(L) Witch Hat Atelier [Manga]

[Twi]

Coco is the young daughter of a seamstress and loves magic. She even dreamed of becoming a magician since she was little, when she received a pen and picture book from a strange witch in an alley. But people who don't know how to use magic since birth are unable to become magicians, or witness the moment magic occurs... or so its commonly told.

One day, she and her mother are visited by a group of wealthy women, accompanied by the witch Qifrey. Their magic chariot breaks down, but the witch assures them that he can fix it, given time and privacy. Hiding out in secret, Coco discovers the truth of magic: It's actually done by drawing glyphs.

Realizing that, she attempts to use the picture book and pen she received as a child, only for the magic to spiral out of control, leaving her mother petrified. Rescued by Qifrey, Coco joins him as an apprentice of witch in order to save her mother.

So, in this setting, magic has been masqueraded as something only people with natural talent can use, but the truth is that its done via magic ink and drawing glyphs . In the past this was common knowledge, but people started abusing it and a magic council erased the knowledge from the general public. The magic system is fairly well defined and you see various applications of the magic in daily life.

It's a Hero's Journey for Coco as she seeks to find a way to save her mother, while being challenged by a faction of criminal witches that are known to use hats to hide their faces, specially their eyes, called Brimhats. The art is fantastic and so far the characters are pretty interesting, as well as the way they use their magic.

There's a really good review here if you want more in-depth information, a tv tropes page for some tropes involving the series, and the manga updated today.

[Twi]

The manga recently updated. They explain more on the magical inks, like how additions of certain things prolongs the effect or makes the lines invisible.

Spoiler:

Then it turns out that the Brim Hat replaced Coco's Ink with his own blood-made ink, enhancing her magic so that her spell ran over its normal strength and ended up drying up a river. Qifrey, whose out for blood against them, ends up erasing the memories of the ink-maker to hide that fact so that he can find them.

[Twi]

A lot of good news. The manga updated with several chapters, the summary of which I'll place below, and its been licensed for an english release by kodansha:

Spoiler:

Qifrey tries to investigate the magic within her bottle, only to get schooled by a Brimhat who destroys it after sealing him in a water bubble so he can't draw. Then Coco has nightmares that stop her from sleeping because she feels guilt about her mother, causing her to fall ill. Heading to the hospital, Tartar finds her and wants to help but his blindness screws him over until he comes up with the clever idea to sort the liquids from the solids using magic and then Coco helps him draw magic that can turn powder that had been broken down previously into its original form for a moment, long enough for him to see the shapes since he memorized the herbs. This both reinvigorates his desire to use magic as well as give Coco a clue to save her Mother.

[LKK]

Originally Posted by Twi

... its been licensed for an english release by kodansha

Thread prefix updated. All rules for licensed manga are now in effect.

[James Rye]

I like this magic system and how everybody could use it if it was known. Kinda like reading or writing, many people couldn't do that in the middle ages and today nearly everybody can.

[Twi]

I like how structured it is, and how the ink and design influences. Your practical skill and knowledge have more weight because of that. Though people like Tartar are kind of screwed, Coco's method of helping him showed what a fresh perspective it could bring.

[DragonOsman]

I just read Chapter 17.

It's a good series. But I have some complaints about the witches' system.

I understand why they had to ban any magic that's cast on the human body except for the kind that erases memories, but I think the idea is flawed. And as the Brimhat who gave Coco her picture book said, magic is currently a lie. They're lying to protect the secret of magic. There's no way a lie can last forever; sooner or later, it'll come out. And the whole idea of designating magic cast on the human body as forbidden is stupid and flawed because 1. when "bad" witches attack, the "good" witches may not able to easily fight back since they aren't allowed to attack in the first place, and because 2. banning healing magic is a dumb idea since if they were allowed to cast healing magic, they'd be able to easily heal injured people on the spot.

I understand them trying to prevent another war, but the current solution isn't good enough. Instead of hiding how magic is cast, I think they should've come up with a system where witches who use magic to harm others would be punished. Like having their wands and ink confiscated and them getting jailed or something, or if the crime was severe enough, even the death penalty. And forbidden magic should just be magic that's either just harmful, too dangerous, or too powerful or all above.

The current system is them basically just asking for it to break at some point and for the secret to get out.

Anyway, hopefully Coco manages to reverse the spell she cast on her mother and save her, though it's actually a forbidden magic and casting it knowingly will get her into even more trouble. The Council already seems like they'll erase her memories if they find out the truth. I just hope someone can knock some sense into those guys so that they can understand why that wouldn't be a good solution and why they may need to give Coco a chance.

[Twi]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but it's lasted long enough that they've lost an entirely useful school of magic (Twin Bottle) along with the healers.

Not to mention somehow the Brimhats have a means of making magic ink using blood instead of silvertree ink, so the only method they'd really have to regulate magic (via the ink) is already borked when all you need to do magic is to be able to draw and know what goes in the circle once you've got the ink.

You can have a system that punishes witches, which they already do have considering Coco nearly got in trouble, but if a five-year old can trace a fire rune and key stone and circle, they can spark a fire.

[DragonOsman]

What I mean is that they system and the rules need to be reviewed and revised. The healers need to come back. And how are they going to fight the Brimhats when the magic they need for that is forbidden? These are the main problems I have.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by DragonOsman

What I mean is that they system and the rules need to be reviewed and revised. The healers need to come back. And how are they going to fight the Brimhats when the magic they need for that is forbidden? These are the main problems I have.

Only directly drawing it onto the skin or body is forbidden. Doing something like trapping them in a sphere of water, binding them with vines, etc. isn't forbidden. But it does seem like a big issue that they've essentially ostracize the healers and basically made them extinct because of being too strict on the practice.

[DragonOsman]

Does healing magic have to be drawn directly on the body for it to do its job? Maybe you just need to a piece of paper with the glyph you drew on it in front of the injured or sick person and it'll work. So healing shouldn't need to be banned, but it still is because it's magic that works on the human body. Look at what happened Coco's mother: all Coco did was draw magic on a piece of paper, but it still encased her mother in crystal or whatever that stuff is. And Qifrey referred to it as forbidden magic because it did something to a human directly. Forbidden magic isn't called as such due to being drawn directly on the body. So I think any magic where one attacks someone with fire, vines, water, or whatever, would be regarded as forbidden magic. But yeah, I'm not sure how just trapping someone in vines would be seen.

[Twi]

The manga updated and we learn about just how messed up the city that the twisting labyrinth stemmed from was. Our Ace, as per usual, finds a loophole in figuring out the test via using water in a really clever way, and guess who shows up at the end?

[Twi]

And the Brimhat attacks in the newest chapter. The kids put up an admirable fight and some clever strategies, but with age comes experience apparently.

[~Yami~]

Qifrey is always getting outsmarted by the Brimhat
I wanted a more badass one-sided show from sensei

[Twi]

Well, the Brimhats got at least a few decades on him.

[James Rye]

Ch. 23 is out. Poor Eunie, that this had to happen to him after he finally found something he could do... Brimhats really are a cruel kind, only caring about their magical research. Or at least this particular fellow is like that.

I really liked the arguments exchanged between Riché and Agathe, now Riché has to finish the test she never wanted to do on her own whereas Agathe goes out of her way to save somebody else which she normally wouldn't have done either as it interferes with her witch test.

The Professor was a badass as expected but even I can't see how he can battle off an army of Witch hating golden statues hell-bend on getting revenge for being turned into those kinda things they are now. Their existence must be madness to them, still their memories and feelings inside, never dying, never feeling the world around you, never having a heartbeat again or drawing a breath again.... Man their city policy was really all kinds of fucked up.

[Twi]

Holy crap, that poor boy. He does one good thing and he gets punished for it. And then Agate had a point, because she opted not to learn other forms of magic she can't help him in the end. It goes both ways.

And I didn't think those people inside of the gold were still alive. I thought they were just golems, but that's so much worse.

[~Yami~]

oh no... this is becoming so dark all of a sudden.. poor Eunie
we should have noticed the death flag earlier but we just never expect another tragedy after the first chapter
and Qifrey Prof... don't die too fast.. we still need you in the story

[Solace]

I just binge read this. Oh my god this art is incredible, and the story so far is great! If you're a fan of Little Witch Academia or Ancient Magus Bride this is a good one to check out.

[Twi]

Must have updated. Let me go check.
...

...

Oh good grief, every time she tries to do something nice it ends up getting messed up. And those words at the end are just heartbreaking considering what happened last chapter. It's like they want to break her.