Witch Hat Atelier Season 1

I started reading Witch Hat Atelier somewhere around 2019-2020, and it was officially the manga that got me back into reading manga after a long slump of 5 years where I hardly read manga if it all. Since I'm incapable of keeping up with unfinished manga however, I think I stopped somewhere before chapter 65 and have been too lazy to catch up ever since. Ask me when I stopped reading jojolion, why, in 2012, thank you for asking. When I initially read Witch Hat Atelier, I had a very positive opinion of it. The story does a really good job of reproducing childlike wonder as you read it, and the magic system initially stuck out to me as unique and interesting. But during those 65 chapters I read, I began losing interest. Large part of that is because it's an ongoing manga as I said, but also I distinctively remember feeling like I'm siding with the villains more than the "good guys" (more like the current status quo and whatever authority figures there were) to the point where I stopped caring about the main cast. I'll probably return to the manga once it ends though because I'm still interested in seeing what happens (and I've seen some spoilers xd).

The anime however, I didn't like as much... The pacing felt too slow and while the animation was impressive there were so many over-animated moments that reminded me of this gif and they seemed to drag certain moments on.

I also don't remember getting annoyed at Coco at all in the manga, but she really pissed me off a couple of times in the anime LOL but that's totally a me issue. They nailed the "awkward new comer that does not bother with integrating" vibe too well that it got me angry. Most importantly I DON'T LIKE QIFREY'S VOICE ACTOR. I usually don't lose it over voice acting because I rarely feel like something has been utterly miscast from how I imagined it, but man, Qifrey's VA just does not fit the idea I had of him at all. He sounds like a kid?? I was expecting something slightly more suave. Last thing which is a total nitpick, but this really is one of those stories (at least this first season) where the adults are fucking useless every single time until the last moment when shit hits the fan. Like every time something bad happens to the girls/Coco the adults are the first ones to be dealt with which imo is kinda lazy and overdone. They're supposed to be skilled witches and all that.

So all in all, I didn't really enjoy the first season that much. I'll probably continue watching because I think the story does get better from this introductory point, but this should've been two cour from the get go.