WELCOME TO THE VOID

I honestly don’t know where humans are supposed to find time to read all the incredible manga out there. Back in June, I got drawn into the first few chapters of Chiyoko Maruume and Tokegoro’s Twilight Blade. A promising new, dark shonen manga that feels like Spy X Family meets Jujutsu Kaisen, I was all in from page one! As an editor working primarily in the anime/manga and gaming industries, keeping up with current and ongoing titles and trends can be overwhelming. There’s always something new to check out, and when they stick, the already lofty stack of series  I’m invested in just gets higher. Sadly, life happened to me in late June, and I had to set Twilight Blade aside until recently. Returning to polish off the next eight chapters to get caught up was easy. And now that I’m all up to date, it’s one I definitely want to keep up with. I only hope it doesn’t go the way of Alien Headbutt and get canceled just when things are starting to get good.

One of the most notable things about Witch Hat Atelier at first is how pretty Master Qifrey is. He’s a classic, white-haired anime pretty boy. Brilliant blue eyes (well, eye…) and the kind of outward confidence normal people envy, Qifrey gives Satoru Gojo a run for his money. And that’s saying a lot, coming from your resident Gojo fan-girly. Anime and manga mentors are an honest-to-goodness staple, regardless of the demographic. An important part of any coming-of-age story, it’s the mentor’s job to give the protagonist a proper introduction to their world. Coco’s magical journey into the imperfect world of magic requires an imperfect mentor, and Qifrey fits the bill perfectly. In fact, it’s Qifrey’s imperfections that make him a perfect mentor. Contradictory, yes? That’s what makes it fun!

The Witch Hat Atelier anime adaptation during the Spring 2026 Anime Season completely won me over. Of course, that inevitably led to me stocking up on all 14 volumes of the manga, and then ploughing through the digital chapters on K MANGA to get fully caught up. Boy, am I glad I did! Because I love having my heart ripped out (and then stepped on,) and that’s exactly what Shirahama Kamome does with pretty much every chapter. There is something magical and enchanting in Shirahama-sensei’s art. She vividly tells a story without words, which, in turn, serves to make every actual word that much more impactful. Witch Hat Atelier is magical and dark, with every beautiful panel capturing the radiant but twisted world main protagonist Coco exists in. I am not writing reviews of the manga here, so much as I’d like to write a series of essays exploring my thoughts on the story and characters. I haven’t been writing here as much lately, due to work taking up a lot of my time, so, this is something I want to do for myself because Witch Hat Atelier has easily become one of my favorite manga series this year. The fact that one of the first things it reminded me of was one of my favorite video games of all time feels like the first thing to explore, so, let’s do this thing!

It’s been a minute since I had time to sit down and write here. My contracted position at CBR.com changed again recently, which means a heavier workload and less time to write outside the job. This is a good thing, but I do need to make some time to write over here, just for me. Especially since I haven’t even talked about the Spring 2026 Anime Season at all, yet. I’ve missed my outlet, for sure. There’s been some amazing new anime I’ve been watching during the Spring 2026 Anime Season. Not taking time to talk about them here has been weird. So I thought I’d drop in and give a brief overview of everything I’m watching now.

I sure took my sweet time getting to my final thoughts on the series finale for shojo anime Anyway I’m Falling In Love With You. I think after Jujutsu Kaisen was over, I feel into a word coma, spending most of my time writing for work instead of myself. But I’m here now. After almost two weeks to think it over, I definitely have thoughts about Mizuho’s journey. Overall, I like Anyway I’m Falling In Love With You as a whole. The animation is cute. The colors are shojo vibrant and exciting. I especially like the shimmering essence from the sea that always seems to make its way onto the screen. I like the premise of a group of childhood friends trying to find their way in life after a pandemic. That’s what kept me hooked. So, here are my thoughts on the anime series as a whole.