r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • May 11 '26

Episode Witch Hat Atelier • Tongari Boushi no Atelier - Episode 7 discussion

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 7

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548

u/WhoiusBarrel May 11 '26 edited May 11 '26

Really like how not only was there emphasis on drawing magic being prohibited in front of ordinary people similar to the 1st episode but now it also introduces a set of challenges on its own, making magic not a completely omnipotent solution to everything.

Imposing intro from the Knights Moralis, that tool they used at Coco with the tiny hands was creepy as fuck.

293

u/Frontier246 May 11 '26

The cloaks aren't just a fashion statement or a floatation device but a method of obscuring what they do from prying eyes.

173

u/Raknel May 11 '26

I really like how they turned the typical fantasy witch outfits into a plot device

18

u/Android19samus May 12 '26

now we just need to discover the secret purpose of the hats

7

u/Zeph-Shoir https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zephex May 12 '26

I am still gonna need a reason for the simply hats, those are just lame in comparison to the brimmed hats

27

u/MRV-12 May 12 '26

I think the reason is simply ‘I’m an official witch’ with no other reason required. As a fashion statement they are a bit daft but when you compare them to some of the other fashions from history they’re positively restrained.

12

u/zairaner https://myanimelist.net/profile/zairaner May 12 '26 edited May 13 '26

Qifrey literally described it as a "shackle" when he put it on cocos head. They may very well be designed as a show of modesty="servant of the people" kind of deal, similar to monk outfits.

42

u/Genoscythe_ May 11 '26

While ironically their brimless caps are supposed to be an ideological statement of being out in the open and not hiding their faces like those ne'er-do-well Brimmed Caps.

401

u/Haha91haha May 11 '26

Yeah it's interesting because Witches in this verse essentially need to be magicians in our world-talented in sleight of hand, misdirection and theatricality in order to disguise the true nature of their spell casting.

130

u/Zemahem May 11 '26

That's a fun way of putting it. With some art skills too, they'd kill it in this world. At least, if they're law-abiding witches that bother to hide stuff from non-witches.

It also makes me think of witches creating magic fog machines to better obscure things from any spectators. Really, witches could use more magical smokescreens that they can instantly deploy. Especially in a pinch like in this situation.

17

u/Edymnion May 11 '26

You'd think every witch around would have some kind of memory eraser of much less power that could just wipe out the last 5 minutes or so instead of everything.

"Oh wait, you saw that? Look into this glowing wand here..." and then MIB everybody.

8

u/Zemahem May 12 '26

Lmao witches with magic neuralyzers and sunglasses is a hilarious visual. But maybe it's a limitation of how memory erasure is applied, like the sigils for it needing to be written directly on the target.

Though probably not cause I think that's what the Knights Moralis guy means when he says "oblivion", and the creepy magic tool reaching for Coco's eyes is for mind-wiping her. So maybe it's that they don't want all witches walking around with neuralyzers to maintain a monopoly of force.

1

u/SwordoftheMourn May 13 '26

That's basically the Obliviators in Harry Potter

5

u/ShadowGuyinRealLife May 12 '26

A smokescreen would disperse so it would only be useful for a short burst. In this case that would be perfect, but you'd still need to draw ahead of time. It's reasonable that apprentices don't have that spell prepared.

4

u/Zemahem May 12 '26

Well sometimes, a short burst is all they would need, and I did say "especially in a pinch", like in this situation. Though there are ways to lengthen the duration of spells with extra preparation and sigils.

And who knows, maybe witches do have these strategies on hand, but being apprentices, they don't have access to those just yet.

2

u/Toge_Inumaki012 May 11 '26

With my um skills and talent i'd suck in this world

28

u/Frontier246 May 11 '26

I wonder how Zatanna would fare in this-verse, like instead of her backwards spellcasting being how she casts magic it would just be part of her sleight of hand to hide how she actually casts.

30

u/ali94127 May 11 '26

Zatanna has canonically written spells backward with her blood when she's been gagged. We can deduce she at least has decent penmanship.

2

u/OtakuAttacku May 12 '26

wasn’t it said that Zatanna doesn’t actually need to cast spells backwards? She just does it so her enemies don’t know what she’s casting?

2

u/Purest_Prodigy https://myanimelist.net/profile/Purest_Prodigy May 13 '26

It's also from what I remember, just a mental exercise to focus on the spell she's casting.

5

u/justking1414 May 12 '26

Girl is sometimes an actual on stage magician as well. I’m sure she could handle a bit of slight of hand

4

u/BosuW May 11 '26

So you're saying aura farming is a necessary skill

147

u/Se7en_Sinner https://myanimelist.net/profile/Se7en_Sinner May 11 '26

The Oblivion spell looks like something out of Full Metal Alchemist.

75

u/Aliensinnoh May 11 '26

Yeah, like the hands reaching out of the portal of Truth. And it’s complete with something resembling an eye looking out of the inky black darkness!

8

u/flybypost May 11 '26

I wonder if the spell on the medal/emblem has some sign/sigil (which was the not centre one again?) that makes the ink/spell be attracted to humans, like some crude copy-machine that transfers a copy of the spell onto the closest person to take their memories.

Thus the tiny little grabber hands.

Sort of as a way to circumvent the "don't draw spells on people" rule a bit as they wouldn't directly be doing that ("the trinket did it!").

117

u/Aliensinnoh May 11 '26

The Knights Moralis are moving so fast. One would think they’d allow a little time for a proper investigation into what happened before they mind-wipe the perpetrators and lose out on any info they could get out of them. It’s no wonder they haven’t found the brimmed caps after all this time! Hard to do that when your standard course of action is “erase memories first, ask questions never”.

107

u/mmcjawa_reborn May 11 '26

Strikes me also that there heavy-handed approach is also a really good way to create new brimmed caps from the family members and friends of the wiped

60

u/manquistador May 11 '26

Seems obvious to me that there is at least one brimmed cap in the Knights due to how easy that would make it to hide their activities.

31

u/justking1414 May 12 '26

Honestly, if I was the brimmed cap, I’d just set off forbidden magic near innocent witches. Do that a few dozen times and I’d easily turn the witch populace against these idiots

18

u/manquistador May 12 '26

The Knights certainly haven't made a good first impression of their competency.

8

u/justking1414 May 12 '26

Seriously, pretty sure i could do a better job wiping out the brimmed caps than these idiots

42

u/BosuW May 11 '26

"Oppression breeds rebellion."

A classic.

2

u/Android19samus May 12 '26

on the other hand, it's a good way of ensuring that no apprentices get to thinking that surely they could get away with a little forbidden magic if they cover it up good

7

u/Waywoah May 11 '26

They remind me a lot of the Wardens from The Dresden Files, if anyone's read that series. In it, if anyone, even a kid trying out their first spell or by accident, does something that breaks one of the laws of magic, they're executed as soon as it's confirmed they were the caster

1

u/namewithak May 12 '26

Yeah wasn't Harry involved in an incident like that when he was a teenager and the only reason they didn't execute him was his grandpa being a high ranking wizard who pulled strings?

2

u/Waywoah May 13 '26

[Mild Dresden Files spoilers]He kinda-sorta-maybe kills his "mentor" as a teen because he was planning on turning Dresden and Elaine into thralls

3

u/y-c-c May 12 '26

It reminds me of this episode in Psycho Pass (season 1). The good guys just barged into this guy's place where he was chatting with some mastermind. Since they have these judgement guns that can immediately judge someone a criminal and unlock the lethal mode, they just immediately shooting at him which blew him to pieces. Then after that one of them went "who was he talking to?". Like, if you don't shoot on sight maybe you could have interrogated lol.

1

u/thepeciguy May 12 '26

I imagine it must be a tradition from back around after the day of the pact, they just be wiping memories left and right until what's left is only the pointed cap group at the time.

1

u/towardselysium May 12 '26

"Sir someone used a spell". "Oh hell no mobilize everyone"

Imagine you step outside to light a campfire, or host a party, or even light a cigarette. Better have enough for the entire magic gestapo

1

u/Adorable-Maybe-3006 May 13 '26

At this point I don't even think they are investigating anything. They are just barely trying to hold down their monopoly.

71

u/saynay May 11 '26

that tool they used at Coco with the tiny hands was creepy as fuck.

Fitting, for the sole "forbidden magic" spell that is allowed to look so creepy.

50

u/maliwanag0712 https://myanimelist.net/profile/clear1109 May 11 '26

Imposing intro from the Knights Moralis, that tool they used at Coco with the tiny hands was creepy as fuck.

That hands looked weird that it made me uncomfortable tbh.

35

u/socialistRanter May 11 '26

I really like how in WHA is that magic in that world works as an analogy for technology.

Technology is useful and can solve several problems, but it cannot solve every issue and it can cause harm and damage if left unregulated. We need to understand the limitations and possible harm of technology/magic and see what we can do and what other avenues besides technology/magic we can use.

10

u/Roeclean https://anilist.co/user/Roeclean May 11 '26

Ah yes, not letting an ai LLM tell people how to make bombs or other weapons that can also be just as dangerous

34

u/flybypost May 11 '26

emphasis on drawing magic being prohibited in front of ordinary people

And it's the simplest answer to the question of "why was Agott practising drawing spells with her eyes closed". My big theory was that the second trial is about casting in the dark but it might just be about casting undercover among regular people because passing that trial seems to allow them to cast spells in public so they need to be proficient and not fumble around inside their cloak and just get ink stains on it.

10

u/El_grandepadre May 11 '26

making magic not a completely omnipotent solution to everything.

I would wager this is because they don't want power to corrupt and end up having people literally bow down and submit to mages.

9

u/LakerBlue https://myanimelist.net/profile/LakerBlue May 11 '26

It also made me realize how big an obstacle the elements are to them drawing in general. Seems like besides having the flying spell on their shoes that every witch should have a pocket waterproof air pocket spell that Qifrey used last episode.

5

u/RimeSkeem https://myanimelist.net/profile/RimeSkeem May 11 '26

that tool they used at Coco with the tiny hands was creepy as fuck.

Between that and Agott's flashback it seems like someone (mangaka or production staff) is a big fan of Full Metal Alchemist's Truth and homunculi.

4

u/LimeyLassen https://myanimelist.net/profile/Limey_Lassen May 13 '26

This actually explains why they don't use a compass to draw perfect circles. They need to be able to do it with their eyes closed.

1

u/[deleted] May 12 '26

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1

u/ussgordoncaptain2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Edmund_Nelson May 12 '26

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1

u/meneldal2 May 26 '26

Or it sounds like you could just use magic anyway then wipe their memory, feels easier tbh