#Sasaran WHA

[iukasylvie]

Unpopular opinion about Witch Hat Atelier

Chapter 49 of Witch Hat Atelier is the most pointless chapter I've ever read in manga. It contradicts not only the rest of the series but also itself just to present the message about the harm of sexual abuse in an extremely shallow manner.

For starters, the whole chapter is devoted to the Knights Moralis pursuing a peeping tom and it's on the very last page that the glyph on Dagda's body—the only thing from this chapter that has a real impact on the story—is revealed. The way Shirahama handled it shocked me given how she previously explored the psyches of Agott, Tartah, Richeh, and Eunie. By contrast, it's impossible to erase the Kamoshida arc of Persona 5 because it, along with the prologue, firmly establishes the core theme of the game—corrupt adults who abuse youth—and inspires the main characters to team up with each other as the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.

Throughout this chapter, Easthies shows kindness and understanding to Luluci as a victim of sexual abuse, even going on and on about the plight of the victim—both in her backstory and when they pursue the peeping tom. He punished her teacher on the spot for taking the side of the nobleman who abused her and her fellow apprentice, Ellien, and turning her in to the Knights Moralis to erase her memories just so he could silence her. He refuses to listen to the excuses the peeping tom makes, including the latter's appeal to their "natural urges as men".

However, Easthies never bothered to pursue the nobleman who started the whole mess in the first place. Ellien was mysteriously absent when her teacher turned Luluci in after Luluci attempted to defend her from the nobleman. It's noteworthy that Luluci used offensive magic—which is forbidden by law—against the nobleman to do so, destroying a non-negligible portion of the castle where their teacher had sent them to work. Luluci stands out in the entire series for being disproportionately privileged by the Knights Moralis; not even Agott enjoys their mercy and understanding even though she hails from the prestigious house of Arkrome.

Throughout the series, the Knights Moralis are infamous for ruthlessly enforcing the law of magic and jumping to conclusions just so they could find someone to punish:

Qifrey refuses to turn Coco in after she unknowingly uses a forbidden spell that turns her house into stone along with her mother. Later chapters validate his reasoning that the Knights Moralis would just erase her memories.

During the river incident, Easthies aggressively accuses Coco and Agott of intentionally altering the landscape and threatens to erase their memories instead of listening to them. Not only is it impossible for Coco to do such a stunt without the intervention of the Brimmed Cap Iguin as she's only recently begun studying magic, but also Agott has done nothing but send the mirage of a bird flying in the sky to call the adults for help.

During the second test, Qifrey asserts that not even victims of forbidden magic are spared from the wrath of the Knights Moralis, hence Agott's anger at the Brimmed Cap Sasaran when he nearly carves a glyph on her body while restraining her and Eunie's decision to hide with Alaira after Sasaran turns him into a scaled wolf against his will.

In Qifrey's backstory, the Knights Moralis considered erasing his memories even though the Brimmed Caps had already done it to cover up their crimes after they kidnapped him, took his eye, experimented on him, and buried him alive.

Galga brands Dagda as a Brimmed Cap for the glyph on his body even though Dagda has no idea what it is, later doing the same to Coco and Tartah when the kids try to defend him.

All of this is just a symptom of the cruel rigidity prevalent throughout witch society:

Agott treats Coco with disdain for being an outsider and therefore without the basic knowledge of magic and witch society. Agott tricks Coco into taking a difficult test against the wishes of their teacher in hopes that she would give up and fail.

It's revealed that Agott's prestigious family cast her out of home because she didn't live up to their high standards, explaining where her behavior came from.

Tartah has been told from a young age that he can never be a full-fledged witch because of his color blindness. Qifrey empathizes with his situation, saying that "refusal to accommodate differences is not an admirable quality of witch society." This foreshadows the reveal that Qifrey lost an eye as a child and he's losing the sight of his remaining eye nowadays, which he keeps a secret even from his best friend and apprentices due to the mistreatment he faced in the past.

Richeh and Riliphin's previous teacher punished her for her creativity so much that she came to hate the idea of growing up.

Eunie suffers not only from social and performance anxiety but also from verbal abuse at the hands of his teacher, Kukrow, eroding his self-confidence. Kukrow has the audacity to even ask Qifrey if he could exchange Eunie for Agott when Eunie is right there.

Those who took Qifrey in refused to give him a space appropriate for a child who had been traumatized to the point of near death—they sent him to a room empty of furniture and made him live under the ocean despite his trauma-induced fear of water—and to investigate his past and the Brimmed Caps who victimized him. Even his own teacher, Beldaruit, views him as dangerous due to contact with forbidden magic—one that was inflicted on him instead of something he committed out of his own will—and a subsequent desire to pursue the Brimmed Caps without considering how their neglect caused him to distrust them and refuse to seek help from anyone in the first place.

All of Chapter 49 raises as many questions as the official story of Pink Diamond's assassination did to Defense Zircon in "The Trial" from Steven Universe.

Defense Zircon: Ugh! Who am I kidding? This is pointless! We've all heard the rumors about the demise of Pink Diamond, but I can't believe these files- scrolls through the floating panels Shattered by one of her own soldiers- Ugh! In front of her entire entourage!?

Defense Zircon: Now, as the records show, Pink Diamond was shattered just outside a palanquin much like this. steps onto the palanquin Witnesses say Pink had just stepped out and had only taken a few steps forward when Rose attacked her from the front! [...] Defense Zircon: But the question no one seems to be asking is, "how"? Blue Diamond: I've been asking that question. Defense Zircon: A-A-A-And right you are to ask, my Diamond! B-Because at that time that Pink was shattered, Rose Quartz had been a recognized threat for several hundred years. There were no Rose Quartz soldiers in her entourage and none in her guard. So how did a Rose Quartz, with no business being anywhere near Pink Diamond, get so close in the first place? Where were Pink Diamond's attendants? Her Agates, Her Sapphires? And where was her Pearl? Yellow Diamond: They were with her, of course! They saw the whole thing! Defense Zircon: But none of them saw Rose Quartz approach? Wouldn't her Sapphires have seen Rose Quartz coming? Wouldn't her Agates have tried to fight her off? [...] Yellow Diamond: She must have slipped past them! Defense Zircon: Even if she did, wouldn't her Pearl have cried out an alarm, "Watch out, My Diamond!"

If Easthies could somehow tell Luluci was in genuine distress, why does he refuse to consider that it's logically impossible for Coco, who's only recently become an apprentice, to cast a forbidden spell as great as altering the landscape during the river incident? Why does Luluci receive so much kindness and understanding from the Knights Moralis? Why was Luluci's teacher punished even though the other abusive adult figures listed above have gotten away with mistreating youth like he did? Where was Ellien when her teacher turned Luluci in? Why did Easthies not punish the nobleman too even though he's supposed to hate sexual abuse? Why is Qifrey the one who has been working the hardest to investigate the Brimmed Caps, not the Knights Moralis even though they are supposed to enforce the law of magic?

Speaking of authority figures, I absolutely adore Atelia from Tweeny Witches. Despite her intimidating first impression and strict adherence to tradition and order as one of the highest authorities in the Witch Realm, this obscure anime goes out of its way to show glimpses of her humanity at multiple points even before the warlocks begin invading and her tragic past is revealed. The series is one of the most consistent pieces of media I've ever seen in general alongside the Moribito series and The Beast Player by Nahoko Uehashi and Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa.

[aomaruorion]

Sasaran Fishing for the @witchhatexchange Gotcha 4 Gaza event!

[missy-the-dragon]

Anatasama

O, you, you will destroy the encumbering human race

[kustas]

Sorry for the incoming long rant.

I just rediscovered your blog, and I always enjoyed your thoughts on WHA and wanted to rant a little bit. I found a post of yours talking about how WHA is getting less nuanced and I feel the same way. I feel like in an effort to make every character feel like a person, the manga treats everyone’s issues as if they’re on the same level. I’m not sure if that entirely makes sense, but it feels like the manga is trying to make you sympathize with everyone to some extent, even though that doesn’t really work. For example, there is a chapter that pissed me off so much that I had to put the manga on pause. It’s the chapter where Coco shows off a spell that can clean water, and the townspeople are uninterested because they don’t need it. And the moral of the chapter is that Coco should make her spell for everyone. No. No no no. These people need to learn some damn compassion and realize that they need to help end what suffering that they are able to. The moral of the chapter should’ve been that these people need to stop thinking of only themselves. Everything else was aimed at them, so Coco’s spell didn’t need to be for them. It shouldn’t have been for them. There is also the situation with the knights. You went into this already but who gives a shit if they are offended by a grieving husband taking out his anger in them when they are a part of the system that caused his grief. The manga wants you to sympathize with everyone, and while I don’t think these people should be one dimensional their issues should not be treated on the same level as others. Anyway, sorry for the weird long rant, it’s just everyone treats this manga like it is The Most Flawlessly Progressive Manga Ever and your one of the few I’ve found who acknowledges is flaws without devaluing its strengths

Thank you for your ask! I agree with what you're saying and think you worded it very well. It's a bit of a shame it's so rare to find people openly critiquing the series in the community, while it's nothing serious (and minimized by being a bit of a hermit, lol) I've seen some animosity for doing it, I assume because many assume critiquing art means you don't like it or are opposed to what it's trying to do! Which isn't true. Granted Witch Hat Atelier contains many an obvious fantasy metaphor for real life social issues it should be under more scrutiny than normal if you ask me, because those are serious topics that affect people's real lives. I do have faith in the author's serious handling of touchy topics, but in the execution there are things I'd do differently for sure...

The manga wants you to sympathize with everyone, and while I don’t think these people should be one dimensional their issues should not be treated on the same level as others.

WHA has in its writing strong expectations from the reader regarding how you think of its cast I find hard to read through a lot - the latest arc in particular, comparatively, has much of its character based moments revolve around if they're good or bad in a way that implies it'll change how you think of a character and it disturbs me. Qifrey and Sasaran are two early examples of characters that do *not* play into that - Qifrey's beginning arcs simultaneously show him as a shady manipulator and genuinely good teacher who betters the life of his students, and it participates so much to the dramatic tension. Sasaran is a villain of the week who while shown to be a huge cunt, has a backstory that implies his original motives were not nefarious ones, and his life was not easy.

Compare this to a character like Dean who, as much as I'm a fan of his concept, falls rather flat because he's, depending on the chapter, pushed as good/bad to the reader, regarding his moral alignment. Characters who are just meant to be despicable don't have the same level of attention placed to their writing which is a similar issue. It feels insecure, like if the story was saying: we have those important characters, their role is to bring up difficult situations, please don't hate them, like them, see, they're nice too! And giving them chosen positive traits. People don't work like that and it feels cheap. Fandom's obsession with villains should show well a character being despicable doesn't make them unlikeable, and I'd like WHA's characters to be less "good"/"likeable" myself to make them a bit more human. This would detonate a fandom nuke given I still regularly see passionate debates about how mean and terrible characters like Agott or Custas are but hey

As for priorities in the depicted suffering of characters in universe - yeah, it's true some scenes feel a bit off in that department...the water cleaning scene you mention did not rub me the wrong way too hard, because it's centered around Coco, who's our main character, the story bending to give her a central role makes sense, and her unique position in witch society and how it relates to helping others are, with the responsibilities of witches, very important to the story. The apprentice backstories are an earlier example I had trouble taking too seriously because while they're all terrible, tiny silly Riche and her brother's experience with physical child abuse felt drawn with the same intensity as Agott being pushed to mental disarray by her rich fancy perfectionist family. It's all hard to complain about and might sting less if the writing was a bit less dramatic and preachy, but that might just be a me issue, I've seen many fans praise WHA's writing wholeheartedly, so...

What I am hoping is that the latest arc will conclude and lead to the shorter previous structure and we'll get individual attention brought to character stories, one after the other, instead of the all at once formula going on right now... We'll see!

[drlany0n]

Cringetober day 2 - Self insert

unnecessary long ramble:

i tried to make a self insert for witch hat atelier based on my sona, they are supposed to be a professor (bc im a professor irl :p) that joined the brimhats (for some reason, idk, i didnt think that far) and has ink powers (can manipulate it like qifrey does with water)

They look like that because they are like sasaran and eunie

I might continue to use them as a wha oc not related to me, i would just have to change the bow so it doesn't match my sona and done :)

also here is a screenshot edit i made of them as a professor for fun:

i dont remember what was going on in that panel but they are definitely not a qifrey rip off,,,, nuh uh

[unhelpfulassistant]

WHA 79

Easthies needs to sit down.

It's good to see that Coco is ultimately calling out the fact that sometimes the principals of the witches need to be bent or broken to help people. Too bad Easthies was having none of if it, and decided that Coco's argument was just further proof that she is a threat, and that he should have erased her memories when they first met.

I'm curious to see what the other Knights will do now that Vinnana's memories have apparently been erased. Their boss is out of the picture. Will they follow Easthies out of loyalty? Both Luluci and Utowin have shown great respect for Easthies individually, and Eltan and Ekoh are similarly dogmatic (see them threatening kids for wanting to help perform first aid) but Luluci has been questioning her role and enforcement in the following of the principles.

Easthies says he is going to stop this, even though it now has the support of Beldaruit. He also says he is going to erase the memories of everyone involved... which is a lot of people now. I'm excited to see where everything goes from here.

The other thing I'm curious about is our favorite Brimhats Iguin and Sasaran, because having Coco perform forbidden magic for "proper" uses has been their plan from the start. They want Coco to use forbidden magic in a way that is justifiable, and thereby opening the floodgates for other uses of forbidden magic. Coco is doing just that, and she convinced the highest politicians in her society to do it. I'm sure those two are, or will be, over the moon.

[dear-kumari]

I left this reply up without rebuttal because I thought it was self-evidently irrelevant and wouldn't get many notes, but apparently it is getting notes now, so! Cool, I guess we'll talk about it. Here's the original comment I was replying to for context.

I don't disagree that the Knights are antagonists who do bad things (though, as my original post was about, the story and I often do disagree on which things are bad and why) or that Shirahama is preaching against extremism in general. What I'm saying in my comment is that WHA's portrayal of the Knights isn't coming from a stance of All Cops Are Bastards because that simply isn't something that WHA believes. ACAB is not just a catchy slogan about how the police are too extreme sometimes. ACAB means complete moral condemnation of All Cops, no matter their personal stories or motivations, for participating in the system of policing. The "bastard" part is not just an "ehh, you're being a dick rn" sort of thing; it's meant to be extremely derogatory, even dehumanizing (see also: calling cops "pigs"), so as to not leave room for rhetoric about bad apples and whatnot. I really can't get behind the idea that the Knights' sympathetic beats are actually an integral part of framing them as Bastards when the Brimhats, the criminal class of witches, are never given a fraction of that sympathy and are routinely dehumanized by the narrative for being evil criminals. You may disagree, but I personally think that framing the criminal witches as bastards and the cop witches as sympathetic actors is kinda the opposite of ACAB!

Again, this is so self-evident to me that it almost seems silly to debate about. How do we learn Lulucy's tragic backstory? Through a full chapter dedicated to her flashback, of course. Utowin's tragic (well, mildly angsty) backstory? Full chapter flashback, obvi. You better believe that Easthies will get his full chapter(s) when the time comes. Now, for comparison, how did we learn Sasaran's tragic backstory? Do you remember, or did you just go "what tragic backstory?" because Shirahama did not think it was worth a drawn-out flashback from his POV? It was through a decontextualized two-page panel and Qifrey dragging him out to reveal his true animal form, btw, leaving us to infer that he accidentally fused with his cat as a child. That's really tragic and awful, and if he'd had a full flashback I bet it would've been heartbreaking. But WHA is not particularly interested in his interiority as a poor little meow meow who made a horrible mistake when he didn't know any better. Sasaran is a An Evil Criminal Who Hurts Kids, you see, not deserving of the same sympathy as a good, normal witch.

Did you forget the ex-Sage's tragic backstory? Did you forget his name? Because I sure did. See, in the middle of his unhinged evil rant about witch supremacy, he does mention that he's very sick and can't pay for his healthcare. We are, again, left to infer how this might explain his criminal actions; perhaps the embezzlement he was originally caught for was all going towards his medical bills. Who fucking knows, though, because this guy is immediately shut down and dehumanized by Qifrey for, you guessed it, hurting a kid.

When have the Knights been framed so decisively as monsters (Bastards)? When have they truly been condemned for hurting kids? Not only will the narrative conveniently prevent them from making good on their rare threats against kids (and honestly, does it ever feel like they'll actually wipe a main character's memory? it's a threat with no bite), but WHA will contrive excuses for the Knights' actions even when it doesn't make sense. In ch. 73, for instance, Shirahama quietly absolves Lulucy of the sin of attacking a child with an aside about how she actually didn't realize he was a young boy.

This is absurd to the point of retcon, imo. Not only did Dagda say he was a child just a chapter prior, but Lulucy has already met him! She was secretly surveilling him with the magic chair, presumably for months, while he recovered in the hospital. But Lulu is one of Shirahama's precious blorbos, so she can't be condemned for hurting Coustas. It must've just been a slip-up, a misunderstanding. See, the Knights can be too extreme, but they can also be reasoned with. Lulucy isn't a Bastard, she's a nice lady with a sad backstory.

The obvious counterpoint here is Coustas, but he doesn't really count, does he? Coco lawyers him out of the position of Criminal Witch with a legal loophole about the kind of magic he was using. She even rips off his brim to drive the point home: because he wants to help others, Coustas is not a true Brimhat. He's just a kid who was coerced into joining their side for a while and has been handily coerced back to the good side, where he'll live a nice, normal life if all goes well. His story thus far isn't about how it might be okay to be a criminal in an unjust world, but instead how some people can be saved from falling too deep into criminality. I imagine that Ininia might get the same treatment now that she's in forced proximity with a couple of nice Pointed Hats, including a Knight. It's no coincidence that the most sympathetic Brimhats thus far are two kids who can't really be held responsible for their actions. (Also I'm uhhh not really on board with how Coustas is often depicted as having a sort of crazed animalistic rage, so sympathetic backstory aside, the point about the dehumanization of criminals would still stand.)

WHA allows that the Brimhats might have a point about magic, but always maintains that their evil schemes must be stopped and that they must be condemned for their puppy-kicking ways. By comparison, the Knights are framed as misguided actors; their extreme views should be challenged, but their hearts are in the right place. Galga only attacks Dagda because he thinks he's going to hurt the kids; Lulucy is just trying to protect people like her from evil sex pests; they all spend most of the leech arc heroically defending the city against a monster, as opposed to, say, ganging up on Dagda. Even Easthies, the closest thing WHA has to a cop Bastard (a bad apple, really), gets lots of lingering sympathetic moments, especially in the chapter that this post was originally about, suggesting that he has some good reason for acting out. Whatever the story is trying to convey through the Knights, it sure as hell isn't ACAB.

When it comes to the Brimhats, is it possible that WHA wants to make a point about how we dehumanize criminals by leaning into that dehumanization at first? Maybe. I won't discount the possibility, but I also won't assume based on Shirahama's other left-leaning politics that her work couldn't possibly have a blind spot when it comes to crime and the punitive justice system. I'm also not saying that she necessarily has that blind spot just because her art does. I just think she loves her Knights Moralis blorbos and has gotten far too precious with them as a result, which is leading to writing choices that aren't particularly progressive.

I truly empathize with Shirahama’s instinct to give the sex crime enthusiasts a cathartic, lawful smackdown in both versions of ch. 49, but it’s absolutely a self-indulgent power fantasy that runs counter to the main insight of Lulucy’s backstory (i.e. that rape culture is pervasive, systemic, and propped up largely by authority figures who make light of it).  The volume version is far worse in this regard, totally shifting the narrative from “Lulucy felt disempowered by society until she became a witch cop who could legally smack predators around” to “Lulucy was saved from her predator-apologist teacher by the cool and righteous witch cops, who are immune to the corruption of rape culture for some reason.”  I don’t mind that WHA presents a fantasy world in which law enforcement follows its own rules to the letter (in truth, any police/surveillance institution with unchecked memory wipe powers wouldn’t be going around Righteously Punishing Sex Criminals so much as they would be Doing Most Of The Sex Crimes), because it usually makes very clear that the rules themselves are the problem; but this time, the audience is encouraged to indulge in the fantasy of punitive justice and to ignore the fact that criminal witches have no civil rights like it’s an episode of Law & Order SVU.

[merchantarthurn]

Witch Hat Atelier Volume 5 Special Edition Card Game

quest cards & card backs (2/3) - witches and brimhats

from everything i’ve found so far, this might be the most we have for confirmed colour schemes of Sasaran. I thought I’d include the backs of the cards since they’re animals from the world (winged horse, dragon, scalewolf). 

there’s still the “magic cards” to share - these are the main game cards, which is based on a really fun little card game called love letter!

For those who don’t know - I’m currently putting together an artwork archive for Witch Hat Atelier (link to a tweet containing Drive address, please use this tweet link if sharing this archive on tumblr). I’m still categorising everything I have, but please let me know if you’re interested in contributing - especially translation of otherwise untranslated text! (credits of any desired format will be given). Similarly, if you see a translation of yours in the archive that you don’t want up, let me know - I’ve been trying to use original images but some may have slipped through from my original collection.

Artwork: Shirahama Kamome

Scan and edits done myself

[aspoonofsugar]

Richè and Eunie: The Difficulty of Being One-Self

Here, Sasaran tempts the children by making them believe that by using forbidden magic they could become whoever they wish to become. His words sound very interesting considering what Riché and Eunie had said before:

Both Riché and Eunie feel suffocated by the way magic society works and have adopted opposite defensive mechanisms as a result. Riché has decided to refuse to learn any kind of magic which is not her own because she is scared she will lose her individuality if she does so, whereas Eunie has been convinced that his own individuality is detrimental and so he has tried to cancel it by studying how to be proper and by trying to force himself to learn the “right” answers and ways.

Both approaches are wrong if left alone and the two children need to grow in each other’s direction and to develop a more nuanced and balanced perspective.

This is made clear through Sasaran’s character himself since he embodies both Richè and Eunie’s flaws. 

Like Riché, Sasaran wants to use magic freely and his thirst for freedom makes so that he breaks the rules and starts experimenting on himself. This is the result:

Sasaran’s disrespect for rules leads him to find himself trapped in a physical form he dislikes i.e. even if he acted in order to do what he wanted he ended up becoming someone he hates.

In short, Sasaran is someone who symbolizes how the pursue of wishes in order to affirm one’s identity can lead to the loss of the self instead.

This risks to happen to Riché as well as she herself realizes:

In order to become who she wants to be, Riché needs to do things she doesn’t like and to accept that she is gonna grow up and change. If she doesn’t she may end up becoming like Sasaran who hates his current self.

This self-hatred is also why Sasaran uses an invisible puppet:

What he says here is very ironic because in reality magic did not release him from the shackles of the flesh, but did the exact opposite and he came up with a complicated trick to hide his transformation. In other words, Sasaran just like Eunie hates himself and would like to be someone else.

The two characters’ similarities are made evident thanks to their magic. As a matter of fact both Eunie’s magic and Sasaran’s one play with the idea of hiding one-self:

Sasaran is clearly calling the kids cowards since they are hiding and himself a hunter since he is trying to find them, so that he can attack them. However, it is obvious that he himself is the coward:

Sasaran’s explanation of his behaviour is interesting for two reasons which juxtapose him to Eunie.

1) First of all,  his words imply that he is scared of not being accepted by society anymore.

2) Secondly, his self-hate is linked to him not accepting the way he looks. In other words he is worried by his exteriority rather than his interiority and the kind of person he is deep down.

1) Eunie too is scared of what others think of him:

However, during the exam he realizes how he doesn’t need to. After having realized it, he is able to move forward and the way he does so underlines how he is very different from Sasaran. As a matter of fact, the Brim Hat behaves as if he is invisible out of shame and of fear of rejection, whereas Eunie discovers a sense of self in a magic which hides him in shadows:

As he himself explains, it is only by hiding from others’ glances that he can be himself. He claims that this is not the coolest magic ever, but he finds happiness in being finally able to convey to others who he really is.

In other words, Eunie’s magic, despite sharing similarities with Sasaran’s, is an expression of the self instead of its negation.

2) Like Sasaran, Eunie is transformed by magic and by the end of the arc he is stuck as a scaled wolf. This leads to some considerations.

First of all, the girls manage to bring back his mind, but not his body which remains the one of a wolf. However, it is interesting to underline how, even if the young witches only partially succeeded, they were still able to bring back the most important part of Eunie aka his interiority. Once they do that, it is Eunie himself who stops Coco from using forbidden magic to change him back and later on, despite having the chance to maintain his human form, he chooses to go back to his wolf one temporally:

As Riché comments, making of his weakness his strength it is something very much like him and in this way another concept becomes clear. Eunie, differently from Sasaran develops a sense of identity which is not superficial and linked to exteriority, but which is deeper and rooted in his interiority.

He obviously wishes to go back to be a human, but his reaction to his new condition is not as negative as the one of the Brim Hat. Instead of hiding his new form out of shame, Eunie embraces it and finds positive things in it and at the same time doesn’t give up on the idea to have his original looks back one day.

At the same time, Eunie changing his weakness into strength is a point of comparison and of contrast with Riché who affirms this:

Riché, differently from Eunie, is proud of her uniqueness. She knows her strong points well and uses them efficiently  to face situations other people would solve in more traditional ways. The important thing for Riché is not to discover the right answer, but to make so that what she can do can become the right answer. This makes her creative and flexible, but at the same time it is also a weakness since if she refuses to widen her knowledge she will limit her options.

In short Eunie is too focused on his weakness and not enough on what he can do, whereas Richè pays too attention to what she can do and too little to what she can’t.

This is why the two characters grow thanks to the other. Moreover, they are shown how the other’s philosophy is useful in the situation they care for the most.

Eunie’s objective is to pass the exam. As a matter of fact it is made clear that the test has become a block of sorts for him and the reason why his self-insecurity has increased. He thinks that to pass it he must become proper, but he is shown by Richè how this is not the case and how he can do it just by being himself.

On the other hand Richè couldn’t care less about the test, but she wants to be useful to her friends when an unforeseen danger comes. However, she can’t do that because she doesn’t know enough kinds of magic:

This is why her calling Orugio for help is important on multiple levels.

First of all it is meaningful that she chooses to ask an adult for help given her complicated relationship with adulthood:

Riché doesn’t trust adults because of what happened with her past teacher and she herself doesn’t want to grow up. Her speciality being small glyphs is symbolic of this:

Riché doesn’t want to give up the pureness of her childhood and this is why she is scared to learn new things which may make her forget her core being.

However, by the end of the arc she has developed:

She has realized that growing up is not something which will make her lose herself (this is obvious in how small glyphs keep being fundamental in her magic), but it is about changing because of new bonds and relationships with others. This is why she came up with a new magic which is a synthesis of both her magic and the magic of the people she cares for.

This leads us to another important theme of the arc and probably of the series in general which is the fact of being vulnerable with others and to develop relationships:

Riché is said to be like a scaled wolf in the sense that she isolates just like the wolves use the scales in order to protect themselves, but this also makes so that they can not make physical contact with one another. Obviously this is true for Eunie as well even if his isolation is born from self-loathing rather than from a sense of pride in himself.

Finally, there is also a third character associated to wolves:

Agate foils Riché when it comes to her relationship to adulthood.

Riché hates having to become an adult, whereas Agate hates being still a child.

This is also why the two girls receive opposite attentions from their teacher:

Agate is said to be willing to grow up too quickly and this is why she is initially negated the chance to take the exam, whereas Riché is forced to take part into it to avoid stagnation.

At the same time Agae, like Riché, has a negative opinion about vulnerabilty since she considers the wolves losing their scales as them becoming weaker.

However, the end of the arc makes clear that Agate is mistaken:

Human connection needs vulnerability to work, but it doesn’t make people weaker, but rather stronger as Riché and Eunie have shown.

What is more, it is interesting to underline how both Eunie and Richè have made progress in scenes linked to the magic capes they received before starting the exam:

The illusory mirror mantles are symbolic objects linked to the idea of identity and of it not being fixed. As a matter of fact the mantles let the children hide themselves among the Meffrins and Eunie comments that the magic used to make them is a combination of two different kinds of magic:

The first kind hides the user, whereas the second one makes the user assume the looks of the closest animal around. This is what people do everyday when interacting with each other. They hide parts of themselves and imitate the people around them assuming different traits according to the person they are with. This is something common and useful for human relationships. At the same time, one has to find the right balance between others’ influence which can be both constructive and destructive and their own selves.

This is why both Richè and Eunie symbolically emerge from their mantles changed and with a new sense of self-affirmation:

Symbolically they do so in different ways. Eunie paradoxically emerges as himself hidden in shadows, whereas Richè emerges as herself by taking the cape away and making so that the Merffins can leave.

At the same time, the moment of realization they have while under the mantles happens because of looking at someone else’s glyphs. Eunie is amazed by the mantle’s magic, whereas Riché is touched by Eunie’s.

Once again they look at things in opposite ways. As a matter of fact Eunie discerns the two kinds of magic used and sees how basic magic can be used to create something new and complex, whereas Riché sees how also the “proper” magic she despises so much is drawn differently by different individuals.

So, all in all, the two scenes above together with the whole setting are symbolic of what the arc wants to convey.

The children are like the Merffins going forward together through a difficult path. They proceed together, but each one has a different defense mechanism (symbolized by the scaled mantles). In the end each one of them grows in a different way thanks to the others:

And in the end they are able to shed their scales in order to affirm who they are and to create deep bonds.

[iukasylvie]

There's no way the Knights Moralis care about investigation and trials when the first thing they do in an incident is to brand anyone nearby as guilty and threaten to erase their memories.

Easthies doesn't check all of Coco's belongings to determine the cause of the forbidden spell during the river incident. He didn't check on Ellien or the nobleman in Luluci's backstory either.

They don't interrogate everyone present during the second test at Romonon for information on the Brimmed Caps after Iguin and Sasaran attack.

They considered erasing Qifrey's memories the moment they found him traumatized to near death as a child by the Brimmed Caps, who had already erased his memories to cover up their crimes.

They neglect their duty so much that Qifrey ends up finding and examining one half of the twin bottle given to Coco by Iguin on his own instead. It's no wonder he doesn't trust the authorities to help pursue the Brimmed Caps.

[fenrhi]

WHA for the ask meme :)

The moment I got your ask, I whispered to myself "oh no", not because I don't like receiving your asks, but because I've forgotten 90% of the WHA characters' names :')

Amusing Side Note: I read WHA in FR and ENG. I've forgotten names in both languages

Another Amusing Side Note: I STILL haven't read the latest chapters, so if you read this reply and think "damn, what a rancid take", it might be because of that

Anyway....

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): KUSTAS!!! I have nothing smart to add, he's just great and I love every single panel he appears in

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Dadga (;-;) I hope he survives this manga you might want to say "technically he's a zombie" but shhhh i don't want to hear that

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): Idk who's underrated because I don't interact with ENG fandoms to protect my sanity, but I'm choosing Agathe for sure! I really relate to her "tomboyish" appearance, her bitterness, her callousness and her need to prove herself. I was also like that as a child.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): I can't think of anyone adsglk

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): I'm gonna be boring and say the BrimHats. I mean, Sasaran is literally a poor little meow meow

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): QUIFREY. Also Eastha(?) Easties(???) The cop witch with long black hair!

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): the men who almost killed Dadga

[dear-kumari]

How about Witch Hat Atelier for the ask meme?

I heard it's getting an anime, so I will definitely be checking it out once it airs ^^

Wonderful choice!  In the spirit of really hoping you pick up the series someday, I will also provide a little context for my blorbos, skrunklys, et al. :3  All you need to know going into these is that there’s a society of witches that’s regarded as helpful and altruistic but also hides the secrets of magic from the rest of the world, and the series is about a young outsider entering this society and wrestling with the cognitive dissonance therein.  The Pointed Hats follow the law, the Knights Moralis are a subset of Pointed Hats who enforce the law (they have the power to memory-wipe and exile people), and the Brimhats are any witches on the fringe who reject Pointed Hat laws and practice dangerous forbidden magic.

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most):

Coco, the main character!  It’s my opinion that main characters must be incredibly hard to write well, considering how often I’m underwhelmed by them.  Coco is a fantastic protagonist, though, and I really love how we get to see her worldview grow and/or shrink in real time with every harsh reality she faces.  A lot of the tension in WHA hinges on the possibility that she’ll join the Brimhats, which I would really love to see.

Also tied with Coustas, who started as a seemingly inconsequential bystander/casualty who would be forgotten in most manga and is now arguably the most important vehicle for the story’s themes.  Don’t want to spoil anything big here, but the way his arc has played out so far is just … intensely cathartic in a way I haven’t experienced in a while.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped):

Iguin, the main Brimhat antagonist!!  He’s aggressively Shaped, honestly, and all because of the cool/scary/somewhat goofy costume he wears.  I adore his vibes.

Also Sasaran, a minor ally of Iguin!  He’s also very Shaped, but not really by choice; he accidentally permanently transformed himself into a cat-man with forbidden magic. :/ it happens

Coustas again — wonderful character design, really

Tetia (one of the girls Coco’s learning magic with, basically loves making people happy and has curly pink hair), she’s soooo cute and endearing

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave):

Tartar!  I wrote a whole impassioned post about it already, but yeah, he’s really the best.  I love when characters actually surprise me, and Tartar might be the most surprising character in the series with how much depth he brings to the story.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week):

Cheating a bit here, but I also absolutely obsess over this depiction of random Brimhats, even though most or all of these representations probably aren’t specific characters we’re going to meet.  (You never know, though …)  I love the idea that there is a large and vibrant (and honestly, probably very chaotic and #cringe) Brimhat subculture out there waiting to be explored.  I just think they’re neat :)

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave):

Who could it be but Sasaran?  Really, look at him.  He’s a literal pathetic wet cat.  He’s a goofy little meow meow.  He loves hurting random people, including innocent kids, with forbidden magic.  He has no redeeming qualities as far as I can tell, but that doesn’t make him any less deserving of my affections.  Honorable mention for Iguin ofc, but no one is doing it like Sasaran.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason):

Easthies :) To put it diplomatically, Easthies is solely dedicated to his job as a witch cop and the ethical principles it’s built around, so ofc he deserves the horse plinko ^^ (tbh I am Not opposed to “““redemption””” for any or all of the Knight Moralis in whatever form that might take, but only if this guy gets plinko’d)

Also Beldarut (a whimsical and politically important Pointed Hat guy), though I really have nothing specific against him.  I mean I think his worldview is kinda cowardly and ultimately harmful, but like. he has a fine personality.  I shouldn’t want to torment him for fun, but I do.

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell):

Uhhh any of the minor characters who are obviously shitty to kids (Sasaran gets a pass bc he’s a skrunkly little meow meow, ofc)

Thanks for the ask!!  I really like talking about this series and I hope the anime brings in new readers ^^