Witch Hat Atelier Season 1
Anime / Fantasy Drama
Rating: 9/10
The anime for <Witch Hat Atelier> is finally out!! I've been a fan of the manga for a while now (read my manga review here). I think I started reading it around 2017 when there wasn't that many chapters out, and I remember thinking that this series could be a very fun anime. I'm so glad that time has finally come. In short, <Witch Hat Atelier> is about a "normal" (aka not born a witch) girl, Coco, that joins a witch academy after accidentally activating a dangerous magical spell.
Amazing, beautiful art. The art in the manga was already absolutely beautiful, so it was nice to see that the anime art was on the same level as the manga. Seeing the famously intricate manga scenes become animated was very impressive. Although a different type of "art", the music/soundtrack was also really pretty too.
Cute characters with character growth. I'd say that this series is also kind of "coming-of-age" in the way that the younger characters, the witch apprentices, definitely show growth and character development in this one season also throughout the entire series. I love that the growth has purpose and that all the characters have depth.
Story about growth and finding yourself through creativity. I wanted to add this as a specific pro of the series to clearly point out that this anime is less "action" and "battles" and is definitely more on the growth and journey of the witch apprentice girls. I personally like this, especially as the world is already full of so many other action, battle animes.
For the downsides of this series,
Season 1 had great build up and iffy build down. Simply put, I think the ending of season 1 was very abrupt and not "built down" well. As someone who knows the full storyline, I definitely thought the last episode ended at a weird "in-between" place. I kind of understand that choice (essentially to show you a sneak peek of where the next arc will go), but I thought there could've been a better place to end S1 earlier or maybe with one more episode to add a wrap-up scene. I don't know if this felt less weird for people who didn't read the manga maybe this is a me thing.
Overall,
The anime for <Witch Hat Atelier> was a beautifully animated iteration of a story I've really been looking forward to. Like I said before, the story is all about growth and the journey of using creativity to find yourself. It's less about brute-forcing spell after spell to kill a dragon and more about finding creative ways to make the dragon fly away on its own. I personally liked that different take on magic. The series overall is just very creative with great, in-depth design and art. I thought using the witch hats to show who is "good" and "bad" and drawing magic spells were cool, creative concepts.
As a manga reader who is much deeper into the lore, I will say that the story gets much better. I personally really liked the Brimmed Caps (the antagonists) and their stories. I'm hoping that fans don't drop off too much after this S1 and stick around for what S2 has for store!! After watching S1, my excitement is only getting bigger!
