#ChampMajo covers

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Champignon no Majo Volume 5 Cover

The mushroom on this cover is the gliophorus psittacina, or the parrot mushroom. It's edible, but definitely isn't one's first choice because it's slimy. Commonly found in grassland and woodland clearings. They get their green colors from having a symbiotic relationship with moss and grass.

The plants/flowers on the cover: spear thistle, lobed leaf plant that I couldn't find, and eucalyptus. Spear thistle has a variety of medicinal uses, from lowering blood pressure to helping with stomach problems. Eucalpytus, though poisonous itself, serves to disinfect skin wounds and detoxify. This is all useful for Gustave, who is part of the Ruin Extermination and Poison Transportation team but doesn't have the ability to extract poison from himself.

Spear thistles aren't poisonous, but their prickly exterior can irritate the skin. It may embody how even though he's truly a good guy in the inside, he can be quite annoying lol. It also represent determination, strength, and victory. Although Gustave isn't the most brave, the most outgoing, or the most confident, he embodies all the the above. He does the job because he wants to protect everyone. He keeps at it despite having the most dangerous job. He whines and groans about it all, but he's in this for the long haul. He's also the one who seems most ready to take on the white magicians who will absolutely wish harm on Lis and Luna once they're discovered.

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Gotta obsess over the new cover, sorry.

The things that I see featured on it:

Purple mushroom. It's an amethyst deceiver. They're most commonly found near conifers, oak, birch, or beech in woodland areas. It's edible.

Blueberry blossoms and blueberries. This one was confusing at a glance because the flowers were shaped like lily-of-the-valley, but lily-of-the-valley berries are red.

The leaves he's sitting on look like a mix of conifer, oak, birch, and beech. All woodland types that the purple mushrooms grow on or near.

The cover borders are oak. Accompanying them are acorns, which was an item listed on the lyrics of Green Eyes.

I'm getting the sense that oak is a pretty significant thing in his overall story.

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Champignon no Majo Volume 4 Cover

The mushroom on this cover is the chanterelle. It's an edible mushroom that has a fruity smell and a peppery taste. In fact, it's considered one of the most versatile and delicious mushrooms in the world. It can be found around birch and beech. Not to be confused with the jack-o-lantern, which is far more dangerous.

The flowers/plants on this cover: the mock strawberry and its blossoms. Their application is more medicinal, helpful in detoxification, blood circulation, and lessening respiratory issues. They are also high in vitamins, like vitamins C/A/E, potassium, manganese, and copper. Symbolically they represent purity, luck, and prosperity.

Henri embodies those traits in the story. His attraction and relationship with Luna is based out of a pure, genuine love. As an adult, his interference in Luna's persecution in the village came at the perfect moment to save her, and through him they were able to seek refuge.

However, the question remains on why a mock strawberry was chosen for Henri's cover instead of a strawberry. Very interesting.

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Champignon no Majo Volume 3 Cover

The mushroom on this cover is the shaggy mane. These are edible mushrooms that have very short lifespans. They're part of the ink cap family, meaning once they mature they start turning black and dripping black "ink." So when you pick them you need to eat them either the same day or the next morning. Aesthetically, it goes pretty good with Claude, doesn't it?

The plants/flowers featured: Daisy and clover. Daisies mean a lot that, frankly, don't scream "CLAUDE" to me. However, there's one meaning to them that might apply to him: mysterious love. White daisies can symbolize love hidden in our hearts.

Claude's love for Luna is often frustrating, but we know he cares. Though they're not the best of friends he can't leave her alone and often tries to come up with convenient excuses when he just wants to hang out. He resorts to insults, chastising, and criticism from places of concern when Luna has done something stupid or isn't getting an important task done. He does it from a place of, "Hey, you will get hurt if you do this. You will die if you don't do that. Hey, do you get it?" He's suppressing his genuine care for her but admittedly doesn't know any other way because he "isn't kind", as he put it.

Which brings us to the white clover flower, representing protection, kindness, and thoughtfulness. Claude is one of Luna's protectors. His introduction to the story was him warning Luna about military police heading her way and taking her away in her hat. All of his criticism and reminders comes from a place of concern, as stated before. He brings a practical, grounding approach to an otherwise fantastical Luna.

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Champignon no Majo Volume 2 Cover

The mushroom on this cover is the beautiful, dreaded amanita virosa, or the death angel. They are commonly found near mixed oak and conifer woodland. Eating just one cap of this mushroom will kill an adult human. Most fitting for Lis.

The plants/flowers on this cover: we've got a mix of harebells, bellflowers, and what I'm guessing are lobed leaves of a snow thistle but I'm not sure. Tachibana stated that these were merely meant for aesthetics, but let's dive in.

Harebells have mixed symbolism: everlasting love, grief, and enchantment. Lis is a white magic user, whose powers come from charms and curses. As a one day seasoned magician, he'll be able to use charms to enchant others with the spirits of the natural world. Harebells are also heavily connected to love. The plant's Latin name, Endymion, is the name of the lover of the moon goddess. Luna, being "moon", already has notable symbolic connections to the moon. Lis' life has been filled with sorrow and anguish as well, being the Cursed One and treated with repulsion all of his life. If he fails to overcome his fate, he will simply die, bringing destruction along with him.

Bellflowers mean much of the same symbolically. They carry romance, gratitude, and support. Lis embodies all of this. He has a deep need to be supportive and is grateful for what he can get.

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Champignon no Majo Volume 1 Cover

So I decided to look at all of the covers so far to see what kind of things were presented on them, and though I'm sure Tachibana didn't have all of these intentions, it's interesting to see what kind of things she might have associated with the characters.

What I noticed with every cover so far is that it's not just fungi, but flowers and plants that accompany each character, whether deeply connected to the character or not. Plus the oak leaves, branches, and acorns have ALWAYS been there on the borders. Green Magic Users, you will always be famous.

Anyway.

The mushroom on this cover: the amanita muscaria, or the fly aragic. It's poisonous, but ingesting it rarely kills. When boiled, the toxic compounds are broken down and it can be used for a variety of things in medicine. It can also be used as a hallucinogen.

The plants on the cover: clovers and raspberries. Raspberries offer stress relief, are packed with antioxidants, and a long time ago they were believed to purify the heart. They were a chef favorite in Europe for centuries, and since Luna loves to cook it seems fitting. Luna is the only magic user around who can purify toxins, matching the old belief of purification.

The clover is a symbol of luck, hope, faith, and love. Given her life, she is a relatively fortunate person (note: relatively), and she loves deeply once it catches her. She holds a lot of hope and faith in seeing and doing good in the world, most demonstrated by her faith in a fellow Cursed One overcoming his ill fate, just like she did.