Sofie’s Reviews > Witch Hat Atelier, Vol. 2 > Status Update

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”

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.)