Status Updates From Atelier of Witch Hat, Vol. 2

This series is dope and is a great escape from reality 😂

coco once again showing agott that magic (art) is much more effective and beautiful when the process of creation is a collaborative and fluid one, not one that requires rigid solitude for “perfection”

OUAK

this parallel is so good!!!!!!! at first, agott had that creepy smile on her face as she saw the situation as a chance to prove her worth. but now that she’s been snapped back to reality and reminded of the true purpose of magic (at least in the eyes of the good witches like olruggio and coco), the repetition of the stakes only makes her frown and sweat now

coco snapping agott out of her spiral by reminding her of the task at hand which then reminds her of olruggio’s tough love lesson from before and reframes her motivation for saving custas from something dark and insecure to something genuinely good and heroic LETS GOOOOO

well! my mommy issues radar was correct!
this insecurity makes so much sense so her own mother rejected her and let her hear the horrible gossip about her “average” skills so of COURSE she’s highly sensitive to being treated like a child (even though she is) and wants to force herself into the mold of “gifted child” as soon as possible. just like how qifrey mastered water magic out of spite (and fear?)

WOAHHHHHH highlighting agott’s smile as she realizes that coco and custas being in danger means that she finally has a chance to prove herself is SO unsettling. it feels so deeply wrong and twisted to watch her fear shift into excitement and anticipation. and that panel in the previous page with half her face completely blacked out to show that initial shift?????? my blood has run cold yet again

i know it’s the bare minimum for agott to be worried that coco might’ve gotten crushed by boulders but it still seems significant okay she certainly doesn’t HATE her

OLLY?????? HE CALLS HIM OLLY?????? they’re two apples tall oh god i’m so fucked

OKAYYYYYYY olruggio with the tough love
that’s exactly what agott needed to hear right now unfortunately and i think he realized it when he saw how ineffective qifrey’s gentleness was back at the atelier. good teacher bad teacher duo i like it

(cont.)
i wonder how they’ll continue to balance each other out with their contrasting styles and what it looks like when they inevitably switch positions, with olruggio being the cautious voice of reason and qifrey being more impulsive and driven by emotion. i expect we’ll see more of that in relation to the brimmed caps

it’s interesting to start to see how olruggio and qifrey’s parenting/teaching styles differ. we’ve seen qifrey be impulsive but he’s mostly very gentle and careful with the children, sensitive to their needs and hesitant to push them too hard. but olruggio might be more willing to throw them in the deep end (knowing that he’ll be there to help them if they need, of course) (cont.)

agott baby why are we so obsessed with being useful? where does that come from? (is it mommy issues i think it’s mommy issues)

aaaand he’s gone, door is ajar, heart is melted. coco is simply that much of an angel

so qifrey hates being wet and the first spell we see olruggio use is one that dries people uh huh mmmmhmmmmmmm yeah i’m sure it’s casual

…..can’t wait for olruggio to choose love over duty like another doomed anime character i know
they even share the same fucking va you cannot make this shit up

so olruggio was supportive at first of qifrey taking on apprentices bc he thought it’d help him “settle down” and i NEED to know what EXACTLY that means. what did this problem child actually do why does he have that reputation what are his motives and goals TELL MEEEEEEE

qifrey looks so young in that top panel, and maybe that’s exactly what he was going for in order to tug at olruggio’s heartstrings all the more. leveraging their history together to illustrate all that’s at stake, not just for coco

ah yes okay this was a question i had!!!! so there are “spies” of a sort, in the form of “watchful eyes”. seems like another piece of witch society that could so easily be corrupted or abused. in coco’s case, it’s for the best that qifrey has olruggio wrapped around his finger but i could imagine that similar emotional ties could be leveraged for much more nefarious purposes

witch society not even having a term for non-witches that isn’t derogatory or othering is CRAZY. their perceived superiority is so baked into their way of life, even down to their language

“no matter how close a friend you may be” and how close is that exactly like if you had to put a number on it or a label perhaps
they literally have complementary designs too with the black and white hair and outfits i’m gonna lose my fucking mind I WILL NEVER ESCAPE THE CLUTCHES OF SATOSUGU

i wonder why he wouldn’t want qifrey to take in more apprentices, i wonder how long they’ve known each other, i wonder when/how/why olruggio decided to keep an eye on the atelier bc if they do have a long history then there’s no way he just happened to be assigned to watch over qifrey. was he worried about him for some reason? worried that he’d do something reckless to try to find the brimmed caps?

so you’re telling me not only do we have adorable enemies to lovers grumpy/sunshine yuri but we ALSO have childhood friends (?) grumpy/sunshine yaoi……….
i can see it now: qifrey keeps adopting new children and olruggio keeps pretending to be annoyed at that but folds within ten minutes every time right right right

COCO IMMEDIATELY RUNNING TO GET AGOTT SO SHE CAN SEE THE BEAUTIFUL MAGIC OF NATURE BC SHE GENUINELY SEES MAGIC EVERYWHERE OH SHUT UP SHE IS SUCH AN ANGEL AND WANTS AGOTT TO BE PART OF THE FAMILY SO BAD