An anime about witches is nothing new. There have been plenty of variations on the young witch storyline over the years, such as Little Witch Academia, The Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, and Burn the Witch. 2025 is looking to be no different, with a new witch anime coming out, called Once Upon a Witch’s Death.
Once Upon a Witch’s Death was originally a light novel written by Saka. Later, the story was adapted into a manga, illustrated by Chorefuji and adapted by Kenu Amearare. The full title of the novel is Once Upon a Witch’s Death: The Tale of the One Thousand Tears of Joy.
Even from just the trailer, Once Upon a Witch’s Death looks like a promising anime.
Though the web novel Once Upon a Witch’s Death is finished, the light novel and the manga are still ongoing. Additionally, Yen Press is working on adapting the novels into English for international fans.
Once Upon a Witch’s Death follows a girl named Meg Raspberry, who finds out on her 17th birthday that she only has a year left to live. Her mentor, known as Eternal Witch Faust, says that she suffers from a curse, and only 1,000 tears of joy can save her. She must collect the tears and plant a seed, watering it with the tears, to break the curse.
So, she begins her quest to collect those tears of joy. During her adventure, she meets with many different people and what is important to each of them. In the trailer, bits and pieces of her story and the characters she meets during Once Upon a Witch’s Death are shown.
So far, only the voice actors for the two main characters of Once Upon a Witch’s Death have been announced. Meg will be voiced by Yoshino Aoyama (Bocchi the Rock!), and Faust will have Yoshiko Kakakibara (Psycho-Pass) as her voice actor.
Once Upon a Witch’s Death follows a girl named Meg Raspberry, who finds out on her 17th birthday that she only has a year left to live.
Once Upon a Witch’s Death is set to air sometime in 2025. Atsushi Nigorikawa (Naruto: Shippuuden) is the director, alongside Yuki Shizuku (The Aquatope on White Sand) as the character design assistant and Keiichiro Ochi (The Quintessential Quintuplets), who is managing the series scripts. She is working under Studio EMT Squared (The High School Life of a Fudanshi).
As for where Once Upon a Witch’s Death is going to be when it does release, that hasn’t yet been announced.
If you’re any good at reading Japanese, there is also an official website up where you can keep track of all the latest information for this beautiful series.
Even from just the trailer, Once Upon a Witch’s Death looks like a promising anime. The little bit of characters and story seen in the trailer promises a pretty exciting season. The animation is beautiful too, though some fans of the manga are disappointed by the differences in the art style between the anime and the manga.
As for where Once Upon a Witch’s Death is going to be when it does release, that hasn’t yet been announced. Fans will have to wait until the release date gets closer to see more about the cast, where the anime will be released, how long the season will be, and the exact release date.