Cartoons About Witches: 12 Best Picks, Ranked

Witches have starred in some of the best animation ever made, and the archetype keeps reinventing itself.

I grew up on the cackling-villain version, but the cartoons about witches I keep rewatching now are the ones that treat magic like a craft you have to earn.

Some are cozy.

Some are dark.

A few will scare the daylights out of a kid.

So here is my ranked list of cartoons about witches worth your time, counting up to the one I would hand a newcomer first.

The Best Cartoons About Witches, Ranked

Mary and the Witch’s Flower (2017)

This is the one most people on this list have never seen, and that is a shame. Mary and the Witch’s Flower was the debut feature from Studio Ponoc, a studio founded by former Studio Ghibli staff, so it looks every bit as lush as that pedigree suggests.

• It is based on Mary Stewart’s 1971 novel, The Little Broomstick.
• Mary finds a rare flower that hands her one night of real magic and a place at Endor College.
• The story slowly turns into a quiet warning about power you did not earn.

If you want more, I keep a running list of animated films worth a watch.

Where I land: not top-tier Ghibli, but a gorgeous rainy-afternoon pick.

Yubaba (Spirited Away)

People love to claim animation cannot be frightening. Then they meet Yubaba. In Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away, she runs the spirit-world bathhouse where Chihiro is trapped, and she is one of the sharpest villains Ghibli ever drew.

• She steals names to control people, which is how Chihiro becomes Sen.
• Her magic is old, contract-bound, and truly menacing.
• Her one soft spot is her giant baby, Boh, the single crack in her armor.

My read: not a show you binge, but few cartoons about witches stay this unsettling.

Hilda (2018-2023)

Hilda is not a witch herself, so it sits a little lower on a witch list. Still, the show is too good and too full of magic to leave off. This British-Canadian series ran for three seasons and wrapped in 2023.

• Blue-haired Hilda moves from the wilderness into the walled city of Trolberg.
• She crosses paths with witches, elves, trolls, and a whole hidden world of folklore.
• It is based on Luke Pearson’s graphic novels.

Why it’s here: the witch episodes are so charming they earn the spot on their own.

Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)

Every cartoon witch owes something to this one. The Evil Queen from Disney’s 1937 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the original animated witch, and she still plays like a nightmare.

• She uses a magic mirror to hunt for the fairest of them all.
• She brews a potion that twists her into a hunched old hag.
• The poisoned apple became one of the most copied ideas in film.

If you want the lighter side of that film, here is a rundown of the seven dwarfs.

The pitch: the blueprint. Watch her and you see where so many cartoons about witches came from.

W.I.T.C.H. (2004-2006)

If you were a kid in the mid-2000s, this one probably lives in your memory rent-free. W.I.T.C.H. followed five girls chosen as Guardians of the Veil, and the title is an acronym of their names: Will, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin.

• It is based on the Italian comic of the same name.
• Each girl controls an element, and together they guard the barrier between worlds.
• It leaned harder into serialized stakes than most cartoons of its era.

For more from that decade, here are other 2000s cartoons worth revisiting.

My take: underrated then, underrated now. As cartoons about witches go, it deserved a longer run.

Ursula (The Little Mermaid)

Somewhere along the way, cartoon witches stopped cursing princesses and started cutting deals like demons. Ursula is the queen of that shift. The sea witch from Disney’s 1989 The Little Mermaid runs on contracts, loopholes, and pure theatricality.

• She tricks Ariel into trading her voice for a pair of legs.
• She nearly marries Prince Eric while disguised as a woman named Vanessa.
• In the finale she grows to the size of a ship and commands the sea.

She earns a spot on my list of the best villains too.

My verdict: the most fun villain here, and the one I quote the most.

Winx Club: The Trix (2004-2019)

Quick correction to a myth I see everywhere: the Winx are fairies, not witches. The real witches of Winx Club are the villains, a trio called the Trix, and they are the reason the show earns a spot here.

• Icy, Darcy, and Stormy train at Cloud Tower School for Witches.
• They chase the Dragon’s Flame carried by Bloom, who is the Fairy of the Dragon Flame, not a witch.
• The original animated series ran eight seasons, from 2004 to 2019.

Setting the record straight: if someone tells you Bloom is a witch, now you know better.

Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty)

For my money, Maleficent is the most iconic dark sorceress in animation. Disney never labels her a witch outright in the 1959 Sleeping Beauty, yet she is the blueprint that later cartoon witches borrow from. She even calls herself the Mistress of All Evil.

• She curses Princess Aurora over a snubbed invitation.
• She commands an army of goons and a wall of thorns.
• In the climax she becomes a towering black dragon.

My call: no wasted movement, no comic relief, all threat. She sets a bar that later cartoons about witches still measure up against.

Sabrina the Teenage Witch: The Animated Series (1999-2000)

Before the live-action sitcom hit peak fame, Sabrina got her own cartoon, and it leaned into the fun of being a young witch juggling magic and school. It is one of the most nostalgic cartoons about witches of its era, based on the Archie Comics character and running from 1999 to 2000.

• Sabrina lives with her witch aunts, Hilda and Zelda.
• Salem the talking cat delivers most of the best lines.
• Every episode is a small lesson wrapped in a spell gone sideways.

For me: pure comfort viewing. It has aged better than I expected.

Little Witch Academia (2013 and 2017)

This is the witch-school story I recommend to anyone who thinks they have seen the genre done to death. Studio Trigger started Little Witch Academia as a short film in 2013, then expanded it into a full TV series in 2017, and the energy never lets up.

• Akko Kagari enrolls at Luna Nova with no magical bloodline and endless nerve.
• She is chasing her idol, a performer-witch named Shiny Chariot.
• The show is about the grind of study, the sting of falling behind, and refusing to quit.

Why it ranks this high: it makes studying magic feel like a shonen tournament, and it works. One of the best cartoons about witches, full stop.

The Owl House (2020-2023)

The Owl House is the best witch cartoon Disney has made in years, and it is a small miracle it aired on that channel at all. The Owl House ran from 2020 to 2023 across three seasons before Disney ended it early.

• Human teen Luz Noceda falls into the Boiling Isles and talks her way into an apprenticeship.
• Her mentor is Eda Clawthorne, a rebel witch with a curse and a bad attitude.
• King, a tiny demon with a huge ego, rounds out the household.

What sells it: the world-building is dense and the ending truly pays off, which puts it near the top of any list of cartoons about witches.

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

If I could only save one cartoon about witches, this is the one. Kiki’s Delivery Service is Hayao Miyazaki’s 1989 Studio Ghibli classic, and it quietly nailed something most witch stories miss: what it feels like to be young and figuring life out.

• Kiki is thirteen and leaves home for the year a young witch spends proving she can stand alone.
• She starts a flying delivery service with her cat, Jiji, for company.
• When her magic falters, the film treats it like a slump, not a curse, which is the whole point.

Bottom line: the rare witch story that is really about growing up. I put it first without a second thought.

That is my ranking, but witch cartoons are personal, and I already know this order will start a few arguments.

Kiki takes my top spot, though I would not fight anyone who puts The Owl House there instead.

So tell me: which cartoon about witches would you rank number one, and which pick did I leave too low?

Drop it in the comments.