Here is an anime that I’ve actually spent some time reading the manga before it came out. So I’ve been interested in seeing how this tale makes the transition to animation, and I’m excited to tell you all my thoughts about it. Witch Hat Atelier stars Coco, a young girl who has spent most of her life loving magic; however, magic is a secret only known to witches. Upon discovering the secret, she tries it out for herself and accidentally unleashes a forbidden spell that turns her mother to stone. She must now become a witch so that she can learn how to undo the spell and save her mother.

The story here is very interesting as it comes from a place of both whimsy and trauma. Coco is simultaneously dealing with the guilt of what she did to her mother, the struggles of being an outsider in the world of witches, and the joy of being able to pursue a lifelong passion. The tale neatly balances the tonal shifts it has to go through to really hit all of these points home.

We also get a lot of world-building in how magic is done and how it is governed. Magic is drawn with a specific ink and requires a sigil in the middle, symbols around it, and all encased in a circle. Every element, from how straight the lines are, the size of the drawing, and more detail how the spell is cast. As seemingly simple as it looks at first glance, it is a surprisingly complex system that constantly builds on itself as the season progresses. We also see elements of how it’s governed, such as how witches are granted special privileges as they improve on their craft, who enforces magic law, and a rogue group called the brimmed caps that seeks to circumvent those laws.

This leads to the characters, as they are all interesting. Coco is naturally captivating due to her charm and how much you can empathize with her various struggles. She learns magic from her master Qifrey, who equally balances light and dark elements in his character. He’s also rather whimsical, as he wants to use magic to make people happy, but there’s a not-so-subtle darkness in his desire to come face to face with the brimmed caps for reasons that have not been revealed this season. Coco also learns with various other apprentices, each with their own philosophy and motivations, adding a unique perspective to their dynamic.

The presentation is really good, and I feel like it has to be with how magic works here. Where magic is drawn, the animation really has to have an attention to detail, and the outcome needs to be visually shocking. Thankfully, we get that here, as there were moments that were absolutely jaw-dropping in how good they looked. There’s also an attention to detail in the voice acting (at least in the dub, as that’s what I watched), as it reinforces how Coco is an outsider. Coco has a different accent from the rest of the cast once she enters the world of witches, and I thought that was a nice touch. This does lead to my one and only critique for the show in that some of the characters were hard to understand. That’s likely just a me thing, but there were a couple of characters that I had to turn captions on to really know what they were saying.

Witch Hat Atelier delivers an incredible first season with careful attention to detail. The visuals are amazing, and the storytelling and characters balance both whimsy and dark tones to tell a complex story that I’m excited to see more of. There’s very little to say that’s negative in this show, and I’m really eager to see how they do with season two.