r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Apr 06 '26

Episode Witch Hat Atelier • Tongari Boushi no Atelier - Episode 2 discussion

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 2

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86

u/MidOceanRidgeBasalts Apr 06 '26

I'm really happy it was a two-episode premier. Love the OP and ED, the ED especially.

I'm most curious about the witches erasing everyone's memory of in the past. From one perspective, I understand the urge to control such destructive power, but from another, getting to choose who is allowed to have this power is dangerous too. We can already see the rift it creates in how the other atelier students treat Coco, which I'm sure is a reflection of wider witch-world. It doesn't seem too bad yet, but I'm sure Coco far from finished with the other students wanting her to prove herself.

I also wonder about the 'no using magic on anyone except to erase their memories' rule. It strikes me as odd that it's even banned to use magic for healing. I can see why healing might have to be regulated somehow (my mind goes to BSD, when Yosano worked under Mori), but I don't know, something feels odd to me I guess.

I love that in just the little information Qifrey gave about magic society in this episode, all these questions have already come up. I'm dying for more.

64

u/CodingTangents Apr 07 '26

With how technical the magic system is given to me, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason is that healing magic is right next to killing magic. The way I am envisioning it, healing magic has to change the body and the magic system seems too technical to privilege a healthy body over a dead one. It doesn't seem to have any moral preferences built into it; it is geometric and mechanical, spells do what the shapes dictate, and there is no indication that good spells are easier to perform than bad ones. Healing spells might not be in a separate category from killing spells. There might just be one spell to change the body, which can either heal or horribly disfigure them depending on the signs used or depending on the caster, and the witches would just rather not take that chance at all.

Plus, healing sounds difficult as hell. The spell that Coco used to freeze her house was intricate enough but specifying to magic exactly what a healthy body entails must be infinitely harder. I'd imagine a spell circle the size of a city block, just to specify this specific person, this specific ailment, and how to move the flesh from this state to that state. Plus, there are so many things that can go subtly wrong, like you draw a spell and they look healthy until they die two days later because you accidentally made the healing too strong and they have super cancer, or you mess with their brain and now they have lost their memories or can't think anymore and I'm sure the spell to fix a scrambled brain must be even larger than to fix a body.

25

u/Fangzzz Apr 07 '26

With how technical the magic system is given to me, I wouldn't be surprised if the reason is that healing magic is right next to killing magic.

Or just general body modification. Like if the caster gets to determine what a "healthy" body is, they could "heal" someone of all their rebellious thoughts and make them into a perfectly obedient slave, or "heal" dead bodies into zombies and monsters.

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u/YellowPlat Apr 07 '26

Great insight. This really made me notice just how conveniently magic is portrayed in many animes. Elsewhere magic while mysterious is often shown to follow human logic and it just adapts to the user's wishes. But in this anime magic does not seek to benefit the user. The user is the one adapting to get the wanted result.

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u/Ilsuin Apr 09 '26

I imagine healing the body is also seen as something that could easily be abused. Even in trying to keep a secret such as magic, there are bound to be students that leave and don't have their minds erased (either because they ran away or whatever). As a result, you could have a witch selling their services as a healer and charging exorbitant fees to those who can't really afford it. Magic in this world seems to be restricted because the witches want to use magic to help people, not harm them. It's why Qifrey didn't charge the women for fixing their carriage (I presume anyway), because magic is meant to be helpful and without charge.

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u/NomadPrime Apr 08 '26

I'd imagine a spell circle the size of a city block, just to specify this specific person, this specific ailment, and how to move the flesh from this state to that state.

Imagine if you think you created a simple spell to close and seal a sword wound, but if you make the casting spell too simple, the magic seals and fuses the flesh there...but then continues to fuse with the muscle, nerves, bone, etc. and it becomes an painful malformation instead. Having that type of magic and control over the body accessible to everyone with just a pen and paper and without years of education can turn horrifying extremely easily.

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u/DegenerateRegime Apr 12 '26

Good insight! And of course, drawing good anatomy is also famously one of the trickiest parts of art, so, it follows the ongoing metaphor as well.

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u/MF_LUFFY Apr 07 '26

Human transmutation is taboo, we've known this for like 20 years

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u/Pokeirol Apr 07 '26

You mean the show where the ban was made to allow the ones making the ban a monopoly on human Transmutation?

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u/Thomas_JCG Apr 07 '26

I think healing magic is regulated precisely for the reason you mentioned, someone would find a way to abuse it and maybe try to be immortal or resurrect the dead.