‘Journal with Witch’ Is the Best Anime of the Winter

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This winter, there’s been a surplus of buzzy anime series currently running, the majority of them being returning series and action shows like “Jujutsu Kaisen” or “Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End.” But the show that’s grabbed me the most over the past two months has been something completely different: a tender, almost ludicrously small-scale little human drama about family and life after tragedy, that’s also broken ground by being — to my knowledge — the first anime ever to reference the 1991 queer classic film “Fried Green Tomatoes.”

Despite its odd name, “Journal With Witch” doesn’t have any magic or monsters in it whatsoever. Based on a manga by Tomoko Yamashita, the series takes its name from the loose central conceit, in which one of the two main characters — sweet but sheltered 15-year-old Asa — keeps a journal recording her daily thoughts in the weeks and months following a car crash that takes her parents’ lives. There’s no real “witch” in question, although Asa often regards her deeply introverted, masculine aunt Makio as pretty magical in her own right.

The series establishes their odd dynamic quickly in the first episode. As Makio, a successful novelist, types away on her latest work in progress in her dark, cramped office, Asa frets away cleaning and cooking in the kitchen, searching for a way to make her feel useful in her new home. The two barely know each other, Makio having cut off contact with Asa’s demanding, judgmental mother years ago. As she admits to the girl later in the episode, she feels no emotion towards her sister’s death, and claims to look at Asa the way she would look at any other child. But, feeling a responsibility to her nonetheless, she agrees to take her in, in a decision that slowly begins to change both of their lives.

Structurally, “Journal With Witch” resembles something like “Gilmore Girls” in how it mixes teen drama with adult storylines. Each episode flips between the two main characters, as they tackle their own unique problems and slowly but surely begin to lean on each other more for support. Asa graduates middle school, begins high school, and struggles with feelings of social isolation as she begins to reconsider her difficult relationship with her mother. Makio struggles to make space for Asa in her heavily compartmentalized life, while navigating her feelings for her ex-boyfriend Shingo.

‘Journal with Witch’

There’s a lot of complexity and rich emotions to untangle from their dynamic, but what makes “Journal With Witch” so rewarding as an experience is how much it expects the audience to pay attention. Rather than pitching itself as a melodrama, the overwhelming mood of the show is quiet and calm, the characters’ feelings revealed through small moments rather than dialogue. The animation from Studio Shuka, with its muted colors and expressive characters, does a lot to further the show’s down-to-earth, realistic tone, although brief moments of stylization — the other relatives at Asa’s parents’ funeral getting depicted as faceless silhouettes, repeated imagine spots in which the girl wanders a desert — succinctly conveys her inner world.

What’s most remarkable about “Journal With Witch” is how adroit it proves in slowly expanding and fleshing out its ensemble while never losing sight of Asa and Maiko’s central bond. Emiri, Asa’s best friend, becomes a particularly major part of the series as it progresses, her developing queerness put in contrast with Asa’s own confused search for her own identity outside of the life her parents laid out for her. Makio’s relationship with Shingo is rich and complicated, revealing new vulnerabilities in a character whose initially somewhat off-putting in her coldness. Other supporting characters, like Makio’s longtime best friend Nana, pop as warm, memorable presences, people with lives beyond just what they offer to the household the show follows.

“Journal With Witch” does take some time to fully click into place, with a few episodes dedicated to introducing the supporting cast and circling the icy, uneasy bond between Makio and Asa. Its first truly devastating moment comes in its fourth episode, where Asa, overwhelmed by her first few days in high school, breaks down crying on the couch. Makio, having ignored her for days, sits with her and admits that she can’t understand her grief, her loneliness, and her anxiety, but implores her to share all of it with her.

“Even if we don’t understand each other?” Asa asks. “Because we don’t,” Makio replies. It’s a scene that cuts to the heart of the show’s bold yet very human thesis: that people can never truly know what it’s like to walk in another’s shoes, yet it makes all the difference to keep trying anyway.