Champignon Witch just dropped a brand new trailer, and fans are losing their minds. The anime is adapted from Tachibana Higuchi’s manga. If you already loved Higuchi's Alice Academy, then you know what kind of magic to expect from this creator.The latest trailer was aired on December 8, 2025. It showed the meeting between Luna and Rize, two very important characters. The video refers to their meetup as “a signpost of fate,” which is pretty intense. Alice Academy fans will recognize Higuchi's art immediately in the character designs and sad philosophy that made Alice Academy a tearjerker.Champignon Witch tells the story of Luna, a witch living alone in a dark forest. Poisonous mushrooms sprout everywhere she goes. Anywhere she walks, talks, or touches becomes covered in these deadly fungi. The townspeople fear her and call her the Champignon Witch because of this curse. Luna has never felt another person's warmth or been hugged by anyone. She doesn't know what love feels like. Then she meets Rize, a mysterious boy who changes everything. It's a story about first love and finding connection when you've spent your whole life isolated. Alice Academy explored similar ideas about loneliness and belonging, so Champignon Witch feels like a spiritual successor in many ways.Higuchi started the Champignon Witch manga in October 2019 on the Manga Park app. Six volumes are out as of December 2024. Before this, Higuchi created Alice Academy, which ran from 2002 to 2013 and got its own 26-episode anime back in the day.Champignon Witch starts airing in January 2026 on TBS and other Japanese channels. The exact premiere date isn't set yet, but it'll be part of the winter anime season. The first teaser dropped way back on May 30, 2025, showing Luna in the Black Forest for the first time. Alice Academy fans have been waiting years for Higuchi to return to anime, and it's finally happening.Nobody's announced where to stream it outside Japan yet. But Alice Academy has a huge international following, so a major platform will probably pick it up. Keep an eye out for official announcements in the coming weeks.The team behind Champignon WitchThe cast for Champignon Witch was revealed bit by bit during 2025. Haruka Shiraishi (Asirpa from Golden Kamuy) voices Luna, the cursed witch at the center of everything. Yuki Sakakibara (Corpse God in Dead Mount Death Play) plays Rize, the boy who enters her life. Other cast members include Jun Fukushima (Kazuma Sato from KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!) as Claude, Emiri Kato (Mayoi Hachikuji from the Monogatari series) as Minos, Miho Okasaki (Rimuru Tempest from That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime) as Merino, and Misato Fukuen (Himiko Toga from My Hero Academia) as Sisi. We can hope that these voice actors are doing justice to Champignon Witch in the same way the Alice Academy anime honored its source material.Director Yosuke Kubo (Dahlia in Bloom: Crafting a Fresh Start with Magical Tools) is in charge of the anime, with Yuko Kakihara (Orange) handling the series composition. Miki Matsumoto (Angels of Death) designed the characters. Two studios are working together on the animation: Typhoon Graphics and Qzil.la. Ross performs the opening song Diary of a Wizard, and Ms.OOJA sings the ending theme, You're the One. Both tracks fit the sad but hopeful vibe that Alice Academy nailed so perfectly.The key visual that came out in October shows Luna and Rize reading a book together. They're surrounded by colorful mushrooms in the image. It hints at the friendship and maybe romance brewing between them. Anyone who loved Alice Academy will see the same emotional storytelling Higuchi always brings to her work.ConclusionChampignon Witch looks like it'll live up to Higuchi's reputation. With January 2026 right around the corner, now's a good time to check out Alice Academy if you haven't already. Or grab the manga to prepare for what's shaping up to be a really special anime.