Interview: Witch Hat Atelier Creator Kamome Shirahama

Hardly needing introduction, Witch Hat Atelier is one of the best fantasy manga out there, combining an innovative magic system with compelling characters, a deeply layered and allegorical world, and, perhaps most notably, art so deeply detailed and precise that staff of the anime were apprehensive about adapting it to the screen. During this year’s Anime Expo, during the first run of the LA rendition of the immersive pop-up Kodansha House, we had the opportunity to speak with manga creator Kamome Shirahama about all things Witch Hat Atelier. We discussed some of the elements of the series like characters and magic and got some insight into how Shirahama-sensei has constructed such a lovely series.

Portions of this interview have been lightly edited for clarity. This interview was conducted with the assistance of an interpreter.

Q: First, I’d like to know your impression of the first season of the anime now that it’s completed.

Shirahama-sensei: I felt really excited, of course, but I also feel very relieved. So the anime of course was a lot of fun to be involved with, but it felt like a big festival, and I was restless the whole time. And now that the festival is over, it’s like we’re taking a breath and preparing for the next stage.

Q: Witch Hat Atelier features tremendous amounts of representation, whether it be for disabled people, the LGBTQIA+ community, or different racial minorities. I’m sure many fans like myself are thankful to see this in a manga; how are these things important to you?

Shirahama-sensei: So, for me, not having that representation would actually feel very unnatural. And it seems just a natural progression of things to have the people we live alongside in real life appear in the story. It’s really nice to hear that so many people feel thankful that they are being represented in the story. That makes me feel happy, but I also feel like that really should be more normalized, and I would like to see the day when people don’t have to feel a special gratitude for that happening.

Q: You created such a robust magic system, one with such detail that fans have taken to the internet creating their own spells. How did you go about building the system, and how does it feel to see fans creating spells of their own from your world?

Shirahama-sensei: From the start, I thought about the magic system with the intention that other people should be able to create their own original spells. As I was coming up with the story, I was really thinking about who, when, what, where, why, and how for the elements of the puzzle that come together to make that story, and that the core of it was this magic system — how it can be used, what kind of perspective it would give people, and what kind of physics it would give to the world.

(Editor’s Note: In a post-interview clarification, Shirahama-sensei added that she “combined elements — what, where, how — like pieces of a puzzle that make up the story, and assigned symbols in place of explanations. That’s what this magic system became. I’m creating it while thinking about how it can be used, what kind of perspective it would give people, and what kind of physics it would give to the world.”)

Q: Witch Hat Atelier has legendary amounts of detail. For some of the two page spreads or very detailed pages, how long does it take to draw them?

Shirahama-sensei: Each chapter of the story is about 30 pages long, and it takes me about a week to 10 days to complete a chapter. So, even for the most detailed pages, it takes me maybe half a day, certainly no more than one day to complete.

Q: The series does well to communicate that no single belief system is infallible, especially by comparing the Pointed and Brimmed caps. At what point did you arrive at a focus on these contradictions?

Shirahama-sensei: Throughout many of my works and some of the other stories I’ve created, there’s always been this theme of comparing and contrasting different or opposing forces, and I feel like it’s because I read a lot of those stories as a child that I sort of arrived there naturally. So, I think that theme must be a deep, deep part of my heart somehow. And so anytime I write a story, I just sort of naturally progress towards that theme.

Q: As the series progresses, we’re beginning to see more and more backstories of characters like Qifrey and even the Knights Moralis. When crafting these backstories, did you have an idea of characters’ origins early on or were they developed over time?

Shirahama-sensei: It’s about half and half. For some of the characters I knew from the start what their backstories were going to be, and what kind of characters they were going to be for others. As the story progressed, I sort of came up with these ideas of “Oh, it must be because they have this kind of past that they ended up like this.” So, it’s about half and half. But for the core members, especially of Qifrey’s atelier like Qifrey himself or Olruggio, Coco, and Agott, I knew from the beginning what kind of backstory I wanted them to have.

Q: Is there any character you wish you would have had the chance to spend more time exploring?

Shirahama-sensei: I feel pretty limited by the page count for all of the characters in the story, but out of all of them, I would say I would have loved to explore more about Dagda and Custas.

Q: Characters like Richeh use a lot of puns and portmanteaus. How often do you find yourself coming up with those such as “angricheh”?

Shirahama-sensei: I don’t really come up with these ideas as I’m drawing the story, but they do come to me in a flash of inspiration sometimes in my daily life, and I sort of stock them up in my head. Like, “Oh, I gotta use this next time.”

Q: How far into the overall story is the manga currently? And how far in advance do you find yourself settling relevant plot points?

Shirahama-sensei: So, we finished introducing the world and building up the world. And I would say maybe we are about a third of the way into the story. It’s really difficult to say. I will say that we have definitely hit a major turning point with the Silver Eve arc. As for what’s going to happen in the future, I do have the broad strokes of the story planned out and that’s been decided, but I don’t really know the small details of how the story is going to progress. That’s not something I decided in advance. It’s something that newly develops over time as I’m creating the story. So, nothing’s really fixed in stone, but I do think about where I’m going to land.

Q: A special chapter suggests the story is recalled from Brushbuddy’s memories. Do you see yourself as Brushbuddy?

Shirahama-sensei: Yes. Yes, I am Brushbuddy, perhaps.

Q: Always? Or was that a recent development?

Shirahama-sensei: It’s more like I wish I could be Brushbuddy.

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We’d like to thank Kamome Shirahama for taking the time to speak with us and thank Kodansha for assisting with the coordination of the interview. Los Angeles Kodansha House continued through the 12th, with numerous watch parties and events planned for those who made the visit. You can read Witch Hat Atelier on K Manga. Season two of the anime adaptation was announced this past June and recently revealed a teaser trailer.

We also recently had a chance to interview the anime’s Producer Hirotsugu Ogo, Director Ayumu Watanabe, and Coco’s Japanese voice actress Rena Motomura. Watanabe said that the anime will be getting darker in the future, which was why they tried to fit in a lot of the bright sides in the first season.

©Kamome Shirahama / Kodansha