Anime has experienced a boom in fantasy series with shows like Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and newly christened Harvey Award for Best Manga winner, Delicious in Dungeon. While these shows have carved out a generational run in the realm of anime as refreshing series that aren’t just more isekai shows, there’s one more fantasy anime folks are chomping at the bit to round out the trio of must-watch fantasy anime: Witch Hat Atelier.
Witch Hat Atelier, created by Kamome Shirahama, follows Coco, a young girl who dreams of becoming a witch. However, the world of witches is shrouded in secrecy and gatekept from ordinary people like her. Coco’s life takes a dramatic turn when she stumbles upon the secret that spellcasting requires nothing more than drawing symbols on paper, reminiscent of a storybook from her youth. Unfortunately, her naive foray into magic brings disaster, petrifying her mother and home with a forbidden spell. The rest of the series follows Coco’s journey under the guidance of Qifrey, a benevolent and skilled witch, as she delves deeper into the arcane arts, hoping to undo the spell and save her mother.
Shirahama first entered the manga scene with her debut series, Eniale & Dewiela, published by Beam Comics. Beyond her role as a manga artist, she has contributed her illustrative talents to Marvel Comics, DC Comics, and Star Wars, among other American comic franchises. Her serialization of Witch Hat Atelier began in 2016 in the Monthly Morning Two magazine. The series has captivated audiences in Japan and garnered international acclaim, securing multiple manga awards across France, Spain, and other countries. It has been honored with prestigious accolades such as the Eisner Award and the Harvey Award in the United States.
Earlier this year at Anime Expo, Crunchyroll revealed that a trailer for its upcoming anime would be handled by Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead studio Bug Films. The anime also has the privilege of being the first project legendary Dark Souls and Elden Ring composer Yuka Kitamura will be a part of since departing FromSoftware last year.
With Witch Hat Atelier set to premiere next year, we sat down (virtually) and had a chat with Shirahama (through Kodansha U.S. Publishing translator Misaki Kido) during New York Comic Con to learn more about how she came up with the series and what she hopes fans get out of the anime.
Isaiah Colbert, io9: How does it feel to finally have Witch Hat Atelier receive an anime adaptation by Bug Films?
Kamome Shirahama: I’m super excited and I’m looking forward to it. I think I might be the most excited person about the anime coming out.
io9: What inspired you to begin writing Witch Hat Atelier after working on other fantasy series like Eniale & Dewiela? Were any other stories, be they from Marvel or other mangaka, sources of inspiration for your initial pitching for the series, story, and characters?
Kamome Shirahama: I had this concept to write a story about the world where everybody could use magic for quite some time. Even since when I was working on my previous series. Although my previous series was much shorter because that was what was expected out of the project, I took that on as an assignment. However, even when I was working on those, I had this idea of the worldview that I wanted to write about, which ended up being Witch Hat Atelier.
io9: Witch Hat Atelier is unique in that it’s not just a fantasy series about witches, but that it’s also a universal story about learning a new skill and the importance and dangers of one’s persistence in the pursuit of mastery. In what ways does Coco’s journey learning how to become a witch mirror your own in becoming an artist and mangaka?
Kamome Shirahama: I feel like, as an artist, I did put a similar kind of effort as Coco did to fulfill my dream to become an artist. In that sense, I feel like my effort was successful, and so I tried to project a positive perspective onto Coco in that sense. The reason why I used magic as a metaphor [for] creativity [is] that there are so many ways you can be expressing your creativity. Whether using TikTok or YouTube or anything that you post on social media is an expression. However, there’s a dangerous side to releasing these expressions into the world on the internet. I think expression always comes with a responsibility, and this is a point that I wanted to make in the series.
io9: Witch Hat Atelier sets itself apart from other fantasy series with its magic system being channeled by a witch’s artistic skill in drawing symbols instead of a traditional wand. How did you come up with Witch Hat Atelier’s magic system?
Kamome Shirahama: I wanted the readers to feel the difficulties of trying to master the artistry or the magic. Sometimes there’s a simpler way to do something. Those are the kind of aspects that I wanted to bring out in this worldview.
io9: Witch Hat Atelier has the distinction of being scored by veteran FromSoftware composer Yuka Kitamura, who worked on Elden Ring, Dark Souls, and other high fantasy video game projects. What was it like learning that she would be involved with the anime adaptation?
Kamome Shirahama: [Kitamura-san] produces a lot of really cool songs. She’s a great composer. A lot of her themes tend to lean towards the kind of a darker theme songs. But when I was provided was a demo tape for the music for Witch Hat Atelier that we use in the promotional videos, I thought this was really fitting to the worldview of Witch Hat Atelier. I felt like this creator is really very much talented and I was looking forward to listening to more music by her.
io9: Buzz for Witch Hat Atelier‘s anime adaptation has reached a fever pitch in the United States. Some fans even consider it as one of the “Big Three” like Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece but for fantasy anime series alongside Delicious in Dungeon and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End. How does it feel to know fans hold your series to such acclaim alongside these other female mangaka fantasy series?
Kamome Shirahama: (laughs) This is actually first time I ever heard that we were called the “Big Three.” I actually honestly enjoy reading the Delicious in Dungeon and Frieren, personally. I read the manga as well as watch the anime so it’s quite an honor to be in a lineup with such a big titles together.
When I was growing up, there was a lot of fantasy series that came out in the movies and TV shows like Lord of the Rings and [The Chronicles of] Narnia. Now I have grown up that and that generation of artists has grown up to make their own fantasy series. Which means those people who will be watching these new “Big Three” series might be making their own fantasy series five to 10 years down the line. So, I’ll be really looking forward to that.
the holy trinity of fantasy manga adaptations is finally coming to life <33 pic.twitter.com/I63GQFWTXz
— 🍉🌿 (@shinkanes) July 5, 2024
io9: What do you hope anime fans will take away from watching Witch Hat Atelier‘s anime that you think often gets overlooked with your manga? Be it how your panels are akin to embroidered picture frames or how you depict dire stakes in Witch Hat Atelier‘s storytelling while weaving lighthearted moments to provide a bit of levity. How will the anime adapt your manga’s unique tone?
Kamome Shirahama: Now that you mention it, it is possible [that the] manga and anime are quite different. There might be some differences in the way where you can enjoy something as an illustration in manga. [It] might be a little bit different when there’s a motion when it’s becoming an anime. But the bottom-line message for both manga and anime are exactly the same. So, whatever the audience have perceived from watching the new anime I just want them to feel what they naturally would feel.
Witch Hat Atelier will release on Crunchyroll sometime in 2025.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
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