Warning! Spoilers ahead for Make The Exorcist Fall In Love chapter 4!
A new series called Make The Exorcist Fall In Love on Shueisha's online-only spin-off of Shonen Jump is edging in big-time on Witch Watch, the only action-filled romantic comedy in the publisher's actual weekly flagship magazine.
Although serialized in Japan's Shonen Jump+ app since late 2021, Make The Exorcist Fall In Love written by Aruma Arima and illustrated by Masuku Fukayamajust got picked up by Shonen Jump+'s international equivalent MANGA Plus, and there are some obvious correlations in what transpires in later chapters to the overall subject matter in Shonen Jump's Witch Watch by mangaka Kenta Shinohara.
Both series couldn't be any more different tone-wise, as Witch Watch is more of a spoof while Make The Exorcist... is a much more serious series with some comedic aspects sprinkled throughout. But the main theme in each manga is similar: a powerful boy is tasked with protecting a girl who has been targeted by some ominous force and the most effective way to carry out the assignment is for the two of them to live together. Such an audacious setup understandably culminates in at least one of the two individuals forming feelings for the other. In Witch Watch, the girl Nico Wakatsuki and boy Morihito "Moi" Otogi are recently reunited childhood friends, and Nico is head over heels for Moi while he is more focused on his job to protect her. In Make The Exorcist..., the currently nameless boy is tormented by love due to his faith while the girl Imuri Atsuki is actually in league with Satan who wants her to seduce the exorcist for him.
With these plotlines in mind, it's understandable why fans consider the incorporation of romance to be one of the main driving forces behind each series' appeal. Witch Watch started out this way, but as the manga progressed, Nico's other desires overshadowed her romantic feelings for Moi, becoming more concerned with fitting in at school, making her classmates happy with magic, and helping Moi open up to a new roommate. Even though reader interest in Witch Watch eventually waned as the focus shifted from romance, the romantic elements in Make The Exorcist... already outshine even Witch Watch's best moments. Nico's obsession with Moi was adorable for sure, but Moi's obvious bewilderment and constant rejections (although not intentional) eventually caused readers to realize that the feelings were one-sided and lost hope. Meanwhile, it's clear from the beginning that Make The Exorcist...'s nameless boy is trying to fight off some sort of feelings for Imuri, though, the young exorcist has admitted he enjoys being with her.
In regards to Imuri, readers originally believed that her relationship with her caregiver would just be another iteration of the common trope where the protagonist pretends to be in love with another person to trick them for whatever reason but ends up actually falling in love. But there's a twist. Imuri is a certain type of succubus who will only seduce those she actually has feelings for. In other words, Imuri will begin to carry out her plot once she comes to care about her protector rather than developing these emotions along the way. As of chapter four, the dynamic between Imuri and the nameless boy in Make The Exorcist Fall In Love is already much more complex and nuanced than Nico and Moi's relationship ever was in Witch Watch, making this just the latest example where a series in Shueisha's flagship Shonen Jump publication is outshined by another in its spinoff MANGA Plus platform.