Journal With Witch Ep. 9 “Intersect”: Battle Of The Writer’s Block [Review]

Journal with Witch gives both Makio and her niece Asa a serious case of writer’s block for their respective tasks in Ep. 9 “Intersect”. For different things, of course. One is having writer’s block on writing a novel, and the other is getting the same thing writing song lyrics. But regardless of the differences, they are experiencing a fundamental intersection of the same basic problem, and that gives them something to bond over.

Journal with Witch Ep. 9 “Intersect”: Details in Brief

Journal with Witch Ep. 9 “Intersect” is the ninth episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, and Ep. 8 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

Alas, Journal with Witch is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Ep. 9 “Intersect” only just made its debut on March 1, 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 returns to school and tries her hand at writing lyrics, while Makio battles writer’s block.”

Journal with Witch Ep. 9 “Intersect”: The Good

The biggest highlight of Ep. 9 “Intersect” is definitely the fact that Makio (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (JP)) and her niece Asa (voiced by Fuko Mori (JP)) now have a shared problem to deal with: writer’s block! Potentially, this gives them something to bond over. In fact, Makio does try to give some advice to Asa to try to deal with that writer’s block. Alas, something seems to get lost in translation due to neurodivergence. Makio interprets Asa’s request to help her with her writing as “Give honest critique in order to be able to improve the writing”. On one hand: yes, that is very helpful advice, and is absolutely critical to developing as a writer.

However, Asa takes offence at it instead, and interprets it as an insult of her writing ability. It seems that what Asa had been looking for was just…praise. She wanted someone to acknowledge her writing ability, rather than point out the flaws in her writing. Thus, it does make sense that she would react to Makio’s critique rather negatively.

Makio would’ve likely taken offense to bland praise because it doesn’t help her improve as a writer, so it also makes sense why she would interpret Asa’s request that way. Especially since Asa resolves this seemingly via observing Makio’s work ethic: which is basically work without rest until the task is complete before finally realizing that there’s an outside world. It’s this back and forth between them, and the friction that occurs before there’s a resolution, that makes this episode’s story a fascinating comparison of the contrast between a neurodivergent person’s and a neurotypical person’s views of the world.

This is all on top of some amazing voice acting on the part of every character in the show. But especially in this episode, you can hear the building anger in Asa’s voice every time she is reminded of her own seeming lack of skill. It’s the anger of someone who feels like they’re getting insulted for being young and unskilled, which Fuko Mori pulls off quite nicely.

And as a brief mention: there is an interesting bit with one of Makio’s female friends in which she basically states in a flashback that she had an epiphany about being asexual. It may be a minor plot point, but this anime has already proven that it’s quite LGBTQ+ in its character roster. We shall hopefully see more as the anime progresses.

Journal with Witch Ep. 9 “Intersect”: The Bad

Alas, my main problem with Ep. 9 “Intersect” is the same for the previous episodes: average animation quality. Again though, Shuka’s animation team have done a wonderful job with the animation budget they have been given. You can see it in the artistic depictions of flowers in each intermission picture, in the reflections of people in the eyes of various characters, and even in how expressive various characters’ faces are. Heck, just Asa’s various facial expressions throughout this episode as she grapples with her emotions is amazing work.

However, it doesn’t change the fact that you can tell that this anime doesn’t have a particularly large animation budget. The overall quality is definitely not the level of detail that you’d expect to see in something like your generic isekai anime. It’s a pity that this anime’s story doesn’t get paired with similarly great animation, but that’s money for you.

Also, if you’re looking for action, then you’ll have to look elsewhere. Journal with Witch is a slice of life comedy-drama, not your typical shonen action adventure. There’s a corresponding lack of action because of that.

Anime Recommendations

Fortunately, if you long for blood, action, or both; then you might want to check out 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, you like quiet anime series like this one, then you might also like 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 writing critique-filled thoughts in the comment section below.

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