Image via Bug Films, Kodansha, and Kamome Shirahama
While Witch Hat Atelier looks like it could be a cozy series about a young witch developing her craft and learning alongside others like her, the manga isn’t just some calming experience. There are a lot of serious conflicts and traumatic moments, including the incident that leads to Coco becoming a witch and studying in Qifrey’s atelier as an apprentice. That said, the anime adaptation streaming on Crunchyroll seems to balance the more dire and dangerous moments with the happier ones so far.
Editor’s Note: There will be spoilers for the first few episodes of the Witch Hat Atelier anime adaptation below.
A perfect example is the impetus for everything. Qifrey happens to pass by and visit Coco and her mom, and she sees him performing magic after promising she’d keep anyone from watching. This leads her to realize that spells are accomplished with art, and she realizes she could perform the magic in a book she got from an unknown witch. It’s incredibly promising, heartening, and hopeful! Good for Coco! She might get to achieve her dream of being a witch!
Except it doesn’t go that way. The spell leaves her mother and the shop they live in encased in crystals. We see everything happen. The only reason Coco survives is Qifrey was around when she was tracing the spell from the book, and he immediately grabbed her and flew the both of them out of the house and out of range. It’s then that he reveals special ink and drawing casting seals are the only things needed to perform magic, which is why people in possession of those spells keep it so secret, and states he’ll need to erase her memories.
It’s such a complex moment. We’ve seen Qifrey be kind before and helpful. But in this moment, he’s strict and commanding. He seems adamant about following protocol and erasing her memories, but when he realizes keeping them intact and her close could help with his pursuit of the Brimmed Cap and goals, he doesn’t. Meanwhile, there’s this desperation and despair on Coco’s part. She’s responsible for what happened to her mother and home. She’s faced with forgetting everything. But instead, her punishment for her knowledge and actions is getting what she once wanted most. She’s becoming a witch.
In the Witch Hat Atelier manga, Kamome Shirahama never shies away from the upsides and downsides of it. We’re always presented with how positive the experience could be for Coco and the things magic can accomplish, but also see how things like abuse and bullying can remain present. When Qifrey brings her to the atelier, gives her a brief history of things, and helps her settle in, it seems very calming. Except Agott does not take to her well and bullies her with a “test.”
It almost feels like there’s this purposeful balance of emotions in these early episodes of Witch Hat Atelier. There’s an introduction of some magical element. Perhaps a challenge. We see Coco find support, either through her Qifrey and fellow students, or draw upon her own memories and insights to power through. We get more glimpses into the magical community, seeing reassuring and supportive folks like Qifrey and Olruggio, while also conflicts that can come from threats of memory erasure, the Knights Moralis, and Brimmed Caps. Life isn’t all good. It isn’t all easy. But it also isn’t all bad, and sometimes amazingly wonderful things can happen.
It’s that careful balance that makes the Witch Hat Atelier anime feel like it’s perfectly matching the beats, tone, and critical elements of the manga. This series really feels like it’s capturing the life of a young witch as she’s stepping into the world of magic, both for better and for worse. When creating the series, Kamome Shirahama understood how to maintain tension and show how critical things are while still including enough happy and relaxed moments to keep things, in a way, true to life. I can only hope the rest of the season maintains this sort of pacing and execution.
Kodansha handles the Witch Hat Atelier manga outside Japan, and season one of the anime adaptation is streaming on Crunchyroll.
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