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Aru Majo ga Shinu Made or "Once Upon A Witch's Death" is as the title suggests an anime about a witch on the verge of death. The premise is quite simple. A young 17 year old apprentice witch finds out she's cursed is going to die in a year. Being an orphan, our mc, Meg, has had to put up with working herself tiresome to the bone under the tutelage of Faust, one of the great seven mages of the world. Initially, finding out that she's going to die in a year makes her feel that all her hard work was for nothing but she ... resolves herself to gain a thousand teardrops of pure joy so she may avoid dying to her curse.

Unlike a certain other anime about a witch, Meg is a character enjoyable from the start. She's a hardworking individual but she also doesn't tend to take life too seriously. She's kind hearted and has clearly struggled to gain the knowledge and power she has. In these first couple episodes, she stays in her hometown and gains tears by complete accident purely just because she wants to help out her community. It feels very akin to something like the Atelier Sophie duology, helping people for the sake of helping people. I can tell that going forward she's eventually going to adventure outward and explore to gain more tears since It's probably impossible to gain a thousand tears in one single city but as it stands, learning about the people in one town, the community that thrives there, how they've shaped Meg, is fairly enjoyable. Meg is a protagonist written very well and her prowess with magic or knowledge never comes off as showy or unearned because of how silly and purposely oblivious she acts. There are also a couple flashbacks that contribute to us learning more about her character and I would say these flashbacks are probably some of the best placed flashbacks in media I have seen.

What's fun about this anime is how it takes place in a modern world, the internet, phones the works, unlike most anime following magic characters. At first, it's one of those things you don't even realize just cause of how well setup the world is between magic and modern day technology. I think it's also enjoyable to see the balance between the two and how much normal people respect magic but don't rely on it for everything. One concept I really enjoy that seems so simple is that there are fairies in pretty much every object inorganic and organic. From watches to lamps, fairies are the driving force behind how objects work and when objects stop working, witches have a ritual to set free a fairy from an object so that they may be put into another object. It's a simple concept but one that works really well in an emotional anime such as this one since the fairies are spirits who carry memories and people's lives with them, observing the world and cherishing it in ways unbeknownst to most.

The overall premise of this anime is one that is simple but just works. This vibe is everything I wanted out of an anime like Frieren but never exactly got. (Although, Frieren is still a good anime don't get me wrong) This anime has a very melancholy feeling to it. I haven't read the source material at all but I will likely read it after this anime finishes airing. The exploration of existentialism in a magical world is one that will certainly take viewers on a fun comforting (albeit sad) journey.