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Witch Hat Atelier has a wonderful atmosphere and world, both thanks to the visual design of said world and the world building itself. It really utilizes elements of traditional witch imagery (ex. the giant cloak) and takes it to it's advantage. I'm super impressed by the magic system as well, it's very simple at first but can get complicated thanks to small yet believable details. The artwork is absolutely gorgeous, it has a medieval flair with the use of it's lines.

My main gripe with what I've read so far is that it's very generic. I really wish the world was for a more imaginative ... story. It executes it's story fine but it feels very disappointing when you see how much effort goes into the world building. Sure, secret society, forbidden magic, the main drivers of the story are a young group of misfits and their teacher as they learn more about magic. It's all been done before and that's not a bad thing but Witch Hat Atelier executes it all fine. There are small details of characters that make them interesting but they're more so reserve for secondary characters who probably won't be too important.

Honestly, I had pretty middle of the road expectations. Previously I was watched a few episodes of Aikatsu friends when it debuted and it was very alright. It was honestly a surprise to be a lot more engage with it. With Stars, there's a focus given by the story and world building. There wasn't an episode where it felt force because the general plot help give the characters some focus, even if said episodes had nothing to do with the story.

I really appreciate the constant theme of having the girls lose, being able to grieve for their failures before trying again, usually by changing their ... goals. It's hard to describe but it's really comforting to see.

Despite how very generic the first half looks conceptually, I think it's better than the second half. There's a lot of new elements in the second half that aren't really explained well as the first half, like why there's even a moon star coord (and how Hime even got it) when Elza and the other girls busted their ass for their star coords. Elza also seems unnaturally cold. Maybe I had a different perception of what her was but once her backstory was revealed it was like "oh..." She's understandably very cold and goal driven but she's never really criticized by people outside the main group. I also wish Rei had more of a goal outside of Elza.

The 3D segments takes some time getting used to, my real gripe with them is how wide the mouths can get. I'd say the songs in the later half are better than the first half but mostly since I remember and enjoy those more.