Justin: After an unnatural drying of the river, the Knights Moralis is about to make sure Coco forgets not only her magic but also her mother by erasing her memory — well, that was their plan, but plans sometimes fail. After Tetia, Richeh and Qifrey return to defend Coco and Agott from being further questioned by the Knights Moralis, they help the rest of the villagers out and then halt the Knights from investigating Coco any further. Qifrey soon discovers that Coco’s inkpot has been tampered with, and it likely was someone from the Brimmed Caps. With his one lead in tow, Qifrey looks to find out who’s behind this and maybe why Coco is their target.
Meanwhile for Coco, she continues to be haunted by her experiences up to this point, and soon enough, that all catches up to her as she begins developing a fever. She is eventually taken to a hospital to heal, but after a fire breaks out in the area and most of the doctors (and Qifrey) leave, Coco is in dire straits — until Tartah appears. Now he has to find the right medicine for her to heal, which normally would be easy, but for him, it’s a struggle.
The one thing (outside of the artwork) that’s continually impressive is the resourcefulness of Witch Hat Atelier, and that certainly continues in Volume 3. It takes full advantage of its setting — particularly how magic is viewed — to help solve problems. An example of that is when Tartah is revealed to be a witch’s apprentice — but he has Silverwash Syndrome, which means he can only see the world in silver. Since visuals are an important trait as a witch, that really cuts down on what he can actually do. However, he soon finds himself in a situation where he needs to pick the right medicine to help Coco, but it’s not easy for him to do. How this was resolved, though, was simple but very cool and unexpected. It’s like I turn the page and find a surprise or two that happens, which is wonderful.
Outside of continuing to learn the natural progression of witches and the girls’ aspirations, the subplot regarding Qifrey and what the Brimmed Caps did to him I think needs to be revealed. At this point, he’s willing to keep his discoveries involving them to himself and not tell the knights or the hall — potentially to the detriment of all of the witches. He has some clear disdain for them, and it could be totally justified depending on what happened. But, as Qifrey ended up learning as he tried to find a lead on one of them, they’re a pretty dangerous group, and trying to do this alone is likely going to backfire on him. But so far, he’s gotten to be good at telling people to keep things a secret, so we’ll have to find out what is driving him to these lengths soon enough.
But I’m also looking forward to finding out how Coco solves her latest problem! Maybe she came up with a resolution at the end? How about the other girls? With a test coming up their skills will all continue to be tested!…Very much looking forward to seeing how this will go!
Justin’s rating: 4 out of 5
Helen: I still don’t fully trust Qifrey — he’s got a vendetta against brimmed witches and it’s one that runs deep enough that he doesn’t seem to care what kinds of laws he may break to try and find them. It’s still really hard to tell what amount of his concern for Coco is because she’s his only source of information on the brimmed witches and what is from genuine concern.
I don’t think everything he does is an act all the time, and he does seem to be protective of all four of his apprentices so I think he genuinely does care for Coco as her mentor (plus it turns out not just any witch can take apprentices, he had to deliberately pass an additional test to do this). I’m just not sure just how much her connection to the brimmed hats influences it and I’m worried that he may someday let Coco get hurt in search of those witches.
But Qifrey isn’t the only side character to get some time in the limelight; while it’s nowhere near the focus on Agott in the first two volumes, Coco’s other two fellow apprentices, Tetia and Richeh, both get short yet deft moments talking about their motivations for studying magic (really, Kamome Shirahama slips these moments in so easily that she makes them look effortless) and we also get a little bit of time with another witch apprentice, Tartah from the stationary shop that Coco had previously visited.
But Tartah is a witch apprentice in name only. He has a disability called Silverwash where the entire world appears silver-colored for him, a problem for a witch if he’s not easily able to identify different inks and mixtures by color alone. I don’t know if Shirahama knew that their description of silverwash does actually sound like a real world condition but it’s another moment where she’s able to demonstrate how hidebound witch society is. Even Tartah’s family seems to lament his condition and can only console themselves by reminding each other of what things he can do; yet in seemingly only a few minutes, with a basic education, and only half awake, Coco is able to create the basis for a seal that allows Tartah to see the underlying contents of mixtures, a huge boon for him and very in keeping with the way Coco thinks magic should be used to help others.
I think that someday Coco is going to revolutionize the witching world with her new, rose-tinted but clear headed appreciation and use of magic, and not just because she’s the protagonist of this story but because Shirahama has demonstrated why Coco is the protagonist.
Who knows, maybe it was was shades of this mindset which made the brimmed hat witches take notice of her in the first place years ago as well.
Helen’s rating: 4 out of 5