Witch Hat Atelier - Reviews

The story is lovely and whimsical, the art is gorgeous, expansive, and detailed, it's a beautiful fantasy story without all the typical, tiring manga tropes. A young girl named Coco wants to learn to use magic and a sorcerer comes along who is reluctant at first, but ends up deciding to teach her alongside three other little girls. They all live together and grow into friends and further into family. Very good innocent story.

Daughter of a seamtress in the countryside, young Coco is crushed when told she cannot be a witch. But that doesn't stop her from admiring the awe-inspiring works of witches.

A mysterious person gives her a book containing sigils. One night, she studies them with dire consequences, and with them she is ushered into the world of magic she never thought she'd be part of. 

🎇🍀🎇🍀🎇🍀🎇

Atelier is a French word, thus Atelier is pronounced  "a- te- yay." I made the mistake of pronouncing it as a-te-leer. 🙃 Me dumb. And for anyone who doesn't want to Google the word, an atelier is a workshop. 

I wanted to make a traditional review for this, but so many others already have and expressed my views on this wonderful series already. So I want to be informational instead. 

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama is a beautifully drawn adventure into a world of magic. The laws of magic are grounded enough by clear rules to be believable. The motivations are understandable, and characters are relatable.

Coco, our protagonist, is sweet, endearing, and inexperienced, but not dumb. Her teacher Qifrey (most likely pronounced Kif-ree) is charming, and is smart in practice, not just because he has specticles. The characters step out of their tropes and breathe new life into the genre. 

It is one of those rare stories in which the detail, power of the story telling, and characters create an "atmosphere" while reading it. You fall into it. 

The only thing keeping me from giving this a perfect 10/10, is the premise is not original. 

And it's getting an anime adaption! I pray that the studio does not muck it up. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWQcGYeygz0

Genuinely not sure if there's ever been a more nuanced, fun, gorgeous, and meaningful manga than Witch Hat Atelier. Though maintaining a mystical, medieval aesthetic, the manga tackles modern socioeconomic issues with grace and nuance, managing to come across as fun and delightful while also being serious and mature.

The art is completely stunning. Shirahama is a master of panelling in particular, doing such innovative and interactive work with her panels that there is a whole youtube video talking just about them and their ingenious uses throughout this manga. Overall, there is not a single page of this manga that isn't etherial and striking. I distinctly remember a page with a rainbow, in black and white, that fully evocked every shade and color of a real-life, colorful rainbow.

The characters are, like all other aspects of this manga, nuanced depictions of human beings in their full hypocritical complexities. Treating its main child characters with respect and attention and its adult characters with cleverness and indescribable depth; this is seen especially when characters deal with the complex world and politics around them.

THE BEST MANGA I EVER READ CUTE CHARATERS LOVE THE ART STYLE.

Really immersive world with an interesting power system, great world building, lovable characters though slightly one dimensional, slow burning in terms of plot and character development. Art is fantastic and the whole thing sucks you in. The whole time reading this I kept thinking to myself how is this not more popular than harry potter considering it's the same genre but so so much better and so much more interesting and immersive and magical.