Audience reviews
14 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
analysis1909
Imagine finding out that you only have one year left to live.
How would you choose to spend that final year of your life?
That’s exactly what happens to our protagonist in the anime Once Upon a Witch’s Death.
Now, let’s be honest—
this anime isn’t perfect, but I genuinely enjoyed watching it. One of its biggest strengths is that it doesn’t rely on unnecessary nonsense or forced drama. The story is kept simple and clean.
There are several soft, emotional moments that might genuinely touch your heart. However, this is also where the anime slightly falls short. At times when the story needed to feel more serious, it didn’t go as deep as it should have.
As the series moves toward its ending, it becomes clear that while the anime had strong potential, keeping things too simple prevented it fr…
Read at the sourceAvengers007
The release of this new anime to the market is among the earlier ones for the year, and it was during the period from October 18 to 20, 2025, that I got to see it. The series is an interplay of the supernatural/fantasy drama genres, and even though it is branded a shonen anime, I must say that I didn’t get that typical shonen vibe at all.
What’s more is that the anime centers a woman, an actual female protagonist?, who is the child of the witch Faust, one of the “Seven Sages.” At the age of 17, she learns that she is under a curse destined to die soon. The witch does say that there may be a way to break that curse, but how the girl goes about it and the adventures that unfold… well, that’s for you to discover. (No spoilers, promise!)
Now, if I am to describe the whole experience — I coul…
Read at the sourceOtaku_Senpai
If Violet Evergarden and Kikkis Delivery Service were combined this is the outcome. Right off the bat I will tell you. This is one of my favorite show of Spring 2025. I was thinking of giving it a 10/10 but I noticed at one point, maybe halfway through the season animation quality seemed to be dropping. I think halfway through the show they might have faced some production issues?
I just loved the premise of the show. I watched it is English dub and thought the same actress who played MaoMao in Apothecary Diaries did the voice acting of Meg Raspberry, who is the main protagonist of the show. Her voice acting is good but kept reminding me of Mao Mao which was a bit distracting.
I liked that unlike so many other fantasy anime its not really about how powerful she is. She doesn't seem like…
Read at the sourceUser42
Meg, the core protagonist of the show, is extremely charismatic. She's a neat mix of fierce and silly, but also a selfless, kind-hearted soul that is always willing to help. And even in the face of her rather grim fate, this unlucky girl finds the strength to fight back with joyful defiance.
To escape her prophesized death, the young witch has a year to collect enough magic tears by helping people in need. It may sound like a simple and predictable premise, but the show avoids getting stale, often going in unexpected directions, mixing whimsy and tragedy in equal sizes.
This aspect is even underlined in the chosen theme songs. The opening is cute and cheerful, while the ending theme, composed by Yuki Kajiura, drowns you with its haunting melancholy.
The story doesn't have a resolute…
Read at the sourceKISEEEEEE_201810
First assumed this series was all about a funny witch on her way to gather some teardrops and get her life living after a year, but wow, it wasn't all that. I would give high praises to this series because even with just 12 episodes, i rode through a rollercoster of emotions. That was just a good blend of drama, tragedy, comedy, and the relationship of each characters.
Each episode was such a great watch, even though it wasn't that deep, I was so interested in each 24 minutes it has.
This series had made me giggle a lot, and tear up more than twice. I love how fun and so well-written our main character is! I seriously recommend this anime to anyone who wants to watch a heart-warming and comedic series, this anime just got the touch!
I hope they will have a second season, I will for su…
Read at the sourceGoodAtBreathing
I came in expecting fantasy drama, and instead got emotional damage and a main character who roasts everything that moves. She's chaotic, sarcastic, and somehow deeply relatable — like if anxiety had a sword and a to-do list it kept ignoring.
Every episode lands emotionally, balancing humor and heartbreak with surprising grace. The side characters? Not just background noise — they shine, grow, and hit hard when it counts.
The world-building is subtle but immersive, never forced, always intriguing.
It’s hilarious, heartfelt, and weirdly comforting. If you like laughing through tears while questioning your life choices — this one’s for you.
Idk how but the mc is one of the best mc i've ever seen
Read at the sourceLea_Avi
Great concept! Weird execution.
I went into this anime really wanting to like it, then immediately souring on it halfway through the first episode, but pushed through and realized it's better than I first thought. It's not terrible by any means, but I think it has some serious flaws.
First, I love the concept. The main character, Meg, is told on her seventeenth birthday that she only has one year left to live until she is killed by a curse, and the only way to prevent it is to collect one thousand tears of joy from other people. And second, Meg is very likeable as a character. She's cheerful and optimistic, but she also has a vain and greedy side that gets played up for laughs. It's fun watching her interactions with the other characters that get introduced through the show.
But there's…
Read at the sourcejoemaamah
A witch might die a thousand deaths. A heroine dies but one.
This was the season of the witch, and I mainly gave this a try because I liked some of the artwork. The character designs were a bit cliche but kinda cute, too. There's nice background work applied. The animation is kind of a mixed bag. There's some decent sections, to be sure, but there's some obviously sketchy scenes tossed in as well. It came across to me as there weren't enough resources put into this, as would have been needed to make the animation top notch.
The characters are widely varied as well. Meg Raspberry, our MC, is smart, caring, kind and compassionate. She tries her best to always do the right thing. But she's something of a greedy degenerate as well. The other characters call her a middle aged man in a teen g…
Read at the sourceAnime-Isekai-God
Man, what can I truly say about "Once Upon A Witch's Death" but other than just how lovely this anime truly is
To get things rolling, let's start with just saying how this anime made us feel, at least how I feel, that every minor character Meg Raspberry comes across has a very impactful moment with her in her journey in collecting Tears of Joy for her curse. Even if these characters only have minutes of screentime, their words and actions behind them are wonderful for the growth of Meg.
Even from the start to now, Meg has stayed true to who she is
Be that a witch who's very greedy, who wants all the wealth, fame, harems of hot/pretty guys, everything that this world has to offer
Just that and her playful character is what made me love Meg so much and dearly.
So, what does this anime have t…
Read at the sourceHidamariSeashore
A common question that people get asked is what they'll do if they learned they only had a short amount of time left. Something that never gets considered, however, is what they'd do if they had a way to prevent this hypothetical fate. Would they try to do the thing that would save them as soon as possible, or would they put it off until the last minute and end up dying, anyway? The reason why I'm pondering this is the subject of today's review, Once Upon A Witch's Death, which I found out about when the anime was announced and thought seemed interesting. It seemed heartwarming yet simultaneously heartbreaking, and....well, in some ways, I was right about that.
Once Upon A Witch's Death, originally titled "Aru Majo ga Shinu Made", follows Meg Raspberry, a young witch who is an apprentice…
Read at the sourcewhiteflame55
It wasn’t too long ago (a little over a year before I write this) that I watched a little show called Kobato (2009). It’s a sweet series by Clamp that didn’t quite work for me for a number of reasons. But I’m not going to compare this series to that one. The two have a very similar core drive to them: fill a bottle with something that represents a sort of healing or happiness brought to someone else. It’s a simple but effective recipe for a series of interactions between the lead and a wide variety of other characters, placing them in the driver’s seat to interact with a broad assortment of individuals that yield easy tear-jerking drama. That’s what Kobato did anyway, combining it with a romantic throughline and a central mystery. So I expected more of the same from this series.
Thankfull…
Read at the source5iv3_
Once Upon A Witch's Death overall I want to say was an enjoyable watch. The somewhat episodic layout is nice, a good bundle of characters to push through the plot, and just a nice set-up overall.
The synopsis of this series when I originally heard about it, sounded really engaging and seemed like it'd be a really great show. Now, it's not great, but it was still a fun show to watch. Some episodes are better than others, and some were worse than others. But the complete story itself was good.
I have a few complaints but they aren't big, nor are they that impactful towards the show. They didn't hinder it so it's just personal gripes.
1. Animation: Overall, the animation is okay. it's not great, not good, but it's okay. It can look at a little stiff, and flat at times. A little amateuri…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Once Upon a Witch's Death — What awaits us at the very end of the tunnel...or in this case, the unpredictability of life where we would be told to depart from the world early?
In a world where the likes of Kanehito Yamada's Sousou no Frieren a.k.a Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and other similar adventure fantasy stories exist to keep the belligerent mind thinking of existentialism and the like, it always comes down to the hard-hitting questions that are the utmost and deep, but sane, questions that linger in our minds when topics like life and death are not often raised. Such is the case of one such show this Spring season: novelist Saka's lone work, Aru Majo ga Shinu Made a.k.a Once Upon a Witch's Death, a show so underrated that everything on the surface seems simple; however, it is an…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
“It’s the waiting that’s hard”
What would you do if you only had a year left to live? Being aware of one’s own coming mortality makes every day, every interaction and every moment so precious. More importantly, it makes you keenly aware of the impact you have on people. For most of us, there would be an initial shock and depressive stage where you don’t do anything for a while because you’re so upset about the bad news. Not our MC, Meg, though. This badass totally not gay™️ witch sets out to break her curse by bringing tears of joy to people. What we end up getting is a very well done character driven anime that took us through every emotion from dying of laughter to bawling our eyes out. If you’ve been wanting more Majo no Tabitabi/Elaina, look no further, you got it.
I should temper e…
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