All throughout April, I’ve been seeing people talk about the Witch Hat Atelier anime. I knew nothing about the anime at the time, nor did I really have an interest in it. But at the start of May, I learned that the manga was getting a new release called the Grimoire Edition, and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to get my feet wet. After reading it, my entire outlook on the series changed.
Witch Hat Atelier follows a young girl named Coco who’s fascinated with magic. She meets a powerful witch named Qifrey and becomes his apprentice after a terrible incident. That first chapter alone was amazing. In only 60 pages, the chapter set up some fantastic stakes and a good look at the worldbuilding. By that point, I was really invested in seeing where the story was going to go, and I immediately loved Qifrey.
Coco becomes a witch herself, and learns how to use magic through drawings. The only problem is that is kept hidden from the world, so she has to choose between becoming a witch under Qifrey or having her memories erased. Obviously, she opts to become a witch, and while she sucks at being a witch at first, she’s able to utilize her skills as a seamstress and her own methods to succeed. It’s like Frieren meets The Owl House, with the complexity of a Hiromu Arakawa story.
That makes for a really compelling story. Once Qifrey takes Coco under his wing and invites her to stay at his Atelier, we learn more about how magic works in this world, and about a few of the other witches who are studying under Qifrey. By the end of the first volume, Coco, Qifrey, and Agott had successfully set themselves up as interesting characters. I enjoyed every second of the manga between the gorgeous art style and character expressions, the humor, and of course the story.
The manga itself is great, but the Grimoire Edition is significantly better than any single volume could ever be. It’s a bit pricy at $50, but it’s an absolute unit. The first Grimoire Edition includes not just the first volume, but the second and third as well. That’s nearly 600 pages of manga, and it gets even better after the first volume once all the introductory stuff is out of the way.
But there’s even more. There’s additional pages that feature sketches, behind the scenes information, and even an interview with the author. All of that is packaged in a beautiful hardcover book. I think it’s worth picking up if you’re a fan of the series or want to get into it after seeing the anime. You can buy the first volume of the Grimoire Edition on Amazon, and the second and third Grimoire Editions will be releasing later this year.
10/10