2026 will be packed with plenty of high-action, brightly-colored anime. We’ll get large-scale remakes like Ghost in the Shell and Magic Knight Rayearth. Projects like Frieran: Beyond Journey’s End season 2 and Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run have been rightfully hyped up. However, once in a while, an underpromoted anime gem comes out that absolutely captures the hearts of every person watching.
This year, that’s Journal With Witch, a sleeper hit that will leave you sobbing. The show had very minimal promotion beforehand or throughout its release. However, that shouldn’t be taken as a statement about its quality. If you’re looking for a new show to watch, grab your tissues and settle in because Journal With Witch is truly something special.
What Is Journal With Witch About?
Journal With Witch is the best anime that you’re probably not watching right now. Based on the manga Ikoku Nikki by Tomoko Yamashita, the story follows an introverted and awkward 35-year-old writer named Makio Kōdai, who decides to take in her 15-year-old niece, Asa Takumi, after Asa’s parents die in a car wreck.
Makio makes the decision on impulse, not thinking about whether she’s capable of raising a teenager, because Asa’s family members treat her as a burden. To make the situation more complicated, she hated her sister, Asa’s mother. Meanwhile, Asa is extremely numb after the death of her parents.
Also, the two struggle to adjust to living together because of their conflicting personalities. Whether it was intentional or not, Makio is extremely neurodivergent-coded to the point that it became an online discussion among neurodivergent viewers. Meanwhile, Asa is a friendly and extremely average teenager. While Makio struggles to socially interact, Asa loves spending time together and talking.
At Makio’s suggestion, Asa starts journaling about her daily life and emotions, which is where the title comes into play. Nobody will judge what she writes or how she feels.
Warning: Spoilers for Journal With Witch will follow!
Journal With Witch Brings Both Tears Of Joy & Pain
Given the concept, Journal With Witch has a lot of heaviness and pain in the slice-of-life story. Asa is going through the stages of grief, which is a confusing and messy process. What’s worse, there’s external pressure to grieve in “the right way.” Sometimes she feels nothing, and sometimes she feels everything. No matter what emotions she’s experiencing, it’s hard to watch.
Meanwhile, Makio agonizes over the fact that she doesn’t know that she can ever love Asa in the way that Asa needs. She struggles to step into a parental role, especially since she isn’t very good at social interactions and emotional connections. She spends time just observing Asa and trying to understand her, which is simultaneously heartwarming and heartbreaking.
Nothing is black and white, though. The beauty of the anime is that the story balances the more devastating moments with happy moments. There’s a lot of humor and lightness because Journal With Witch treats the story as real life instead of a TV show. Some moments tinged with sadness even brought happy tears because emotions aren’t siloed from one another. Some happier moments have an undercurrent of sadness. I found myself tearing up with happiness just as often as I did with sadness.
Journal With Witch Encourages Self-Love & Acceptance
When it comes to Journal With Witch’s message about self-love and acceptance, the first and most obvious example is Asa’s friend Emiri coming to terms with her identity as a lesbian, which is a lovely character arc. However, the theme goes much further than that in extremely subtle ways.
Self-empathy is Makio acknowledging that she isn’t sad about her sister’s death and not forcing herself to pretend otherwise. She practices self-love by entering an unconventional romantic relationship, even if it doesn’t conform to societal expectations.
It’s also the push and pull of Makio, a heavily AuDHD-coded character, trying to give herself compassion about the fact that she isn’t “normal,” even though she also has shame and self-judgment. Whether she succeeds or fails, the effort she’s putting in is, in and of itself, an act of self-compassion.
On the other side of the show, self-love is Asa cutting her hair the way she likes it. It’s taking the time to journal, even when she isn’t sure it will help. Similarly, she gives herself the time and space to figure out who she is outside of her mother’s critical comments and pressure.
Ultimately, none of the characters in Journal With Witch embodies self-love and acceptance at all times. They aren’t perfectly self-actualized, and they have moments where they aren’t very nice to themselves. However, that’s also why the message hits so hard. The characters feel real and flawed, which makes it easier to emulate their journey towards self-love and acceptance.
Journal With Witch Is One Of The Best Anime Of 2026 (& It’s Only Spring)
Journal With Witch is less flashy than other 2026 anime releases, and it prioritizes simplicity over melodrama. However, the mundane moments and the stillness are comforting. The story focuses on quiet emotions and whispered thoughts that feel honest and real. The anime art style embraces a muted color palette that lets the characters’ expressions shine.
Ultimately, Journal With Witch shines because it represents all the rawness and realness that other stories reject. It’s one of the best and most honest depictions of mental health. The story truly captures the nuances of existing as a human being with emotions.
I hope everybody takes the time to watch this show because, no matter who you are or what you are going through, there’s something meaningful to take away from Journal With Witch.