The Fall 2023 Manga Guide

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen

What's It About? 

Evening falls on Qifrey's atelier, and Coco and her fellow witches-in-training take to their beds. In the quiet of midnight, Qifrey and Olruggio are finally free to pursue their culinary experiments. The kitchen comes alive as they whip up puddings, stews, parfaits, and jellies, and when the sun rises, Coco and the gang are there to savor every bite!

Includes a variety of real sweet and savory recipes with step-by-step instructions.

Witch Hat Atelier Kitchen has a story by Hiromi Sato and art by Kamome Shirahama. The translation is by Stephen Kohler. Lettering and touch-up done by Lys Blakeslee. Published by Kodansha Comics (October 31, 2023).

Is It Worth Reading?

Rebecca Silverman

Rating:

I'm not one hundred percent sure who this book is intended for. Fans of the original Witch Hat Atelier manga? Maybe, but the characters barely factor into it, and the plot certainly doesn't. Fans who want to see Qifrey and Olruggio spending adult time together? Maybe, but it doesn't do anything for their relationship, whether you're in a shipping mood or not. Foodies? Maybe, but then why use the framework of Witch Hat Atelier rather than creating a standalone food manga? The whole thing is baffling.

It also doesn't help much that there's no plot. Qifrey mentions taking his apprentices on field trips, Olly talks about the contraptions he's been commissioned to make, and we see the girls sort of filter through the kitchen and occasionally try cooking themselves, but each chapter is almost solely about the recipe in question; the rest is just window dressing. It's gorgeous window dressing, of course – Hiromi Sato does an excellent job mimicking Kamome Shirahama's art style, and you can only tell it's a different artist in a few places. The ingredients are all fun to look at and read about, and I like that the substitutions for things like “flying shrimp” and “carapace yam” are all saved for the back of the book because it makes the manga feel more immersive. And the recipes themselves are fairly interesting, although I think the apple glow roses require a lot more hand-eye coordination than I'm capable of.

So the short version is that this is just a beautiful recipe book inspired by Witch Hat Atelier. If that's appealing, pick it up, but don't do it just because you love the original manga.