Journal with Witch (2026) - REVIEW
“It might help to start keeping a journal. About the things people say to you…or the things that they don’t. About whatever you feel or don’t feel.”
Journal With Witch is a 13 episode Josei anime produced by Studio Shuka, who have done shows like 91 Days, and a few later seasons of Natsume’s. They also consist of previous Brain Base members, who’ve worked on the previous Natsume seasons, Baccano, and Durarara!!. The director, Miyuki Ôshiro, has previously been an animation director on Natsume’s and Yuri on Ice.
Journal With Witch is primarily about two characters: Asa, and her Aunt Makio. The catalyst for the story itself happens prior to the series beginning, when Asa’s parents tragically lose their lives in a car accident, leaving Asa orphaned. Thankfully, her Aunt Makio takes her in, but now both have to try and navigate this new chapter of their lives with each other, while also navigating their shared tragedy.
It’s a quiet contemplation of loss and how different people handle it, and it does so with a great attention to detail - rather than having the characters spill their hearts out, it lets us read between the lines, and often uses visual storytelling in place of even that carefully crafted dialogue. Showing us the empty lines of a notebook tells us more about how our main character is feeling than anything she could ever say out loud.
This anime often even blends surrealistic and fantastical visual elements seamlessly into the story, often to emphasize emotional beats, and sometimes to land an emotional blow on the viewer - at points, the editing itself is utilized in this way, using a sharp cut to drop a heavy moment out of nowhere. Early in the story, this was used most effectively when illustrating that the loss had effected Makio more than she let on, and would often cut to her lost sister suddenly standing in front of her when she least expected it.
Later in the story, the main character Asa is struggling with feelings of being stuck, left behind, as her friends around her all seem to be finding their places in the world. None of this is said out loud, it’s just clear based on Asa’s reactions that she’s feeling this way - and as she slows to a stop while walking, as this feeling is overwhelming her, the base ball team for her high school runs past yelling, “Come on, first years! Run like your life’s on the line! Yoshimura, pick up the pace!” A lesser story wouldn’t have that scene at all, and an even lesser story than that might cut to Asa and have her voice the realization of what she’s feeling due to hearing that - but Journal With Witch is far from that lesser story. It knows exactly what it’s trying to say, and trusts its audience to follow along.
Journal With Witch is breathtaking, quiet, emotional, often playing with imagery, animation, editing, and music - using all of the senses at its disposal to pluck the heartstrings of its viewer and pull them along to the emotional ending the series, even cutting off that ending short, leaving the viewer with a sense of hopefulness for the future, and an understanding that life moves on even in the face of tragedy.
This anime might be the newest on the list so far, but it’s hard to see a world in which it doesn’t make my Definitive Top 100 Anime of All Time List.
My Current MAL Rating: 9/20
Top 100 Contender: Yes
Current Top 100 Ranking: 13/100