Yes, W.I.T.C.H. the arguably bit darker, more convulated rival to Winx Club. I enjoyed this one just as much especially the second season of the tv show that was unfortunately cut too soon. At least there’s plenty of comics to enjoy.

I also know there’s eleven arcs, but the US has only released the first eight so I’ll probably update when the last three come out. But for now, this is my ranking of the series as it stands.

1. Nerissa’s Revenge: Ah this may be just the second arc in the series but it has it all. Lore, drama, power-ups. The current Guardians of Kandrakar learn about their predessecors and the fall of Nerissa whose addiction to power led her to betray her friends and even kill one of them. Now she’s back and she wants the Heart and to tear down the veil. It’s an interesting arc as Nerissa manipulates and uses the girl’s fears against them from Hay Lin’s insecurity with her crush to Cornelia’s star-crossed romance with Caleb revealing its fatal flaws, not to mention the return of Will’s neglectful Dad. Moreover, with the parallels of the past and present there’s also the fear of Will falling to the dark sied and having the past repeat itself which always juicy drama to follow. Additionally, the girls get some mentorship from the former Guardians and we can learn more about their powers.

2. Trial of the Oracle: Another great arc in that it changes the game regarding the mysterious Oracle who hasn’t been helpful for most of the series but this arc addresses that! That so rarely happens when it comes to omniscent authority figures so I enjoyed the journey of the Oracle coming back to his humanity. At the same time, the tyrannical Phoebus returns in disguise to take advantage of Kandrakar politics and the girl’s frustration with the Oracle so he can seize power.

3. Book of Elements: The girls powers are growing stronger and more unpredictable. Not in a power upgrade sort of way but something bigger and unseen that Kandarkar don’t know how to deal with it much less the girls. But they have to figure it out fast when Matt gets trapped in between worlds. So not only are the girls have to deal with hidden enemies but the obstacle is their own stronger gifts. All that alongside the surprise redemption of Cedric (and his romance with Orube!), it is all so exciting and I loved it.

4. A Crisis on Both Worlds: This was a shocking twist. Tired of the Oracle, Kandarkar and just the universe manipulating and playing her like a pawn without regard to her own feelings, Taranee quits W.IT.C.H. Not only is this a sad events for her friends who can’t confide in their new mission with her but there’s a new dangers rising like the Earth government becoming interested in their alter-egos, a mad Lord Arkhanta railing against Kandakar and their astral drops rebel. While I’ll admit the Lord Arkhanta and Earth government threats weren’t that interesting to me, I did enjoy the moral grey of the girls trying to prohibit their astral drops from gaining their own personalities. Plus Orube is introduced as Taranee’s replacement! Orube’s awesome so even when Taranee inevitably returns, it’s great she remains a good friend and trainer for them.

5. Ragorlang: One of the last arcs with overarching enemy, the Ragorlang are interesting for how they transform and traumatize its victims so it creates an ever-present danger. A specific, Earth-only danger which is a nice change from all the Other World crises the girls must face. The danger is only increased when the Ibsens, the couple behind the monsters, almost stalk the girls to school and threaten them in their personal lives.

6. Twelve Portals: The beginning of the series does a good job in illustrating the premise though the world-building still confuses me as I read sometimes. Nonetheless, the characters are what drew me in and what made it enjoyable like Elyon finding out about her heritage, Caleb and Cornelia’s first romance and Will facing off against the snakey Phoebus and Cedric as she steps into the leadership role. It’s just memorable.

7. Teach 2b W.I.T.C.H.: This is the beginning of where the series puts more focus on the girls’ personal lives instead of their jobs as Guardians which frankly is boring to me. I do not read this series for realism and slice of life stuff. The main plot is focused on the girls teahcing other magical kids which is cute but eliminates the specialness of the girls’ position in my opinion. It also has a real threatening plot too with a mad scientist and other worlds but it’s almost a leftover thing. You could completely skip those parts and it wouldn’t affect the story much which lessens the whole “danger to all of magic” threat it’s supposed to be.

8. New Power: This arc comes dead last primarily for how it retcons and introduces big inconsistancies by making Matt some sort of spy for Krandakar. Which makes no sense at all! It also has Nigel and Taranee break up for completely arbitrary reasons despite everything they’d been through and we never see Nigel again. We also don’t see Irma’s crush, Jay again but he is replaced with a guy who’s basically him with a different name so what was even the point. Also Taranee is apparently adopted. None of this made sense, it was like some new author took over the story for an arc because none of this is brought up or relevant later and on. The only good thing is the art, that’s it.