---
title: 'ACTUALLY DESERVES THE HYPE?? | Witch Hat Atelier Initial Reaction'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=5XUZjUHOv08'
video_id: '5XUZjUHOv08'
date: 2026-08-01
duration_sec: 1482
---

# ACTUALLY DESERVES THE HYPE?? | Witch Hat Atelier Initial Reaction

> Source: [ACTUALLY DESERVES THE HYPE?? | Witch Hat Atelier Initial Reaction](https://youtube.com/watch?v=5XUZjUHOv08)

## Summary

In this initial reaction video, a YouTuber shares their thoughts on the anime Witch Hat Atelier after five episodes, having gone in blind without reading the manga. They praise the show's creative drawing-based magic system, clear story setup, and lovable characters, while also calling out the fandom for disrespecting voice actor Natsuki Hanae.

### Key Points

- **Five Episodes In** [00:29] — The creator has watched the first five episodes and is already hooked, having gone in blind with no manga knowledge.
- **Creative Magic System** [01:48] — Witch Hat Atelier has one of the most creative and easy-to-understand magic systems in anime, explained clearly by episode one.
- **Drawing-Based Magic** [02:28] — Instead of chanting spells, witches draw magic circles. Characters must train their drawing skills, adding a unique logical layer to the power system.
- **Clear Story Setup** [04:50] — The story establishes its goals, world, and rules early on without info-dumping. Coco's motivation to save her mother is clear and compelling.
- **Secret of Witchcraft** [05:18] — Anyone can become a witch, but the magical community hides this to control who uses magic, since it can be extremely dangerous.
- **Qifrey's Mystery** [09:48] — Qifrey, the teacher, is a kind and protective mentor but clearly has an ulterior motive. The show foreshadows his complexity without revealing everything.
- **Stunning Animation** [15:29] — Studio Bug Films, a new studio, delivers gorgeous, dynamic, and colorful animation that feels like cinema and makes a strong case for Anime of the Year.
- **Hype Is Justified** [17:35] — Despite initial skepticism about overhype, the creator agrees the show deserves the praise and plans to read the manga after the anime ends.
- **Fandom Disrespect** [19:39] — The creator criticizes online fans who disrespect Natsuki Hanae, a renowned voice actor, simply because his voice reminds them of Tanjiro from Demon Slayer.

### Conclusion

Witch Hat Atelier lives up to the hype with an ingenious magic system, a well-paced story, endearing characters, and breathtaking animation. The creator recommends the show to anime fans and calls for more respect toward the talented voice actors behind these roles.

## Transcript

this show and already buying a print.
the channel and to another video and today I am making a highly requested video. I was not expecting so many people to want me to talk about this anime, but it's very popular right now. People are very interested in it, so I'm
course, is Witch Hat Atelier. [music] And as of recording this, I am five episodes in. I am well aware that by the time this video goes out, I believe timing of things. I haven't been able to sit down and watch it, but I have very
small pockets of time that I can record. So, I'm going to only be talking through the first five episodes as of right now. As someone who has not read the manga yet, I went into this show completely blind outside of knowing who the
Japanese voice cast was and what I felt like this video, subscribe to the If you are interested in more content regarding Witch Hat Atelier and other
animes, please let me know in the comments below. And for the record, no, I'm not reacting to this show. I have reacted to animes on this channel specifically [music] medalist because I'm a figure skater and
thoughts. Outside of that, I have kind of discontinued regular reactions because it just didn't [music] feel normal. Like I didn't feel genuine. So, sorry, but no reactions here. That being said, I do have a lot of thoughts so far
on this anime. It has been an incredible journey so far. The characters are interesting, the animation is beautiful, the soundtrack is beautiful, the storyline is interesting and one of the things that I can say, probably the
first thing I will talk about now, is the magic system. So, I have watched so many movies and TV shows where they use magic and there's witches, there's
wizards, whatever you want to call it, and there is magic and that is kind of the main power structure of the show. I have to give it to Witch Hat Atelier for having one of the most creative [music] and easy to understand magic systems out
there. I am only five episodes in and I feel like I understand how it works, who can do it, the bad stuff with it, the good stuff with it, how you become good at it, how you're not that great at it, etc. Now for those of you who maybe
don't know, the magic system in this story is incredibly unique because it doesn't follow the regular idea that people can just do magic with a wand or with their hands and they chant spells and that sort of thing. I feel like
growing up with stories like Harry Potter and I really enjoy Black Clover, magic can get very muddled when it's used as the main power system within the story. A lot of times it becomes limitless, like anyone can do any type
of magic. I did feel like My Hero Academia, even though it wasn't magic, >> it started getting to the point where every time we met a new character, it felt like we were just pulling stuff out of nowhere to try and make [music] a new
quirk. And who knows, maybe there will be some spells later on that do feel like they're just pulled out of nowhere. However, it is a very logical way of creating magic. Rather than just having a wand and saying a spell and being able
to do magic, they are drawing and it shows that these characters have to train their craft in a very different [music] way than a lot of stories do where they have to train their strength and that sort of thing or just their
control. This one they have to train their ability to draw, which I, as someone who cannot draw to save my [music] life, I 100% know I would not be a witch in this story, but I guess if I trained hard enough, I would be able to
get there. So, I do kind of relate to the main character in Coco where she kind of struggles. She draws it lopsided, [music] so the water shoots out to the side and that sort of thing. The magic system is by no means super
complicated, but it's also not so simple that it's just like say a spell and it happens. And it's very unique like I mentioned because they are drawing spells and the way they describe I felt like I understood it by episode one. And
that is something that a lot of other shows when they describe the main power structure of the show, I kind of struggle to understand or they just never really explain it and it's very gray. They took a little bit of time to
explain it and then it follows the rules very well. Let's talk about the story. very well. Let's talk about the story. So, this is another big plus that I felt already. And again, I'm saying this based off of just five episodes so far.
will probably pick up the manga after the anime season ends because I'm already pretty hooked on the story. But, what I like about the story is that they have made it very clear what our goals are, what the world is like, and how
are, what the world is like, and how this story kind of took place with Coco finding out of course that you can anyone can be a witch even though it's well known that, you know, you have to be born with it, but that's actually a
secret that the witches are keeping under wraps so that they can control who can do magic since magic can become a very dangerous thing very quickly. I feel like I have a really good understanding of where the story is
going with Coco being of course our main protagonist having the situation where she was exposed to dark magic by this hidden dark magic witch with the mask who obviously handed her a book and a
wand that turned out to be a pen with the proper ink, and in that book she was able to do a dark magic spell, which of course then like froze her mom, which led her down the path of Keeffe taking her on as an apprentice and getting her
to the point where she can reverse that spell. I think the story still has a lot to explain. I think that it's probably going to take some twists and turns just based off of how they've depicted Keeffe so far, but for the most part the story
very much I can follow. I know where it's going. I understand that there's good magic, there's bad magic, like pretty much any story, that the world is built in a way where only certain people know that anyone can do magic, and that
they've had to develop this new pact with other people. I'm paraphrasing because I've only watched the episode once, but it makes sense. It's developed very well to the point where I feel like we as an audience understand what's
happening without them just front-loading all the information and nothing's going to change because there are still mysteries, which leads me to the characters in the story. So, if you've been following my channel for a
while or if this is your first time, let me Let me explain something really quick. I love stories that have good characters. A story could have a horrible plot that doesn't make any sense, a horrible magic system that
doesn't make any sense, but if I love the characters, I'm going to consume the hell out of that show. On the other side, a story could have one of the best plots that I have ever witnessed with interesting stories, makes me think
about the nuance of our world, but if none of the characters interest me at all, I don't care about the show. That means that I have quite a few hot takes within the world of anime because Oh, this story has a super compact story
that is airtight and has all kinds of foreshadowing. I don't always find those shows to be the most enjoyable because if the characters are meh, and I find that a lot of times those stories, the characters are kind of meh, I don't
care. But with Witch Hat Atelier, even though the story I would say is so far very airtight, they've done a good job of explaining everything. It's pretty simple and straightforward as of now, but I could definitely see it go a route
especially with how they're developing some of these characters. I already love and adore many of the characters. Coco is such a sweet girl who just loves her
mom and wants to do the best, but now she has to not only live with the trauma of seeing that happen to her mom, but living with the guilt that she is the one who did it. Coco is being set up to be a character that is a fiercely loyal
friend, a very loving person, and wants to always do best, but doesn't understand the world around her, and has to learn that world through trial and error. In the fifth episode, when they were rescued from this like weird dragon
lair from the dark witch, I can't remember exactly what they call the the people with the masks. Well, when she was rescued from there, she just immediately was apologizing. I do love the characters, like she's very
sunshine, but she wants to do her best. She kind of takes on all of the guilt herself and is trying to do what she can with it. I do tend to really love those characters. Coco is a very cute and endearing character without making it
weird like a lot of animes do with young characters, especially young female she's just overall, like there's not much to her yet. Again, I'm five episodes in. I would say like it's pretty often that the main character
gets a lot less of those side developments because the story is their development. However, I still find myself invested in her journey and her goals are very pure. She wants to learn magic so that she can go back and save
her mother. Qifrey. Oh, Qifrey. I would say without a doubt Qifrey is the main thing that people are talking about. Whether that be his talking about. Whether that be his writing or his beauty.
>> It seems everyone can agree they love Qifrey. Qifrey in particular is interesting to me because he seems like a good person, but they are definitely showing a shrouded in mystery side to him. We know that he has some kind of
ulterior motive with bringing Coco on. I do genuinely think he does want to teach her so that she can save her mother. I don't really know why he doesn't think explained already or if that's something we're going to have to learn. He is
clearly very skilled at what he does based off of what we just saw in the fifth episode, but he seems very much like a kind teacher. He has four young girl apprentices. People call him a girl dad. I can see why. He is clearly very
loving and protective of these girls, but there is also a very mysterious side to him. We saw it all the way back in episode two when he was talking to leaders of whatever the people in charge are. I Again, forgive me for not knowing
watched through these episodes once, but he clearly is also using Coco to get like the brim hats, I think is what they're called, the dark magic group of people who want to like wreak havoc and just let people use dark magic as they
will. He's clearly trying to use Coco to get close to them and that she holds answers because for whatever reason they've kind of targeted her, but I think that it seems as of right now his heart is pure. It's because he wants to
get rid of them because they are a danger to the world, rather than it just be a use her to do whatever he wishes to do. Of course, the end of episode 5 a lot of people are talking about because Qifrey went really It went really creepy
when he told the guy like you will tell no one. I know in the dub he said like not a soul and the sub we just got like a not anyone, right? I think that they're definitely building up his character to be very complicated and
very mysterious while also being a good person at heart and wanting to protect teaches them. I'm not going to lie, the contributes to the problem, but I have found it a little bit annoying that most
of the content that I see about Witch Hat Atelier is either straight up spoilers, disrespect to his Japanese voice actor, which I will talk about in a minute, or just thirst traps about him. Because I do think there is a lot
more to him than that. I did one post about him saying though he's hot and crazy when it came to the last episode. So again, I'm contributing to the problem, so I probably shouldn't complain. I got a lot of Gojo gifts, no
context, just Gojo gifts. I understand why people are comparing him to Gojo. I think he is by far already more interesting. So that might have something to do why I'm like kind of annoyed by it. I do know that Qifrey was
annoyed by it. I do know that Qifrey was created before Gojo. The manga for Witch Hat Atelier actually started in the same year that Demon Slayer's manga started, which is kind of crazy to me. I can tell this is a passion project, although I
think it might be because it's not like your regular Shonen Jump work that a lot it takes a lot longer for them to get anime adaptations than those super popular Shonen Jump works like Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia.
Those usually tend to get their anime adaptations really quickly because shonen is just the most popular genre. It has the widest audience, so those tend to get the most anime adaptations. I think that's probably why Witch Hat
Atelier is getting one so late compared to like these big battle shonens, even though it's clearly such a well-thought-out story. Qifrey is definitely a mysterious character to me that I'm very interested. I think
they're doing a very good job at showing us that there's that mystery while not revealing everything, but not making it so that you just don't understand what's with the story for the most part, and I think I'm able to follow it because
they're doing a good job at explaining what needs to be explained while leaving the rest a mystery. The other three students, Agott, Tetia, I can't remember how they pronounce her name. I think it's Rique. I don't have too many
thoughts on them just yet. I do think Agott is clearly the one who's having kind of started out as the like super judgy, hardcore, like didn't want Coco there, didn't believe that Coco belonged
there, and now, you know, she's already gone through some development to kind of start to care about her. Tetia and Rique seem very average, run-of-the-mill side character young girls. They have like very loud persona Well, Tetia is like
the loud one who's always kind of like squealing, and Rique is kind of the one squealing, and Rique is kind of the one that's just very quiet and speaks very monotone. I am excited to see more from them. I would assume they're going to
get a lot of development, too. Again, five episodes in, I'm not expecting much development of them yet because it takes a while to develop each character them all at once, otherwise it gets a little muddled. So, so far, I find them
to be pretty average anime characters, but I do think that already it's kind of set a precedent that these characters are going to get a lot of development alongside Coco. Let's talk about the animation. So, I always like to make
this very brief because it's anime and animation is a big part. However, I'm not super knowledgeable in the background of how to animate things. I do just want to say this show is definitely eye candy. I've never heard
of Bug Films before and as far as I know, like based off of what I have seen not many people do. I think it's a very new, if not this is their very first new, if not this is their very first project and they are doing such a
fantastic job. I just have to say as someone who did not read the manga, so doesn't have like this background information of the story, I can tell you it's cinema. Every single episode has been stunning. It has been super dynamic
and colorful and it's just been really, really beautiful. Like I have no qualms with anything. It's been absolutely stunning. It is expertly animated and it's raising the bar once again. I do think this anime genuinely has a good
shot at being anime of the year for this year, which means it would be the love to see that happen. And also, a side note, the soundtrack is stunning. As someone who spends a lot of my time, if not most of my time actually
music, that's something that I noticed immediately and the soundtrack for this show is beautiful. I honestly would skate to it different music. For those of you who don't know, I'm a competitive figure
skater. I currently skate to Kamado Tanjiro no Uta from Demon Slayer and the way skating works is I'm going to be skating to that for a while, for over a year because I'm going to keep the same program for next season and that means
that you're going to see a lot of like the repeat music, dress, that sort of program multiple times. It's not like a one-and-done type thing and because I am competitive, it makes it very difficult to spend time to like do specific
to spend time to like do specific programs for a YouTube video or TikTok or that sort of thing. So, that's a long tangent, but I really love Soundtrack and Witch Hat Atelier so far is 10 out of 10. Great job. Overall, I find the
hype for this show to be correct. I feel like a lot of times a new show comes out and everyone is hyping the hell out of it to the point of it being kind of annoying because it's like, "Okay, this is a great show, but we're getting into
that territory of overhyped." And I don't necessarily agree with the word term overhyped. People love shows and people are going to talk about shows, come out and people will immediately be calling it anime of the year or this is
the best anime I've ever seen. I most of the time I'm like, "Okay, like that's a little bit extreme." Witch Hat Atelier, I'm not saying it's the best anime I've ever seen, but I can definitely agree with the people saying I think this
might deserve anime of the year next year. So far, five episodes in, usually it takes a long time for me to be like, "I want to talk about this show. I am falling in love with this show." But they've got my attention and and they're
not letting go. So, I'm very, very excited to see where this story goes. I 100% will be picking up the manga where the anime left off or I will start at the beginning. I've actually been doing that a little bit more lately because I
want to experience the full story in its original format, but this show has surpassed my expectations. I had high expectations going into it because I manga and love it. So, I already had those high expectations. It has not let
me down. It has surpassed those expectations. So, I can't wait to see more about the show. Reminder, if you want to hear me talk about it more, just members. They said they wanted me to talk about it, so here I am. But if you
want to hear more about which how to tell it or I really love Apothecary Diaries, I really love Fruits Basket, I love The Case Study of Vanitas. If you want me to start dipping my toes into more anime that's not just Demon Slayer,
Metalist, and Naruto, which kind of feels like that's the rotation I'm constantly on, please let me know. Okay, there is one last thing that I want to address that has been bothering me about actually the fandom of this show in
general. I'm going to face this by saying I am incredibly biased in this conversation. So, take what I say with a grain of salt. But, I am biased because Natsuki Hanae, who voices Keefrey in the Japanese dub, is my all-time favorite
voice actor. I am wearing a Kaneki shirt, he voiced Kaneki. That is Vanitas behind me, he voiced Kaneki or he voiced Vanitas. He, of course, is Tanjiro among many, many other characters. But, the blatant disrespect that I am seeing from
the fandom towards him on the internet, I have not seen this kind of disrespect, especially towards a Japanese voice actor, ever. And I feel like I have to say something. So, for the record, it is
okay to not love that casting. You are the moment you start getting on the internet and saying it just doesn't fit, I don't like it, he's not the right Keefrey, he just sounds like Tanjiro,
that's that Tanjiro guy, I don't like him as Keefrey. That Tanjiro-ass voice, I literally saw a comment like that. We have lost the plot, guys. He is a real have lost the plot, guys. He is a real person who is a professional and puts a
lot of passion into his work. They casted him for a reason. And from what I have seen from the mangaka, they have said in their head he had a very kind, gentle voice. That is not Hanae. He does best with the kind, gentle characters.
And I'm so sorry that it's not the casting you imagined in your head as a been reading the manga for all these years does not give you a right to be disrespectful about the voice actor themselves on the internet. For the
themselves on the internet. For the record, saying that is so weird because that's the same as saying Daniel Radcliffe can never play anything other than Harry Potter. Every
time you see him, all you think is Harry Potter because these people have gotten cast in these stories that were very famous and they played the main saying they can't play anything else after, which is crazy. Natsuki Hanae has
after, which is crazy. Natsuki Hanae has an incredible range. Vanitas is a crazy an incredible range. Vanitas is a crazy character who is mature, who moans in Yeah. Not to mention he played Kaneki long before he played Tanjiro. He's
played Nagumo in Sakamoto Days, an adult man who's very kind of sultry and silly and makes jokes and kind of evil. He's played evil characters. He's Riddle in Twisted Wonderland. He has a very wide range. Just because he was Tanjiro and
Tanjiro happens to be a very popular shonen main character, does not mean that anytime you hear him in a character that isn't that, you should be like, "Oh, it just sounds like Tanjiro." Cuz that's a you problem. Just saying
the voice doesn't match in sub." is disrespectful to the voice actor. I'm just saying that is. Some people have tried to tell me that's not, but it is. And again, I understand I'm very biased because Natsuki Hanae is my
course I'm taking this kind of hate towards him a bit more seriously than doesn't change the fact that if I said this about someone else, I would say the respectful to these people that are voicing these characters. Whether you
prefer the dub, whether you prefer the sub, it doesn't matter. Just watch it and you don't have to act all high and mighty on the internet that you prefer one over the other. I've heard clips of the dub. I think he sounds very good,
but I'm going to continue to watch the sub because it has my favorite voice actor. In fact, his casting is one of the reasons why I chose to watch the show. I'd already heard a lot about it, but it made me prioritize the show.
Anyway, I think that's made me very cautious to join the fandom because I don't want to be a part of a fandom that is very willing to get weird on the internet about how much they're mad that, you know, they cast like people
literally saying, "They cast Tanjiro." No, his name is Natsuki Hanae. Anytime someone's like, "I can't believe they cast Tanjiro." or "Tanjiro is voicing" No, he's not. Tanjiro is a fictional character. His name is Natsuki Hanae.
is an incredible voice actor. And that's going to be it. Otherwise, I'm going [music] to vent a little bit more. What do you think of which hat atelier so far? Have you been enjoying it? Do you have anything you want to add to what
below, but thank you so much for watching today's video. Again, if you comment, and subscribe, and I will see you all in the next one. Mata ne.