Coco is a young girl who's had put her dreams of becoming a witch aside because she was not born one... However a child's curiosity can never be quenched, and so after discovering that magic is something one does with a pen and ink, Coco can't help but test out the book of spells and wand she received as a child from a mysterious figure in a brimmed hat... with disastrous results!

Before she knows it, her mother is turned to stone and needs the assistance of Qifrey, a witch seemingly obsessed with the brimmed hats, to help her reverse the spell she cast! She joins his Atelier as an apprentice, but Coco soon learns the road to saving her mother and fulfilling her dreams won't be so easy!

On this week's podcast, Mat is joined by artist and designer Allie Oldfield to discuss Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama! Join us as we get into the incredible world Shirahama's created: discussing not only it's wonderful magic system, but the metaphor at it's heart. We even talk about the fantastic exhibition at Angouleme of Shirahama's original manuscripts, as well as the many, many artistic influences we see on the pages of the manga!

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Show Notes

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Mangaka, Artists and Writers

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Alphonse Mucha

Brothers Grimm

Gustav Doré

Tove Jansson

John Tenniel

Lewis Carroll

C.S. Lewis

J.R.R. Tolkien

Terry Pratchett

Chica Umino

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Anitrendz TCAF Interview with Shirahama

Crunchy Roll Germany Interview with Shirahama

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Thanks to Juliano Zucareli for our theme music!

Find us on:
X: Manga Tak Pod
Bluesky: Manga Tak Pod
Instagram: Manga Tak Pod

To the casual observer, Yoh Asakura seems like a laid back teenager with street and book smarts in equal measure, but unbeknown to his new classmates, Yoh is actually a shaman: a human blessed with the powers to not only commune with the dead, but also use their abilities to help their shaman wielders!

However, Yoh can't live a peaceful life forever! Between his classmate Manta discovering his ability, the constant attention of restless souls and rival shaman seeking him out, Yoh's dreams of living a carefree life soon turn to him focusing on becoming the Shaman King: a shaman so powerful they can channel the power of the great spirit and reshape the world!

This week, Mat's joined once again by designer / illustrator Bastian Najdek to talk about Hiroyuki Takei's Shaman King! We get into how big this manga was for Bastain (and in Poland in general) growing up, Takei's friendship with Eiichiro Oda, as well as the series' odd publishing history and sequels!

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Show Notes

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The Takei Doc we talk about all episode from Achipel

Link to Polish Publisher, Studio JG's version of Shaman King!

Manga

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Shaman King: Flowers by Hiroyuki Takei

Shaman King: The Super Star by Hiroyuki Takei

One Piece by Eiichiro Oda

Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama

D.Gray-man by Katsura Hoshino

Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Dandadan by Yukinobu Tatsu

H2 by Mitsuru Adachi

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Thanks to Juliano Zucareli for our theme music!

Find us on:
X: Manga Tak Pod
Bluesky: Manga Tak Pod
Instagram: Manga Tak Pod

A young girl is given a rose signet ring by a mysterious prince who saves her life... But when she grows up and finds herself at Ohtori Academy, where the student council also hold matching rings and end up challenging her to duel, what is young Utena Tenjo to do but throw herself in head first?

This week, Mat is joined by Sarah and Joe of the Shoujoe Podcast to discuss Revolutionary Girl Utena by Chiho Saito and Be-Papas! As Shoujoe are currently watching Utena for their podcast, we spend a lot of this episode comparing and contrasting the manga to the anime, delving deeper into this cross media franchises' creative process before highlighting the strengths of each version of this classic shoujo story!

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Show Notes

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Utena Specific!

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The very insightful Wiki page of Utena

2017 interview with Chiho Saito and Kunihiko Ikuhara

NYCC INTERVIEW WITH SAITO AND IKUHARA

1998 UTENA CD ROM(!) INTERVIEWS

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Manga / Anime

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Red River by Chie Shinohara

Kodocha by Mino Obana

Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto

The Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda

Skip Beat! by Yoshiki Nakamura

Ouran High School Host Club by Bisco Hatori

Kime no Todoke by Karuho Shiina

Thanks to Juliano Zucareli for our theme music!

Find us on:
X: Manga Tak Pod
Bluesky: Manga Tak Pod
Instagram: Manga Tak Pod