’t moments when she makes things go in her favor due her own intelligence, but most of it comes from supposed scheming and smart other characters easily falling for her lies and fake smiles. Well, I can actually excuse this seemingly flaw up to a point. Sitara is a slave without much that she can actually do so it makes sense that she’s this close to fail at getting her objective, and as it turns out, the antagonists were outplaying her in her own field. Not like the constant plot conveniences in Sparks of Tomorrow.

That does not take away that sometimes the script does play a little conveniently for the main character to save her ass from her mistakes, like no one telling her apart from the slave she impersonates in I believe episode 5? See, sometimes this is too silly and easygoing, guess it’s still a Josei despite not having chibi comedy, that episode was the worst of all 12 of them. And there are even things that I don’t know how believable they are, just as letting a slave do all the stuff Sitara does, as it was kinda the case as well with Mao Mao, but at least she was under direct command of an important figure inside her palace, while this main character does not have even that level of importance/rank.

Although the story is constantly moving and keeping you engaged, there kinda is a pacing issue, as important historical events and deaths are glossed over to show the relevant characters more, but oh well that can be mostly excused for the focus of the anime itself. It’s not about the war and conquest themselves, it’s about the politics that were happening behind the scenes. What can’t be excused is when the pacing affects the character dynamics, like when the original master or owner of the protagonist throws herself to protect Sitara and even refers to her as her daughter, in just two episodes and after a big time skip. Time skips are abundant in the show and it doesn’t feel like the plot nor the main character progressed much after them, and like I just said, it makes some things feel inorganic.

Now that I mentioned that, let’s talk about the real main issue of the show and the primary reason why I can’t like it on a personal level, which is how pro slavery is at times. It’s presented more of a circumstance which lets the protagonist get more knowledge, but in order to accept her being enraged for “everything that was took from me” as she claims, which is her previous life as a slave, you really have to get in the mindset of watching something set thousand of years ago and with a fitting mostly conservative view, otherwise you will dislike this anime as I do.

For example there’s another secondary woman that talks all happily about the husband and family she started in the Mongolian empire, and yes that’s a reason to be happy about but it happening after being slaved by the Mongols is not, what are we doing here? It could maybe be said that it’s not that important because it’s a throwaway character, but we go back to what I said about the main character earlier and what then? Even if the anime tried to say that not all slave owners were bad, or equally bad, there’s no time dedicated to her newfound family before she loses them, because of the timeskips, thus the audience can’t exactly understand nor accept that dynamic, relationship and feeling, and by extension her motivation, and also, Vinland Saga 2 did it better.

But oh well now with the bad out of the way, let’s focus on the good stuff of this anime that I didn’t mention so far

The first obvious thing is the artwork which is the most unique from the year, even more so than Sayonara Lara’s. It’s hard to even compare it to other anime, as it’s closer to a combination of Persepolis and The Breadwinner (2017 animated movie), both of which even have some thematic connection, so they are the recommended list of the day, despite feeling like the exact opposite to this series, if you know what I mean. I have my complaints about the character designs making the characters seem younger or not changing much despite aging throughout the years, and the motions aren’t much, but everything else from not only just artwork but also backgrounds and special effects, is very good. This anime also plays around a bit with first person perspectives and darkness… I'm telling you, this is the hidden aesthetic/directing trend of the year in the medium (Lara, Nippon Sangoku, Atelier, Sparks of Tomorrow).

The audio department is almost as good as the visuals. For the first time in the year there’s an anime that actually incorporated what’s supposed to be its time period and setting to its soundtrack, unlike Sparks of Tomorrow and most everything else, and did have a better balanced display of sound effects as well, did not waste great pieces in favor of overusing the same one, unlike Sayonara Lara, and chose wisely which tracks to use to enhance the scenes, unlike Atelier, and it was actually noticeable here, unlike most other titles I have seen from 2026. The problem is that the opening and ending aren’t as good. They are fine but not much else, and the opening seems a little more lively than I would expect for the anime. The voice acting wasn’t much until I looked up the cast and went HOW DID THEY SOUND LIKE THAT? as most seiyuus didn’t sound like their usual stuff. Impressive voicing itself aside, the actual acting didn’t surprise me, and the dialogues in other languages were a nice detail but the acting during those scenes was more flat so I don’t think they added much more quality.

As for the story, despite avoiding the war itself almost completely, it’s actually pretty good as it shows the different perspectives and political plots of several characters, and by that I mean mostly the women in the cast, as most of the men are preoccupied with the war and being literal bros, so aside from the second Khan and his ideas about ruling the world peacefully to end conflicts and allow even slaves to live happily, none of them added much to the plot progression or the themes, besides their antagonistic role. The “witches” and empresses on the other hand appreciate knowledge, want the expansion and prosperity and the “best” for the Mongolian empire through the concentration of its power, send the protagonist on spying missions or have her unknowingly aid in killings and more stuff. I’m actually surprised there weren't more cries about the literal girl bosses in this anime while most men are doing whatever warmongering.

As a result, despite there being a clear protagonist, the support and antagonistic cast is ambitious and proactive on their own, and even mess up the plans of the main character more than once. As engaging as it is to see one character trying to manipulate the rest, it’s more fun when they have a brain as well and complicate things and desire something and have something to achieve or get on their own. It’s the sign of a good set of characters that aren’t just plot devices, unlike the case of Nippon Sangoku, a good anime from the year, for a single one to carry the rest on their shoulders, which was an issue even on other good anime titles from 2026 like Yomi no Tsugai or Akane-banashi.

And despite me making fun of it earlier for how easily it can be twisted, the message of persevering and not forgetting and not letting a major goal and, possibly, a right cause, go, even if it means sacrificing one’s own opportunities for an easy and happy life, is quite good. Plus themes of the importance of knowledge and human creation which are of course nice and even more valuable than ever in the era of the rise, spreading and contamination of generative AI. The story is still ongoing thus there isn’t a real closure in this anime, but for a first season it ends in a somewhat satisfactory point, even letting the protagonist achieve part of her goal and objective.

The fact that the cast is scheming and ambitious and proactive on their own means that they are not oblivious to the actions of the main character, and if they let her do as she pleases at times or let her get away with stuff, it’s not because they think she does not pose a threat, but rather because they believe they can outsmart her and use her for their own goals, which is a nice breath of fresh air for a premise like this one. On top of that, most of the major ones are fleshed out by having different dynamics with others and backdrop stories of their own. Only Awajima Hyakkei managed to expand on its roster like this in this year, but where that series failed in tying all of that together appropriately, Jaadugar succeeds. Oh, and the backstories were presented in moments of relaxation that do not interrupt the flow of the plot, and even the main antagonist was shown and twisted before being recontextualized both in present time and through her flashback, which is what Sayonara Lara failed at with Grace.

And when it is serious, the anime is quite great as far as atmosphere is concerned. Despite the artstyle, the bleakness and cruelty of the setting, time period and characters are shown appropriately without the need for brutal explicit content nor over the top characterization. Adding the perspective of the second wife of the second Khan was also good, as she does not negate the crimes of her own people and how the war with the Mongols led to her current situation, unlike Sitara who has a black and white vision of events and people.

My comparisons with all the aforementioned series weren’t to criticize them once again just because, but to reinforce what this anime did right that those didn’t, or what this one did better than the rest. What I’m trying to say here is that despite its narrative issues and lack of an ending, and even though I don’t like it for its pro slavery take at times, Jaadugar is the title that managed to balance characters and story the best out of all the anime that I watched from this year, thus making it at least temporarily the best of the year, but still not as good as shows from previous years, thus not the best of the decade, as I’ve read some say about it.


7/10