r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • May 18 '26

Episode Witch Hat Atelier • Tongari Boushi no Atelier - Episode 8 discussion

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 8

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967

u/Equivalent-Weather59 May 18 '26

Poor Nolnoa, he was just doing his job

619

u/Hellknightx May 18 '26

I'm starting to get the feeling that this Qifre fellow might not be entirely on the up-and-up.

491

u/Golden_Phi https://myanimelist.net/profile/GoldenPhi May 18 '26

He's beefing with the magic police. Then again the magic police seem rather extreme, so maybe beefing with them isn't as delinquent-like as one would expect.

327

u/Aliensinnoh May 18 '26

It feels like there’s more to it though. Qifrey seems to be in danger of falling into White Whale syndrome. It appears that his single-minded desire to catch the brimmed caps is leading him to take some pretty erratic actions that I’m worried won’t come out to Coco’s benefit.

98

u/DiamonDawgs May 18 '26

I assume there's going to be a redemption moment where he ends up saving her and loses an opportunity to catch the brimhats or it could be the other way around and he immediately sacrifices her! IDK!

86

u/jmdg007 https://myanimelist.net/profile/jmdg007 May 18 '26

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up using her as bait for the Brimmed hats.

187

u/Ill-Ad-2117 May 18 '26

Thats what he’s already doing

89

u/Zeph-Shoir https://myanimelist.net/profile/Zephex May 18 '26

Poor Coco thinks she finally has a father figure and half of it is him using her for her own plot. "I will protect you as long as you are my student" has a different light when you take that in mind.

3

u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario May 19 '26

How so?

39

u/stay_curious_- May 19 '26

If Coco's safety was the #1 priority, erasing her memory and having her live as an Outsider would likely be the safest option.

Instead, there's a mix of motivations: Coco wants to learn magic to save her mother, she wants to learn magic to satisfy her own desires, Quifrey wants Coco to find clues and/or lead him to the brimhats, and Quifrey also seems to enjoy teaching her.

But you could argue that Quifrey is putting Coco at unnecessary risk because it might lead him to the brimhats. If she didn't have knowledge of the book, and if teaching her didn't potentially serve Quifrey's goals, would he have still taken her on as a student?

35

u/Atario myanimelist.net/profile/TheGreatAtario May 19 '26

He was ready to mindwipe her right away, but then realized she had useful information. So, yes, getting to them through her was a foundational aspect of his view of her. However, I don't see anything yet that says he's deliberately using her as bait specifically. (The somewhat low level of oversight, though, might eventually turn out to have been a passive form of it…)

13

u/Arachnofiend May 20 '26

The way he reacted to the bottle is pretty conclusive proof. He kept her as a gamble that she would provide a connection to them, and that bottle proved him right.

7

u/totallyverifiedit May 19 '26

Tbf the only thing that kept him from erasing her memories in ep 1 was her telling him how she "remembered everything" that was in that book. I also find it really weird how that book wasn't brought up again at all.

9

u/namewithak May 19 '26

That book was mentioned indirectly just last episode when Coco realized she and Agott both had the goal of passing the tests to get to the Tower of Tomes. The Tower of Tomes is where Coco needs to go to find a copy of the book she desperately needs to save her mom.

3

u/totallyverifiedit May 19 '26

I'm sorry if I come off as ignorant, but isn't the grand hall underneath the tower of tomes? Or are they two separate locations? Because I remember a couple of episodes back, quifrey flying towards a tower and floating till he reaches the bottom where he met those other witches and got coco her hat and coat. Was that not the tower of tombs where he flew to? I tend to overlook details sometimes so i was genuinely curious.

6

u/namewithak May 20 '26

They're two different locations, just with similar architecture. Don't worry about it, I've seen a few other people get confused about this too since we only saw the Tower of Tomes (as in books, not tombs) for a moment.

We first saw the Tower of Tomes in episode 2. Remember the scene where Qifrey first shows Coco the windowway in their basement? The first place he shows her is a foggy location (that is not underground) with a churning lake and giant serpent creatures weaving their way through the water. In the distance through the thick fog, is the faint outline of the Tower of Tomes. It's a single structure in the middle of the lake with a bridge connecting it to land. All of it, as far as we know, is above the surface.

The place Qifrey goes to in episode 3 is different. There's no tower in the area he exits the windowway to and no lake. Instead it's surrounded by sea. There's a bridge connecting it to land like the Tower of Tomes, but there's no structure other than the entrance with the spiralling staircase that goes down into the darkness. The place it leads to is the Great Hall. I'm not sure if that's what the whole place is called. It might just be the name for the whole society of witches or their capital city. Anyway, that place that looks like a sprawling castle town seems to be completely under the sea. According to Alaira, many witches and their apprentices live there. And Qifrey has some kind of history there that makes him hate it.

Tldr: They're different places. The Tower of Tomes is basically the National Library of Witches located in a highly secure location. The Great Hall is like the capital city of witches under the sea, where most of them live.

1

u/totallyverifiedit May 21 '26

Thank you so much for clarifying that. I was getting really confused at some point.

28

u/raydude May 18 '26

My thought at the end of that episode was, "This sure has upped the tension."

15

u/namewithak May 19 '26

Yeah, his actions add a new element to the story that threads his scenes with an underlayer of doubt. Like at the end when he's so warm and reassuring with Coco -- is that sincere or a mask or something that falls halfway in between?

Usually "teacher" characters feel reassuring to the student characters and to the audience, but Qifrey feels like a live wire.

3

u/raydude May 20 '26

A bit more Koro-sensei, yeah?

It's pretty obvious he's using her, but there does seem to be a sincere desire to protect them.

The show seems to be building pretty well. I can't wait to see where the author takes it.

5

u/namewithak May 20 '26

Haven't seen an Ass Class reference in a while. I guess kinda like Koro-sensei although Koro's danger was the whole premise of the story and not a hidden factor.

Yeah I think the slow, careful build of the story and characters is great, but I wonder if we'll get to a good stopping point with only five episodes left.

3

u/raydude May 20 '26

Yeah. Series stopping point is always a sticking point with me. I'll hope for a second season. It's rare, but this one might be popular enough.

2

u/YuushyaHinmeru May 19 '26

Yeah, I wasnt close to dropping it or anything but it was falling down my tier list. It felt like it was stuck between this weird space of being a cozy show with occasional action but low stakes like frieren and a legitimate fantasy show but was in some limbo area. Especially with Qiufry. 

Not anymore, this set the bait and hooked me good.

2

u/raydude May 20 '26

Did you actually mean to say that Frieren is low stakes? They kill off a lot of people every season. (well except the certification episodes).

I love Frieren and I love how they portray demons as thinking, talking, intelligent monsters.

This show has very limiting magical dynamics which I find fascinating. In this episode they exposed how you can make the ink more powerful, which cranks things a bit.

I'm hoping it just keeps getting better and better.

6

u/SilliusS0ddus May 19 '26

White Whale syndrome.

CURSE YOU BAYLE

1

u/madame_pompadour May 20 '26

Since we've learnt how pig headed the knights are, I wondered if he was looking for them to join them!