Lucas Blogs About Witch Hat Atelier Vol. 7

Now an Eisner and Harvey Award Winner

So, what's this book's dea—oh are we already on the latest volume of Witch Hat Atelier?

Yep, we're seven volumes into Kamome Shirahama's fantasy manga about a preteen girl's quest to save her mother who she accidentally petrified. Obviously, this blog post may contain TEH SPOILARZ for all the previous volumes, so if you're bothered by that kinda thing consider this your warning.

If I recall, in the previous volume Coco and her fellow apprentice witch cohorts were taking a make-up test administered by an elder witch in a ram chair. I assume they passed?

Yes, they passed Beldaruit's make up test and advanced to the next step in their magical education. But that's not what this volume is about.

It's not?

No. This volume is about two things: 1) Master Qifrey's backstory and how it relates to B) Coco's ongoing quest to find a way to save her mother. Both of which bring them into conflict with the Brimmed Caps. Who don't actually appear in this volume. Anyway, it begins with Qifrey who is recovering from injuries he sustained back in volume five when he saved his apprentices from that Cat Person Brimmed Cap. He's confronted by his associate and friend Olruggio who questions whether he's letting his vendetta against the Brimmed Caps get in the way of being a good teacher. Meanwhile, Beldaruit has asked Coco whether she'd like to be his apprentice. Not just because he was impressed by her solution to the test, but also because he fears that remaining at Qifrey's atelier will make her more of a target for the Brimmed Caps. See, Qifrey's backstory is that a Brimmed Cap witch stole his right eye and buried him alive as a child.

Oh! That's upsetting.

It is. But you can see why it might leave him with a bit of a fixation. In any case, upon learning that Qifrey never found the answers to his questions, Coco panics and decides that she needs to get to the Tower of Tomes right instead of wasting her time only to find out that there's nothing she can do.

That's a bit dramatic.

Yeah, but she's a pre-teen. Anyway,  Qifrey and Olruggio give chase. There's an exciting confrontation with a lake monster, a flying book, and a chapter showing what Olruggio got up to while Coco et al. were trying to surprise Beldaruit in the last volume.

Is that all?

Well, I think that's about all I can mention without getting too SPOILER-y for this volume. In any case, Shirahama is doing a good job of keeping me on the hook with the story. That's partly because the open-ended nature of the series gives her plenty of time to develop the characters and slowly reveal the backstory. For example, this volume does a good deal to develop the relationship between Qifrey and Olruggio, who have known each other since childhood. But since it's Olruggio's job to make sure that everything at Qifrey's atelier is aboveboard, there's been some tension between them ever since Qifrey took Coco as an apprentice. In this volume they finally have the confrontation that's been threatening to break out for a few volumes. While they initially seem to reconcile; this is complicated by a not entirely unexpected betrayal. Man, I feel like I'm vague-posting by avoiding spoilers. In any case, Shirahama has been doing a good job of keeping me on my toes regarding just how trustworthy a certain character is.

Yeah, you're definitely vague-posting there. Want to talk about something more specific?

Sure. So, that sidestory about Olruggio is pretty good. See, while the girls were taking their make-up test, Olruggio got roped into helping a colleague solve an unreasonable request from a nearby kingdom. The resolution is pretty clever and it also reminds the reader of the relationship between witches and the rest of the world. You know, the whole hiding the secret of magic and all of that. It also lets Olruggio be more than just the aloof goatee'd authority figure while he dances with a princess to demonstrate a magically illuminated floor and ensorcels a scarf to help a boy troubled by overly-sensitive hearing.

That's more like it. I assume you still like the art?

Yeah, obviously, Shirahama's skill as an artist and visual storyteller has not diminished in the time that she's been working on this. I will say that this volume has fewer eccentric touches like illuminated panels or a character literally leaning an elbow on the next panel. But Shirahama is still great at conveying emotion and movement and creating contrast and visual interest.

Anything else?

Nah, I'm still enjoying this manga and I would recommend it to anyone looking for wholesome all ages comics.

Cool.

Witch Hat Atelier Volume 7 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)),  pairs well with secrets and hidden traumas

Links:

Here's the mangaka's twitter, if you're into that kinda thing.