Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 by Kamome Shirahama Review

Coco, the daughter of the village seamstress, dreams of being a witch. And she gets her chance at being one after a mysterious figure at a fair sells her a magic book and wand. Except she doesn’t know what she’s doing and accidentally transforms her mother into a statue! Luckily, a good witch – Qifrey – is nearby to save her from herself and decides to take her in as one of his students at his atelier. Coco must study magic to pass the Four Trials of the Librarians, gain access to the Tower of Tomes, and use what she finds there to undo the spell on her ma!

I didn’t have any expectations for this one which is maybe why I was pleasantly surprised to kinda enjoy the first volume of Kamome Shirahama’s Witch Hat Atelier. The art is some of the best I’ve ever seen in a manga – it’s so skilfully drawn with a gorgeous line and laid out so elegantly. Too often manga pages are crammed with panels but the pages here have room to breathe with fewer, larger and less busy panels – it’s a refreshing change. The character design of the evil witch is brilliant, very eye-catching and compelling and I liked Qifrey’s triple glasses. The scenery is beautiful, fantastical and romantic, the town’s design is very whimsical (the tree in the shop!) – it’s basically everything you’d want for a kid’s manga about wonder and magic.

I like the idea that magic is done through drawing with a pen on paper (even if it seems a bit self-congratulatory – “drawing is magic” says person whose profession is drawing!) but it’s weird how much trouble Coco has with the diagrams given that a lot of them don’t seem that complex.

The story starts slow and isn’t helped by the fact that Coco isn’t a terribly interesting protagonist – at times she acts like the standard manga character (exaggerated behaviour when embarrassed) but kind and innocent are hardly the most exciting characteristics for a main character to have. Her mother turned to stone seemed derivative of any number of mythological stories (and the ‘90s Conan the Barbarian cartoon!) and the story reuses The Chosen One trope which was an unimaginative choice. I wasn’t that engaged either with the parts in the atelier (setting out the rules of magic, etc.) or Coco’s contrived rivalry with the mean girl.

But I liked the sentiment that any skill is a kind of magic, and the flying boots with the sigil on the soles were awesome. Coco’s first trial on the Dadah Range (sort of like the sky scenes from Avatar) was fun and really cleverly written too, combining her newfound knowledge of magic and her tailoring experience to get her out of trouble. And the book ends on a tantalising note that makes me excited for the next one.

It’s not the most original or consistently engaging story but there’s enough to the writing, and the stunning art, to make Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 1 stand out as an interesting kid’s manga.