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EP. REVIEW: Witch Hat Atelier


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NeedMoreCats
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Joined: 06 Oct 2018
Posts: 353
Location: Westchester, NY
PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 12:07 am Reply with quote
thecritter wrote:
I've come out of every episode thinking that WHA is a step above anything I've seen in years. The studio has obviously lavished its remarkable creative abilities and have clearly shown its loving attention to detail. I'm going to have to look up their past work.

I couldn’t agree more. Like, just the way they animated the ink flowing into the little bottle, trickling over the stopper, was beautiful to behold. This show has been an absolute pleasure to watch each week.
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MagicianMan



Joined: 28 Jun 2020
Posts: 159
PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2026 4:29 pm Reply with quote
That was quite possibly the most dramatic fluffy bed I've ever seen.
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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 3008
PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2026 5:17 pm Reply with quote
Any show that can create a cool looking, non-CGI dragon deserves praise. This show joins Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon in that regard.

Really liked how the scene with the mysterious villain played out visually, very unique.
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Covnam



Joined: 31 May 2005
Posts: 4389
PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2026 10:00 pm Reply with quote
It seems odd that circle drawing wasn't something that Coco had been taught (or observed) already, but it's also not really clear how long she's been there...

I really like the unconventional solution to the dragon issue Laughing

So does Qifrey always have that giant water dragon spell (great visual btw) ready to go, or did he prep it real quick before jumping in?
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pikabot



Joined: 19 Nov 2014
Posts: 190
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 2:01 am Reply with quote
meiam wrote:
She snap at Coco for running a magic seal, but it was really simple one, so simple that the other girl drew like 10 in the same amount of time it took Argott to do half of one. Her tantrum took longer than just starting over again. Plus, girl, just use a ruler, they're clearly traveling with pen/ink and writing pad, why not a ruler?


I feel like it’s pretty plain from the scene that the issue isn’t just that the seal she was drawing was ruined. Agott doesn’t say “look what you did, you ruined my seal, now I have to start over again”, she says “what is wrong with you!? You don’t touch someone while they’re drawing!”. There’s pretty clearly a social taboo among witches against physically touching someone in the middle of drawing a spell, a taboo which is so obvious to Agott that it went without saying but that Coco was ignorant of.

And, like, it doesn’t take a lot of imagination to work out why that is. Magic is dangerous. It’s important to make sure that you’re drawing the right things; physically interfering with someone mid-draw could make them draw a spell that behaves unpredictably, even dangerously. It’s like going around a carpentry workshop startling people while they’re using a bandsaw.
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BeanBeanKingdom



Joined: 28 Dec 2024
Posts: 48
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 2:20 am Reply with quote
I feel like the absurd animation and music quality should get more than a short passing mention in the review, especially considering it really looks like Bug Films is staking it all on this show. Good character analysis though.
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EmeraldSaucer



Joined: 31 Jan 2025
Posts: 939
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 2:43 am Reply with quote
BeanBeanKingdom wrote:
I feel like the absurd animation and music quality should get more than a short passing mention in the review, especially considering it really looks like Bug Films is staking it all on this show. Good character analysis though.


This is just a general issue with anime reviews a lot of the time, where narrative is inordinately foregrounded to the point where you could hand someone on the street a review and they likely wouldn't even realize it's for an animated work. But yes, Kazuki Kawagoe deserves major kudos for his fantastic direction and SB work, along with LO/genga like Nakano's insane tracking running cut or Torii's excellent dynamism in the girls completing the seals
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1557
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 5:24 am Reply with quote
BeanBeanKingdom wrote:
I feel like the absurd animation and music quality should get more than a short passing mention in the review, especially considering it really looks like Bug Films is staking it all on this show. Good character analysis though.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. Like interesting analysis but nothing similar on like that entire second half of the episode for its animation?
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IronWish



Joined: 05 Jan 2024
Posts: 234
Location: Ukraine
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 5:58 am Reply with quote
meiam wrote:

Doesn't really work because tools are not complicated to make at all. Like making a circle and just tracing it over and over again to make perfect circle is neither hard to make nor difficult to imagine. And using a ruler to draw a straight line is even more obvious, caveman probably figured that one out before they even really had a concept of what a tool is. And various form of tool to assist in drawing have been known to humanity since antiquity. I guess you could say making stamp could be a bit harder (it took awhile for human to figure out the printing press), but once the cat is out of the bag, there's no going back.


I think episode 5 shows value of drawing by hand perfectly: Qifrey pulled city-sized water dragon out of his ass, while airborne, while carrying a child in his arms, all in a matter of seconds. Good luck pulling it off if you can't draw a single circle without tools. And once again, keeping cat as deep inside the bag as they could is the whole deal of witches.

meiam wrote:

You'd end up in a situation where the "main" society would be restricting itself (for good and ill), while rogue actor would easily be able to make all the tool they'd want.


Boy oh boy do I have a news about WHA's world for you.

meiam wrote:

It would be like if nuke were naturally occurring in a way that was self obvious and the great world power would forbid having them or even mentioning them, while all the north korea of the world and even small criminal outfit were making giant stockpile.


But that's more or less what happened in this world, only great power was also able to cast a world-wide spell which erased everyone's memories about where do nukes come from.
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MagicianMan



Joined: 28 Jun 2020
Posts: 159
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 6:17 am Reply with quote
I feel compelled to point out Agott would have died pushing Coco out of danger if Qifrey hadn't arrived to catch her.
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2808
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 7:04 am Reply with quote
garfield15 wrote:
BeanBeanKingdom wrote:
I feel like the absurd animation and music quality should get more than a short passing mention in the review, especially considering it really looks like Bug Films is staking it all on this show. Good character analysis though.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought this. Like interesting analysis but nothing similar on like that entire second half of the episode for its animation?


Fair! I realized later on that I cut that part short, which was very wrong of me. I was getting a migraine at the time.
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BeanBeanKingdom



Joined: 28 Dec 2024
Posts: 48
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 7:08 am Reply with quote
MagicianMan wrote:
I feel compelled to point out Agott would have died pushing Coco out of danger if Qifrey hadn't arrived to catch her.


Agott pushing Coco to safety is something added by the anime, as is Coco trying to reach out to her. In the manga Agott just loses her balance while everyone is running down the stairs and falls very suddenly before Qifrey catches her.

The earlier scene where Coco talks about her plan to peacefully subdue the dragon is also framed differently. Agott is non-plussed in the manga and attempts to tell her it won't work before Coco and Tetia pressure and convince her to help, while in the anime she looks on stunned and agrees on her own.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2565
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 7:08 am Reply with quote
Covnam wrote:
So does Qifrey always have that giant water dragon spell (great visual btw) ready to go, or did he prep it real quick before jumping in?


The lighting in that scene being very yellow and later on a friend posting some manga panels that either were skipped or will be adapted later showing spoiler[how when they go to the toilet stuff just disappears] has my headcanon convinced he just has a Summon Piss spell ready to go at all times. Given how sketchy he is in general it all makes sense
No don't point out how the lighting made it obvious it was water later
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MagicianMan



Joined: 28 Jun 2020
Posts: 159
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 7:54 am Reply with quote
BeanBeanKingdom wrote:
MagicianMan wrote:
I feel compelled to point out Agott would have died pushing Coco out of danger if Qifrey hadn't arrived to catch her.


Agott pushing Coco to safety is something added by the anime, as is Coco trying to reach out to her. In the manga Agott just loses her balance while everyone is running down the stairs and falls very suddenly before Qifrey catches her.

The earlier scene where Coco talks about her plan to peacefully subdue the dragon is also framed differently. Agott is non-plussed in the manga and attempts to tell her it won't work before Coco and Tetia pressure and convince her to help, while in the anime she looks on stunned and agrees on her own.


Perhaps, but we're taking about the anime, so the anime's version of events is what we should judge things by.
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killjoy_the



Joined: 30 May 2015
Posts: 2565
PostPosted: Wed Apr 29, 2026 8:03 am Reply with quote
MagicianMan wrote:
Perhaps, but we're taking about the anime, so the anime's version of events is what we should judge things by.


I agree with you but having the perspective on the changes is interesting I think. Assuming the author themselves are attached to these changes it could be seen as an attempt to make Agott more likable earlier on
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