Journal with Witch starts off Asa’s high school life (and exacerbates Makio’s parenting life) with a serious case of the blues in Ep. 4 “Cower”. As you might imagine, it all has to do with a whole lot of unresolved grief Asa has for her recently deceased parents. Alas, this episode shows her still being unable to deal with the issue, again, as you might imagine for such a traumatic experience, and in ways that you might heavily sympathize with.

Journal with Witch Ep. 4 “Cower”: Details in Brief

Journal with Witch JP key visual
This key visual perfectly shows their relationship here.

Journal with Witch Ep. 4 “Cower” is the fourth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, and Ep. 3 here) of this slice of life comedy-drama anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Tomoko Yamashita.

Shuka (Durarara!!x2 Shō, 91 Days, Natsume’s Book of Friends: Fifth Season) is the animation studio behind this anime. Miyuki Oshiro is the director of this anime, with Kōhei Kiyasu as the writer, and Kensuke Ushio as the composer for the music.

Speaking of the music: the opening theme song for Journal with Witch is “Sonare” (ソナーレ) by Tomoo. Meanwhile, “Kotozute” (言伝; lit. ’Hearsay’) by Bialystocks is the ending theme song.

Synopsis

Complete with Asa spacing out in this episode too.

Alas, Journal with Witch is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Ep. 4 “Cower” only just made its debut on January 25, 2026 exclusively on Crunchyroll. Thus, for those of you wishing to avoid spoilers, here’s the synopsis for this week’s episode from Crunchyroll below:

“Asa begins high school as Makio grapples with the new responsibilities of being her guardian.”

Journal with Witch Ep. 4 “Cower”: The Good

Alas, depression from trauma will bring even Asa down.

It’s the relationship between Asa (voiced by Fuko Mori (JP)) and her aunt Makio (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (JP)) that’s the highlight of Ep. 4 “Cower”, as is the case with Journal with Witch as a whole. The key difference here is that we get to see more of Asa’s school life, which further explores her normally outgoing and personable personality, and thus exploring in depth how her depression affects her usual personality. Interestingly, Asa’s tendency to disassociate and basically detach herself from reality is one of the classic symptoms of trauma, which the sudden death of her parents most definitely counts as.

It’s not just Asa who’s fascinating in this episode though. The conflict between Asa wanting to hang out with her best friend Emiri (voiced by Sumire Morohoshi (JP)) at Makio’s home and Makio’s disdain for company creates one of the most significant conflicts between them. It’s basically the conflict between an outgoing, extroverted neurotypical person and an introverted, reclusive neurodivergent person. It’s not explicitly spelled out, but Makio’s frank discussion of their personality differences with Asa is the closest admission we’ve got so far that she’s on the autistic spectrum, and how the differences between her and her niece affect them.

And this is on top of some surprisingly good animation from Shuka’s animation team. Not just for the artsy intermission scenes, but also for the pizza in this episode. Despite the middling overall quality, there is so much detail to the multi-topping pizza that your mouth will water at it.

Journal with Witch Ep. 4 “Cower”: The Bad

And it’s the first time we’ve seen Makio this angry too.

Yet ultimately, it is the middling animation quality of Journal with Witch that holds it back a bit, even in Ep. 4 “Cower”. It’s just too clearly a niche anime series, lacking the big animation budgets of anime like those in the isekai genre. Thus, the animators at Shuka are forced to make up for the lack of overall quality. Admittedly, they’ve done a very good job by making this episode as artsy as it is. It’s just that you also wonder how good this anime would’ve been had it had a bigger animation budget.

Oh, and if you’re looking for action, this anime definitely isn’t it. It’s a family comedy-drama about depression and how trauma affects different people touched by that trauma. It’s not an action-heavy shonen battle anime. If you want any action, then you’re going to have to look elsewhere.

Anime Recommendations

Fortunately, if you want the action that this anime lacks, then you can head on over to Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Nyaight of the Living Cat, May I Ask for One Final Thing?, and/or TRIGUN STARGAZE. However, if you want more drama like in Journal with Witch or just more slow-paced anime in general, then you can check out Spy x Family, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, My Dress-Up Darling, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, and/or Hana-Kimi.

What did you think of this week’s episode of Journal with Witch? Tell us your slice of life anime thoughts in the comment section below.

For more on Anime, make sure to check back to That Hashtag Show.

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