Once Upon a Witch's Death

Raised in a witch's tower, Meg Raspberry has spent her entire life learning magic under Faust, the Eternal Witch, always dreaming of one day becoming just as powerful. Then, on her 17th birthday, Faust tells her she's going to die. A congenital curse means that once she turns 18, her body will age a thousand times faster than normal — she'll be gone in days. The only cure? Collecting a thousand tears of joy from other people within the next year to create something called a seed of life. So Meg, who's basically lived her whole sheltered life inside a witch's tower, suddenly has to go out into the world and make strangers genuinely happy enough to cry. That's the premise of this 12-episode TV series, and it hits in a way you might not expect. Each encounter Meg has feels personal and specific — these aren't throwaway side characters, they're people with real weight to their stories. The world-building is quiet but detailed, with magic woven into everyday life rather than treated as spectacle. Yuki Kajiura handles the soundtrack, which should tell you everything about the emotional register here. If you liked Violet Evergarden's approach to grief and human connection, or the way Mahoutsukai no Yome builds its magical world around loneliness and belonging, this one's in that space. It's got shades of Made in Abyss too — not in darkness, but in how it treats wonder and loss as two sides of the same coin. Worth your time if you're in the mood for something that sits with you after.