Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch: Spring 2026 Magic
The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch is officially set to premiere in April 2026 in Japan, airing in the late-night “Agaru Anime” block across CBC, TBS, and 26 affiliated stations—a clear push to make it one of that season’s signature magic-school shows. A new main promotional video introduces 12 Zodiac-themed classmates from Royal Diana Academy. It previews the opening theme, “Cusp,” sung by ASCA, whose resume already includes songs from Sword Art Online and Fate/Apocrypha. For older fans who remember when “magic academy” meant buying random OVAs on VHS and hoping for the best, this one looks like a polished, committee-backed take on that familiar comfort food.
Staff and Production
LIDEN FILMS is handling animation production, continuing its run as a go-to studio for mid- to high-profile light fantasy and action projects. The series is directed by Naoyuki Tatsuwa, whose work ranges from Nisekoi to more recent projects like There Is Also a Hole in the Student Organization!, giving him experience with romantic tension, slapstick, and ensemble pacing—all relevant here.
Series composition is by Midori Gotō, known for Mr. Villain’s Day Off and contributions to BanG Dream! It’s MyGO!!!!!, which suggests a focus on character interplay and low-key emotional beats amid the gags. Character designs come from Takayuki Onoda (Hortensia Saga), supported by creature designer Daisuke Niitsuma (Jigokuraku), art director Scott MacDonald, and a full LIDEN FILMS 3DCG and compositing pipeline that should keep the monster encounters and spellwork visually consistent.
Creator’s Lens and Story Setup
The anime adapts Yōsuke Kaneda’s manga, serialized in Kodansha’s Magazine Pocket since March 2022 and sitting at around a dozen volumes as of mid-2025. Kaneda is best known for Boarding School Juliet and once again leans into secret partnerships and rule-bending relationships—here, between a clumsy apprentice witch and a cursed genius professor forced to operate in the form of a black cat.
Spica Virgo (voiced by Kaede Hondo) is an apprentice witch who, inconveniently, cannot use magic at all but still dreams of entering Royal Diana Academy, the elite magic school once taught by her idol, Claude Sirius (Nobunaga Shimazaki). Because she lacks money and connections, she strikes a covert master-apprentice pact with a mysterious talking black cat, who is in fact Claude under a curse that can only be broken with the help of Spica—and, as the official blurb teases, a strategically important kiss.
Class Roster and Zodiac Magic
The new trailer focuses heavily on the academy’s class lineup, framing the show’s supporting cast around a Zodiac-based magic system. Each student embodies a sign and a corresponding style of magic, giving the ensemble a clear hook that blends shonen training logic with character archetypes older viewers will recognize, from Saint Seiya to late-90s JRPGs.
The announced students and their signs are
- Aria Aquarius (Fuka Izumi) – Aquarius
- Merrow Pisces (Minori Suzuki) – Pisces
- Ewe Aries (Azusa Tachibana) – Aries
- Io Taurus (Haruka Shiraishi) – Taurus
- Castor Gemini (Yuto Uemura) – Gemini
- Pollux Gemini (Rena Hasegawa) – Gemini
- Tarf Cancer (Shoya Ishige) – Cancer
- Leo Regulus (Ai Fairouz) – Leo
- Astraea Libra (Tomohiro Ono) – Libra
- Hana Sasorijo (Miho Wataya) – Scorpio
- Chiron Sagittarius (Kazuki Ura) – Sagittarius
- Capella Capricorn (Miyuki Sakurai) – Capricorn
For a late-night series, it is a fairly dense class, but that also means more room for character-type play: twin Geminis, a bold Leo, a stoic Capricorn, and so on, all layered over the usual school politics and training arcs.
Visuals and Music
The main PV foregrounds a bright, candy-colored magical campus that flips quickly between goofball slice-of-life scenes and more intense monster battles. Spells pop with layered effects and motion, while creature designs lean on Niitsuma’s experience with heavier dark-fantasy titles like Jigokuraku, giving the monsters a bit more bite than the otherwise adorable aesthetic might suggest.
“Cusp,” the opening theme by ASCA, leans into high-energy, rhythm-driven J-pop with the kind of anthemic structure that already served her well on Sword Art Online and Fate/Apocrypha. ASCA has commented that she shaped the song around Spica’s earnest determination, framing it as a track for anyone pushing through self-doubt—which fits the underdog-apprentice framing and should sit comfortably beside other Spring 2026 OPs on your playlist.
Themes for Older Fans
On paper, the production is a magic-school comedy. Still, the core relationship is about mentorship, self-worth, and working under constraints—topics that hit differently as you approach midlife rather than middle school. Claude’s curse and reduced status echo the classic “fallen prodigy” trope, while Spica’s lack of natural talent pushes the show toward process, repetition, and growth rather than pure prodigy fantasy.
Kaneda’s fondness for secret arrangements and rule-breaking intimacy suggests a tone that mixes romantic tension, teacher–student boundaries (handled via the cat-curse buffer), and academy politics. For viewers who came up on series like Mahou Tsukai Tai!, this series feels like a modern iteration: it is less edgy than those from the 90s, more polished, and still focused on chemistry and character banter.
Cultural and Industry Context
The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch taps into the long-tail endurance of magical-apprentice fantasy at a time when fantasy anime has largely tilted toward isekai and game logic. By anchoring itself in a straightforward “learn magic, grow up, navigate class dynamics” framework, it reads more like a comfort series in the lineage of classic school fantasies, updated with a streaming-era production committee and a cross-platform push (an official English site, social teasers, and strong music tie-ins).
The series runs in Kodansha’s Magazine Pocket app and site, which has become one of the publisher’s key incubators for anime-ready titles, and the April start date syncs neatly with Japan’s school year and a prime late-night “Agaru Anime” slot on 28 CBC/TBS stations. For a magic-school romcom with battle elements, that positioning signals expectations of solid, if not blockbuster, performance—think something that can anchor merch, music sales, and digital manga boosts without needing to be the next global phenomenon.
Why the Series is Worth Watching
For longtime anime fans, The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch has the potential to scratch that “after-hours TV block” itch: just enough action to keep things lively, but really built around character chemistry, running gags, and the slow burn of Spica and Claude’s partnership. Kaneda’s track record with Boarding School Juliet suggests the show will lean heavily on timing and emotional payoff rather than cheap shock value, which may appeal if you are tired of disposable ecchi-fantasy hybrids.
If LIDEN FILMS can keep the production stable across its 12-episode run and give the Zodiac magic system room to breathe, this could land as one of Spring 2026’s dependable weekly comfort watches. For those who still remember browsing rental shelves by key art alone, the production looks like the kind of colorful, slightly mischievous magic show you would have gambled a weekend on—only now it comes with a well-established staff, a sharp cast, and a theme song already built to live in your head.
Image Credits: © Yousuke Kaneda, KODANSHA/“The Classroom of a Black Cat and a Witch” Production committee
