As one of the leading fantasy anime adaptations this year, Witch Hat Atelier keeps catching worldwide attention. While we wait for the anime’s second season, the staff have been visiting conventions overseas to engage fans. As part of their world tour, they visited the German convention AnimagiC, taking part in special panels and signing sessions with European fans.
During the convention, we sat down with anime director Ayumu Watanabe, Coco’s voice actress Rena Motomura, and producer Hirotsugu Ogo to talk about Witch Hat Atelier‘s first season adaptation process and their thoughts after the finale.
Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.
Q: If you could choose only one type of magic shown in the first season to use, which one would be your pick?
Ogo-san: I would choose the flying shoes, because it’s something that everyone dreamed of: to be able to fly.
Motomura-san: I’d like to try the water spell to create a water dragon, like the one Qifrey used. It’s very complicated but it would be pretty cool.
Watanabe-san: I’d choose the repetition spell to be able to push back the deadlines as much as I want [laughs].
Q: Watanabe-san, you mentioned before that you felt overwhelmed when you received the project. How do you feel after the first season finale and the audience’s reaction?
Watanabe-san: To be honest, I’m not at ease at all because I feel more pressured after the finale [laughs]. But I’m really excited to continue this project too.
Q: Why do you think the Witch Hat Atelier story is so compelling and resonates so deeply with people?
Ogo-san: I’d say that the original story is already compelling. It’s a heartwarming fantasy story that we all love and everyone can resonate with. The world created by the anime is very special for both younger and older audiences, who have experienced similar things in their childhood.
Q: Overall, the story is full of light. However, particularly at the end of the season, we can see glimpses of darkness. How did you decide to balance this in the first season?
Watanabe-san: Darkness is created through light. In a sense, magic is equal to our world’s technology. Both bring a lot of positive aspects and make our lives more convenient, but they still carry certain risks. Balancing that out would be the ideal way of handling them. As Witch Hat Atelier’s story moves on, there will be more darkness depicted in the anime and that’s why it was important for us to show a lot of the bright sides during the first season.
Q: The world of Witch Hat Atelier follows strict rules and mechanics regarding magic. Did that also affect the way you adapted it into the anime?
Watanabe-san: In order to make things that don’t exist look as realistic as possible, you have to follow a set of rules. You also have to depict them in a very thorough way. If you don’t set certain boundaries, it can end up feeling unrealistic.
Q: Director Watanabe-san mentioned in our previous interview that Coco’s voice actress “should be a voice that has infinite possibilities and that hasn’t really been dyed by any type of ideology.” After watching the first season, we can confirm that you conveyed the feeling of a growing witch discovering a new world. Motomura-san, how did you prepare for the role?
Motomura-san: When I prepared for Coco’s role I didn’t have any fixed image on how I should portray her. I was free in the way I conveyed Coco’s feelings, which is also a similarity that Coco and I share: we both act freely. I also thought there must be a reason why the team selected me for Coco, so I believed in their decision and tried to make her as real as possible
We want to extend our thanks to Watanabe-san, Ogo-san, and Motomura-san for giving us time for this interview, and to the AnimagiC and Crunchyroll staff for making this possible. We hope to see them again at future conventions.
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