Witch Hat Atelier Episode 1 [First Impression]

OH MAN THAT WAS SUCH A BRUTAL WAY TO END THE EPISODE! The way the dread of things to come just grows stronger when you KNOW when shit is going to hit the fan. Every. Single. Time. When character precious to the protagonist, in this case, Coco’s mother was going to say something, but says “Nevermind.” UGHHHH!! IT HURTSSSS!!!!!

Things started off blissfully peaceful, a simple life with just Coco and her mother running a fabric business. But things got shaken up when the Peagus Carriage broke down, leading it’s occupants stranded. Qifrey a Witch, offers to fix it for them and asks Coco for one simple request: Guard the door while he does the repair in the workshop to ensure nobody sees him casting magic. But Coco always wants to see magic being cast, so she battled with the temptation and she gave into it– which she soon came to regret. There’s a reason why Qifrey didn’t want her to see it.

The truth is magic is not cast with a wand, but rather the strokes of a pen.

For her entire life, Coco has always longed to use magic. She loves the beauty of it and the benefits it offers, but never has she witnessed the dark side of it. And tragically, she ended up experiencing it by her own doing.

Coco was so excited about the fact she was finally figured out that the picture book and the pen she had gotten from the Witch when she was a child were actually magical tools, she paid absolutely no mind to any of the potential consequences. The moment she had cast a spell that created a small fire, that was both her last chance, and warning to stop. But Coco ignored that, and she paid the price in the worst way possible. The entire time, I’m just dreading the countdown and I’m yelling at my screen going: “OH NO NONONONONONONO GURL NO. DON’T NO. THERE’S A FUCKING DRAGON ON THE PICTURE WHAT ARE YOU DOING. YOU CRAZY?! YOU’RE BEING ABSOLUTELY RECKLESS RIGHT NOW.”

She didn’t summon a dragon, but the spell she did end up casting was among the worst of the lot. I can’t tell if it were an ice or crystal, maybe both— but doing so came as a great cost: Her mother’s life— and that was fucking awful to watch. Even more so with Coco helplessly watching it swallow her mother knowing she was the one responsible for it. Talk about traumatizing! It would’ve consumed her as well had Qifrey not realized sooner that she was in possession of the maleficent magic picture book. The only reason she survived was because Qifrey came flying into her room, realized what she had cast and flew out of the house like a freaking rocket because he didn’t want them to be ANYWHERE near it, especially when he didn’t know the nature of the spell. That’s why he was demanding answers of what spell she had cast. But it was impossible for Coco to know, she only figure out it was a magic book today, and she knows next to nothing about the meanings behind the inscriptions she drew. Which was all the more reason she REALLY shouldn’t have been doing this without supervision.

This fallout is among one the main reasons why Witches keep their methods a highly guarded secret. It’s because ordinary people can be exploited by those with malicious intentions, and the consequences can be horrific, just as we saw today. The  magic picture book Coco had bought from the shady Witch in the back alley was actually a trap to do harm to its recipients and those around them. It’s a cleverly designed to make it seem innocent and relatively harmless until they let excitement take over and draw the big stuff. The ‘wand’ that was given to her for “free” as a bonus was in fact a shrewd disguise to keep Witches like Qifrey off their track. It was in fact not a wand, but a cleverly concealed pen, and on the end is a small container that houses the enchanted ink. So unless the individual actually decides to tinker with the wand and realize how it purposely comes apart, or they happen to witness the truth of how spells are cast, an ordinary person will not immediately notice, or may never come to undercover the disguise, which honestly would be the best case scenario.

Usually in a situation when the secret is out, the routine is for the Witch to erase the individual’s memories. However Qifrey is desperately trying to track down the Witch who has been distributing the picture book and “wands” that Coco had bought. So the only reason she’s allowed to keep her memories and is being taken in as his disciple for magic is because she declared that she knows the picture book by heart. The fact she she possesses the skill needed to draw magic spells, which is being able to draw precise, fine lines is more so a helpful bonus!

Well it goes without saying this was certainly an opener! I’m already hooked and I’m so pleased with how well they’ve adapted the character designs. The animation is absolutely GORGEOUS. I really don’t have much more to add here as Episode 2 has been released a week ahead of Japan’s TV Broadcast on Crunchyroll and Netflix! Goes without saying I’ll definitely be watching, and I very much would like to cover this as well!

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