On Thursday, the staff behind the upcoming anime adaptation of Witch Hat Atelier debuted the first trailer for the upcoming series at Anime Expo. First announced back in 2023, the anime based on Kamome Shirahama’s fantasy manga will be produced by animation studio Bug Films (Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead) and directed by Ayumu Watanabe (Children of the Sea, Space Brothers). That’s not all — Yuka Kitamura, known for her work on Elden Ring, Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the Dark Souls series, is attached to compose the score for the series.
Witch Hat Atelier follows the story of Coco, the daughter of a dressmaker who dreams of one day becoming a witch, despite her apparent inability to use magic. After being gifted a spellbook by a mysterious masked wizard, Coco accidentally transforms her own mother into stone and is rescued from a fire by Qifrey — a powerful magic user who takes Coco on as his new student. As Qifrey searches for the culprits behind the incident, Coco begins her apprenticeship as a witch at his atelier.
The ongoing series, which has sold over 5.5 million copies as of July 2024, and won a Harvey Award and an Eisner Award in 2020, currently consists of 13 volumes. Shirahama’s manga is beloved for its intricately detailed linework, fantastical imagery, and densely imagined universe, so the anticipation for the anime adaptation among fans of the series has been very high.
Luckily, the first trailer for Witch Hat Atelier lives up to those expectations and then some, with a gorgeous watercolor art style that looks straight out of a storybook and a rousing sequence of Qifrey cradling Coco in his arms while leaping from the burning wreckage of her home. We can only hope that the series itself will live up to this teaser when it airs next year.
Witch Hat Atelier will premiere in 2025 and stream on Crunchyroll.
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