Animehouse

Staff List

I’m a bit late, aren’t I? Witch Hat Atelier, if you’ve ever read it, is probably one of the most intricate pieces of art a manga has ever had in recent times. Its linework is spectacular and the aesthetic is so whimsical and elaborate in its approach, which also helps with the worldbuilding of the series- one of its main components. It’s a manga that relies heavily on its art and overall visuals to establish what readers like about it. That’s not to say the story isn’t good, because it’s excellent, but if you want a complete and just adaptation of Witch Hat Atelier you need something that can match the style of Shirahama Kamome.

So when it came to the anime adaptation of Witch Hat Atelier, fans of it were not going to accept anything below a good adaptation. It’s not something where if it is adapted in an average way it would still do well, as you really need the visuals to communicate the quality of the work. So of course when the adaptation was announced everyone was very curious about who would be working on it and (credit to my friend Piro for finding out) just before it could kill the cat, we found out that BUG FILMS would be the studio. So let’s talk about it.

BUG FILMS is an extremely new studio. They’ve only had one anime so far with ZOM 100. While it did look visually appealing, it had tons of production issues which caused it to be delayed for quite a long time. Will this be a worry for Witch Hat Atelier? I hope not, and I don’t think so. From the way they worded things in the conference, it sounds like Witch Hat Atelier is the first anime they’ve picked up, which suggests it could have been in production longer than ZOM 100. It also has a much more experienced director in Ayumu Watanabe who has collaborated with (ZOM 100 director) Kawagoe before. Watanabe is used to working under challenging conditions and still producing excellent results, as seen in Summertime Render and the second season of Komi, a series that Kawagoe worked on as well. Both of these projects required more outsourcing than his previous work yet the quality remained high with only minor issues- like one odd episode in Komi’s second season. He’s a good director and someone I kind of had in mind mostly due to his work on Children of the Sea which is a highly detailed work that I really think you should check out if you like Witch Hat Atelier.

Moving on to the other staff, you have animation producer and go-getter, Hiroaki Kojima. The animation producer role can be a bit underappreciated at times, but they are extremely important for an anime’s production. They have the most connection to who works on the project, and you’ll often see key animators frequently appearing in certain producers’ works. Kojima has been working with Watanabe quite a bit (especially recently) on both Summertime Rendering and seasons 1&2 of Komi. Yes he also worked on ZOM 100 which, despite its issues, still turned out fine if you ignore the delays. Watanabe hasn’t had production issues while working with Kojima in the past though (except for one previously mentioned blip in Komi), so I don’t expect anything bad to happen now either.

But let’s get to the actual teaser that we’ve received so we can also talk about pieces of it, like the character designs by Kairi Unabara.

It’s a bit unclear if it’s pre-animated or not; some people think it is, but the staff claim it’s not. I’m approaching it with the mindset that this will be what the show looks like, and honestly… while it’s not really what I was expecting, I think it’s going to end up being a pretty good adaptation. The character designs by Kairi Unabara are a bit simpler than I expected- surprisingly similar to her work on Pokémon- but they’re still quite charming. This simplicity also provides the team with the ability to make the clothing quite animated, which I think fits well with the spirit of Witch Hat Atelier, being a series that loves showcasing subtle details. Because of that, converting it to animation instead of more still and static artwork makes sense to me personally. To that end I think the design is very pro-animation and should have a lot of fun and subtle moments, particularly in the use of various magical tools, pens, and their cute little witch hats moving now and then.

I also think that simpler art style ends up pretty well balanced out by the art direction. The background work is extremely pretty and probably one of the best elements of the entire trailer. While the character designs have sacrificed some details for animation, I think the show overall still appears very detailed thanks to the backgrounds which can remain fairly true to the manga. The trailer might be very short, but it showcases quite a bit of nice clothing animation, beautiful backgrounds, and I even music by Yuka Kitamura which I’ve been unable to mention yet. I’ve also been unable to mention that they were a composer for the Elden Ring soundtrack.

So it’s rather to safe to say I’m looking forward to this production a lot… but I also don’t want to create unrealistic expectations for most people. While everything seems to be going well so far, it’s crucial to remember that BUG FILMS is a very new studio, and they had many production issues before. Speaking to a more general point though, differences like the character designs being a bit less detailed will make your favorite scenes play different. This is an anime, and with it they were be limitations, sacrifices that bring Shirahama’s astonishing work to life. However, I also wouldn’t be negative about it either. I think at a minimum, it will look as good as the teaser, and if it remains consistent, I think we should be fine.