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It’s not too late for Apple to get AI right | TechCrunch

It’s not too late for Apple to get AI right | TechCrunch

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This week, OpenAI announced that apps can now run directly inside ChatGPT, letting users book travel, create playlists, and edit designs without switching between different apps. Some immediately declared the app platform of the future — predicting a ChatGPT-powered world where Apple’s App Store becomes obsolete.

But while OpenAI’s app platform presents an emerging threat, Apple’s vision for an improved Siri — though still seriously delayed — could still play out in its favor.

After all, Apple already controls the hardware, the operating system, and has roughly 1.5 billion iPhone users globally, compared to ChatGPT’s 800 million weekly active users. If Apple’s bet pays off, it could position the iPhone maker in a way that would not only maintain its app industry dominance but also modernize how we use apps in the AI era.

Apple’s plan is to kill the app icon without killing the app itself. Its vision for AI-powered computing — introduced at its developer conference last year — would see iPhone users interact with an overhauled version of Siri and a revamped system that changes the way you use apps on your phone. (Imagine less tapping and more talking.)

Apps are passé, long live apps?

It’s an idea whose time has come.

Organizing little tappable icons on your iPhone’s Home Screen to make online information more accessible is a dated metaphor for computing. Meant to resemble a scaled-down version of a computer’s desktop, apps are becoming a less common way for users to interact with many of their preferred online services.

These days, consumers are just as likely to ask an AI assistant for a recommendation or insight as they are to do a Google search or launch a dedicated, single-purpose app, like Yelp. They’ll talk out loud to their smart speakers or Bluetooth-connected AirPods to play their favorite tunes; they’ll ask a chatbot for business information or a summary of reviews for a new movie or show.

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The AI, a large language model trained on web-scraped data and more, determines what the user wants to know and spits out a response.

This is arguably easier than scouring through Google’s search results for the right link with the answer. (That’s something Google itself realized over a decade ago, when it started putting answers to user queries right on the search results page.)

AI is also often easier than finding the right app on your now overcrowded iPhone, launching it, and then interacting with its user interface — which varies from app to app — to perform your task or get an answer to your question.

Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty ImagesImage Credits:NurPhoto / Contributor (opens in a new window) / Getty Images

However, ChatGPT’s app system, while seemingly improving on this model, remains locked inside the ChatGPT user experience. It requires consumers to engage in a chatbot-style interface to use their apps, which could require user education. To call up an app, you have to name it as the first word of your prompt or otherwise mention the app by name to get a button that prompts you to “use the app for the answer.” Then, you have to type in an accurate query. (If you mess this up, early tests by Bloomberg indicate you could get stuck on a loading screen with no results!)

We have to wonder: is this the future of apps, or just the future while there’s no other competition? When another solution becomes available — one that’s built into your iPhone, no less — will consumers keep using ChatGPT, or are they still willing to give Siri another try? We don’t know, but we wouldn’t count out Apple yet, even though Siri has quite a bad reputation to salvage at this point.

Siri may be an embarrassment as it stands today, but Apple’s overall ecosystem has advantages. For starters, consumers already have the apps they want to use on their phone or know how to find them on the App Store, if not. They’ve used many of these apps for years. Muscle memory goes a long way!

Meanwhile, there are a few roadblocks to getting started with ChatGPT’s app platform.

You have to install the app in question, of course; then you have to connect the app to ChatGPT by jumping through a warning-filled permission screen. This process requires you to authenticate with the app using your existing username and password, and to enter the two-factor authentication code, if applicable.

After this one-time setup, things should be easier. For instance, after you generate a Spotify playlist with AI, it can be launched in the Spotify app with a tap.

However, this experience won’t differ much from Apple’s plans if Apple is able to make things work as promised. Apple says you’ll be able to talk or text Siri to control your apps.

There are other disadvantages to the OpenAI app model. You can only interact with one app at a time, instead of being able to switch back and forth between apps — something that could be useful when comparing prices or trying to decide between a hotel room and an Airbnb.

Using apps within ChatGPT also strips away the branding, design, and identity that consumers associate with their favorite apps. (For those who hate how cluttered Spotify’s app has become, perhaps that’s a good thing. Others, however, will disagree.) And, in some cases, using the mobile app version to accomplish your goals may still be easier than using the ChatGPT app version because of the flexibility the former offers.

Finally, compelling users to switch app platforms could be difficult when there isn’t an obvious advantage to using apps within ChatGPT — except for the fact that it’s neat that you can.

Can Apple save Siri’s reputation with AI features?

In its WWDC 2024 demonstration — which Apple swears was not “demoware” — the company showed how the apps would function under this new system and how they could use other AI features like proofreading.

Most importantly, Apple told developers that they’ll be able to take advantage of some of its AI capabilities without having to do additional work — like a note-taking app using proofreading or rewriting tools. Plus, developers who have already integrated SiriKit into their apps will be able to do more in terms of having users take action in their apps. (SiriKit, a toolkit for making apps interoperable with Siri and Apple’s Shortcuts, is something developers have been using since iOS 10.)

These developers will see immediate enhancements when the new Siri rolls out.

Image Credits:Apple

Apple said it will focus on categories like Notes, Media, Messaging, Payments, Restaurant Reservations, VoIP Calling, and Workouts, to start.

Apps in these categories will be able to let their users take actions via Siri. In practice, that means Siri will be able to invoke any item from an app’s menus. For example, you could ask Siri to see your presenter notes in a slide deck, and your productivity app would respond accordingly.

The apps would also be able to access any text displayed on the page using Apple’s standard text systems. That could make the app interactions feel more natural, without the user having to give specifically worded prompts or commands. For instance, if you had a reminder to wish your grandpa a happy birthday, you could say “FaceTime him” to take that action.

Image Credits:Apple

Apple’s existing Intents framework is also being updated to gain access to Apple Intelligence, covering even more apps in categories like Books, Browsers, Cameras, Document Readers, File Management, Journals, Mail, Photos, Presentations, Spreadsheets, Whiteboards, and Word Processors. Here, Apple is creating new “Intents” that are pre-defined, trained, and tested, and making them available to developers.

That means you could tell the photo-editing app Darkroom to apply a cinematic filter to an image via Siri. Plus, Siri will be able to suggest an app’s actions, helping iPhone users discover what their apps can do and take those actions.

Developers have been adopting the App Intents framework, introduced in iOS 16, because it offers other functionality to integrate their app’s actions and content with other platform features, including Spotlight, Siri, the iPhone’s Action button, widgets, controls, and visual search features — not just Apple Intelligence.

Image Credits:Apple

Also, unlike ChatGPT, Apple runs its own operating system on its own hardware and offers the App Store as a discovery mechanism, the app infrastructure, and developer tools, APIs, and frameworks — not just the AI-powered interface that will help you use your apps.

Though Apple may have to borrow some AI tech from others to do that last bit, it has the data to personalize your app recommendations, and, for the privacy-minded, the controls that let you limit how much information apps themselves can collect. (Where’s the “Do Not Track” option for ChatGPT’s app system, we wonder?)

OpenAI’s system doesn’t work out of the box with all your apps at launch. It requires developer adoption and relies on the Model Context Protocol (MCP), a newer technology for connecting AI assistants to other systems. That’s why ChatGPT currently works with only a handful of apps, like Booking.com, Expedia, Spotify, Figma, Coursera, Zillow, and Canva. MCP adoption is growing, but the delay in its becoming broadly adopted could give Apple the extra time it needs to catch up.

What’s more, word is that Apple’s AI system is nearly ready. The company is reportedly already internally testing this, allowing users to take actions in apps by using Siri voice commands. Bloomberg reported that this smarter version of Siri works out of the box works with many apps, including those from major players like Uber, AllTrails, Threads, Temu, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, and WhatsApp. And it’s still on track to ship next year, Apple confirmed to TechCrunch.

Apple has an iPhone, OpenAI has Jony Ive

The iPhone’s status as an app platform will also be difficult to disrupt, even from a company as large and powerful as OpenAI.

The ChatGPT maker understands this, too, which is why OpenAI is exploring its own device with Apple’s former head of design, Jony Ive. It wants its AI to become more of a part of consumers’ everyday lives and habits, which could require a hardware device.

But, so far, the company has struggled to think up a better computing paradigm than the smartphone, reports indicate. At the same time, the general public has demonstrated an aversion to always-on AI devices, which bump up against existing social norms and threaten privacy.

The AI backlash has covered AI device maker Friend’s NYC subway posters, led Taylor Swift fans to attack their idol for dabbling in AI, and threatened the reputation of popular consumer brands and enterprise businesses alike. That leaves the future success of an OpenAI device in question.

For now, that means OpenAI’s app model is one that essentially boils down to using its app to control other apps.

If Apple gets its Siri upgrade right, that intermediary may not be necessary.



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The humanoid robotics market is awash in money right now. Last week, AI2 Robotics, a Shenzhen-based startup that makes wheeled humanoid robots, raised roughly $735 million at a nearly $3 billion valuation. Earlier this year, Apptronik, an Austin-based maker of humanoid robots for manufacturing and logistics, closed a $935 million funding round valuing the company at more than $5.5 billion. Last fall, Figure AI, a San Jose-based startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots, self-reported that it closed on $1 billion in Series C funding at an eye-popping $39 billion valuation.

By comparison, Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, is surprisingly measured. We spoke by phone last week, just after the company announced plans to go public through a merger with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp XI, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal values Agility at around $2.5 billion and is expected to raise more than $620 million in gross proceeds, the largest capital raise in humanoid robotics history. It hasn’t closed yet; the merger still needs shareholder approval and SEC review, and is expected to be completed later this year.

Agility was founded in 2015 as a spinoff from Oregon State University. Based in Salem, Oregon, the company makes bipedal humanoid robots designed to work in warehouses and factories. Its SPAC maneuver is notable for a few reasons. It would make Agility the first pure-play humanoid robotics company to trade on public markets, giving retail investors direct exposure to a sector that has so far been available primarily to deep-pocketed VC funds. It also offers a rare window into the finances of a business in a space where most competitors closely guard their numbers and even the state of the tech they are building.

Johnson — formerly executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, where she helped engineer the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, and later CEO of Magic Leap, the once-hyped augmented reality headset maker — was careful throughout our conversation. She declined to offer forward-looking financial guidance, declined to disclose the bill of materials for Agility’s flagship robot Digit, and pushed back politely whenever questions veered toward speculation.

Asked why Agility is going public via a SPAC rather than raising another private round — a structure that skips the roadshow and pricing scrutiny of a traditional IPO — Johnson said much of it boils down to the first-mover advantage the company enjoys when it’s the first of its ilk to go public. For investors clamoring for shares in a buzzy robotics company, Agility is “an acceleration story and a timing story,” she said. The proceeds will also help Agility ramp up production at its 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, and fulfill an existing pipeline of customer orders.

As for the troubled reputation of SPACs — many companies that went public that way in 2021 famously fizzled out entirely or trade well below their offering price — Johnson was unfazed. “If we just keep our head down, keep delivering customer by customer, robot by robot, we hopefully won’t experience the same volatility,” she said. “Our biggest competitor right now is just us. How quickly we can execute, how quickly we can continue to add new skills.”

The pipeline goes well beyond pilots, Johnson told TechCrunch, pointing to more than $300 million in booked, multi-year revenue that represents roughly 1,000 robots that are part of a robots-as-a-service model in which customers pay a monthly fee rather than purchasing the machines outright. “Everybody on our list right now is already vetted, and they have deployment plans behind their proof of concepts,” Johnson said. Customers include GXO Logistics, Amazon, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre.

Digit itself is a deliberately unfussy piece of hardware. It stands about 5’9″, weighs around 160 pounds, and is designed to do one thing exceptionally well, which is move heavy objects in human-built spaces. Its most distinctive feature is a set of reverse-bend knees — they’ve been called “bird legs” — that allow it to reach from floor level to overhead shelving without the knees colliding with warehouse racking. (Agility’s founders, Johnson explained, weren’t interested in biomimicry for its own sake.) The robot’s hands — two thumbs and two fingers — are similarly task-specific; they’re optimized for gripping heavy plastic totes, even as their contents shift in transit.

Johnson said Agility is “LLM-agnostic,” drawing on models including Claude and Gemini to handle what she calls the semantic layer — translating high-level instructions into robot behavior. She described a recent test in which engineers scattered different types of trash on the floor and told Digit simply to “clean up this mess.” The robot assessed, sorted, and binned everything correctly, including correctly identifying bubble wrap as non-recyclable.

Of course, it’s the physical layer — the mechanics of balance, locomotion, and manipulation — that Agility considers its core proprietary advantage, one built up over more than a decade of real-world deployment. “The LLMs had the entire internet to train on,” she said. “When you think about the physical AI of humanoids — that doesn’t quite exist yet.” At most companies, anyway. Johnson believes Agility is the exception: “We may have the largest data lake of actual operating robotics data in real-world environments.”

Beyond raw data, Johnson said, safety is where the gulf between Agility and its competitors is biggest and most consequential. While rival companies showcase their robots in lab demos and choreographed videos, Agility has had to meet actual industrial safety certification requirements to operate inside customer facilities. “You can’t build your robot and then make it safe,” she said. “That’s a redesign. You have to have all of the safety certified — the electrical system, all of the parts, and the software to support all of that.” (It’s not a trivial concern given that humans are often somewhere in the room. Back in November, Figure AI’s former head of product safety sued the company, alleging he was fired after raising concerns that its robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. Figure has disputed the claims.)

As for the home, Johnson thinks humanoids will get there eventually, but she said not to expect them to deliver breakfast in bed anytime soon. It’ll be “10-plus years,” she said of the timeline, observing that warehouses and factories, for all their complexity, have fixed aisles and predictable equipment and workflows unlike homes that are chaotic, with dogs, babies, visitors, and objects left in unexpected places.

“At least roads have some discipline to them,” Johnson added, comparing the challenge to that of autonomous vehicles. “Most of the areas that humanoids will be operating in don’t.”

Agility isn’t ruling out the home market. Johnson said the company will enter it when it makes sense. For now, though, it’s laser focused on the warehouse market, given the growing numbers of retiring workers and younger workers who aren’t willing to take physically demanding roles. “There’s something like over a million jobs in the US today in these areas that are unfilled,” she said. “They’re just very, very hard to hire for.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#humanoid #robotics #company #public #CEO #isnt #promising #robot #home #anytime #TechCrunchagility robotics,Peggy Johnson,SPAC">This humanoid robotics company is going public, but its CEO isn’t promising a robot in your home anytime soon | TechCrunch The humanoid robotics market is awash in money right now. Last week, AI2 Robotics, a Shenzhen-based startup that makes wheeled humanoid robots, raised roughly 5 million at a nearly billion valuation. Earlier this year, Apptronik, an Austin-based maker of humanoid robots for manufacturing and logistics, closed a 5 million funding round valuing the company at more than .5 billion. Last fall, Figure AI, a San Jose-based startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots, self-reported that it closed on billion in Series C funding at an eye-popping billion valuation. By comparison, Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, is surprisingly measured. We spoke by phone last week, just after the company announced plans to go public through a merger with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp XI, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal values Agility at around .5 billion and is expected to raise more than 0 million in gross proceeds, the largest capital raise in humanoid robotics history. It hasn’t closed yet; the merger still needs shareholder approval and SEC review, and is expected to be completed later this year. Agility was founded in 2015 as a spinoff from Oregon State University. Based in Salem, Oregon, the company makes bipedal humanoid robots designed to work in warehouses and factories. Its SPAC maneuver is notable for a few reasons. It would make Agility the first pure-play humanoid robotics company to trade on public markets, giving retail investors direct exposure to a sector that has so far been available primarily to deep-pocketed VC funds. It also offers a rare window into the finances of a business in a space where most competitors closely guard their numbers and even the state of the tech they are building. Johnson — formerly executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, where she helped engineer the billion acquisition of LinkedIn, and later CEO of Magic Leap, the once-hyped augmented reality headset maker — was careful throughout our conversation. She declined to offer forward-looking financial guidance, declined to disclose the bill of materials for Agility’s flagship robot Digit, and pushed back politely whenever questions veered toward speculation. Asked why Agility is going public via a SPAC rather than raising another private round — a structure that skips the roadshow and pricing scrutiny of a traditional IPO — Johnson said much of it boils down to the first-mover advantage the company enjoys when it’s the first of its ilk to go public. For investors clamoring for shares in a buzzy robotics company, Agility is “an acceleration story and a timing story,” she said. The proceeds will also help Agility ramp up production at its 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, and fulfill an existing pipeline of customer orders. As for the troubled reputation of SPACs — many companies that went public that way in 2021 famously fizzled out entirely or trade well below their offering price — Johnson was unfazed. “If we just keep our head down, keep delivering customer by customer, robot by robot, we hopefully won’t experience the same volatility,” she said. “Our biggest competitor right now is just us. How quickly we can execute, how quickly we can continue to add new skills.” The pipeline goes well beyond pilots, Johnson told TechCrunch, pointing to more than 0 million in booked, multi-year revenue that represents roughly 1,000 robots that are part of a robots-as-a-service model in which customers pay a monthly fee rather than purchasing the machines outright. “Everybody on our list right now is already vetted, and they have deployment plans behind their proof of concepts,” Johnson said. Customers include GXO Logistics, Amazon, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre. Digit itself is a deliberately unfussy piece of hardware. It stands about 5’9″, weighs around 160 pounds, and is designed to do one thing exceptionally well, which is move heavy objects in human-built spaces. Its most distinctive feature is a set of reverse-bend knees — they’ve been called “bird legs” — that allow it to reach from floor level to overhead shelving without the knees colliding with warehouse racking. (Agility’s founders, Johnson explained, weren’t interested in biomimicry for its own sake.) The robot’s hands — two thumbs and two fingers — are similarly task-specific; they’re optimized for gripping heavy plastic totes, even as their contents shift in transit. Johnson said Agility is “LLM-agnostic,” drawing on models including Claude and Gemini to handle what she calls the semantic layer — translating high-level instructions into robot behavior. She described a recent test in which engineers scattered different types of trash on the floor and told Digit simply to “clean up this mess.” The robot assessed, sorted, and binned everything correctly, including correctly identifying bubble wrap as non-recyclable. Of course, it’s the physical layer — the mechanics of balance, locomotion, and manipulation — that Agility considers its core proprietary advantage, one built up over more than a decade of real-world deployment. “The LLMs had the entire internet to train on,” she said. “When you think about the physical AI of humanoids — that doesn’t quite exist yet.” At most companies, anyway. Johnson believes Agility is the exception: “We may have the largest data lake of actual operating robotics data in real-world environments.” Beyond raw data, Johnson said, safety is where the gulf between Agility and its competitors is biggest and most consequential. While rival companies showcase their robots in lab demos and choreographed videos, Agility has had to meet actual industrial safety certification requirements to operate inside customer facilities. “You can’t build your robot and then make it safe,” she said. “That’s a redesign. You have to have all of the safety certified — the electrical system, all of the parts, and the software to support all of that.” (It’s not a trivial concern given that humans are often somewhere in the room. Back in November, Figure AI’s former head of product safety sued the company, alleging he was fired after raising concerns that its robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. Figure has disputed the claims.) As for the home, Johnson thinks humanoids will get there eventually, but she said not to expect them to deliver breakfast in bed anytime soon. It’ll be “10-plus years,” she said of the timeline, observing that warehouses and factories, for all their complexity, have fixed aisles and predictable equipment and workflows unlike homes that are chaotic, with dogs, babies, visitors, and objects left in unexpected places. “At least roads have some discipline to them,” Johnson added, comparing the challenge to that of autonomous vehicles. “Most of the areas that humanoids will be operating in don’t.” Agility isn’t ruling out the home market. Johnson said the company will enter it when it makes sense. For now, though, it’s laser focused on the warehouse market, given the growing numbers of retiring workers and younger workers who aren’t willing to take physically demanding roles. “There’s something like over a million jobs in the US today in these areas that are unfilled,” she said. “They’re just very, very hard to hire for.” When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.#humanoid #robotics #company #public #CEO #isnt #promising #robot #home #anytime #TechCrunchagility robotics,Peggy Johnson,SPAC

$735 million at a nearly $3 billion valuation. Earlier this year, Apptronik, an Austin-based maker of humanoid robots for manufacturing and logistics, closed a $935 million funding round valuing the company at more than $5.5 billion. Last fall, Figure AI, a San Jose-based startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots, self-reported that it closed on $1 billion in Series C funding at an eye-popping $39 billion valuation.

By comparison, Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, is surprisingly measured. We spoke by phone last week, just after the company announced plans to go public through a merger with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp XI, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal values Agility at around $2.5 billion and is expected to raise more than $620 million in gross proceeds, the largest capital raise in humanoid robotics history. It hasn’t closed yet; the merger still needs shareholder approval and SEC review, and is expected to be completed later this year.

Agility was founded in 2015 as a spinoff from Oregon State University. Based in Salem, Oregon, the company makes bipedal humanoid robots designed to work in warehouses and factories. Its SPAC maneuver is notable for a few reasons. It would make Agility the first pure-play humanoid robotics company to trade on public markets, giving retail investors direct exposure to a sector that has so far been available primarily to deep-pocketed VC funds. It also offers a rare window into the finances of a business in a space where most competitors closely guard their numbers and even the state of the tech they are building.

Johnson — formerly executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, where she helped engineer the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, and later CEO of Magic Leap, the once-hyped augmented reality headset maker — was careful throughout our conversation. She declined to offer forward-looking financial guidance, declined to disclose the bill of materials for Agility’s flagship robot Digit, and pushed back politely whenever questions veered toward speculation.

Asked why Agility is going public via a SPAC rather than raising another private round — a structure that skips the roadshow and pricing scrutiny of a traditional IPO — Johnson said much of it boils down to the first-mover advantage the company enjoys when it’s the first of its ilk to go public. For investors clamoring for shares in a buzzy robotics company, Agility is “an acceleration story and a timing story,” she said. The proceeds will also help Agility ramp up production at its 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, and fulfill an existing pipeline of customer orders.

As for the troubled reputation of SPACs — many companies that went public that way in 2021 famously fizzled out entirely or trade well below their offering price — Johnson was unfazed. “If we just keep our head down, keep delivering customer by customer, robot by robot, we hopefully won’t experience the same volatility,” she said. “Our biggest competitor right now is just us. How quickly we can execute, how quickly we can continue to add new skills.”

The pipeline goes well beyond pilots, Johnson told TechCrunch, pointing to more than $300 million in booked, multi-year revenue that represents roughly 1,000 robots that are part of a robots-as-a-service model in which customers pay a monthly fee rather than purchasing the machines outright. “Everybody on our list right now is already vetted, and they have deployment plans behind their proof of concepts,” Johnson said. Customers include GXO Logistics, Amazon, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre.

Digit itself is a deliberately unfussy piece of hardware. It stands about 5’9″, weighs around 160 pounds, and is designed to do one thing exceptionally well, which is move heavy objects in human-built spaces. Its most distinctive feature is a set of reverse-bend knees — they’ve been called “bird legs” — that allow it to reach from floor level to overhead shelving without the knees colliding with warehouse racking. (Agility’s founders, Johnson explained, weren’t interested in biomimicry for its own sake.) The robot’s hands — two thumbs and two fingers — are similarly task-specific; they’re optimized for gripping heavy plastic totes, even as their contents shift in transit.

Johnson said Agility is “LLM-agnostic,” drawing on models including Claude and Gemini to handle what she calls the semantic layer — translating high-level instructions into robot behavior. She described a recent test in which engineers scattered different types of trash on the floor and told Digit simply to “clean up this mess.” The robot assessed, sorted, and binned everything correctly, including correctly identifying bubble wrap as non-recyclable.

Of course, it’s the physical layer — the mechanics of balance, locomotion, and manipulation — that Agility considers its core proprietary advantage, one built up over more than a decade of real-world deployment. “The LLMs had the entire internet to train on,” she said. “When you think about the physical AI of humanoids — that doesn’t quite exist yet.” At most companies, anyway. Johnson believes Agility is the exception: “We may have the largest data lake of actual operating robotics data in real-world environments.”

Beyond raw data, Johnson said, safety is where the gulf between Agility and its competitors is biggest and most consequential. While rival companies showcase their robots in lab demos and choreographed videos, Agility has had to meet actual industrial safety certification requirements to operate inside customer facilities. “You can’t build your robot and then make it safe,” she said. “That’s a redesign. You have to have all of the safety certified — the electrical system, all of the parts, and the software to support all of that.” (It’s not a trivial concern given that humans are often somewhere in the room. Back in November, Figure AI’s former head of product safety sued the company, alleging he was fired after raising concerns that its robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. Figure has disputed the claims.)

As for the home, Johnson thinks humanoids will get there eventually, but she said not to expect them to deliver breakfast in bed anytime soon. It’ll be “10-plus years,” she said of the timeline, observing that warehouses and factories, for all their complexity, have fixed aisles and predictable equipment and workflows unlike homes that are chaotic, with dogs, babies, visitors, and objects left in unexpected places.

“At least roads have some discipline to them,” Johnson added, comparing the challenge to that of autonomous vehicles. “Most of the areas that humanoids will be operating in don’t.”

Agility isn’t ruling out the home market. Johnson said the company will enter it when it makes sense. For now, though, it’s laser focused on the warehouse market, given the growing numbers of retiring workers and younger workers who aren’t willing to take physically demanding roles. “There’s something like over a million jobs in the US today in these areas that are unfilled,” she said. “They’re just very, very hard to hire for.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#humanoid #robotics #company #public #CEO #isnt #promising #robot #home #anytime #TechCrunchagility robotics,Peggy Johnson,SPAC">This humanoid robotics company is going public, but its CEO isn’t promising a robot in your home anytime soon | TechCrunch

The humanoid robotics market is awash in money right now. Last week, AI2 Robotics, a Shenzhen-based startup that makes wheeled humanoid robots, raised roughly $735 million at a nearly $3 billion valuation. Earlier this year, Apptronik, an Austin-based maker of humanoid robots for manufacturing and logistics, closed a $935 million funding round valuing the company at more than $5.5 billion. Last fall, Figure AI, a San Jose-based startup developing general-purpose humanoid robots, self-reported that it closed on $1 billion in Series C funding at an eye-popping $39 billion valuation.

By comparison, Peggy Johnson, CEO of Agility Robotics, is surprisingly measured. We spoke by phone last week, just after the company announced plans to go public through a merger with Michael Klein’s Churchill Capital Corp XI, a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal values Agility at around $2.5 billion and is expected to raise more than $620 million in gross proceeds, the largest capital raise in humanoid robotics history. It hasn’t closed yet; the merger still needs shareholder approval and SEC review, and is expected to be completed later this year.

Agility was founded in 2015 as a spinoff from Oregon State University. Based in Salem, Oregon, the company makes bipedal humanoid robots designed to work in warehouses and factories. Its SPAC maneuver is notable for a few reasons. It would make Agility the first pure-play humanoid robotics company to trade on public markets, giving retail investors direct exposure to a sector that has so far been available primarily to deep-pocketed VC funds. It also offers a rare window into the finances of a business in a space where most competitors closely guard their numbers and even the state of the tech they are building.

Johnson — formerly executive vice president of business development at Microsoft, where she helped engineer the $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, and later CEO of Magic Leap, the once-hyped augmented reality headset maker — was careful throughout our conversation. She declined to offer forward-looking financial guidance, declined to disclose the bill of materials for Agility’s flagship robot Digit, and pushed back politely whenever questions veered toward speculation.

Asked why Agility is going public via a SPAC rather than raising another private round — a structure that skips the roadshow and pricing scrutiny of a traditional IPO — Johnson said much of it boils down to the first-mover advantage the company enjoys when it’s the first of its ilk to go public. For investors clamoring for shares in a buzzy robotics company, Agility is “an acceleration story and a timing story,” she said. The proceeds will also help Agility ramp up production at its 70,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Salem, Oregon, and fulfill an existing pipeline of customer orders.

As for the troubled reputation of SPACs — many companies that went public that way in 2021 famously fizzled out entirely or trade well below their offering price — Johnson was unfazed. “If we just keep our head down, keep delivering customer by customer, robot by robot, we hopefully won’t experience the same volatility,” she said. “Our biggest competitor right now is just us. How quickly we can execute, how quickly we can continue to add new skills.”

The pipeline goes well beyond pilots, Johnson told TechCrunch, pointing to more than $300 million in booked, multi-year revenue that represents roughly 1,000 robots that are part of a robots-as-a-service model in which customers pay a monthly fee rather than purchasing the machines outright. “Everybody on our list right now is already vetted, and they have deployment plans behind their proof of concepts,” Johnson said. Customers include GXO Logistics, Amazon, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, Schaeffler, and Mercado Libre.

Digit itself is a deliberately unfussy piece of hardware. It stands about 5’9″, weighs around 160 pounds, and is designed to do one thing exceptionally well, which is move heavy objects in human-built spaces. Its most distinctive feature is a set of reverse-bend knees — they’ve been called “bird legs” — that allow it to reach from floor level to overhead shelving without the knees colliding with warehouse racking. (Agility’s founders, Johnson explained, weren’t interested in biomimicry for its own sake.) The robot’s hands — two thumbs and two fingers — are similarly task-specific; they’re optimized for gripping heavy plastic totes, even as their contents shift in transit.

Johnson said Agility is “LLM-agnostic,” drawing on models including Claude and Gemini to handle what she calls the semantic layer — translating high-level instructions into robot behavior. She described a recent test in which engineers scattered different types of trash on the floor and told Digit simply to “clean up this mess.” The robot assessed, sorted, and binned everything correctly, including correctly identifying bubble wrap as non-recyclable.

Of course, it’s the physical layer — the mechanics of balance, locomotion, and manipulation — that Agility considers its core proprietary advantage, one built up over more than a decade of real-world deployment. “The LLMs had the entire internet to train on,” she said. “When you think about the physical AI of humanoids — that doesn’t quite exist yet.” At most companies, anyway. Johnson believes Agility is the exception: “We may have the largest data lake of actual operating robotics data in real-world environments.”

Beyond raw data, Johnson said, safety is where the gulf between Agility and its competitors is biggest and most consequential. While rival companies showcase their robots in lab demos and choreographed videos, Agility has had to meet actual industrial safety certification requirements to operate inside customer facilities. “You can’t build your robot and then make it safe,” she said. “That’s a redesign. You have to have all of the safety certified — the electrical system, all of the parts, and the software to support all of that.” (It’s not a trivial concern given that humans are often somewhere in the room. Back in November, Figure AI’s former head of product safety sued the company, alleging he was fired after raising concerns that its robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull. Figure has disputed the claims.)

As for the home, Johnson thinks humanoids will get there eventually, but she said not to expect them to deliver breakfast in bed anytime soon. It’ll be “10-plus years,” she said of the timeline, observing that warehouses and factories, for all their complexity, have fixed aisles and predictable equipment and workflows unlike homes that are chaotic, with dogs, babies, visitors, and objects left in unexpected places.

“At least roads have some discipline to them,” Johnson added, comparing the challenge to that of autonomous vehicles. “Most of the areas that humanoids will be operating in don’t.”

Agility isn’t ruling out the home market. Johnson said the company will enter it when it makes sense. For now, though, it’s laser focused on the warehouse market, given the growing numbers of retiring workers and younger workers who aren’t willing to take physically demanding roles. “There’s something like over a million jobs in the US today in these areas that are unfilled,” she said. “They’re just very, very hard to hire for.”

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.

#humanoid #robotics #company #public #CEO #isnt #promising #robot #home #anytime #TechCrunchagility robotics,Peggy Johnson,SPAC
Jujutsu Infinite lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay.

Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List

Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game.

TierInnate Techniques
S TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul King
A TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul Manipulation
B TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw Doll
C TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing Courage
D TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique

S Tier Innate Techniques

A Tier Innate Techniques

B Tier Innate Techniques

C Tier Innate Techniques

TechniqueProsCons
Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Inspired by the hit anime and manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Infinite lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay. Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game. TierInnate TechniquesS TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul KingA TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul ManipulationB TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw DollC TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing CourageD TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique S Tier Innate Techniques A Tier Innate Techniques B Tier Innate Techniques C Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsBlood Manipulation• Visually impressive abilities• Can bind enemies and apply pressure• Inconsistent damage• Low overall damageBoogie Woogie• Excellent mobility and disruption• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights• Lacks raw damageBlazing Courage• Decent choice for the early game• Features flashy fire effects• Not strong enough for high-level content D Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsCloning Technique• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Clones are easy to destroy• Very low damageConstruction• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Difficult to aim• Performs poorly in PvPTool Manipulation• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Lacks damage output #Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox
Blood Manipulation		• Visually impressive abilities
• Can bind enemies and apply pressure		• Inconsistent damage
• Low overall damage
jujutsu infinite b tier
Boogie Woogie		• Excellent mobility and disruption
• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights		• Lacks raw damage
Blazing-Courage
Blazing Courage		• Decent choice for the early game
• Features flashy fire effects		• Not strong enough for high-level content

D Tier Innate Techniques

TechniqueProsCons
Cloning-Technique
Cloning Technique		• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Clones are easy to destroy
• Very low damage
construstions
Construction		• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Difficult to aim
• Performs poorly in PvP

Tool Manipulation		• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Lacks damage output
#Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox">Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Inspired by the hit anime and manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Infinite lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay. Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game. TierInnate TechniquesS TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul KingA TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul ManipulationB TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw DollC TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing CourageD TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique S Tier Innate Techniques A Tier Innate Techniques B Tier Innate Techniques C Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsBlood Manipulation• Visually impressive abilities• Can bind enemies and apply pressure• Inconsistent damage• Low overall damageBoogie Woogie• Excellent mobility and disruption• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights• Lacks raw damageBlazing Courage• Decent choice for the early game• Features flashy fire effects• Not strong enough for high-level content D Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsCloning Technique• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Clones are easy to destroy• Very low damageConstruction• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Difficult to aim• Performs poorly in PvPTool Manipulation• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Lacks damage output #Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox

lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay.

Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List

Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game.

TierInnate Techniques
S TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul King
A TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul Manipulation
B TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw Doll
C TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing Courage
D TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique

S Tier Innate Techniques

A Tier Innate Techniques

B Tier Innate Techniques

C Tier Innate Techniques

TechniqueProsCons
Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Inspired by the hit anime and manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Infinite lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay. Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game. TierInnate TechniquesS TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul KingA TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul ManipulationB TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw DollC TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing CourageD TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique S Tier Innate Techniques A Tier Innate Techniques B Tier Innate Techniques C Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsBlood Manipulation• Visually impressive abilities• Can bind enemies and apply pressure• Inconsistent damage• Low overall damageBoogie Woogie• Excellent mobility and disruption• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights• Lacks raw damageBlazing Courage• Decent choice for the early game• Features flashy fire effects• Not strong enough for high-level content D Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsCloning Technique• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Clones are easy to destroy• Very low damageConstruction• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Difficult to aim• Performs poorly in PvPTool Manipulation• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Lacks damage output #Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox
Blood Manipulation		• Visually impressive abilities
• Can bind enemies and apply pressure		• Inconsistent damage
• Low overall damage
jujutsu infinite b tier
Boogie Woogie		• Excellent mobility and disruption
• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights		• Lacks raw damage
Blazing-Courage
Blazing Courage		• Decent choice for the early game
• Features flashy fire effects		• Not strong enough for high-level content

D Tier Innate Techniques

TechniqueProsCons
Cloning-Technique
Cloning Technique		• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Clones are easy to destroy
• Very low damage
construstions
Construction		• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Difficult to aim
• Performs poorly in PvP

Tool Manipulation		• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Lacks damage output
#Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox">Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List

Inspired by the hit anime and manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Infinite lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay.

Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List

Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game.

TierInnate Techniques
S TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul King
A TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul Manipulation
B TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw Doll
C TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing Courage
D TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique

S Tier Innate Techniques

A Tier Innate Techniques

B Tier Innate Techniques

C Tier Innate Techniques

TechniqueProsCons
Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Inspired by the hit anime and manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, Jujutsu Infinite lets players master a variety of powerful Innate Techniques. However, not every Technique is equally powerful, even if it has a higher rarity. Some perform much better in battles, while others are better left behind. If you’re unsure which Technique deserves your spins, this Jujutsu Infinite Innate tier list will help you find the strongest choices for both PvP and PvE gameplay. Best Jujutsu Infinite Innate Tier List Every Innate Technique has its own strengths and weaknesses. Some are excellent for most situations, while others have limited use. We have ranked every Technique from S Tier to D Tier to make your choice easier. Your main Innate Technique should ideally come from the S or A Tier. These Techniques deliver serious damage and powerful Domain abilities. B- and C-tier techniques are better suited for support roles. They can help you build, but aren’t reliable for challenging content. These rankings reflect their overall performance across the game. TierInnate TechniquesS TierInfinity, Star Rage, Demon Vessel, Thunder God, Gambler Fever, Ancient Construction, Soul KingA TierCurse Queen, Volcano, Hydrokinetics, Projection, Puppet, Soul ManipulationB TierRatio, Plant Manipulation, Judgment, Curse Speech, Cryokinesis, Straw DollC TierBlood Manipulation, Boogie Woogie, Blazing CourageD TierTool Manipulation, Construction, Cloning Technique S Tier Innate Techniques A Tier Innate Techniques B Tier Innate Techniques C Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsBlood Manipulation• Visually impressive abilities• Can bind enemies and apply pressure• Inconsistent damage• Low overall damageBoogie Woogie• Excellent mobility and disruption• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights• Lacks raw damageBlazing Courage• Decent choice for the early game• Features flashy fire effects• Not strong enough for high-level content D Tier Innate Techniques TechniqueProsConsCloning Technique• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Clones are easy to destroy• Very low damageConstruction• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Difficult to aim• Performs poorly in PvPTool Manipulation• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques• Lacks damage output #Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox
Blood Manipulation		• Visually impressive abilities
• Can bind enemies and apply pressure		• Inconsistent damage
• Low overall damage
jujutsu infinite b tier
Boogie Woogie		• Excellent mobility and disruption
• Good combo potential in 1v1 and team fights		• Lacks raw damage
Blazing-Courage
Blazing Courage		• Decent choice for the early game
• Features flashy fire effects		• Not strong enough for high-level content

D Tier Innate Techniques

TechniqueProsCons
Cloning-Technique
Cloning Technique		• Decent mobility• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Clones are easy to destroy
• Very low damage
construstions
Construction		• Can stun enemies• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Difficult to aim
• Performs poorly in PvP

Tool Manipulation		• No major advantages• One of the weakest Innate Techniques
• Lacks damage output
#Jujutsu #Infinite #Innate #Tier #ListRoblox
“big three” fantasy series have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier.

At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion.

‘Witch Hat Atelier’ Creator, Coco Star on How the Anime Exceeded Expectations As far as contemporary anime is concerned, the “big three” fantasy series have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier. At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion. Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9 Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations? Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGVFk9w5qA[/embed] Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9URbx38AIY[/embed] io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco? Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most. Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up. io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story? Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward. Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA1sPU4F1n4[/embed] io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why? Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese. Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0qoRHqDt8[/embed] io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps? Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion! Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those. Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production. io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Witch #Hat #Atelier #Creator #Coco #Star #Anime #Exceeded #ExpectationsAnime,Anime Expo,Bug Films,Kamome Shirahama,Witch Hat Atelier
Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9

Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations?

Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands.

Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater.

io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco?

Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most.

Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up.

io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story?

Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward.

Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward.

io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why?

Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese.

Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain.

io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps?

Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion!

Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those.

Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production.

io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Witch #Hat #Atelier #Creator #Coco #Star #Anime #Exceeded #ExpectationsAnime,Anime Expo,Bug Films,Kamome Shirahama,Witch Hat Atelier">‘Witch Hat Atelier’ Creator, Coco Star on How the Anime Exceeded Expectations As far as contemporary anime is concerned, the “big three” fantasy series have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier. At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion. Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9 Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations? Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGVFk9w5qA[/embed] Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9URbx38AIY[/embed] io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco? Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most. Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up. io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story? Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward. Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA1sPU4F1n4[/embed] io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why? Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese. Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0qoRHqDt8[/embed] io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps? Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion! Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those. Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production. io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Witch #Hat #Atelier #Creator #Coco #Star #Anime #Exceeded #ExpectationsAnime,Anime Expo,Bug Films,Kamome Shirahama,Witch Hat Atelier

have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier.

At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion.

‘Witch Hat Atelier’ Creator, Coco Star on How the Anime Exceeded Expectations As far as contemporary anime is concerned, the “big three” fantasy series have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier. At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion. Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9 Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations? Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGVFk9w5qA[/embed] Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9URbx38AIY[/embed] io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco? Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most. Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up. io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story? Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward. Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA1sPU4F1n4[/embed] io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why? Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese. Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0qoRHqDt8[/embed] io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps? Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion! Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those. Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production. io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Witch #Hat #Atelier #Creator #Coco #Star #Anime #Exceeded #ExpectationsAnime,Anime Expo,Bug Films,Kamome Shirahama,Witch Hat Atelier
Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9

Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations?

Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands.

Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater.

io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco?

Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most.

Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up.

io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story?

Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward.

Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward.

io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why?

Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese.

Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain.

io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps?

Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion!

Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those.

Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production.

io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

#Witch #Hat #Atelier #Creator #Coco #Star #Anime #Exceeded #ExpectationsAnime,Anime Expo,Bug Films,Kamome Shirahama,Witch Hat Atelier">‘Witch Hat Atelier’ Creator, Coco Star on How the Anime Exceeded Expectations

As far as contemporary anime is concerned, the “big three” fantasy series have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier.

At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion.

‘Witch Hat Atelier’ Creator, Coco Star on How the Anime Exceeded Expectations As far as contemporary anime is concerned, the “big three” fantasy series have finally been christened, thanks to the wondrous arrival of the last in its holy trinity on Crunchyroll: Bug Films’ absolutely magical adaptation of Kamome Shirahama‘s beloved manga, Witch Hat Atelier. At Anime Expo 2026, io9 got to speak with Shirahama and Coco’s Japanese voice actor, Rena Motomura, about how Bug Films utilized its production delay to deliver an adaptation that honored, and occasionally outshone, the artistry of its source material, what keeps the anime community’s newly adopted daughter so optimistic in an insane world, and whether Pointed Cap witches or Brimmed Caps have the best sense of fashion. Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9 Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations? Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSGVFk9w5qA[/embed] Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9URbx38AIY[/embed] io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco? Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most. Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up. io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story? Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward. Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA1sPU4F1n4[/embed] io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why? Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese. Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu0qoRHqDt8[/embed] io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps? Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion! Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those. Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production. io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who. #Witch #Hat #Atelier #Creator #Coco #Star #Anime #Exceeded #ExpectationsAnime,Anime Expo,Bug Films,Kamome Shirahama,Witch Hat Atelier
Kamome Shirahama’s Brushbuddy. © Isaiah Colbert/io9

Isaiah Colbert, io9: During the anime’s delay, Bug Films announced that certain scenes needed additional time and attention, hoping the anime would be as big as The Lord of the Rings for anime fans. What scenes from this season exceeded your expectations?

Rena Motomura: There are so many scenes that exceeded my expectations. But in episode one, at the end, when Coco’s screaming, “Mom,” and then Qifrey takes her up into the sky as the magic is being triggered, they’re skyward and having that moment together—I saw a bit of it in the teaser—but when I saw it in the anime episode, it made me so emotional. I saw exactly how my sensei’s world was being brought to life in anime form, and how the frames were coming together to tell this story. That’s when I knew with great conviction that we were going to have something really special on our hands.

Kamome Shirahama: This was really talked about a lot, but episode five, for me personally, when I saw it, I was super wowed. It made me really feel like I was watching a film in the theater.

io9: Shirahama‑sensei, your live‑tweeting during the broadcast has delighted fans—especially when you pose questions about characters as if you didn’t write them. Which aspects of the anime were your favorites to see realized on screen—and for Motomura‑san, which scenes were the most memorable or rewarding for you to record as Coco?

Shirahama: Yeah, for sure. There’s things that you can see in the anime that the manga doesn’t contain—certain elements that make the world more expansive, more brilliant, more rich, and colored. Those are the things I was looking forward to the most.

Motomura: For me, it’s the last scene in the dragon maze when Coco has this realization that her actions have put everyone into danger and she’s tearing up, saying, “I’m really sorry that this happened.” Up until that point, she’s been really cheerful. Really sort of outgoing. But then you realize that deep inside her heart, she’s been carrying a lot of this anxiety and worry that’s just piling up. As I was playing the character through the scene, it reminded me of how, through episodes one to three, there must have been a lot of internal thoughts—a lot of anxiety and worry. And that part I empathize with. I started tearing up doing the scene. And even when I look back on it now, I start tearing up.

io9: For many, Coco embodies hope and determination, even when the world around her feels overwhelming or insane. How does each of you interpret the way her character maintains that sense of glowing optimism, and what does she represent to you within the story?

Shirahama: Coco’s greatest motivation is her love for magic. Even when she faces situations that are fearful or scary, she knows that’s not all there is to magic. And she knows that there’s hope. And she holds on to that hope as her core belief. And that’s what moves her forward.

Motomura: Coco has this enormous admiration for magic. I think as long as she holds on to that admiration, she’ll be able to keep moving forward. In the story, I believe her existence is like the mast of a ship. She is a very certain presence in the story, and deep inside her heart—at her core—she holds on to this admiration for magic that’s going to carry everything forward.

io9: This season introduced a variety of intricate, hand-drawn spells. Of the spells featured so far, which one stands out as your personal favorite, and why?

Motomura: For me, it’s the very first spell that Coco came up with for herself—the straight arrow that carries her up into the sky in her time of need as she’s flying upwards. I really felt like this spell was an embodiment of her personality. In this moment, she has nothing. She has no skills, no knowledge, nothing. But she has to do something. So she comes up with this spell to help her get out of a tough situation. The name, too, is super cute. I believe Shirahama-sensei named it 空すっ飛び (sorasuttobi/Skysoaring Seal) in Japanese.

Shirahama: For me, it’s the spell that Qifrey casts in episode six when they’re trying to have a picnic in the rain, so he creates this bubble where the rain can’t touch them. I’m so jealous because we get a lot of rain in Japan, and I feel like that would be a great spell to have when you have to walk your dog in the rain.

io9: If you had to choose—based on fashion alone, no morals at play—would you see yourselves more as the Pointed Cap witches in Witch Hat Atelier or one of the Brimmed Caps?

Motomura: Oh! That’s a very difficult question. But personally, I have a bit of an ambition for the Brimmed Caps because ever since I was a child, I thought those kinds of hats were very cool. And then when I came into the world of Witch Hat Atelier, the fact that they cover their face so they can practice forbidden magic, I was like, “Oh, that is so cool.” I know that, morally speaking, as Coco, it’s a questionable answer. But I really like the Brimmed Caps…just as fashion!

Shirahama: (Laughs) I feel like the Brimmed Caps might be more popular in a place like California, where you guys get so much sun. For me, personally, I really like the silhouette of the Pointed Caps, so I prefer those.

Witch Hat Atelier is streaming on Crunchyroll, and season two is in production.

io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here.

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