Before ‘Witch Hat,’ Kamome Shirahama Blessed Us With a Hilarious Romp About Gals Being Pals

Witch Hat Atelier has quickly become one of, if not the, must-watch anime of the season. So much so, you can’t fault fans for hitting a common anime adaptation impasse: watching weekly, banking episodes for a finale-day binge, or giving in and reading ahead in Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga. Decisions, decisions.

But what if we told you there’s a secret third option—one that scratches the Shirahama itch to bask in her bespoke artistry and trades the unspeakable horrors awaiting Coco for a side-splitting, utterly riotous comedy? Well, good, because we are. That option is her slept-on, pre-Witch Hat Atelier manga, Eniale & Dewiela.

If Witch Hat Atelier is Shirahama in her grand adventure, Dragon Ball Z era, Eniale & Dewiela was her at peak Dr. Slump whimsy.

Set in a world where heaven and hell coexist, the manga follows the unruly yet wildly endearing friendship between Eniale, the angel, and Dewiela, the demon—two gals tasked with collecting souls on Earth, a job they’d much rather procrastinate on by going shopping. Unfortunately for them, celestial bureaucracies run a tight ship, so shirking their duties only piles more work onto them.

So they have their fun wherever they can get it by diving into a generational rivalry of soul-dollect, ducking exorcists, and doing the absolute most in the process to one-up each other. Naturally, their daily angel-devil routine spirals into chaos, ranging from the benign to the apocalyptic, making for a hilarious, short-but-sweet read.

For comparison, Eniale and Dewiela’s dynamic gives Bayonetta and Jeanne a touch of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, but with the debauchery dialed down from a raucous 11 to a mischievous five. In Witch Hat Atelier terms, Eni and Dewi read like the proto-blueprint for Agott’s tsundere bite and Coco’s sheepish naïveté reimagined as a madcap buddy comedy duo. Watching Shirahama remove her limiters and let these two wreak havoc—whether sabotaging each other’s soul quotas or teaming up to do the bare minimum—is a delight. And when they’re not butting heads, they’re simply gals being pals: shopping, scheming, and trying to live their best lives.

What I love most about the manga is that it’s Shirahama fully in her comedic bag, writing slapstick gags with an elasticity and confidence that feel distinctly aged-up, in line with Witch Hat Atelier‘s gentler whimsy. With each chapter, you can feel her stretching, riffing, and letting herself be unserious in ways that WHA‘s tone doesn’t always allow. Coincidentally, the manga also teases her natural aptitude for sapphic-tinged storytelling that WHA fans—especially Arkco-truthers (we see you)—will clock immediately. Shirahama’s genuinely funny here, but she’s also effortlessly flexing her ability to weave emotionally stirring beats into her gag comedy manga.

For readers who adore WHA’s visual splendor, rest assured: Eniale & Dewiela carries the same hallmarks. The panel work is exquisite, the ornate borders feel like thumbing through an ancient tome, and the intricate detailing is as gobsmacking as ever. But here, that craft is in service of pure comedy. Across its three volumes, Shirahama unleashes a cavalcade of supernatural disasters born from the duo’s joint dumbassery—raising hordes of zombies while trying to turn a priest into both an angel and a demon, splitting the sea like Moses to find a missing earring, and firing a sky‑beam of souls straight into the heavens.

And when the manga isn’t serving killer runway fashion, heavenly‑hellish hijinks, or a few sapphic glances, it’s got heart. The standout moment comes in chapter eight, where Dewiela goes from hovering over an old woman like a vulture waiting to collect her soul to befriending her and her “fugly” guard cat. That chapter made me misty-eyed, I’m not gonna lie.

So if you need a quick, delightful read while you deliberate over whether you’re going to stockpile Witch Hat Atelier episodes or are simply craving more of Shirahama’s work (outside her Pokémon card illustrations—she contains multitudes), Eniale & Dewiela is absolutely worth your time.

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