The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch (Kuroneko to Majo no Kyōshitsu) is an ongoing Shōnen fantasy manga by Yousuke Kaneda, author of Boarding School Juliet. The manga began serialization in Magazine Pocket in 2022.
Spica Virgo is a young apprentice witch with a grand goal: to become a top first-class magician just like her idol, the legendary Claude Sirius, an amazingly talented and powerful sorcerer who mysteriously vanished one day with none the wiser. To achieve her dream, Spica plans on entering the royal Diana Academy, a prestigious school for talented magicians with potential. There's only one problem though: Spica can't use magic!
Lacking the money and connections to find herself a mentor who can teach her, Spica finds herself in a rut...until one day, she meets a talking black cat who can use magic. In exchange for teaching Spica magic, the black cat gives her one condition: that Spica should help him break free from the curse that forcibly turned him into a cat in the first place. And so, Spica's (mis)adventures with her new master begins thusly...
This series contains the following tropes:
- Academy of Adventure: Diana Academy is home to some of the more prodigious magic talents in the continent, both students and faculty alike. Many of the schools' exams and lessons require students to venture out into (oftentimes) dangerous fields and use their magic, whether it be for simple tasks such as gathering herbs and catching Ropehorns, or for self-defense and combat. The school's also fended off threats from the infamous Black Serpents cult at least once in the backstory and after Arc and Rigel tried to kidnap Spica for her Rebirth magic some time later in the main story.
- Bad Powers, Bad People: The Black Serpents are all users of the forbidden Ophiuchus magic, a dark type magic that's infamous for draining the life force of any unfortunate victim the cult targets. It's also capable of letting users summon grotesque monsters that can gruesomely tear their victims to shreds in a matter of minutes. No surprise that nearly all of the members shown so far are all violent or sadistic in different degrees.
- Cult: The Black Serpents cult worship Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, but contrary to what Asclepius stands for, his worshippers are all murderous terrorists who have no qualms harming even children on a whim using forbidden black magic.
- Elemental Magic: With the exceptions of Pisces, Taurus, and Capricorn, nine of the twelve main zodiac magic types plus the Ophiuchus magic type are all elemental-based magics.
- Forced Transformation: Claude was cursed and forcibly transformed into a talking black cat. Luckily for him, Spica's Rebirth magic can temporarily turn him back into his human form for a given amount of time depending on how much mana Spica still has left. Unfortunately for both of them, they can only revert Claude to his human form if Spica kisses Claude's butthole.Book of Providence: The anus readily absorbs magic and circulates it throughout the body, thus having immediate effect.Claude: What is this? A suppository?!
- Great Big Library of Everything: The Royal Library that Spica and Claude visit in Chapter 1 is home to tens of thousands of magical books in its shelves. The main library itself is already huge, but unlocking the Mother Book reveals a hidden, magical passageway that leads into a realm where an even bigger library awaits those who are smart enough to find it.
- Mundane Utility: In the months leading to Spica's entrance to Diana Academy, Spica used her Virgo magic to help her mother with their family farm's harvest as per Claude's instructions and condition to help train her. It proves beneficial in the long run as using her magic for farming helped Spica get a better handle on her magic.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Claude Coven as a whole is composed of a ragtag group of quirky students with their own personal idiosyncrasies and odd personalities. As their homeroom teacher, Claude has his hands full, much to his consternation.
- Secret Test of Character: Spica and Aria's entrance examination for Diana Academy came in the form of a surprise practical exam made to assess the new prospects by the Deputy Headmaster himself. The secret to passing this exam was for the examinees to show initiative when exposed to danger like the intentional golem attack on the carriage that carried them to Diana Academy. As Spica and Aria were the only ones to have stood up to the enemy and defeated it in spite of the odds, only they got to pass among their group.
- Western Zodiac: All of Spica's classmates, including Spica herself, have surnames named after the astrological signs of the Western Zodiac. The nature of the magic they wield is also dependent and named after the zodiac signs:
- Aries magic lets users create and control fire.
- Taurus magic fortifies the user's body and lets them change their bodily proportions.
- Gemini magic is classified under light magic, not only giving users the ability to create light blasts, but also the ability to duplicate objects and even themselves.
- Cancer magic grants users the power of metal.
- Leo magic lets users invoke the power of beasts, giving them traits and letting them transform into various animals of their choice.
- Virgo magic gives users the ability to manipulate plants.
- Libra magic gives users psychic abilities.
- Scorpio magic gives users the ability to create and manipulate poisons.
- Sagittarius magic grants users the power to manipulate air.
- Capricorn magic lets users absorb other abilities.
- Aquarius magic allows users to manipulate water.
- Pisces magic grants users the power to control and communicate with ocean wildlife.
- The forbidden Ophiuchus magic used by the Black Serpents grants users darkness magic that sucks the life out of its victims and primarily comes in the form of a black snake when cast.
