Studio Ghibl’s filmsi are world-renowned for their depth and beauty. The same can be said of Kamome Shirahama’s gorgeous illustrations in the manga Witch Hat Atelier. The journey of Coco to save her mother and become a witch has enraptured readers, and now viewers of the anime adaptation as well.
For fans of Hayao Miyazaki, Witch Hat Atelier offers a whole new story that has its own soul and character, but which will have themes and parallels to see and explore. As Coco’s journey continues, those shared themes only grow.
Witch Hat Atelier’s First Scene is a Nod to Princess Mononoke
The iconic opening moment of Witch Hat Atelier sees Coco encounter a deer in the forest near her home. After Coco pours in a whole jug of waste and dirties the water, the pond magically refreshes itself. The deer, hesitant at first, takes a drink of the now clear water.
This scene mirrors a gorgeous scene in the film Princess Mononoke, where fans watch a deer drink from water. That film also has a recurring theme of humans polluting the world for their own benefit. Coco’s pond mirrors that and shows the reader something special and unexpected about her world.
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Coco Discovering Magic is Ghibli At Its Core
The moment that sets Coco’s saga in motion is also one of pure Ghibli magic. When the brim-capped witch shows Coco how the paving stones light up under her feet, the beauty of the moment and Coco’s joy are emphasized, so the reader can appreciate her joyful adoration of all things magical.
This moment with the paving stones is brought to life with full wonder in the anime adaptation. Getting to see Coco play with the light-up stones as they glow and darken brings the scene to life in a way that translates the feeling from manga to screen.
In films like Howl’s Moving Castle, Hayao Miyazaki makes magic feel like it’s a part of everyday life by showing how it helps people beyond epic adventures. A magic door can help a shop owner sell his wares in different places or a demon could light a cooking fire. The light-up stones at Coco’s feet feel right at home with those magical innovations.
Giving the Dragon a Nap Is Miyazaki-Level Respect for Nature
In Nausica: The Valley of the Wind, the lives of creatures are treated as important, even if they are ugly or scary. Studio Ghibli films often show the importance of treating creatures with respect, even when they are dangerous. Another great example is Chihiro Ogino in Spirited Away rescuing a poisoned dragon, even as he thrashes in pain and nearly injures her.
When the brimmed cap witch traps Coco, Agott, Tetia and Richeh in a realm with a deadly dragon, their first impulse is to fight it. But it’s only when Coco remembers that magic should be used to help people that they realize that might even apply to dragons.
The four girls are able to use Tetia’s spell, which creates a fluffy bed of sand for the dragon to sleep on. When Tetia sees how happy the dragon looks, the joy she feels is tangible. In both Ghibli movies and Witch Hat Atelier, killing a dragon isn’t the only way to win.
The Dadah Range Test Shows Self Reliance
Studio Ghibli films feature a recurring theme of self-reliance as a virtue. In Spirited Away, Bou, the gigantic baby of the witch Yubaba, starts the story unwilling to do anything for himself and demanding other people’s time and attention. After getting cursed and turned into a mouse, Bou learns self-reliance, and stops expecting others to serve them.
Coco is never as selfish as Bou, as her self-reliance is shown as one of her virtues right from the start. Coco only learns how to do magic because she buys the magic picture book, and then sneaks in to see how Qifrey is fixing the Pegasus carriage.
But her self-reliance is demonstrated most powerfully during the Dadah Range Test. Agott sets Coco up to fail, and when Coco relies on the tools she borrows from Agott, it makes her situation worse. Coco realizes that she needs to use skills she already has instead and is able to rescue herself and win the test.
Qifrey’s Picnic is Right out of Howl’s Kitchen
The delicious beauty of Studio Ghibli’s food has inspired whole cookbooks, as viewers seek to replicate the dishes animated on screen. In Howl’s Moving Castle, Howl the wizard makes breakfast for Sophie and his assistant Markl. The steps of cooking are shown, with Howl using frying the bacon to grease the pan before cooking the eggs.
Ghibli’s adoration of food arrives in Witch Hat Atelier, as Qifrey uses cooking as a lesson in fire magic to help build Coco’s confidence. The finished meal they prepare together is drawn in gorgeous detail, a simple cooked potato made to be appealing enough that it could inspire its own recipe in a cookbook one day.
Coco and Qifrey share the joy of the finished meal they created with fellow apprentices, Tetia and Richeh. Taking the food out to have a picnic under a bridge during a rainstorm, it easily becomes a dish better enjoyed with friends, just as in Howl’s kitchen.
Witch Hat Atelier Understands Ghibli’s Love of Creation
More than any other similarity, Witch Hat Atelier and Studio Ghibli share a deep appreciation of what it means to create something with your own two hands. Unlike most fantasy settings where magic is esoteric or mystical, Witch Hat Atelier makes magic an artisan craft. Magic is physically drawing, with an artisan’s tools. Improving at magic means repetitious drawing practice.
No one is born a magician in Witch Hat Atelier’s world, and Coco’s love of magic rather than any innate power is what sets her apart from her peers. This appreciation for creation is all over the films of Ghibli. Kamome Shirahama and Hayao Miyazaki both find a value in a person making art, even if it’s messy.
The classic slice-of-life film Whisper of the Heart centers on the relationship between a young girl, Shizuku Tsukishima, who wants to be a writer, and a young boy, Seiji Amasawa, who wants to be a violin maker. In one of the film’s best scenes, Shizuku’s lyrics and Seiji’s violin come together as they perform a rendition of Country Roads by John Denver.
Both characters create something themselves and in doing so create the chance to fall in love. Coco and the other students at Qifrey’s atelier are able to practice art and, in doing so, gain the ability to create magic. Whether its love or magic, both works show that making beautiful things brings beauty into a life.
There are many similarities between Witch Hat Atelier and the works of Studio Ghibli. But more so than each containing beautiful art and shared themes, there is a deep appreciation of making things, whether for an individual’s joy, or for others. The beauty of creating things is shared with readers and viewers to find in their own lives.
- Release Date
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April 6, 2026
- Network
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Tokyo MX
- Directors
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Ayumu Watanabe
- Writers
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Hiroshi Seko, Shirahama Kamome
