Witch Hat Atelier was one of the most surprising anime series I watched for this past spring anime season for 2026. I cannot believe I thought this series would not appeal to me. This beloved series began about ten years ago, when the manga began serialization in July 2016. Kamome Shirahama wrote and illustrated the manga, said to draw inspiration from The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter novels in her work.
In a world where only witches can cast magic, they must avoid being seen by ordinary people while casting. While Coco does her chores, she daydreams of becoming a witch. When a young witch named Qifrey visits her village, Coco uncovers the “absolute secret,” becomes Qifrey’s apprentice, and begins her studies. This is the story of children who encounter despair, yet reach out toward hope.
CGMagazine worked with Crunchyroll to have the great opportunity to hear from the English voice actors that voice some of its main cast. Anjali Kunapaneni voices Coco, Joshua A. Waters plays Qifrey, and Madeleine Morris dons Agott. Kunapaneni is best known for their work on JUJUTSU KAISEN and Pokémon, Waters in Sasaki and Miyano and Blue Lock, and Morris can be heard in One Piece and TRIGUN STAMPEDE to name a couple of the voices these wonderful actors have taken on.
We discussed how these wonderful voice actors came into their roles on the show, and the hard work of finding their voices for each of their characters. This is a show that does a little bit extra in the English dub, so I wanted to learn more about the fine tuning and exploration that went into that aspect.
I know you’re all big time fans of Witch Hat Atelier, so I was curious what your initial reactions were when you first read dialogue for each of your characters.
Joshua A. Waters: I have been a longtime fan of the manga. I’ve been fully caught up for a while now. To be honest one hundred percent honest with you, I got into the booth, was so excited, and went through the whole episode in that session. Then, when I left, I went and cried in my car after I was done. The first episode of Witch Hat Atelier is truly something incredibly special to me.
The adaptation: the things that they’ve subtly added that weren’t in the manga, the animation, the music, like the ability to bring the English voice to life with such a lovely cast as well. People truly, honestly care about it. You can tell from every single department that is involved, everyone cares so much. So, it’s still a bit surreal being a part of it. But yeah, sobbed like a baby after I was done.
Anjali Kunapaneni: 100%. It’s been months and I’m still processing it. Coco, at the very beginning of the first episode does like a little bit of a narration intro—that is sort of illustrating what kind of a world we’re getting into. And I had a very surreal…like it almost felt out of body, maybe because it was narration and there was no mouth to match or anything like that. It was sort of, ‘Is this real’ feeling.
I have been a fan for a very long time. It’s an incredible series, and I was looking forward to this—even just as a fan. I genuinely think I fully like blacked out at a certain point because right now I’m trying to remember and I’m like, ‘What happened?’ That entire first episode in particular was crazy. We recorded the trailer separately from the very first episode.
Technically, the very first lines I said as Coco were in that trailer. I remember everyone else had recorded and I think I was the last person to record, so I got to hear everybody. I was very emotional just getting to hear all these characters I’d seen a million times and imagining their voices in my head.
Madeleine Morris: I didn’t know anything about it. For years, I had friends who’d be like, ‘You gotta read it. You would love it.’ And then when the anime got announced, I had those same friends coming back going, ‘Now, will you read it?’ And I said, ‘ No.’ Because I’ve hurt my own feelings in the past and gotten really attached to an anime. I had the opportunity to audition for it, and I have grown as an actor who can let it go.
But I knew that Witch Hat Atelier was different and special, and that I was going to love it. I knew it was going to get under my skin in a very real way. So I don’t think it sunk in for me after I finished my first episode. Because then, I went home and then I started reading manga and I was like, ‘Okay, okay., Let me learn more about this world; let me have some context.
But watching it come to life for the first time in the anime, It’s undefeated. It is unmatched. I cannot express enough of what a tremendous gift it is to be a part of something so intricately beautiful. And just working on the first few cues for Agott, it was almost surgical. I felt like we spent a long time on her first scene in episode two. That was trying different types of the accent, different inflections, and trying completely different words in the mouth—until we really felt like we dive in to where she lives, and it was really satisfying.
That was very creatively satisfying for me, and it’s only got to be more fun. Emily [Farjardo], Jeremy [Woods], and I kind of built up that base in that first episode. And I’ve got to just jump on it like a trampoline ever since.
Yeah, and you all did such amazing work! I initially watched the show in Japanese, and I was like, ‘Alright, let me go back and watch it in English.’ Then, I was like, ‘Woah, woah, what’s this?’ This is a perfect segue: for both you, Madeleine and Joshua, was [doing the accents] something you knew off the rip?
Joshua A. Waters: So it’s interesting because in the audition process they had asked for both general American and a European accent. When we were brought on, we did not know originally which one that they had brought us on for. That was all up to Emily Fajardo, our incredible, incredible director, and her decision to ‘other’ Coco more—through having all of the people from the witch world have these accents. It ‘others’ her, and it completely pushes her away. A ‘these people don’t even talk like me’ kind of feeling.
Madeleine Morris: Yeah, it immediately and inherently shows that this is a new and different culture. She (Emily Fajardo) did ask in the audition listing if you’ve got a British Isles dialect, let’s hear it. So, I did a few different ones, but I also did just a standard American take. So, when I went in to record the trailer, I’m in my headphones standing in front of the mic. We’re about to beep in and I look out the window and I went, ‘Wait, American or English?’ And Emily goes, ‘Oh, did I not tell you?!’
(Everyone bursts out laughing)
Joshua A. Waters: Haha! She’s so funny!
Madeleine Morris: ‘We’re going English.’ Then, I went, ‘Oooh, okay. Wait, wait…okay, let me calibrate my whole brain. Like hang on!
Joshua A. Waters: It’s such a fun experience to be able to do as well. Truthfully, you don’t see a lot of that in the dubbing world. Emily has been so on point about it, making sure to remind us and keeping accents as good as they can be—phoneticallt writing things out when need be. We can go through a full episode, and then at the very end—it’s something that I don’t see many other directors do—she goes right back to the top of the episode again, and runs back through everything one more time. It’s such a collaborative effort in that booth.
Yeah, and I’m curious about the other side with Anjali. How did that ‘otherness’ with the accents enhance your experience voicing Coco?
Anjali Kunapaneni: Me, as Anjali, I’m very jealous! (Addresses Joshua and Madeleine) You guys sound like you’re having a blast! I’m having a blast with Coco, but I think it’s interesting because I don’t know that they are necessarily thinking about or acknowledging the explicit differences in, ‘Oh, I sound this way, and another person sounds this way.’ But I think similar to in life, you tend to have these sort of subconscious associations with the way people speak. It might not even be an accent.
If you’re in a room full of Americans, you might note subtle differences of, ‘Oh, this person says this word in a particular way.’ That makes me think that maybe there’s a slight class difference between the two of us—things like that. Any person who has existed on the margins can certainly say you can clock very quickly in a room when you are different from everyone else in that room. So, she already of course knows on the surface, ‘I am not from this world. These are all witches who grew up with magic. I’m not like them.” And I think that reinforces that even harder. It’s that full immersion of stepping in as the audience.
Interesting. Y’all make me want to read ahead now! But thank you again so much for your time!
All Witch Hat Atelier Season 1 episodes are available to stream on Crunchyroll now.
