In a world where only witches can cast magic, they must avoid being seen by ordinary people while casting. While Coco (Anjali Kunapaneni) does her chores, she daydreams of becoming a witch. When a young witch named Qifrey (Joshua A. Waters) 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.
With the Crunchyroll Spring 2026 lineup kicking off, Nick L’Barrow spoke with the English dub voice cast for Witch Hat Atelier!
Nick: I think Coco’s journey into finding magic, and how it’s powered by this strong desire, this feeling, that is within her, is something that audiences can resonate with. Our passions are often driven by this innate desire. I’m curious to know when you all felt that feeling of desire to pursue acting, and who were the people who helped you along that journey?
Madeleine Morris: Wow. That is such a good question! I was 17 years old, and I was starting to apply for colleges. But I didn’t know what I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. I went and saw a play at a local Dallas, Texas theatre, and that was one of the most incredibly influential moments of my life. Like, I thought I was going to watch a cool play, and I came out 90 minutes later knowing what I have to do for the rest of my life now. It was transformative. It was transcendent. It was a play called Tally’s Folly. It’s a two-hander about a European-Jewish man who escaped the Holocaust, moved to America, and fell in love with a woman who finds out she can’t have children. And it was set in the 50s, so there’s a lot about identity being explored during that time. It’s set on a house boat, and the set was made entirely from recycled and reclaimed wood. But that was 90 minutes that changed the entire trajectory of my life. And it was the director of that show who wound up being my first boss! Kind of like a Yoda to me throughout my early career.
Joshua A. Waters: I was but a wee lad, about 10-ish, when I was watching a whole lot of stuff on YouTube. A lot of fan-made, creative things. And I was taking my camcorder and recording me playing with my action figures and stuffed toys, doing voices for them. That eventually led me to doing fan comic dubs online, and I had an old channel where I posted a whole bunch of different stuff. It led me to meeting a lot of people that I now work with in a lot of official capacities. It’s really lovely to sort of see the growth and movement of so many people alongside me in the industry, especially from humble beginnings, doing silly fan works or whatever. Like, we could just have fun putting a thing out there like that.
Anjali Kunapaneni: Since I was a kid, I’ve always been a storyteller in some way. I hadn’t explored an interest in acting specifically, really, until college. But I remember when I was 8, I told my parents that I was going to be a published author! Most kids were like, “Astronaut! Cowboy!” I wanted to write books. I always had an interest in characters and storytelling, but I was on a very set path that was practical. I went to school to become a lawyer. But when I was in college, and I was trying to figure myself out, the pandemic happened and that kind of changed my trajectory. I was suddenly starting to explore other interests because I had time on my hands. One of those interests was an acting class, completely on a whim. There wasn’t a big, grand reason. But, like a lot of things in life, it was just happenstance. I can’t even point to a singular moment where in that class, something clicked in me. But I quickly spiralled and took a million more classes because I wanted to learn as much as I could about this crazy thing that was giving me this feeling that I’d never had before. And that was me discovering my passion. I’m so grateful I did. I think about how that’s a rare gift that not everyone gets.
Nick: I love how integral drawing is to the plot of this show. But I was really drawn to the hope that is underneath the magic and the art. Is there a piece of art, whether it’s a show, movie, music, book, or whatever, that has brought you hope when you needed it the most?
JW: There’s this show called The Good Place. It’s fantastic. It’s really wittily written. Very funny. And when you start it, it’s pretty standard comedy fair. Every episode has a new silly thing that they’ve got to do in this “good place”. But as it goes on, it sort of gets into these messages about philosophy and who we are as people, and how we can improve moving forward. And how things truly don’t matter, and that’s a good thing! Just do what you want to do! Because in a nihilistic way, things don’t matter, but in a good way. That show, and it’s ending, and a lot of the messages within it, really hit home for me and I carry them very strongly with me.
MM: Optimistic nihilism!
AK: That show really was so great. And I think it asks some similar questions to what this show asks, you know? There’s a lot of interesting ideas about what it means to be a good person, how to help others, how to use what you have to do good.
MM: Mine is the music of Josh Ritter – a singer-songwriter who I just adore. I’ve been following his music for two decades now. I’ve seen him in concert a whole bunch, and his music and the way he writes it, the way his lyrics tell stories that he tells through his music – it feels like what I think falling in love feels like. His music has shepherded me through incredible changing tides in my life. If I feel adrift, I can always put one of his albums on.
Thank you to Anjali, Joshua, and Madeleine for their time, and Crunchyroll for organising the interview. Witch Hat Atelier is available to stream now on Crunchyroll every Monday at 7:00 AM PT / 10:00 AM ET.
