Status Updates From Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 6

WHAT????? he thinks that coco needs to be protected from qifrey????? okay okay okay my brain is going a million miles an hour but they must’ve had a falling out bc of qifrey’s obsession/grudge with the brimmed caps and since beldaruit is so madly in love with magic he thinks that qifrey’s disenchantment with witch society is a sign of him going down a dangerous path. tell me EVERYTHING beldaruit PLEASE

when did qifrey talk to beldaruit about coco????? and why????? i assume they’re not on good terms so…..??? was he the person qifrey was talking to with that contraption all the way back in volume 1?? and again. WHY

there’s something so poignant about the kids delighting beldaruit by bringing him out of his daily routine and reminding him of the beauty of the outside world. sometimes all you need to regain a bit of childlike inspiration is to go somewhere new and suddenly everything seems novel and exciting again. beautiful callback to the rainy day from a few volumes ago too!! agott got to experience this one this time

oh what fresh angsty hell is this
i LOVE the imagery of olruggio looking through qifrey’s glasses as he talks about needing to speak with him. it’s almost like he’s trying to will himself to see through qifrey’s eyes. he must know what’s under the glasses too right???
god i’m so curious about what he’s considering….is it about his position as watchful eye??

MY FUCKING HEART CANT TAKE THIS SHIT i’ve gotten exactly what i wanted with olruggio stepping up as father number 2 and giving the girls new perspectives that aren’t qifrey’s specialty. they’re such a great team. it’s beautiful that bc he decided to follow qifrey (or however it happened), olruggio gets to be a mentor figure even though he didn’t go down that path for himself

COCO AGOTT HUG LETS GOOOOO THIS IS HUGE oh my god they are so adorable i love watching coco melt agott’s heart. it seems fast bc i’ve been devouring these volumes but i think watching the progression in the anime will put it back into perspective

(cont.)
he clearly has a tendency to cast aside his own well-being and isolate himself in order to achieve some goal (and i haven't forgotten that moment in volume 3 when agott walked in on him about to experiment with the ink in the middle of the night!!!!). he's obsessive and secretive and that can make him lash out at times. all of that sounds very much like agott to me.....

i have more thoughts about potential arkco/orufrey parallels bc we saw utowin call olruggio a "wonder-child", while qifrey has been referred to as a "problem child" with a stained reputation. olruggio is all about warmth and using magic to make people's lives better (and his glowstones were the first kind of magic that coco ever fell in love with!!). meanwhile, qifrey is brilliant and determined to a fault (cont.)

the gentle hands after agott tried to literally push coco away???? agott being absolutely dumbfounded once again by coco's insistence at seeing the good in her bc she struggles so much to see it in herself?????? this is top tier angsty yuri and i am eating every bit of it right up
i wonder if there'll be parallels between them and orufrey (like itafushi/satosugu) if we ever fucking learn about their backstory

but also seeing some of qifrey's bare torso here does debunk my theory that he's hiding some scars or seals on his body and that's why he always wears the black undershirt. i guess it's just Fashion. slutty fashion that just so happens to add to the complementary nature of his and olruggio's designs uh huh uh huh i'm sure it's casual

if y’all could see the smug smile on my face rn oh my god this is one of my favorite microtropes EVER. there better be SEVERAL fics about olruggio staying by qifrey’s bedside and taking care of him and giving him HELL when he wakes up (and also being super soft and gentle and relieved afterwards, but the yelling comes first okay “if you die i’ll kill you” blah blah blah you know the drill)

SEE??????? olruggio really folded almost instantly (as qifrey probably knew he would) bc coco is just that pure-hearted and so is he!!!! i feel like we've already seen that he's very humanistic with his approach to magic. of course he's gonna pay attention to nuance in this situation and be willing to bend logical principles for the sake of upholding more emotional principles of empathy and warmth

olruggio i love you so much!!!! he's so right to pick up on that dissonance. the knights moralis and the principles they uphold are for the sake of protecting MAGIC, not witches themselves. magic's needs shouldn't supersede that of the people it's supposed to be helping, and i think that THAT'S what olruggio stands for in the end. he uses magic to communicate his love and care for others!!!!!

i love that in the anime, olruggio's english va has a northern accent bc now it's been revealed that he's from a city in the north!!! super immersive detail
also, of COURSE the knights moralis are considered the backup for witches who don't see a path ahead for themselves in traditional schooling. trade the pen for a spear at a young age, huh? sounds like another system i know.......a famously non-corrupt one......

......this is giving white house merch......
bc what is the attraction here?? famous witches?? the place where the most renowned figures and politicians live and study?? the seat of the justice system??? it's not like this is disneyland or something where outsiders can get magical themed merch, this is WITCHES getting WITCH MERCH. it's literally republicans who wear camo usa hats, girls get OUT of there

another fantastic use of page space to break the fourth wall!!! we are literally coco (again) in this moment as tetia grabs our hand with the promise of giving us the tour of the great hall. i LOVE how the panel edges are tattered and worn like those of an old storybook. it feels like we’re being invited into something fantastical, which is exactly how coco feels every time she sees another new facet of witch society

beldaruit was qifrey’s fucking teacher wasn’t he
qifrey really is a lot like him when he gets going about magic, just a bit more subdued overall. maybe if qifrey wasn’t weighed down by the brimmed cap obsession and whatever has made him so jaded about witch society (rightfully so i imagine), he’d be more like beldaruit all the time? i wonder what their relationship was like and if they had some kind of falling out

i appreciate when i get some of my questions answered promptly while others are more long-term mysteries. so engendale is like the go-between for witch society and outsiders, very curious to see how he'll come into play in the story. what even is the political state of the outside world anyway? is there a monarchy? and vinanna is the leader of the knights moralis, so it's not hard to imagine how she'll factor in

i appreciate when i get some of my questions answered promptly while others are more long-term mysteries. so engendale is like the go-between for witch society and outsiders, very curious to see how he'll come into play in the story. what even is the political state of the outside world anyway? is there a monarchy? and vinanna is the leader of the knights moralis, so it's not hard to imagine how she'll factor in

argentgard......silver garden......? is beldaruit responsible for some innovation regarding the silverwoods?

olruggio being so visibly relieved to hear the qifrey is gonna be alright and then immediately rushing to go to his side and stay there until he wakes up?????? they're married your honor idk how much evidence we're gonna keep getting but it's seemingly neverending

now what the FUCK does that mean????? there HAS to be a connection between qifrey hating being wet (and the great hall) and the great hall being underwater, but i highly doubt it's as simple as it seems. did he almost drown for some reason? was it by choice or by accident or by force? does it have anything to do with his grudge against the brimmed caps? i fear we won't be getting qifrey backstory for a long time

are the 3 wise ones somehow super old (even though that should be against the pointed caps' rules)? how did they come to be known as the greatest witches? what are the titles of the other two? does olruggio have a personal connection to beldaruit?