Witch Hat Atelier is an eight-volume Japanese manga series about Coco, a young tailor’s daughter who dreams of being a witch. In this series, magic is kept a well-guarded secret that only a select few are allowed to practice. Coco’s dreams become a reality, however, when a master witch comes to town and Coco finds out how magic spells are cast: using symbols drawn on objects and paper. Everything goes wrong however when she copies down symbols from a book about witches she treasured as a child and finds that she has turned her mother into stone. The book destroyed in the spell Coco cast holds the key to undoing her mother’s curse. Now apprenticed to the witch who visited her town, Coco trains to become a witch in order to gain access to a magical library, where she will find the information she needs to save her mother.
I am on the fourth novel in this series and I have been utterly enchanted by the world the author has built, both in the illustrations and the storytelling. Coco’s tale is full of interesting settings and characters that I am excited to learn more about as the books progress. Coco herself is very sweet and determined and is in general a very likeable main character. I would recommend this series to anyone who also liked The Ancient Magus Bride series or movies like Kiki’s Delivery Service and Little Witch Academia.
Review by Megan Hultman, Circulation Assistant.
To request a copy of the first book in the series, click here.
