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Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” is the start of a most peculiar Shonen Jump anime. It’s basically Kiki’s Delivery Service but with a heavy dose of romcom (emphasis on the comedy) and a much more well-developed magic system. The result is an anime premiere that’s basically a slapstick comedy with a lot of heart and a bit of zany magic behind it.
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return”: Details
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” is the very first episode of this fantasy romantic comedy anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Kenta Shinohara (Sket Dance, Astra Lost in Space). Bibury Animation Studios (Azur Lane: The Animation, The Quintessential Quintuplets 2, Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall) is the animation studio behind this anime. GKIDS is licensing this anime in NA, with Crunchyroll and Netflix streaming it worldwide, and Hulu streaming it only in the US, Animation Digital Network streaming only in several European territories, and Aniplus streaming only in South Korea.
Production Crew
Tatsunori Sakamoto and Hiroshi Ikehata are the directors behind Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return”, with Deko Akao (aka. Hitomi Mieno) as the writer, and Hiroshi Ikehata as the storyboarder.
As for Witch Watch as a whole: Hiroshi Ikehata is the director, with Masao Kawase as the assistant director, and Deko Akao (aka. Hitomi Mieno) as the scriptwriter. Haruko Iizuka is the character designer. Yukari Hashimoto is the composer behind the music.
Speaking of that music: the opening theme song is “Watch Me!” by Yoasobi. Meanwhile, “Mahō Spice” (魔法はスパイス, Magic Spice) by Aooo is the ending theme song.
Voice Cast
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” features the voices of Ryōta Suzuki (Stephen Fu in English dub) as Morihito “Moi” Otogi and Rina Kawaguchi (Lily Ki in English dub) as Nico Wakatsuki.
The other notable voice role in this episode is Natsumi Fujiwara (English dub voice unknown) as young Morihito Otogi.
When and Where to Watch
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” made its airing and streaming (aka. simulcast) debut on April 6, 2025. You can watch this episode on Crunchyroll. However, you can watch this entire anime not only on Crunchyroll, but also on Netflix and Hulu.
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return”: Synopsis
Alas, Witch Watch has just started airing and streaming. In fact, Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” has only just made its simulcast debut two days ago as of this writing. Thus, we shall be giving you the official synopsis of this episode from Crunchyroll to tease the story without too many spoilers below:
“Nico returns home after practicing hard to become a witch and reunites with Morihito.”
Plus, we shall also give you the official Crunchyroll synopsis for Witch Watch as a whole since this is the first episode and all, which you can read below as well:
“Morihito Otogi, a high school student who comes from a lineage of ogres, enjoys a peaceful, ordinary life until his childhood friend, Nico, moves in with him. Nico is a witch-in-training, and chooses Morihito to be her familiar.
While Nico is thrilled to reunite with her old friend and crush, Morihito is tasked with the perilous duty to protect her from a foretold calamity. Between the unpredictable chaos caused by Nico’s magic, and the awkwardness of sharing a home, their lives become a whirlwind of supernatural hijinks and threats.”
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return”: The Good
Honestly, there’s no doubt here that the story of Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” is the best part about it. It’s a rather odd story from Kenta Shinohara as well. It’s basically a romantic comedy like Blue Box, but going hard on the comedy route, and with plenty of comedy that leans hard into slapstick style without much in the way of actual violence, as well as some very punny jokes in Japanese. Much of it is fueled by Nico’s magic, which often turn out to be some of the zaniest applications of magic you will ever see.
And yet, the anime is surprisingly heartwarming in a lot of places, sometimes even while the comedy is still going on. It reminds me of Gintama in some ways, just with much less rude humor. It’s actually that heart combined with the giggles that’s making me rate this anime quite highly, just as I do for Shinohara’s manga and his other series as well.
The animation is also quite nice. Bibury and their animation team do a decent job with the animation, complete with sparkles in all the appropriately magical places. The bright color palette also helps make the anime quite easy on the eyes, as well as befitting the light-hearted tone of the episode as a whole. That last bit is quite fitting, considering the magical antics Moi and Nico get up to in this episode alone.
Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return”: The Bad
This may be a bit of a nitpick, but while the animation of Witch Watch Ep. 1 “Witch’s Return” is pretty good, it’s not great. Some parts of the animation feel a bit lower quality than others, with uneven lines and lack of shadows among other things. I may be a bit spoiled by anime with really good animation like Black Butler, but it’s just my opinion on the subject. Still, I would definitely say that the story is the one carrying the anime rather than the animation quality.
Aside from that, there’s not much in the way of bloody action in this anime. Yes, there is action due to Moi punching a concrete wall for reasons, but this isn’t a bloody action anime if you wanted that. If you want to see that level of action violence, then you might want to check out Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, and/or Solo Leveling. Those anime should have more than enough bloody action to satisfy your action junkie tendencies.
