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The Kowata Family
Makoto Kowata
- Voiced by: Minami Shinoda (Japanese), Stephanie Wittels (English)
A fifteen-year old witch from Yokohama who moves in with her relatives the Kuramotos. She has a black cat named Chito as a familiar.
- Dark Is Not Evil:
- Her magical affinity is darkness but that just means she can use people's shadows as mana.
- Basically lampshaded when first revealed, as she and her friends are told that affinity with Darkness is pointedly not like the Dark Side of the Force.
- Ditzy Genius: She's pretty skilled at magic, but she's quite lacking in other departments, like social skills (not getting that Nao might not appreciate getting a creepy and highly poisonous Mandrake plant as a gift, for example), she utterly lacks a sense of direction, and she's frequently quite childish.
- Familiar/ All Witches Have Cats: Her cat Chito
- Friend to All Living Things: She even likes frogs.
- Hime Cut: Her hair is in what is basically a hime cut, probably to show both her girlishness and her devotion to an old traditional practice like witchcraft.
- In Training: To be a witch.
- Nature Lover: As Kei says upon seeing her get really excited in the forest, "Witches get really pumped up when they're in the forest and stuff."
- No Sense of Direction: Kei comes to pick her up at the bus station because she's known for this. When she arrives she denies it and promptly sets off in the wrong direction, although she manages to get by well later with proper directions.
- Proper Tights with a Skirt: Very rarely are her bare legs visible. She usually wears either long pants or black tights in conjunction with a skirt or shorts.
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin
- Sibling Yin-Yang: She and her sister are very different, as Lampshaded by Inukai.
- Witch Classic: Bordering on Cute Witch. She wears black robes (occasionally) and rides broomsticks and has a black cat, the whole shebang.
Chito
- Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese), Tiffany Grant (English)
Chito (or Shade) is Makoto's cat and familiar. She is the standard black.
- All Witches Have Cats: She's Makoto's cat.
- Cats Are Magic: Her meows can only be understood by a witch.
- Talking Animal: As long as you are a witch.
- The Unintelligible: Only Makoto and other witches knows what she's saying.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: As Makoto explains later in the manga, Chito is not really a "cat" per-se, but it's rather a cognizant magical being in the form of a cat.
- Weight Woe: Nao tells her that she has gained weight, she responds by sitting on her neck.
Akane Kowata
- Voiced by: Kana Aoi (Japanese), Christina Kelly (English)
Another witch and Makoto's older sister who drops in to see Mako on a whim after wandering around Africa. Playful, doting and carefree, Mako claims she's a big deal in the witch-world.
- Big Sister Mentor: Although how useful she is as a mentor is up for debate, but both Makoto and Chinatsu consider her so.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Is actually very competent at magic... when she isn't messing around... and bothers to show up at all.
- Cool Big Sis: to Makoto, but also acts like this toward Chinatsu and Kei.
- Child Prodigy: Makes chocolates that turn people into animals (very difficult magic) on a whim and they mostly work.
- But Now I Must Go: Tends to leave just as suddenly as she appeared and with about as much explanation.
- The Dreaded: She is called "The Mountain Eraser" because years before, she accidentally turned a mountain into sand, and it scattered with the wind.
- Eccentric Mentor: To Makoto and Chinatsu.
- Familiar/ All Witches Have Cats: Her familiar is a laid-back Siamese cat named Kenny.
- Hard-Drinking Party Girl: She drinks a lot and most of her traveling seems to be finding new places to party.
- The Lad-ette: Likes to sit around, freeload and drink.
- MacGuffin: The rock salt block she gave Makoto is later used as an extraction aid for drawing out mana from Shore Rabbit's teeth.
- Mystical White Hair: Has light hair, she's known to be a big deal in the magical world and is the most overtly magical person in the manga.
- My New Gift Is Lame: She's a terrible gift-giver. Her souvenirs from her African journey are all raw materials, such as crude oil and cacao beans. And a T-shirt that happens to read "Burkina Faso" in Japanese.
- Red Baron: Several, all of which are massively embarrassing for her;
- "Mountain Eraser", for turning a whole mountain into sand. Later she gains "Cliff Collapser" for the same reason.
- She later almost got "The Vomit Witch" due to vomiting in front of a lot of witches, being heavily drunk and flying. Because this incident also involved an unprecedented act of stopping time that affected other planes and dimensions, she was commissioned to open the Firekeep Gate and retrieve the world's source of fire for a ceremony, or the nickname would become official and permanent.
- "Mountain Eraser", for turning a whole mountain into sand. Later she gains "Cliff Collapser" for the same reason.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: She and her sister are very different, as Lampshaded by Inukai.
- Shipper on Deck: She is one for Kei and Nao, though they both vehemently deny it and tend to ignore her suggestions.
- Teleportation: Her main mode of travel.
- Walking the Earth: Said to be "journeying" aka wandering around wherever, possibly just on a whim. Kei calls it "living the vagabond life." Previous places she's been include Libya, Ghana and Mali. She can use magic to travel great distances instantly.
- Witch Classic: A Hot Witch, or she seems to think so at least.
Kenny
- Voiced by: Ayane Sakura (Japanese), Kyle Jones (English)
Akane's siamese cat familiar. Passive and wise, Kenny is an anthropologist recreationally, and is Anzu's mentor.
- Eyes Always Shut: He's a Siamese Cat, and this is often done to show how he's laid back.
- Hidden Depths: He studied Archeology and traveled the world on his own.
- The Mentor: To Anzu. Kenny advises her and helps to nurse her interest in Archeology.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Like in Chito's case, it's not really a "cat", but a magical being in the form of a cat.
Emiko Kowata and Papa Kowata
- Unnamed Parent: We don't know the dads name.
- Open-Minded Parent: Both parents are openly OK with Makoto living out in Aomori with the Kuramotos, as it tends to be a rite of passage for witches to go out and find themselves as they come of age. Emiko is less accepting of Akane's flitting around the globe however, not least because a witch with the ability to teleport herself anywhere never checks in at home.
The Kuramoto Family
Kei Kuramoto
- Voiced by: Shinsuke Sugawara (Japanese), Adam Gibbs (English)
The unusually calm eldest son of the Kuramotos, he's usually providing straight-faced humor. He is a very dedicated cook, and as such, the people that meet him deem that he has somewhat girly hobbies.
- Blatant Lies: Most of his jokes are lies told with complete seriousness.
- Fantastically Indifferent: The very first magical thing that happens in the story is Makoto and Chinatsu swooping in on a broom—he gives zero f*cks about it.
- Green Thumb: really good at gardening and teaches Makoto and Chinatsu how to grow a vegetable garden. He also seems to weed for fun.
- Has a Type: He's not one to easily get flustered, but has an admitted attraction towards Inukai.
- Mistaken for Romance: He has to clarify this once about Makoto to Chinatsu and again to Akane about Nao.
- Oh Me Accents Slipping: Kei's accent gets thicker whenever he's farming or doing other rural activities.
- Real Men Wear Pink: When Makoto remarks that he seems to enjoy cooking, she also says it makes him a little girly. His response is,
"For real? Guess I'll be popular with the guys." - Straight Man: A lot of his comedy comes from his Fantastically Indifferent attitude played agains the strange surroundings. Even his Why Did It Have to Be Snakes? moment isn't delivered with the over the top comedy of others but in a more subdued matter-of-fact manner.
- Unfazed Everyman: No powers himself but is completely unfazed by the magic that goes on around him.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: He's really bad with haunted houses, especially the Jump Scare ones.
Chinatsu Kuramoto
- Voiced by: Eri Suzuki (Japanese), Juliet Simmons (English)
The younger daughter of the Kuramotos who is enamored with the idea of witches. She later decides to try out learning to be a witch and becomes an understudy to Akane, Makoto and Inukai.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Always making comments about how such and such things is a 'grown-up' taste or 'grown up' attitude.Chinatsu: Yeah, I heard you stop getting surprised when you grow up.
- Constantly Curious: always curious about witch things, or asking lots of questions. In chapter 8 she has a rapid question and answer session with the fortune teller.
- Does Not Like Spam: Hates bakke (a type of sprout native to Japan
)and says it's an adult taste that is not for kids. - Friendly Rivalry: With a Shore Rabbit she nicknames Hamabe. But it's mostly played for laughs.
- Girlish Pigtails: As the youngest character in the series.
- Legacy Character: She's a fervent follower of Akane's playful brand of magic.
- Mundane Utility: What did Chinatsu do when she actually gained magic? Why, soak Inukai and Makoto with the magical equivalent of a squirt gun, of course!
- Nice Girl: Chinatsu is a very sweet young girl, as well as an eager apprentice for Akane and Makoto.
- Sleepyhead: She tends to fall asleep whenever Makoto has to give her reports. Given that Makoto has to make them at night, Chinatsu is usually pooped by the time Mako has to go out.
- Tagalong Kid: Often tagging along with Makoto and her sister.
- Translator Buddy: To her dad, because of his thick accent.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: When after being accepted as a witch, Makoto asks her what she wants to do, and she says she wants to build a gingerbread house and eat children. Then runs off saying she was kidding.
- Witch Classic: Of the Cute Witch type, after she asks Akane if she can be her apprentice.
Nana and Keiji Kuramoto
Nana
Keiji
- Voiced by: Mitsuru Ogara (Keiji), Kikuko Inoue (Nana) (Japanese), John Swasey (Keiji), Joanne Bonasso (Nana) (English)
Chinatsu and Kei's parents, they show up rarely compared to their children. Nana is a professional Illustrator for children's books. Keiji is a professional farmer who speaks in a nigh-unintelligible form of regional Japanese.
- Captain Obvious: Mom Kuramoto, just like her son.
- Open-Minded Parent:
- both of the Kuramotos. They took in Makoto without a second thought and treat her warmly, allow Pretty Freeloaders like Akane to loaf around whenever they want to and encourage Chinatsu to learn to be a witch, saying, "Wow, a witch! So cool, do it, do it!". Might border on Hands-Off Parenting.
- lampshaded later by Akane: "Your parents are really lenient, aren't they?"
- The Unintelligible: Uncle, because of his thick accent.
- Unfazed Everyman/Fantastically Indifferent: Just like their son Kei, whenever strange things happen they take them in stride. Inukai lampshades this when Chinatsu's mom sees her in human wolf form and just says "Oh! What a cute guest!"
Townsfolk
Nao Ishiwatari
- Voiced by: Shiori Mikami (Japanese), Chaney Moore (English)
Kei's and then also Makoto's friend who goes to the same school. Her parents own a liquor store.
- Braids of Action: done in Girlish Pigtails, to highlight her tomboyish personality.
- Brutal Honesty: She refuses Makoto's creepy present of a Mandrake immediately. Later, she tells Chito she seems to have gained weight.
- Muggle Best Friend: To both Kei and Makoto, although Kei isn't a witch; he's just in on the weirdness.
- Odd Friendship: She and Chito get along really well. Chito considers her very pretty, while Nao likes to spend time with Chito. Keep in mind, Chito is a cat.
- Straight Man: To everyone, but especially Kei and Makoto.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: She's often ticked off at Akane's suggestion of her and Kei becoming an item. It's not that she would mind being with Kei, but she's more uncomfortable at Akane's insistence.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's afraid of frogs, so of course Kei tells Makoto to show one to her.
Yayoi Akimoto
- Childhood Friends: With Makoto and Miko, they been together at least since middle school.
- Muggle Best Friend: She's friend with two witches.
- Perpetual Smiler: In every panel she always has one.
Cafe Conclusio
Shiina Anzu
- Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi (Japanese), Kira Vincent-Davis (English)
A witch the same age as Makoto whose family runs the Witch cafe, Cafe Conclusio. She also works there as a waitress. Collected and knowledgeable, Anzu aims to become an anthropologist.
- Familiar: She has Ororu an owl, that does real estate for other critters around town.
- Ojou: She lives in a Big Fancy House that also has her family's cafe in it, and can act fairly superior.
- Mistaken Identity: When Makoto first met her, she assumed she was the head of the household and a very powerful witch who was using magic to look young. Nope, she's said witch's daughter. When the mother shows up, Makoto briefly thinks it's the same person, and her illusion magic just wore off.
- The Stoic: She always wears a morose expression, even when surprised.
- Younger than She Looks: Even though she's the same age as Mako, it's pointed out by several characters that she has the airs and presence of an older person.
- Wise Beyond Her Years: She is considerably more experienced than Mako, even though they're the same age.
Hinata
Voiced by: Hisako Kanemoto (Japanese), Melissa Molano (English)
A shy ghost who cooks and serves in the cafe. Formerly a doctor but died of an illness she caught from a patient.
- Invisibility: Hers can be forcibly canceled by application of an energy-altering magic circle, but she can re-assume it without issue.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: She appears to be fully sentient and not tied to the cafe itself. There is also mention that ghosts can 'go where humans cannot', but this is only briefly touched upon.
- Really 700 Years Old: She was born in Meiji 39 note , but looks about as old as Akane.
Okada
The ghost of a samurai from the Edo period note . He has recently been allowed back into the world but has been told he must learn the ways of the current world before he can reincarnate. Starts helping out at Cafe Conclusio and has a massive crush on Hinata.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: While helping out Hinata making some food deliveries he shows he is able to cut a plum onigiri and split the seed of the plum clean in half so it able to to be shared. Whether this is skill or a sharp ghost blade is never explained.
- Barred from the Afterlife: Has been told he must learn the ways of the current world before he can move on.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: The main reason he starts helping out at Cafe Conclusio and for his attraction to Hinata.
- Haunted Fetter: Although it doesn't bind him to the residence, he starts haunting a pot owned by one of his desendants.
- Really 700 Years Old: Would have been born during the Sengoku era and knew Ieyasu Tokugawa in his previous life.
- Walking the Earth: Was dumped from the afterlife into modern-day Japan and seemed destined for this until encountering a group of cats, who introduced him to Anzu.
Other Witches
Inukai
- Voiced by: Mari Hino (Japanese), Chelsea McCurdy (English)
Akane's beleaguered acquaintance who meets Makoto and company at a Cherry Blossom festival working as a fortune teller. She is also a witch, if one of questionable morals. Because of a drunken incident involving Akane and magic chocolates, she unwillingly transforms daily into a humanoid dog during daylight hours, which has considerably affected her life for close to a year prior.
- Beautiful All Along: Invoked. She is noted to be very beautiful by various characters; that is, whenever she's not in her dog form. She's from Akita, an area known for beautiful women, which Chinatsu points out makes her an Akita-inu and her canine form in fact resembles that breed, much to her distress.
- Con Man: Tried to get Akane's contact info out of Makoto when telling her fortune."I will now begin the divina...TION!! Ohh...oohhh...ohh...is...that how it is...I...get it. I get it...Finally...This time as finally come...um...in order to confirm the divination results I'll need you to write down one more thing...okay, first...write down your phone number, postal code, address, family structure, blood relatives, and whatever other personal information you can think of."
- The Faceless: Initially when wearing her clothes that covered her from head to toe, including her face (so you can't see she actually looks like a dog).
- Familiar: A white hamster named Algernon. Chinatsu mistakes it for a mouse.
- Fangirl: of Jackie Chan, apparently.
- Forced Transformation: After eating Akane's potion chocolates she turned into a humanoid canine person. Thankfully she turns back to human at night.
- Fortune Teller: At the carnival. She later sets up an actual shop.
- Holding Back the Phlebotinum: After considerable toil to obtain it, Akane is able to give her an elixir to cure her transformation for good, but when she tries it, her nephew doesn't recognize her (as he's more familiar with her dog form). As such, she opts not to drink it for the time being.
- Large Ham: Seriously hams up her role as a fortune teller.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: As it turns out, Inukai ate the chocolate that turned her into a dog person over her own, drunken free will despite Akane's protests.
- Meaningful Name: Inu (dog) and kai (spirit/apparition).
- Phrase Catcher: When she's a dog—"So cute!" and variations.
- Phony Phony Psychic: She is a fortune teller at the cherry blossom festival...who doesn't tell an actual fortune but tries to con Makoto for personal information...but in reality she actually is a witch.
- Unwitting Test Subject: She believes Akane tricked her into eating one of her chocolates that turn people into animals. It turns out she got drunk enough to willingly eat the chocolate, despite Akane's warnings, and couldn't remember when she sobered up.
Akira
- Bag of Holding: It seems that hers is quite cluttered.
- Cool Bike: It flies.
- Quest Giver: Beside monitoring young witches she also functions as a job agent, which ties herself to the next trope.
- Secret Shop: She can also exchange job rewards with various magical items. Makoto bought from her a special salve that enables inexperienced witches and muggles to see the unseen.
- Trash of the Titans: Just like her bag her office is covered in clutter
The Mizuha Family
A family of three who happened to be in the region. The mother contracted Makoto for a babysitting job.
- Adorably Precocious Child: Yomogi is quite cute.
- Weather Manipulation: The family bloodline grants them the power to manipulate rainfall. They were on the 'peak season' and needed for sudden jobs, necessitating the sudden babysitting contract.
Kazuno Sayo
- Blow You Away: Her elemental specialty
- Clever Crows: Her familiar is a crow.
- Face of a Thug: Has a semi-permanent scowling expression not unlike those of Satsuki Kiryuuin.
- Hidden Depths: She is sweeter and friendlier than she appears at first glance. It's also implied that she was eager to find a peer witch to be with.
- Magic Staff: Carrying one as a magical focus is her family tradition.
- Perpetual Frowner: Has a stare that can break through walls.
- Tsurime Eyes: To the point that she looks quite intimidating.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She has a strong aversion to insects in general.
Yusuke Enigumo
Taros left, Emigumo right
A high ranking Magical researcher who is responsible for the modern methods of finding a witch's magic type. Helps Makoto to discover her type with the three coin method.- Dark Is Not Evil: Has to explain to Chinatsu that being a darkness witch just means that the witch is good at creating new spells.
- Ditzy Genius: A highly respected and talented male witch even if his experiments and inventions explode a lot.
- Explosive Results: The outcome of some of his creations.
- Familiar: Taros a Metal life-form that's look like a robot
- Literal Surveillance Bug: Uses a bunch of the them to gather the data he needs to discern Makoto's type.
Shirley Flores
A researcher of magical plants and an acquaintance of Akira who visits Makoto to study her evolved mandrakes.
- Asian Speekee Engrish: Makoto tries to do this when she first meets Shirley, until Shirley confirms that she can in fact speak Japanese.
- Cuteness Overload: Her immediate reaction to seeing Makoto's mandrakes is to squee and chase after them.
- Evolutionary Levels: Shirley is the one to explain that by using ashes from a fire spell as fertilizer, Makoto has accelerated the mandrakes' evolution.
- Meaningful Name: Flores is Spanish/Portuguese for "flowers", quite fitting for a pursuer of her discipline.
Miko Hoshino
Miko with Cantera
Makoto's childhood friend and fellow witch currently training in Okinawa.- Childhood Friends: With Makoto and Yayoi they been together at least since middle school.
- Extraoredinary: Her elemental affinity is Metal.
- Familiar: A ferret named Cantera that she uses to control her clones.
- Friendly Rivalry: What she aim to have with Makoto .
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: She's terrified of snakes.
Harbingers and Magical Creatures
Harbinger of Spring
- Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese), Kregg Daily (English)
A magical entity who is said to bring about spring.
- Animal Motifs: He has the face/mask of an owl and seems to have no trouble getting to high places.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Despite dressing mostly in black and looking fairly intimidating (to Chinatsu anyway) He's a very friendly guy.
Harbinger of Summer
Human form
Dragon form
Another magical entity whose job is to maintain and regulate the coming of summer.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: He seemed to prefer appearing as a blond young man, at least when interacting with people.
- Animal Motifs: His true form is vaguely reptilian, but Nana labels him as a dragon.
- Blatant Lies: His whole pitch about meteorology and global warming. Even Chinatsu doesn't buy it.
- Foreign Exchange Student: He poses as one to stay around Makoto's town.
- Magical Underpinnings of Reality: So far he's the harbinger with a clear role.
- Magitek: He communicates with Harbinger of Spring over what looks like a cellular phone.
- Painting the Frost on Windows: His main job is to harvest/remove the Bulbs of Winter, thus preventing freak snowfall in summer.
Hamabe the Shore Rabbit
A small, rabbit-like creature that protects a local beach and the people who visit there.
- Friendly Rivalry: Lampshaded with Chinatsu, he gives her a tooth as a trophy for besting him at a bunch of games.
- Hand Signals: His only method of communication before he becomes Chinatsu's familiar. Leads to some cute moments and hilarious misunderstandings
- Non-Verbal Miscommunication:
- Happens a few times and is then played for laughs. When Makoto and Inukai first meet him he tries to tell them they need to leave because the beach closes at 7pm. When they fail to understand he eats Al and runs off.
- He Lampshades it himself when he becomes Chinatsu's familiar and can then speak. He says the picture Chinatsu drew of him needs sharper eyebrows to make him look cool.
- Sleep-Mode Size: Shrinks dow to roughly the size of a soccer ball when sleeping.
- Suddenly Speaking: While visiting the Witch's Association, he and Chinatsu touch a magic wall called the "Moqtas Taqa" after which he becomes Chinatsu's familiar and gains the ability to talk.
- Super-Speed: At least when swimming. One scene shows him zooming to stop a small child drifting out to sea.
The Paperboy
A dark figure surrounded by mist that delivers newspapers to witches that wait on their front porches in the morning.
Flying Whale
A giant whale that flies through the sky. On its back are stone ruins from an ancient group of people who used to live there.
- Turtle Island: Only one that flies rather than swims. And is a whale.
