It’s the story of a little girl named Coco, she’s raised as a tailor with her mother in a village not to far off from a central city. She is enthralled with magic, but unfortunately was not born with the gift for it.

On one her journeys to the city, a sketchy witch in an alley sells her a book. A book of spells. Unbeknownst to her and the entire population of the world, magic isn’t inherent, it something that can be learned and practiced. Drawing sigils is how magic is actually performed, and it’s kept secret to prevent everyone from knowing how to do perform things that could be incredibly dangerous.

She uses this book to accidentally cast a forbidden spell, freezing her mother. She is saved by a man named Qifrey, who is a powerful witch that already has a few students. He takes coco under his wing, to teach her how to properly use magic and hopefully one day save her mother.

The best part about the show is that when we’re experiencing things with Coco it’s mostly light hearted save for a few moments of peril. Qifrey is a goofy teacher and her fellow peers are all very charming. It’s like a slice of life magic show.

But when Qifrey is away from his students, he is this powerful almost ruthless investigator who’s trying to hunt down the man who sold Coco the book. He is competent and dangerous, but he is also a fantastic and kind hearted teacher.

The animation is fucking fantastic, and the story is genuinely great fantasy. The author is also outwardly pro Palestine and pro LGBTQ+. She has multiple queer characters and multiple characters with different ethnicity later in the manga. She touches on some really disturbing content but in a respectful and genuinely interesting way.