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Witch Hat Atelier

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  • Adorkable: Coco herself is quite a dork for magic, with a child-like (even for her age) widen eyed look whenever she sees things that are common for every other witch. The very magic that inspired her was a simple magic made by Olruggio that caused pavestones to light up.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • Following chapter 13, there are those who have started to see Qifrey as a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing, while other see him as a Well-Intentioned Extremist Pragmatic Hero, due to whether he is keeping Coco around to help her or to use her as a lead to find the Brimcaps.
    • Are the Knights Moralis simply doing their job or are they too overzealous in their work? Some fans believe on the latter, although another section of the fanbase believe that their presence itself is Shirahama's critique on the restrictive and suffocating grip that authority and society have on what is considered expression. That the Knights Moralis is a reference to the various religious institutions of the past (Such as the Spanish Inquisition) that did more to stagnate society than to advance them.
    • In a similar vein, Aninia has a point when she callously wipes the memory of Galga, acknowledging that to a witch it is a sentence similar to death. The Knights Moralis are implied to do this regularly without judge, jury, or even giving their victim a chance to explain a misunderstanding, (Including children who are still in training, or are victims of assault) and the mindwipe spell is irreversible because restoring the memories of someone who was falsely accused is considered healing magic, and thus forbidden. Galga himself was in the middle of pursuing an unknowing victim of forbidden magic and two children who were simply talking to him, even though he can clearly hear them talking about how they aren't responsible or aware of the forbidden magic being used. Considering he was perfectly willing to do this to a pair of innocent victims just moments before, we're left wondering if we're meant to feel sorry for him or feel Catharsis Factor for the many witches he and his friends must have unfairly banished in the past.
  • Arc Fatigue: Some fans have felt that the Silver Eve arc, which stretches from volume 9 to the present, has been going on for way too long compared to the previous arcs, which mostly only took up a few chapters. The main threat, the giant leech, has hanged around for so long with no indication of being defeated that it's become more of a background feature than a monster at this point.
  • Awesome Art: The artstyle of the manga is breathtaking, being very well detailed and gives the story the vibe of a fairytale.
  • Catharsis Factor: Although his appearance may be brief, the unnamed perverted witch in Chapter 49 sure did make a memorable first impression to the fanbase. Given the chapter's specific criticism and social commentary on the aforementioned chivalrous pervert trope as well as his absolutely loathsome, unrepentant predatory behavior, many found catharsis at his comeuppance and no one shed a single tear when Engendale used him as a living bomb to escape in Chapter 63.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Euini, the shy apprentice making the second test with Agott and Richeh. He's well liked for being an adorable woobie and an Implied Love Interest for Richeh.
    • Galga and Atwert for being a very rare case of a canon gay couple in manga that isn't Boy's Love, geikomi, yuri, or otherwise specifically aimed at LGBTQ+ audiences.
  • Epileptic Trees: Given that the Brimcaps have clearly taken an interest in her, not to mention that several imagination spot panels feature her in a darker attire with a brimmed cap, it's a very common theory that Coco will become a brimcap at one point, even if only temporarily.
  • Fan Nickname: The series itself is often referred on twitter as "Δ帽子" (Δ being a symbol for a triangle, while 帽子, read "boushi", means hat, referring to the manga's title and the witches' hats).
  • Fans Prefer the New Her: While Coco hasn't really changed into the outfit in the story itself (yet), Coco's appearance as a Brimcap Witch in various official artworks is very popular with fans, citing it as one of the best and most beautiful character designs to ever grace the manga. It comes to the point that most fans prefer to see her in her Brimhat getup over her default Pointy Hat outfit, despite knowing the possible dark path Coco could take should she don her Brimcap outfit one day.
  • Friendly Fandoms: If you can already tell from the list, the WHA fandom is very friendly to pretty much almost every other fandom (at least for now that is). Even with the fandoms you'd expect them to have a rivalry with. Examples include:
    • The fandoms of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Delicious in Dungeon and Witch Hat Atelier are incredibly intertwined due to all three being critically acclaimed fantasy mangas and with anime adaptations a year apart, to the point that folks started to call these three "The Big Three of Fantasy" or "The Fantasy Trifecta".
    • With Magus of the Library. It’s common to see fans of WHA also hype up Magus of the Library (one example being “now that WHA is getting the attention it deserves, time to now hype up Magus of the Library” being commented on Gigguk's video on WHA).
    • The WHA fandom has significant overlap with The Owl House fandom, largely due to the similar premise of a young girl discovering the world of magic and learning the darker aspects of magic society. It was revealed that both the creators of both series are big fans of each other's works. TOH’s creator has also confirmed that WHA was one of her main inspirations when making the The Owl House.
    • Despite perceived tensions, the rivalry between Harry Potter and WHA has less to do with the actual work or fanbase and more to do with J.K. Rowling's politics. In actuality, quite a number of WHA fans are actually Harry Potter fans who migrated fanbases due to growing disillusionment with Rowling's controversies.
    • WHA fans are also on very good terms with fans of Studio Ghibli. This is not surprising given the gorgeous artwork that both works are known for, as well as the fact that WHA is as every bit as whimsical as a Studio Ghibli film on manga format.
    • There is also some overlap between WHA fans and fans of Shadows House despite the two series' being as outwardly different as you can imagine. This could be because both series are dark fantasies masquerading as something lighter; compounded with a layer of deep mystery that both fandoms can appreciate. The friendly relations further exploded when Shirahama herself drew a fan portrait of Emilico on her twitter feed.
    • There is also an overlap with The Witch and the Beast despite the two manga being the complete tonal opposite of one another. This may be because both are traditional fantasynote , published by Kodansha, were released in 2016, are seinen titles, have excellent paneling and art direction, and are relatively underground series that had an anime announcement within the same year of 2022.
    • Special mention goes to the fanbase of Ascendance of a Bookworm. Given the similar premise of young girls overcoming challenges set by society of the time and trying to make it better through their skills. It is of no surprise that both fanbases are on good terms. This goes double when considering that the author of WHA is also good friends with the author of Bookworm.
    • An immediate one happened with Ichi the Witch, due to the very similar settings and art.
    • There is also quite a number overlap between fans of Reverse: 1999 and Witch Hat Atelier. This is likely due to the highly-complementary Art Deco and Art Nouveau aesthetics between the two settings, both franchises' reputation for their Costume Porn and both works showcasing a strong female protagonist of similar age with multiple strong female characters with their own agency.
    • Fans of Little Witch Academia quickly embraced the manga due to its similar premise of a Naïve Newcomer from a muggle lineage entering the world of magic, both sharing a magic=art metaphor, and some of the characters and dynamics being similar (particularly with Coco and Agott, who have drawn comparisons to Akko and Diana in LWA). It helps that Shirahama herself is a fan of LWA, having drawn fanart of Akko a few months before WHA's release.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Witch Hat Atelier is huge in Ukraine, thanks to being one of the first mangas to be officially released in the country since 2021note  and basically absorbing the entire manga and anime fandom due to being one of the only contemporary titles available to buy officially. Ukrainian publishers are also one of the few to sell special editions with bonus merch, and even after the increase in the published manga series it's not uncommon to promote them via similarity to WHA, such as the aforementioned Friendly Fandom Magus of the Library.
  • Ho Yay:
    • To some fans, Olruggio and Qifrey, since their attitude towards their apprentices, as well as their own intimate, long-standing friendship, makes it seem like they're a couple raising four kids.
      • As some fans point out, Olruggio is indicated to be a very well-respected and looked up to person among witchkind; it's easy to think that he could easily get a cushier job doing exactly what he does now. Regardless, his career choice allows him to spend his time living an arcadian life with Qifrey and their students in a cottage, furthering the "gay couple with four kids" reading of their relationship.
    • The Spin-Off, Kitchen of Witch Hat, is basically a domestic slice of life showing the two cooking and spending time together once the kids are sleeping, like a couple that is having some time alone. One chapter even includes Qifrey making a tart shaped like a bouquet of flowers for Olruggio.
  • Les Yay: Agott slowly warming up to Coco over time has a bit of a Tsundere flavor to it, complete with scenes of Agott getting red-faced and flustered over Coco's kindness, leading Agott/Coco to gain a bit of a following in a "rivals to lovers" sort of way.
  • Memetic Mutation: Jokes on how to actually pronounce half of the names in WHA is further exasperated with the various spellings due to different translators; all being canon. The most infamous is Agott, or is it Agate? Agete? Agethe? But then there are others which are borderline unpronounceable like Eoleo. It got to the point that when the anime was announced, there were much snickering that fans would finally have a chance to know how it is actually pronounced.
    • "SILVER TREE INK ARE PEOPLE!" - The Wham Line and Wham Shot of The Reveal on both the origin of Custas' wooden legs and the Silver Ink tree threw the fanbase into the storm, as it was exposed that the very magical ink that the witches use for their spells, came from the ink of a parasitic tree that also consumes humans. Hence, the comparison between the Silver Trees and Soylent Green became a meme.
  • Moe: Pretty much all of Qifrey's apprentices.
  • Periphery Demographic: The series runs in Monthly Morning Two, a Seinen magazine, meaning that in theory, the intended audience would be male readers above the age of 18. However, the lack of things like nudity and gratuitous violence combined with a fanciful setting with a young protagonist has gotten the series a lot of younger readers, some of whom weren't even aware that they're not the intended audience.note  What's more, the prominent presence of handsome older male characters like Qifrey has garnered plenty of female readers as well. Likewise, it can also be said that because of how WHA handles its themes with a delicate and mature manner. WHA is able to attract ''various'' audiences from different age groups as WHA, for a seinen, is very friendly to much younger audiences as well as old folks, parents, and yes, men as well even when mature and sensitive topics are brought up in the manga.
  • Rooting for the Empire: Because of how dictatorial and unreasonable the Knights Moralis are when it comes to upholding the law, some fans started to be more sympathetic to the Brimmed-Caps despite their ethically callous actions. With some believing that Custas would have never fallen had the Pointed-Cap society been more flexible with their magical knowledge.
  • Shocking Moments: Witch Hat Atelier has its moments when it likes to remind the reader that they are still reading a Seinen manga for a good reason. Examples include:
    • Euini's transformation and the truth of the citizens of Romanon. What was meant to be the second test for Qifrey's students like those of Harry Potter or Little Witch Academia, suddenly became an entire arc filled with body horror and body modifications. If anything, this is the reader's first experience of magically-induced body horror on the lines of Fullmetal Alchemist.
    • Qifrey mind-wiping Olruggio and Nolnoa was equally shocking given that, beforehand, he appeared to be a fine, clumsy but competent and caring master. The fact that he coldly mindwipe even his closest friend tells us that he is hiding something really, really dark.
    • Custas' falling to the Brimmed Caps was equally tragic as it came right after a legitimately happy chapter of Coco and Tartah gifting Custas a new means of locomotion (i.e. to fly like a witch). Unfortunately, Dagda being ambushed not long after by bandits is where everything went downhill for him.
    • Chapter 62 and 63 gave us a wham shot of our first truly Eldritch monstrosity which is a kaiju-sized carpet leech that looks like something out of Evangelion. The fact that it was created after it ingested the corrupted blood of the witch pervert by Engendale, the most feeble-looking ex-Wise to grace this series, is equally shocking. Moreover, the pervert's body transformation as a living bomb is a level of body horror so extreme, it overshadowed Euini's transformation, as it fits more in line with Berserk and Made in Abyss of all mangas than it does with WHA. Given the overall lack of gore and violence in the series, what happened to the pervert is truly unprecedented.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Although they were always meant to be more on the morally grey side of things, the Knights Moralis are considered as tertiary protagonists on a technical level. However, other than Luluci, their stubborn and borderline inquisitorial approach to law made them very difficult to emphasise with. This has made them look far more dictatorial and cold than they actually are in private. This would later culminate with how they treated Galga after he was mindwiped by Ininia. Even though Galga was their former comrade, the fact that they decided to boot him to an island that is best described as a magical psychiatric ward, whilst coldly stating to Galga’s lover that there is nothing they can do to reverse the effect (Even though they could via forbidden magic), really soured the fandom's perception of them.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Witch Hat Atelier follows a young girl entering a fanciful world of magic along with some of her similarly aged peers, bringing a lot of inevitable comparisons to similarly-themed child-friendly series like Little Witch Academia— but Witch Hat Atelier actually runs in a Seinen magazine, meaning the intended audience would be men aged 18 or older. Witch Hat Atelier contains very little to no instances of some of the more stereotypical markers of a seinen manga, such as graphic violence or nudity, so it is in theory perfectly acceptable for younger readers. On the other hand, it does contain more mature themes that might be confusing or distressing to a younger audience, such as disability discrimination, forced body modification and, as of Volume 9, the sexual abuse of children.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Little Girls?: Because it does resemble moe slice-of-life manga of the mid 2010s and the series initially presented itself as a whimsical witch series, many have mistaken it to be aimed at the Shoujo demographic. In actuality, beneath that facade is a world filled with political strife, widespread censorship and morally grey dilemmas, which while not uncommon to shoujo manga is definitely not the child-friendly series it was initially mistaken for. Add the fact that it's published in a seinen magazine and much more blood and Body Horror in the later parts of the series, and you have this trope.

Alternative Title(s): Tongari Booshi No Atorie

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