The magical-girl anime that blended music, witchcraft and coming-of-age stories in the streets of a real Japanese city is officially heading to theaters. Bandai Namco Filmworks has confirmed that Maebashi Witches, the original anime series that aired on Japanese television in 2025, will receive a theatrical compilation film that condenses its twelve-episode run into a single cinematic experience.
For anyone who missed it the first time around, or for fans who simply want to relive the whole story with better sound and a bigger screen, this is the announcement they were waiting for.
The news didn’t come alone. Alongside the film confirmation, the production committee announced that the original series will return to Japanese airwaves starting April 5, broadcasting again on Tokyo MX and BS11. It’s a smart play, bring new viewers up to speed through the rebroadcast, then deliver the full theatrical experience once the audience is back on board.
And to tie everything together, the main voice cast will take the stage for live performances: a mini concert at AnimeJapan on March 28, followed by solo shows in Tokyo on May 24 and Osaka on May 31. This franchise is clearly not done yet.
The team behind the magic
Maebashi Witches was conceived by Bandai Namco Filmworks in collaboration with PROJECT MBW, with direction handled by Junichi Yamamoto and series scripts supervised by Erika Yoshida, the same writer behind Bocchi the Rock. Character designs were done by Nozomi Tachibana, working from original concepts by Yu Inami, while Yoshiki Imazu took care of the visual design of the magical world and Yuri Habuka composed the soundtrack.
It’s a crew that clearly had a vision for this project from the start, and the results showed in a series that stood out precisely because it wasn’t adapting anything, it was built from scratch.
The story centers on Yuina Akagi, a first-year high school student living an ordinary but deeply unsatisfying everyday life in Maebashi, a real city in Gunma Prefecture. Everything changes when a mysterious talking frog named Keroppe appears and recruits her, along with four other girls, to become the Maebashi Witches.
From that point on, a regular closet in her bedroom transforms into a portal leading to a magical world connected to a peculiar flower shop, where the girls use music, dance and their newly acquired powers to grant the wishes of the people around them. The series features original songs performed by the voice cast themselves, including opening theme “Sugosugi Maebashi Witches!” and ending theme “Sorezore no Door.”
A cast that mixes rising talent with industry veterans
The voice cast is one of the more interesting aspects of the production. Sakura Kasuga leads as protagonist Yuina Akagi, with Hinano Sakikawa voicing her companion Azu Niisato, both emerging names in the Japanese voice acting industry who got a significant platform with this series. Then there’s Tomokazu Sugita as Keroppe, the talking frog who kicks the whole story into motion.
Sugita is one of the most recognizable voices in the industry, known for Gintoki Sakata in Gintama and Escanor in The Seven Deadly Sins, among dozens of other iconic roles. Casting a voice actor of his caliber as a frog mascot character is the kind of decision that tells you the production was taking this seriously from day one.
Rounding out the cast in supporting roles are Nao Toyama, known to most fans as Yui Yuigahama in My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU and Rin Shima in Laid-Back Camp, and Akari Kito, who voiced Nezuko Kamado in Demon Slayer and Tsukasa Yuzaki in TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You. Having names like these in supporting roles on an original anime with no source material behind it speaks to the confidence the entire production had in what they were building.
Why this film matters for original anime
Compilation films don’t always get the most love from longtime fans, if you’ve already seen the series, sitting through a condensed version can feel redundant. But for original anime, a theatrical release serves a different purpose. It’s a statement. It signals that the property has legs, that the people behind it believe in the story enough to give it a cinematic moment, and that the franchise is actively being built rather than quietly left behind.
For Maebashi Witches specifically, a series that launched without the safety net of a popular manga or light novel, this is a meaningful step. The combination of a theatrical film, a TV rebroadcast and live concert events creates the kind of multimedia push that can turn a well-received show into something with real staying power. Whether it achieves that is still to be seen, but the foundation is being laid with intention.
What do you think, are you hyped to see Maebashi Witches on the big screen, or is this your first time hearing about it? Drop your take in the comments!