Witch Hat Atelier – Episodes 1-2

What’s it About? Coco has wanted to be a witch since she was a young child, when a mysterious street entertainer gifted her a “picture book” full of strange sigils. Having been told by everybody around her it was impossible, since all those who are witches must be born into it, she had written it off completely until a witch named Qifrey came to town. Her encounter with him will change the shape of her life forever.

There’s hardly a day that goes by in 2026 that I don’t ask myself what a person should do if and when unimaginable power falls into the wrong hands. Should the power be taken back, and then gatekept forever? Should it be distributed to all, so that with all being equal it is at least democratized? Should the power itself be destroyed, so that nobody could ever be hurt again? This dilemma is powerfully explored in the Witch Hat Atelier premiere, which is, without a doubt, one of the greatest anime premieres I have ever seen.

For those unfamiliar, Witch Hat Atelier is based on one of the most beloved manga of the last decade by Kamome Shirahama, widely considered a masterpiece by pretty much everybody who has touched it. I purposefully put off reading it so that I could go into the anime fresh, and I do not regret it. I spent much of the last five minutes of the first episode crying at the way the dynamic animation and ecstatic music conveyed the encounter with the terrible yet awe-inspiring sublime. 

What Witch Hat Atelier has is a sense of restraint. For broad swaths of the first episode, there is no music, just exquisitely voice acted dialogue and sound design–which is unsurprising for anybody who has ever played the FromSoftware games that Yuka Kitamura composed for. The empty sonic space gives the moments when the magic bursts out of the page even more power. The character designers for the anime have wisely adjusted Shirahama’s high-line-milage artstyle, which frequently delineated every ruffle in a robe and every lock of hair, to fit an animated medium. This, after all, allows them to capture with exquisite detail every bit of how their clothes move in the wind and the drape of the fabrics across their skin. This does not stop them, of course, from also including brief sequences where Shirahama’s art style is replicated in its full glory–and these moments hit all the harder for it.

All of this is not terribly surprising coming from director Ayumu Watanabe, whose premiere for Komi Can’t Communicate was similarly brilliantly directed–however, unlike Komi, Witch Hat Atelier is also firing on all cylinders narratively. Coco’s fascination with magic is relatable to anybody who has ever been told their dream is impossible–I love how her craftsmanship in garment-cutting has prepared her for magic. Her encounter with the witch who gave her the “picture book” is also wonderfully ambiguous. It seems highly likely that that witch wanted Coco to eventually realize the secret of the witches, and Qifrey’s interest in tracking her down makes his position within the world’s magical-secret-keeping a topic of intrigue. Qifrey himself is a wonderful mentor figure: intensely kind, mysterious, and somewhat androgynous. (Also definitely a hottie. Love that skintight top in episode 2.) 

The world outside of Qifrey and Coco is vast and intricately sketched so far–we encounter entitled ladies who rely on Coco’s family for artisanal fabrics and can afford pegasus carriages, as well as a whisper network opposed to Coco’s entrance into the magical world. We encounter Coco’s fellow apprentices, who have varying levels of support and hostility towards Coco based on her use of forbidden magic. Of particular interest is Agott, who seems to be set up as a hostile rival as she tells Coco she will never be a witch based on her lacking any formal training. Yet, by the end of episode 2, she is emerging as a much more ambiguous figure, willing to offer advice and instead of shutting Coco out challenging her to prove her worth. In addition to these characters, we catch glimpses of the world’s dark past with the more terrible things that magic can be used to do–the disfiguring of bodies and creation of monstrosities–as well as the societal structures that had to emerge to hold those terrors in check. 

If you haven’t already, go watch Witch Hat Atelier. There is absolutely no reason not to enjoy this beautifully told tale of wonder and magic.