10 Best Anime About Witches In Training (2025)

Stories about witches honing their powers are a fun fantasy version of the coming-of-age premise. Sometimes they study at prestigious, esoteric magic academies; or they're taught in more casual settings where they work a kind of practical magical internship, guided by a mentor. Though the trope seems rather specific, there are several anime titles with fresh takes on it.

Witches in training stories can also be set in high- or low-fantasy worlds. Kiki in Kiki's Delivery Service practices her flying magic in an alternate-history Europe, and Sei's transported to a separate fantasy realm in The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent. Even if they're not called witches specifically, the magic practitioners tend to practice traditional witch practices like broomstick flying and mixing up magical droughts.

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10 Flying Witch

Makoto follows the steps of the witches before her when she turns fifteen in Flying Witch. She takes to her broom and moves to a new town to study her craft. Though the focus is on practicing witchcraft, Makoto also needs to learn how to live on her own.

Flying Witch isn't the kind of anime with many magical explosions and high-stakes drama or villainy; rather, it follows Makoto as she brews potions and learns about her neighbors. The anime is just as much about community and personal growth as it is about witchcraft.

9 The Honor Student At Magic High School

Miyuki studies at a prestigious magic academy in The Honor Student of Magic High School. The school is rather serious and operates like an Ivy League university, sorting students by exam scores. Some witch anime have a magic system that's more personalized, but magic is organized and itemized in The Honor Student of Magic High School.

Miyuki is a star student, so she has a lot to maintain and live up to with her studies. Where Flying Witch is understated and highly personal, The Honor Student of Magic High School is far more grandiose. Miyuki is a near-master of all magical trades, so to speak, to the point where she's the brightest in her entire class.

8 Howl's Moving Castle

Sophie Hatter's magical powers manifest and grow in a subtle way in Howl's Moving Castle. It's appropriate that Howl's wizard apprentice Markl is the first person she befriends in the castle because it further hints at her own developing witch powers. The book by Diana Wynne Jones unpacks Sophie's hidden witch powers more overtly, while the movie keeps it subtle and asks the viewer to read between the lines.

There's a strong theory that Sophie's beliefs about herself and her ability to speak life into things funnel her magical will and incite her own curse, as she's the first person to label herself as an "old woman." The Witch of the Waste curses Sophie, transforming her into an old woman—but Sophie could have broken the curse the whole time, once she realized the depths of her powers and started viewing herself as a young woman with potential.

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7 The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent

Sei is called a saint rather than a witch in The Saint's Magic Power Is Omnipotent. However, she has magical powers traditionally assigned to witches in fantasy storytelling. And there's an interesting thought to be explored about how easily a practitioner can be a saint or a witch, depending on who is telling the story.

Sei gardens, cultivating and gathering ingredients for her potion-making. In this world, there are different grades of potions and Sei brews the highest-grade potions. She continues developing her natural potion-making ability by studying at the Medicinal Flora Research Institute.

6 The Familiar Of Zero

While most witch protagonists tend to be exceptional for their age or particularly skilled in a specialty area, Louise is an entirely different story in The Familiar of Zero. Indeed, she's the "Zero" of her entire witch academy. Her ineptitude with magic serves as the series' inciting incident when she summons the human boy Saito by accident.

Witches and wizards are called "mages" in this series, but Louise would fit right in with the Harry Potter cast. The magic system focuses less on broomstick flying and more on elemental magic. And rather than using black cats or owls for familiars, these witches summon powerful creatures—or in Louise's case, a human.

5 Yamada-kun And The Seven Witches

The magic system in Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches is creative, to say the least. Ryu is the boy protagonist, but he's surrounded by several witches in training, and they attend the same school together. When he kisses one of the witches, they magically switch bodies.

Other witches' powers are also activated with a kiss. And though they don't attend a magic academy, there is a Supernatural Studies Club. The more the witches discover and exercise their powers, the more the stakes rise, and the plot thickens.

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4 The Ancient Magus' Bride

Chise's life changes forever when a mentor identifies who she truly is and takes her under his wing, making her The Ancient Magus' Bride. The series fills out its cast with primarily fae creatures, but these creatures share many traits with classic fantasy creatures. For instance, Redcurrant is a fae who lives off of blood and is essentially a vampire.

Chise Hatori is a Sleigh Beggy, which is a type of magic user, otherwise known as a sorcerer or witch. Apprenticing under Elias Ainsworth helps her control her magic and save herself before her magic consumes her. Chise travels to many magical places with her mentor, and he assigns her tasks to further her studies.

3 Mary And The Witch's Flower

It may be a surprise to find out that the Studio Ghibli-adjacent film Mary and the Witch's Flower is more than a magical odyssey. Mary starts out as a quirky outcast and her life changes forever when she comes across the fly-by-night flowers. The magic in Mary and the Witch's Flower is actually rather unique.

Mary can't inherently fly a broom like Kiki in Kiki's Delivery Service. The broom is enchanted by the fly-by-night flower. And once the flower awakens Mary's powers, she and her cat familiar are shipped off to a witch school, Endor College, where she is admitted quite by accident.

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2 Little Witch Academia

Akko looks like a traditional witch in her Luna Nova Magical Academy uniform. The uniform consists of purple-gray robes and a matching conical hat. Like Mary in Mary and the Witch's Flower and Harry Potter, Akko was not raised in a magical background.

Akko is the opposite of the Chosen One of her fellow witches. A huge part of her character arc is finding her way in the magical school and world in general, starting from the very bottom. Character arc aside, one of the best parts of Little Witch Academia is Akko's bonds with her classmates.

1 Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki's coming-of-age story starts when she's rather young in Kiki's Delivery Service. A witch must leave her home to find a town to serve rather early on, to the point where Kiki's mother feels that she didn't have enough time to teach and prepare her daughter properly. But Kiki is precocious, optimistic, and she's not afraid to embrace the skills she has and use them as a jumping-off point.

Some witches, like Kiki's mother, specialize in healing potions. Other witches make prophecies about love. Kiki's special interest is flying, so she starts her training with a rather simple task: conducting a delivery service.