Fantasy manga about a young girl who becomes a witch
As part of the 2026 Camp NetGalley challenge, reviewers were invited to download a selection of review copies from the NetGalley website and review at least one of them before the end of the month. The reward: a new badge! I love badges (extrinsic rewards, anyone?) and currently have two on the NetGalley platform: one for reviewing 50 books via NetGalley (replacing the 10 and 25 book badges) and one for achieving an 80% feedback ratio (hard won after some initial confusion on my part about when books expire). I’ll share the badge at the bottom once I’ve posted the review and received it. I love manga and graphic novels, and this particular book looked really cute and fun. It’s also been adapted into an anime so I was also really excited to watch that as well.
“Witch Hat Atelier: Volume 1” by Kamome Shirahama is a fantasy manga about a curious young girl called Coco who dreams of using magic and becoming a witch. She lives an otherwise quiet life helping her mother who is a dressmaker. When they are visited by a travelling witch called Qifrey, Coco secretly observes him performing magic and is later inspired to try drawing some pictures from a mysterious book she was sold by a masked witch. When disaster strikes, she is whisked away on an adventure to truly become a witch and hone her craft to undo the terrible mistake.
This is a really lovely, well-illustrated manga full of expression and heart. The manga has won lots and lots of awards, and it is pretty easy to see why. The setting and magic system feels really fresh and well-thought out, and all the details are beautifully rendered. I really love the creativity of the character designs, clothing, architechture, animals and general worldbuilding. Despite there being so many witch academy-style stories out there, this one feels really original with a great balance between Coco’s cute optimism about everyday challenges and a darker overarching plot. Without any plot similarities whatsoever, I was reminded a little of Tamora Pierce’s “The Circle Opens” quartet which also explores unique and creative ways to express and practice magic.
I’ve started watching the anime, and it is a really nice adaptation with the colour and animation bringing Shirahama’s illustrations to life. It is very true to the book but fills in the gaps even more. I was really in the market for a new anime series and I can’t wait to watch the rest of it.
A wonderful manga and anime adaptation ideal for anyone around primary school age and over.
