#the thing is i do feel that shirahama is leading up to this. disability is so central to witch hat and as for qifrey's narrative...

[lunarharp]

some illustrations/vibes from my uhh 29k memory trauma/disability focus orufrey fic, into the deep end.

[bringina]

So Owl House Season 2 Finale Aired And Now You Need A New Hyperfixation To Occupy Your Time: Why You Should Read Witch Hat Atelier Manga

Hi! So that Owl House season finale ey :´> how we all holding up. Here's the thing; you can either process your feelings and deal with the show inevitably inching closer to its early ending (now and always, why are you determined to be like this Disney) in a sensible manner OR you can swerve your car into the direction of a new media to fill out the void. I'm here to give ya a tip!

(in reality I'm just hoping to drag more people into this fandom, but I digress). So without further ado let´s gooooooooooooo

Witch Hat Atelier by Kamome Shirahama: The Seal Drawing Witch Kids And Their Disaster Dads

First, let me give you a brief overview of the premise; Coco is a young girl living in a world where only a few can perform magic, and though she has been fascinated by witches for a long time, she cannot cast magic herself. That is, until she meets a witch named Qifrey, who takes her under his wing to teach her after a series of unfortunate events. Coco joins the atelier, meets three other apprentices Agott, Tetia and Richeh, as well as Olruggio, who is Qifrey's.... well, everyone ships these two and its very hard not to because they truly are made for each other. White and Black. Water and Fire. Angst and Angst. Forever pining husbands-for-decades-in-everything-but-official-capacity vibes through the roof. You get the picture. Found family and shenanigans ensue.

The characters are all phenomenal. We have: caring if chaotic mentor/father figure with a penchant for revenge and a "please just talk to people" "haha, nope" avoidance tactic; his very tired workaholic husband trying to keep chaotic energy at bay (Olruggio is totally part of main cast, can't change my mind); your upbeat starry eyed protagonist with no sense of self preservation about to learn the harshness of reality and figuring where she stands; Sasuke but as an actually well written girl (THE best character dont at me) and also the one name where NO ONE can agree on spelling (I've seen no less than six different spellings of Agott's name and three versions of her surname, can we PLEASE figure this out); the one who's seemingly cold and disinterested but will not hesitate to fight you for what she believes in; and sunshine incarnate that will so break my heart when we learn her sad backstory (because I refuse to believe there isn't a sad backstory lurking in future chapters given the series' track record). Also I'm doing them all injustice by summarizing like this; they're all deeper characters than they appear, but I assume you don't want to read additional sixty pages of me gushing on this already long post. Not to mention the delightful side characters. Moving on.

Something that Owl House fans will notice near immediately is the magic system; WHA has a remarkably similar idea of magic that is cast through drawing just like glyphs, only “seals” are more complex.

This leads to almost endless possibilities as long as you have needed imagination and skill to execute the spell properly: and you bet the characters show real ingenuity time and time again. Seeing all the spells you never would have thought of truly is a, hah, magical experience.

Of course, endless possibilities mean disasterous consequences in wrong hands, and the world suffers as a result. Even the best of intentions can lead to ruin, and not everyone has those. Rest assured, the system WHA witches operate under to try and prevent the repeat of past mistakes is far from perfect, and the story doesn't shy away from exploring how it affects the people who "fall through the cracks" so to speak, along with other 'heavier' topics like disability and the responsibility adults have towards children to name a few (some of these adults are! Actually competent and try their best! Can you imagine!). Needless to say all of the characters have trauma, angst ahoy.

Witch Hat Atelier is unique in its absolutely breathtaking artstyle, and especially the way it plays with the manga media itself. My words cannot do it justice, but this youtube video from someone way more knowledgeable may give you a glimpse at understanding one part of its charm. Suffice to say, it sure is a pretty read in addition to being engaging.

And well, that's about all i can say without going on an even longer, more spoilery tangent. As of the time of this post, there is 59 chapters total with 57 of them translated in English. I hope i was able to at least pique your curiousity enough to give it a shot, and I hope you have a good time reading it :>