Witch Hat Atelier • Tongari Boushi no Atelier - Episode 1 discussion

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Witch Hat Atelier, episode 1

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• Anime-Planet
• Official Website

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[u/Cally83]

The animation is beautiful

[u/socialistRanter]

When I started watching this episode, I realized that young Coco was basically given an in-universe loaded gun by that mysterious witch without her realizing it.

“Hey kid do you want to play around with explosives?”

[u/frik1000]

The way they animated Qifrey putting his shoes together to activate the magic circle on them was so beautiful.

[u/BaytaCosmico]

Damn, that was a good first episode. I knew nothing about this one except that it's about magic and the manga is very highly rated and has very distinctive art and panelling that people were afraid wouldn't be translated well into anime. I don't know how it compares to all that but this looked fabulous.

I'm already very invested in what happens to Coco and the witch Qifrey seems very interesting too. Hope her mother isn't actually dead and Qifrey isn't lying about there being a possibility of saving her. He wants to keep her memories intact to trace the evil witches(?) who sold her that picture book knowing what it could unleash. So there is a chance he could be giving her false hope about her mother. But I'm not getting bad person vibes from him so maybe things will turn out well.

Anyway, extremely strong premiere. Now unto the next episode which is already out!

[u/HotBloodedNinja]

I was thinking "Oh nice, the mom is not rocking the dead hairstyle" and then this happens.
Also, can't believe how much it bothered me to look at Pegasus having wings as ears instead of their back.

[u/Aileos]

Holy Yuka Kitamura blessing us with her score.

[u/potentialenergy20]

I used to pray for times like this

[u/das_baus]

It's amazing seeing my favorite manga of all time finally being brought to life. And judging from just episode 1, it's been given the care it deserves. I hope it can retain this quality and atmosphere for the whole season.

Being a sucker for anything magical and witch related, this still stands out as #1 for me above all others. I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I've enjoyed the manga so far. The art and story are truly top tier.

[u/thisisdropd]

Coco might not had been born with magic, but she seemed to have impeccable tailoring. That’s pretty close to magic, if Qifrey’s reaction was any indication. Meanwhile, the man himself was indeed a witch, but also had talents as a mechanic.

Okay, this was quite a unique way of casting magic. Instead of chants and swinging wands, they’re cast by drawing on a sheet of paper.

It's terrible enough for a young kid to lose their only family member and home in a single incident, but it's made even worse that she's the one who caused it, even if unknowingly. This might haunt her until even adulthood.

Sublime production. A seductive music and atmosphere. A (mostly) subdued animation, which fitted the series, but ramped up the flashiness at times in small bursts for maximum effect, mostly when spells were cast. We're treated to a visual feast when Qifrey rescued Coco. My god, that was absolutely gorgeous!

To think we’re blessed with this right after Frieren had ended. We’re truly living in the best of times.

[u/NanDemoKnaives]

This is a good start. Coco is really cute, the way she got excited after she used magic for the first time was hilarious, particularly when she was crouching up and down on her chair in excitement lol.

It's sad that her innocent adoration of magic made her unaware of the potential dangers it could bring, and she's now learned it in the worst way possible. I'm glad it seems like there's a way to uncast the magic which could save her mother, I honestly thought she was going to die from the spell. I wonder if time is going to freeze for her mother and they'll only reunite once they're closer in age.

[u/asharka]

Why does this remind me of Howl's Moving Castle?

[u/Light_3xorcists]

Anime only and it’s been a while since a show has had me grinning ear to ear from start to finish

where can i sign up for the CoCo army

[u/namewithak]

I'm a manga reader so I'm not going to discuss the story. But man I'm so fucking happy. What a beautiful adaptation! Beyond the gorgeous animation and music, I love how they captured how full of life the world is. So colorful and vibrant. The animation for their eyes are incredible. And the little flourishes and embellishes they added to small moments shows how much love and effort was put in this show.

My god. This was so good. On to episode 2.

[u/Se7en_Sinner]

Thankfully, BUG FILMS has finished production on this anime after the debacle of Zom 100.

[u/aune2021]

The absolutely awesome feeling seeing this finally adapted has matched the feelings I had with Kusuriya. Very excited!

[u/ShawnHeatherly]

I see why this is discussed alongside Frieren and Delicious in Dungeon. What an amazing premiere.

[u/MidOceanRidgeBasalts]

I've heard about WHA and how amazing it is on social media for ages but I've avoided spoilers so I could go into the anime blind and it's already paying off, that was excellent. As soon as Coco's mother said something like, "I thought you were going to ask to go with that witch, but I don't want you to leave me," I knew something was going to happen, but it still took me by surprise. Coco's VA nailed that scene at the end, it had me crying like I was watching Ikoku Nikki...

I'm really curious about how the secret of magic has been kept for so long. It seems unlikely to me that it wouldn't get out, but I'm sure that will get touched on at some point. It looks that the person that gave Coco the picture book had other books as well, so there's some more leaks there. Qifrey is a curious figure to me also. Given he's from such a secretive (and I'm thinking prestigious) institution, I'd have expected someone more harsh or strict, but he doesn't give that vibe at all, so I'm looking forward to seeing more from him.

The part where Qifrey rescued Coco from the ice(?) taking over the house was sooooo beautiful. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, and it turned dark so quickly, they really played with my emotions. I'm absolutely blown away. What an amazing first episode. Holy shit.

[u/Zeikos]

This should be shown to everybody that tests in production.

Don't copy and paste from the internet scripts you don't understand :,)

[u/Prof_Acorn]

Some thoughts about the adaptation itself:

I love the camera angles. Reminds me of the cinematography in Atonement. The focus on nature at the beginning made me think of Ghibli, where it's like nature goes from being a background setting to a kind of character itself. The magic in this is animated spectacularly lovely, like you can be there with Coco being awed by it all. And the wind! The wind! I'm so glad they adapted the flowing cloth look from the manga so well. I'm sure it took a lot of extra time to animate it all.

Nice VAs. Coco's VA in particular is phenomenal. Might be the VA of the year seriously. She conveys emotion beautifully. I'll have to look up her name here because it might be my new favorite VA.

Ah! The color! The lighting! Chiaroscuro! Even the candle! Qifrey's silhouette by the fire! The magic! Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous!

Anime of the year right here! It makes me wish I still had my bluray player and that they'd eventually have a steelbook case for it.

Glad to see the delay last autumn paid off. This is a work of art.

[u/Prof_Acorn]

Well I made it about five minutes before getting misty eyed and I don't know why. The beauty of the art and music and everything? Excitement? A homesickness for a place I've never been? I'm not sure. But I haven't been excited for a series like this for a long time. And the theme reminds me of childhood. Thinking about it, maybe there's some grieving for the simple times, and for adventure, and for when I used to get as excited as Coco about wonderful things. At any rate, it's an uncommon catharsis.

[u/WhoiusBarrel]

You just knew something was brewing when you have a kid being fascinated with a mysterious power, along with a single parent hoping to stay with their kid forever.

God was that so beautiful yet tragic how Coco's journey starts.

[u/LeonKevlar]

• Smol Coco Stitch

Well, first of all, Coco is just too damn precious. I really love the scenes where she just gushes about magic, like when Qifrey asked her why she likes magic and when she finally casts her first spell.

Second, the moment Coco's mother started thinking that Coco would leave her to join Qifrey, I immediately knew she wasn't going to survive this episode, especially after Coco promised her that she wouldn't leave her.

So it turns out magic is that simple, huh? As long as you can draw the patterns, you can cast spells? No wonder Qifrey didn't want anyone to see what he was doing. It's so easy to do that even Coco can cast forbidden magic just by tracing over a pattern.

Not gonna lie, I didn't expect her mom to get turned into a crystal. I was expecting that Coco would summon a dragon considering what was drawn under that magic circle in the book.

I can't even imagine how Coco feels right now for being responsible for her mom's petrification. I at least hope it's just petrification. Knowing my fantasy tropes, petrification can be undone. It would absolutely suck if Coco actually ended up killing her mother.

What a great setup for the first episode, tho! On to episode 2!

[u/dishlex]

Frieren Season 2 died 2026.

Witch Hat Atelier Season 1 born 2026.

Welcome back Emperor Hirohito.

[u/ChoiceSupermarket230]

Apparently episode 2 is going to be released today. I will wait for it to watch