Lucas Blogs About Witch Hat Atelier Volume 5

Ya gotta have pink hair!

So, what's this book's deal?

Oh, it's the fifth volume of Kamome Shirahama's fantasy manga, Witch Hat Atelier.

Oh, right, you think it's got cool art and a fairly standard story.

I do.

I take it you're still enjoying it?

I keep reading it, don't I?

You do.

This volume continues directly from Volume 4 which ends with—

Wait! Don't you want to warn people that this blog will have teh SPOILARZ for Volume 4?

I think you just did that for me.

You're the worst, Lucas.

I know, look how far we've gotten without any substantive discussion of the book.

When do we ever feature substantive discussion?

You've got me there.  Anyway, you'll recall that Witch Hat Atelier is about Coco, a young girl who discovers two things: 1) that witches do magic by drawing seals with special sigils; and B) that you shouldn't draw signs you find in strange books.

Because you might accidentally petrify your mother like Coco did?

Yes. In the last volume, Coco's fellow students Agott and Richeh were taking a test to see if they could move on to the next step of their magical education. They were joined by Euini, another apprentice witch who suffers from severe self-confidence issues. During this test they were attacked by a seemingly invisible witch wearing a swanky hat and cape. In any case, this witch turned Euini into a scalewolf (it's a wolf with scales). Well, in this volume we find out what this witch's endgame is.

You mean, he's not just really into Teen Wolf?

Pretty sure that Teen Wolf doesn't exist in the world of Witch Hat Atelier. In any case, the invisible witch belongs to a faction called the Brimmed Caps who want to overturn the moratorium on spells that affect the human body.  See, for whatever reason they believe that Coco will be instrumental to all this so they've been purposely putting her in situations where the best solution is to use this forbidden magic.

Oh! So does she use it to help Euini?

That would give away how this one ends. But in addition to that revelation, we also find out a little more about Richeh. First of all her full name is Richehlette.

That seems like something that was already revealed that you just forgot.

Maybe. But we also get a flashback to the beginnings of her magical education that helps explain why she's so headstrong and determined to do things her own way. She also demonstrates growth by accepting that sometimes you can't just go your own way. Shirahama also grows the world by introducing a few more characters back at the witch's Great Hall.

Okay. So . . . do you want to talk about how the series is progressing?

Yeah. So, in previous posts, I've mentioned that the world of Witch Hat Atelier isn't necessarily anything special and but that the series stands out because of Shirahama's artwork.

Every time.

I think maybe that's a little too harsh. While the basic story outline isn't that unique, Shirahama's real focus is on the characters and how they interact with this world. In pretty much every volume we've seen characters who have some kind of difficulty in navigating the magic world they've been born into and the ways in which they work around these seeming weaknesses. I think it's a good lesson for kids, and not just in a vague "everyone feels like they don't fit in sometimes," way. But in a more concrete "don't judge other people's capabilities (or your own capabilities) based on societal prejudices," way.

Huh, that's a good lesson for the target audience.

It is. Also, Shirahama's art continues to be a big draw. She finds the right balance between realism and manga stylization and does a good job of depicting motion and stillness. Also, once again, I'll call out the way in which she incorporates marginalia and illumination in some pages to create a unique aesthetic.

So, it seems to be growing on you.

It is. And now that Squirrel Girl is over, it's nice to have a wholesome comic to look forward to.

Witch Hat Atelier Volume 5 by Kamome Shirahama (trans. Steven Kohler), Kodansha Comics trade paperback edition, 2020 (originally published in Japan as とんがり帽子のアトリエ (Tongari Bōshi no Atorie)), 188 pages, pairs well with sunny afternoons and breaks from longer reading projects

Links:

Once again, should you be into that kinda thing, here are the mangaka's instagram and twitter feeds. (They're in Japanese)