Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 1 is an engaging middle grade reader fantasy school adventure by Kamome Shirahama. Released in 2019 by Kodansha Comics, it's 208 pages, manga style, and is available in paperback and ebook formats.
Definitely one for the fans of manga, with beautifully intricate kinetic artwork, fast moving high stakes action and plot, and an engaging storyline, but it *also* could be a good gateway/introduction to manga for all age readers. The art style is somewhat reminiscent of P. Craig Russel (in a very good way) and Linda Medley. It's full of lush backgrounds and landscapes as well as many small sweetly humorous nods to the genre scattered throughout.
The translation work by Stephen Kohler is impressively seamless, maintaining the *feel* of the Japanese, without sacrificing the scansion or meaning in English. Nothing gets lost in translation.
There's a companion anime airing on Crunchyroll currently.
Four and a half stars. Engaging, entertaining, and well written and illustrated.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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