Cacomixtle Radiactivo

|| 1995 || Any Pronouns || Art account: @nelluy

[averagefairy]

I still love this website so much because it feels like the last connection we have to an internet that doesn’t exist anymore like I can come on here and scroll through posts that are literally just funny or beautiful or interesting with no intention to sell me something or influence me we are all just here for a laugh. Nothing is just for laughs anymore EXCEPT tumblr dot com

[startokkie]

qifrey’s love for dragons gives me so much cuteness aggression 💕

[lakemojave]

You know that whatever character did those problematic things isn't like. Real, right?

[lakemojave]

You are aware that a fictional character is just a rhetorical construct designed to fulfill a narrative/thematic purpose right? That their actions are written by an author who wants to use them to explore complex ideas and moral gray areas within the safe confines of fiction right? That they aren't a real person who has killed real people right?

[rottingapotheosis]

[eggthew]

I am choosing to have hope

[yakichoufd]

[sonnearchive-deactivated2022120]

Hate it when you're wearing "military-esque" clothing like camo pants or combat boots and some old vet asks you if you're from a military family like fuck off papa war crimes I'm appropriating your culture here.

[trashiesttrashboy]

How are you appropriating a vet’s culture??? Aren’t they just like, animal doctors? What do vets have to do with the army?????

[sonnearchive-deactivated2022120]

I love you

[where-does-the-heart-lie]

Older Witch Hat children designs!!!! theyre in their late 20's-early 30's! see if you can catch all the little details~~

@otaku553 and @fluffyartbl0g did these with me!!! We used a custom Wheel of Names wheel to assign who got who which was super dooper fun heehee

We did Tetia, Tartah, and Custas first a week ago, took like 3 hours on magma. and today we did Coco, Agott, and Richeh, which we all are a lot more confident with.

I redid some aspects of the first batch just for the hell of it~~

And heres some further design commentary from us!! Hope you enjoy :)

theres a lot.

Whery’s designs:

Custas- i wanted to make him masculine like a peacock is masculine. I really like his gorgeous hat that the brimmed caps gave him and i carried the feathers(? (Leaves?)) to the shoulders too! I wanted to make the hat somewhat ambiguous if it’s brimmed or not. I have it flaking off, or adding on, but either way he’s free to choose which he wants. Because at the point of the story we’re at right now, im not entirely sure what kind of morality he’s going to double down on, so we’ll see. Also his three poofs are supposed to resemble Dagda’s :)

Now we dont know what cures the silver wood tree’s infection. But in my mind, perhaps the heart of the tree’s roots grow in the area that is the most fucked up, so if you take off that area, you take out the parasite. Thus the decision was made by Custas to get them amputated. The flesh was deteriorating and rotting from not getting nutrients or activity due to the injury/wood, and it needed to get amputated anyway. You can see his hair is grown out a bit from when it was pure white, so he’s been a while without it at this point.

The prosthetic legs were inspired by his wheel chair he was given and were made by Tartah, who in this au is somewhat of a carpenter. They both are more or less outlaws, due to the unfortunate fact that tartah has a sigil branded into him (illegal) and custas was(is) a brimmed cap(illegal). Even though Custas has an ambiguous cap, he does not consider himself a brimmed cap. They both don't contribute to any larger cause. They just roam around, dodging knights moralis, learning medicine, playing music, and hanging with their friends (keep that on the down low though, if anyone asks, they were never there.).

Richeh- In this AU, she is a farmer. She has found herself being a picky eater and wants to create food that she likes, so she genetically and magically modifies her crops to create the perfect food for her. Those in her community who have tasted her food really enjoyed it enough for her to eventually open a farm stand, which she very much enjoys! This aspect was inspired by her enjoyment of working for Nolnoa’s stand in the fair arc.

I love the idea that Richeh and Euini live in a pretty isolated cabin, where she creates her concoctions for fertilizer, food, or seed specifying. I imagine she asks him to get ingredients off of shelves during her procedures, and he nudges them off the shelf with his nose and catches it gently in his large dog mouth and brings it to her dutifully.

She has buttons on the arm holes of her dress/poncho that Coco sewed for her. It makes it so that if she’s in public, she can still cover her arms if she needs to cast spells. She just needs to take off her belt and bring her arms in the holes hehe.

I also gave her a tan because i think it would be funny if she tan-mogged the living hell out of her brother. Who is. SHEET white, i know it.

I made her hair more curled, like her ribbons curl, and i of COURSE added one of her ribbons to the top of her hat and her hair tie, but other than that i didnt want to make her very flashy. Keeping it simple, especially when all of her friends have a lot of ornamentation and bells and whistles and everything, is important too when creating character designs. It makes her stand out!!

Euini- I don’t know how theyre going to take his character progression, but i don’t think they’re going to be able to turn him back into a human. Those carved sigils into skin are permanent, unfortunately. So, i just think his character arc will be learning to make peace with both sides of him, even if he may just prefer to be a big fluffy doggey most of the time :]

I gave him a tassel earring to resemble his new professor, Elaira, and Richeh’s ribbon on his leg as well because it’s CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somewhat of a side note: Richeh really lucked out. I mean. it is Terrible. What happened to Euini. Absolutely terrible. But i could not be happier for Richeh, she was born to have a werewolf boyfriend. I know shes living the dream i know it. LIKE I KNOW IT!!!!!

Jen’s designs:

Tartah: he uses tattoos of things like plants and stars and feathers to hide the magic branded into his wrist, made using a tattoo pen he invented. It’s got repetition magic to move a thin needle up and down and inject pigment into a surface, and works well on any flexible item. His hat’s still fashioned similarly to Nolnoa’s but it doesn’t stand straight on his head because he doesn’t consider himself an upstanding member of witch society (or a part of it at all, really, seeing as it’s on sight for the knights moralis with him). He has one pouch over his shoulder for medicines and herbs and one pouch at his waist for magic stationer tools on the go. He has a lot of triangles as a callback to Nolnoa’s design, because even if he’s on the run he still visited his grandpa occasionally just so his grandpa knew he was doing fine

whery's commentary: I imagine he grows up to be a carpenter/widdler as well as a medical student! I think it would work very well for what he has already, learning how to carve, living in a house with a silver wood in it, etc etc~ I imagine while theyre on the run tartah makes he and custas makeshift huts he chops down some trees to drape some fabric over and create a place for them to stay At least until they get busted again

I imagine Tartah is such a sturdy man. Him growing up to have big steady hands makes me emotional to think about.

Agott: she based the design of her cap on both of her teachers’, with green tassels to represent youth and learning and springtime (and coco). She’s taken up a similar role to Olruggio as someone who sells her magic inventions to rich patrons but otherwise uses her magic to help people for free and cheer them up. Her specialty is light magic of different animal forms, and after she gets confident in her casting, is able to devote more time to showmanship and using magic as a performing art. I like to think she does consultations with other witches sometimes to help them brainstorm ideas for exhibiting their inventions for things like silver eve, but her best ideas will always go to coco. Visually her outfit is similar to Olruggio since connections go a long way in marketing but also her cloak clasp ties in part of coco’s hat and her cloak shape and tassels are based on the jacket she wore on the night that she and coco snuck out to draw at night before silver eve. Her hat is also based on the dress she wears when she’s not in her student robes

whery commentary: i imagine her mother is super jealous of her living her dreams outside of the library hah hah ya snooze ya lose, sucker

Loopey's Designs:

Tetia - For da overall atmosphere I ofc KNEWWW I had to do sumthin pink and fluffy!!! thats her whole GAME!!! The double witch hat is from her canon wish to have em in the future, and I thought itd be cute to put lil fluffy fluffs on the ends of them X3!!! I think I drew the bracelet based on something I saw the king wearing? A subtle nod to her relations with the prince ouo. The dress was based on an illustration Shirahama sensei drew of her with a cute fit X3 The illustration in question also dressed her up in some cute flowers so I thought it'd be cute to put a lil flower bracelet n flower crown on her :3 The leg warmers I did cuz wherys sona has em and I thot it wud be fitting OuO. I kinda did this unintentionally but isn't it cool how her split cape parallels her witch hats hehe. And I added the sheepo... BECAUSE I COULD!!! WAHAHHAA!!!!!!!!!!

Whery's commentary: i like to imagine Tetia grows up to become a Comfort Engineer! She specializes in making beds, couches, chairs, anything that someone would want to seek comfort in. and of course her specialty Cloud Room. She would provide beds to Custas and Tartah that can collapse back to a glyph on a sheet of wood or something, for ample portability and comfort as they go from place to place.

Coco - originally whery was like oohoeoho what if we like made everyone a diff weather/season theme, and since tartah alrdy looks spring-like I went into my coco design loosely thinking of summer! In the end we didn't rlly stick to the seasonal plan, but I think coco and agott has a cute day/night feel to them X3 Coco spraying the water on the two of them is also a call back to when Coco initially accidentally sprayed Agott near the start of the animanga XD She has a lot more control now tho!!!

I wanted to include some of inspo in this design from Coco's mom. Her mom wears this cute headwear, and I didn't think I cud rlly put it on Coco's head without the hat getting in the way, so I put it ontop of her hat instead! I think it looks vry cute :> The star on her hat and brooch is the same design as the one on her brush pen :D I WAS JUST GONNA COMMENT ON HOW COCO AND AGOTT ARE TWINNING IN THE LIL DIAMOND DECOR I PUT ON HER HAT AND THE ONE CONJOINING AGOTTS CLOAK, OMG BUT IM LOOKING AT JENS DESCRIPTION AND IT TURNS OUT THEY INTENTIONALLY TWINNED WITH MY DESIGN KYAHHH SOO CUTEEE!!!! anyways, that diamond decor and her dress are directly inspired from Shirahama sensei dressing up Coco in bonus illustrations XD The lil V thing under the cardigan and cloak is a nod to her brimhat design, and the cardigan is literally the one her mom wears. Straight up!

I was 2 lazy to come up with my own shoes so i just stole jens design for agotts shoes.... mayb in this future Coco makes both of them matching sets of the flying shoe thingos X3!!! Whery told me that apparently Shirahama sensei said that Coco's hair is light green and will darken when she grows up to allude to imagery of a sapling developing into a more lush plant ouo. So I did exactly that for her hair >:3c Alsoo everyone say thaaankss Jen for doing the water and gay ass rainboww up theree, ehehe arent the waterfish so cute 🥹

whery's commentary: i think that Coco would of course become a professor to some apprentices~~ it is uncertain whether by the end of the story everyone, regardless of if theyre born into it or not, can learn magic, but i think it would be cute if she trained some non-magic-born children to become witches :)))

THANK YOU FOR READING if you got this far you're INSANE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but absolutely appreciated :3

and you also get a treat:

Agott and Coco are married, they have wedding rings on their fingers in the art

so are Richeh and Euini but more in like a common law marriage way.

and Tartah and Custas are figuring things out but they were set back a lot during those years of custas having the silverwood parasite in him. they will kiss. let it be known far and wide.

[otaku553]

YIPPEE YAY this is was super fun ❤️

[kirbypoyopoyo]

shirahama's live commentary tidbits 1-2

hey witches, shirahama sometimes writes little bits of trivia in her commentary threads during airings of the wha anime, so i figured i'd collect the ones i thought were interesting here

this compiles everything up to episode 2, and i will also refer to events in later manga chapters or other things like the repro select so beware of spoilers

just to note again, these are not all the things shirahama tweets (a lot of it is just plain reactions to the events in the episode). i focus on things that seem to provide extra info about the wha setting or characters, though i might also include things about shirahama in a more general sense

episode 1 - shirahama really enjoys watching all the little gestures get animated, and refers to herself as a having a "gesture fetish" (this is obviously meant as a joke) - the deer that appears at the well is called a "trihorn deer", though being a doe it doesn't seem to have any horns. the butterfly is called a "bride butterfly" which has also been mentioned in kitchen of witch hat - coco's village (and possibly including the area where qifrey's atelier is) has very little flat ground - aside from being a tailor, coco's family shop also functions as a thrift store. they buy unwanted cloth stock from traveling merchants, and also sell clean clothes that travelers can buy before entering town - the kid with black hair is called "Tanaru" (or maybe Tanar/Tanal) and is the son of the village chief. the blond is called "Kamura" (or maybe Kamra/Camra/etc). both of them are troublemakers as well as coco's classmates/friends from school - the kids in coco's village (including herself) learn to read and write and do simple maths from tanaru's mom at the village chief's house. coco's village is probably too small to merit a proper schoolhouse, though other areas are noted to have actual learning institutions - papermaking in the wha universe is prosperous, due to the existence of the witches who use a lot of it episode 2 - this was also mentioned in qifrey and orugio's background arc in the manga, but qifrey's atelier is built upon the remains of an old sheperd's hut - rumors like the news of qifrey taking on coco (an unknowing) as an apprentice spread quickly in the witches' world due to the existence of certain magic [items]s, though shirahama didn't go into the actual details. i suppose she just means that they have the tech to make info travel more quickly and widely - also mentioned in the repro select, but the chimney-like structure in the atelier is used as a space to test out magic - the tower of tomes's lake is not marked on any map, and the only way to get there is through a windowway. shirahama notes that even if you tried to look for it by searching similar looking lakes you probably can't find it, implying that there may also be magic involved to hide its location - the item qifrey uses to talk to beldaruit is actually a mini version of a windowway. it basically connects two spaces together, which is how it allows for conversation to happen (so it's different than, say, how a telephone would work as a communications device) - shirahama requested that agatto's voice be "standoffish, strict, and sound attractive/cool" - coco doesn't have much experience being surrounded by books and learning for long periods of time at a school before coming to qifrey's atelier - shirahama thought agatto's desk being depicted as neat and tidy on top, but crammed with her personal junk underneath was cute. like a straight-a student who comes off as prim and proper, but is surprisingly messy and has bad manners - shirahama jokes that qifrey's has low exp in building up human relationships LOL. she mentions that he tends to leave his students to their own devices because he personally prefers to be left alone and doesn't like following the crowd. she basically calls him out on leaving coco on her [metaphorical] own right after she came to the atelier

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episodes 3-4

episode 3 - alaira doesn't currently have an apprentice so she typically works like a jack-of-all-trades; she takes on requests, proctors tests, acts as the guard to the entrance, and so on. the fact that her not having an apprentice is pointed out implies that she did pass the 5th exam and has the certification to do so - the dada range test isn't considered terribly difficult by witch standards, and is kinda seen as more of a charming presentation event for little kids after learning some basic magic. i suppose it's equivalent to watching a play by elementary school kids. because of that, there's very little kids who've taken the test more than once (you'll recall though that coco went during a time period where it's dangerous and so most people wouldn't hold their first tests then) - shirahama notes that there are a higher number of animals with multiple limbs in the wha universe compared to ours - agatto didn't think coco would actually attempt the test. she figured coco would return after not being able to do anything - in the scene where coco imagines her younger self with the other 3 girls appearing, the young tetia design was created specifically by shirahama for the anime as tetia hasn't had her younger self drawn in the manga yet - tetia and the others (riche, qifrey, and probs orugio since he wasn't aware of these events at all) didn't know that agatto made coco go to the dada range. they thought she went there of her own accord after being told about it, which is why agatto didn't get any flack for her actions here episode 4 - the figures shown in the book at the beginning are considered the same sort of "fantasy existence" as fairies and other kinds of mystical spirits in our world. elves and dwarves also don't exist in wha, they're only there because shirahama loves fantasy lol - you can't really fly for long distances in sylph shoes because your legs will end up getting really tired from keeping them together enough to activate the magic seal. - shirahama notes that qifrey is actually pretty muscular despite his slender appearance since he's able to carry two kids while flying all the way to kalhn - only witches can live on the island off the city of kalhn, and since there's no bridge to it they can talk openly about magic and sell things related to it without issue - while we can clearly see that coco and agatto don't have the smoothest relationship so far, shirahama notes that's the kind of thing that adults fail to notice (which is probably why qifrey hasn't really intervened). though she also throws some shade at him by mentioning that qifrey has quite a few memories about relationships where you end up fighting on sight - magic stationer's like the starry sword tend to build their shops around or near silver leaf trees - magic stationers also tend to favor shorter robes that are easier to move in or take their arms out of. they'd probably need to draw magic or appear before normal people less often so there's maybe less focus on hiding their hands - shirahama based the fake city coco and the others get trapped in after surrealist art and works by Escher - shirahama can't spin pens with their fingers (like tartah is shown doing)

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episodes 5-6

episode 5 - magic is apparently copyrightable in the wha universe. some magic is unique to certain witches who hold authority to draw that specific magic (like a patent perhaps?) while the rest is under public domain that anyone can draw. public magic goes through a process where it's examined and, if approved, then added to textbooks used to teach foundational magic - shirahama intentionally draws agatto as being "bad mannered" compared to her more refined style of speaking (as she comes from a high ranking family). bad manners in this case is more about the fact that agatto can carry herself in a rough manner, such as not caring about sitting criss-cross while wearing a skirt - it seems that the reason the carriage broke in the first episode was probably due to the kids accidentally erasing part of the magic seal, which prevents it from working

episode 6 - qifery's atelier lets the students study wherever they want, since when they become working witches they'll rarely need to sit in front of a desk to draw their magic - thanks to magic allowing for long-term preservation of food, the cuisine in the wha universe is quite diverse and developed. shirahama doesn't forget to drop in a mention about the kitchen of witch hat spinoff manga - carapace yams are like a mix between potatoes, japanese taro (sato'imo), and pumpkins. they're viscous, fluffy, and have a slight sweetness. eaten widely across the wha universe. - it's often recommended witches learn cooking because it has many similarities with the process of magic (both having workflows that focus on preparation and creativity) - the bridge everyone eats lunch under is used by nearby shepherds as a rest area. travelers occasionally also camp there - watchful eyes are meant to act as a third party where teaching is done behind closed doors or in more secluded areas to prevent abuse. it's also practical to have more than one adult during times of sickness or emergency. however, it's a relatively new system - the struggle of the poor recent grad exists even in fantasy witch universe. many newly graduated witches will share an atelier space to save money, but many also do so to collaborate on their magic or watch over apprentices together. it's similar to our real life apprenticeship systems under various craftsmen - i wrote about this already in a previous post, but the glowstone path was a very early work that was instantly popular of orugio's that debuted when he was still an apprentice. it caused quite the stir at the great hall at the time

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episodes 7-8

episode 7 - the stairway river is in the forest west of qifrey's atelier. it seems among travelers in the wha universe the topic of witches who help people comes up often, which is why dagda went there on a desperate hope after getting out of the forest on the way to kalhn. - this probably means that before, dagda was going to head into kalhn to ask for help but saw the atelier in the distance first - witches typically don't learn swordsmanship, but qifrey did to protect himself during his younger years while traveling alone (trying to get distance himself from orugio) - there used to be a lot of magic swords in ancient times, but as they're used in warfare their numbers gradually dwindled. however, since they're so cool a lot of nobles like to commission them from witches. it's probably ok if the magic is purely decorational - coco knows some basic first aid since she wasn't raised as a witch. this implies that maybe agatto and the others might not have much experience or knowledge about it - some people may say that custas going back for the belongings (which turned out to be mainly dagda's instrument) was stupid, but shirahama notes that for nomadic folks like them who don't have a permanent home, their belongings are both the entirety of their wealth as well as the means of making a living. - since witches need to ensure normal people don't see them drawing magic, there are many that do exaggerated performances and gestures to distract the eye. some even chant fake incantations - normal people don't know much about witches in general, so they end up asking for things they can't do (like healing) because they have the impression witches and magic can do anything.

episode 8 - the knights moralis are essentially the judge, jury, and executioner of witch society all in one. there's no trial system, instead arrests are made at the scene of action - the knights have a tendency to think that erasing a person's memories and letting them go is "kinder", because they're not taking their life or imprisoning them. - this was another post i previously made, but qifrey and easthies' relationship was originally meant to be a lot worse; supposedly they would've gotten into an argument/fight that had qifrey using foul enough language that shirahama's editor pointed it out as being out of character lol (let qifrey swear!) - qifrey, orugio, alaira, and eas are all acquainted with each other from the great hall since childhood - because of their behavior and attitude, the knights are feared and hated by pretty much everybody in witch society LOL. but at the same time, it'd be pretty easy for things to get out of hand without them - technically, coco (and probs agatto as well) isn't allowed to draw magic in front of others yet, but desperate times called for desperate measures. if there wasn't any accident, first aid and drying off the people would've been all they would've done - orugio's sand bridge magic isn't permanent. afterwards they would've contacted a town close to kalhn (so probably normal people) and have them build a new one - the silvernectar wine that orugio asks for is a sweetish alcohol similar to maple liquor. he likes to put it in his tea or dilute it with milk and whiskey and enjoy it after a day's work - the tranquileaf that tartah uses to treat coco's leg is grown by him. he injures his hands a lot due to working with a knife (carving wands) - glassmaking technology is also advanced thanks to witches and their magic, so windows having glass is normal and thick, sturdy glass jars are readily available

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episode 9

this may not make much sense to readers who only ready the official english translation, but brushbuddy is called "brushbug" (technically, the kanji for bug or insect isn't used but the kana is the same) in japanese. shirahama clarifies that our lil guy is a type of rodent

the atelier gang's personal clothes come from different sources: agatto brought her clothes from her home, coco and tetia's were bought from kalhn, riche's top and qifrey's clothes were given to them by shepherds in the nearby village

clothes in this region (Naakiwan) can be given as gifts to witches as thanks for their work

while the twin bottles were used by chemists and healers, they were also very widely used as tools for assassination and poisoning

hydro hater qifrey can't swim at all it seems (rather than him not being able to swim as a kid only)

qifrey likes to grown medicinal herbs used in magic and cooking behind the atelier as a hobby

shirahama jokingly said in a twitter space a few years ago that brushbuddy's nickname was official, but in reality it probably didn't stick bc brushbuddy themself doesn't like it

qifrey's magic surfboard (shirahama did in fact liken it to a surfboard, which is a funny comparison to use for hydro hating qifrey) is generally only used when qifrey needs to carry a lot of veggies or luggage. i guess he's a "one trip" kind of guy

although tartah helps out at the store, he's not actually undergoing any magic training (i.e. learning to draw seals and stuff). instead he commutes by boat to the school in the human part of kalhn to learn his letters and maths. obviously, all his school friends aren't witches

witches typically will go to the healing tower at the great hall for injuries or sickness, but qifrey went to kalhn instead due to the recent incident with the knights. qifrey himself doesn't often go to the hospital in kalhn

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episode 10

the old lady doctor is the director of kalhn's hospital

the magic qifrey drew for coco is a combo of a/c (cooling) + humidifier effects

shirahama had a quick thought experiment on how easy it could be to sneak onto the witches' island just by wearing a cone hat, but figured that they would get found out immediately upon landing and end up with their memories erased and thrown out of town

since coco's family is just her and her mom, she's noted to be the kind of kid who's considerate and can put the feelings of adults first (with regards to qifrey not feeling like he can leave her side to help put out the fire)

shirahama basically says to her "you can ask him to stay with you if you're feeling anxious 😭"

in the manga shirahama used different values of darkness to create variance in the bottle contents. (try taking a look back at those pages!) the way we read the black and white manga may be what it's like to see the world from tartah's eyes

shirahama notes that a color book with organized numbers like DiC is probably just as necessary in the witch hat universe. DiC is a company that makes color books similar to the Pantone ones (they could be more popular since it's a japanese company)

the old man who ropes qifrey in to help with the fire also makes an appearance in the kitchen of witch hat spin off in chapter 20 (you can read my translation here)

the forest tree tunnel that qifrey and coco ride through was modeled after the dark hedges in northern ireland

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episode 11

you sometimes see people commenting 'wouldn't it be easier to draw using rulers or compasses?' or 'why can't they just use stamps?' when it comes to the drawing system of the wha universe. shirahama states that all she can say right now is that the readers have a sharp eye and a good point! so there is clearly something intentional behind the way she's designed the emphasis on magic being hand drawn only

orugio snoozing and lazing on the sofa was because he had just finished work (likely a big project had concluded). when he's not busy, he'll sometimes come and watch over qifrey's lessons. when he is busy, he'll also sometimes come over and watch over the lessons to give himself a break lol.

you can probably already infer this, but riche's secret hideout is because her pot has a windowway spell drawn on it. it's noted to be her safe space when she wants to calm down since she was young, which would imply it's something she's had before she came to qifrey's atelier so possibly something that came with her from the great hall. shirahama also says it's walnut colored and was originally a smaller pot that was made bigger with enlargement magic

the name of orugio's snugstone is a pun (if you can call it that?) in the original japanese. in japan, there are disposable body and hand warmers usually called 'hokkairo' which typically come in two forms: a stick on pad and a non-stick on bag which you keep in your pockets. hokkairo is actually a brand name that's undergone nounification; it's made from the term 'hokahoka' which describes things that are hot or very warm and 'kairo' which is the actual term for a pocket heater or hand warmer. anyways the original japanese name for the item is "hokka'ishi" where 'ishi' means 'stone' or 'rock'.

the animation team's original design for the snugstone was a bit more 'just a rock' like, but shirahama envisioned it more like a slice of agate and had them reference that instead. she notes the final design came out beautifully

make no mistake as much as shirahama loves dunking on qifrey she also doesn't pass up the chance to dunk on orugio as well. while she notes orugio's kindness during his and qifrey's casual banter, she also says that he's being hypocritical due to orugio's unhealthy lifestyle (staying up all night, not eating properly, etc). the man's got 4 kids to raise!

a fun japanese tidbit: the term shirahama uses to point out orugio's hypocrisy in the note above is 'oma'iu', which is a simplification of the phrase 'omae ga iu no ka yo' or 'you're the one saying that!?". think of a situation where someone you know to have the worst diet ever (junk food, candy, hasn't seen a vegetable in a decade, etc) is the one saying 'you need to eat a healthier diet. how about a salad' and you go 'of ALL the people to be saying that..."

teachers in the wha universe don't choose who gets to be their students, rather it's the students who go and apply to be a teacher's disciple. they initiate the entire process, and if they decide they want to go train with a different teacher then they can bring it up and dissolve the relationship. that being said, it's not something that's easy for a student to bring up...

this is also written in the repo-select, but the merphons are named by combining the words 'gryphon' with 'mer' (sea). they're essentially a mix of rabbits and penguins.

shirahama seems to be implying that she might've been the one who voices the merphons. 'did you recognize who voices the merphons...? well, actually...!' of course, the voice actor could be someone else who's also unlikely (like a staff member, or even one of the other voice actors) but the way she wrote the tweet makes me think it's actually shirahama making merphon sounds lol

[kirbypoyopoyo]

commentary tidbits from wha episode 12

shirahama started the thread with a bit of reminiscing about how she first drew the romonon story 8 years ago (2018). time sure flies!

euinie is slightly older than agatto and riche (for context, shirahama said in a twitter space that she envisions them around 12-14 or even younger). due to his low self-esteem he talks to everyone using keigo (formal language), even though he wouldn't be expected to towards those younger than him

it doesn't come up often but riche is technically a nickname, and her full name is richeritto.

riche's former teacher was a stickler for [his] rules and is kind of a jerk. that being said, he has a better reputation among the adults in the great hall as a brilliant witch who's produced a large number of exceptional witches under his tutelage

in a previous post i commented that shirahama wrote a tweet that could be read as her implying she did the voices of the merphons, but she's actually cleared that up by stating that the merphons that the agatto, riche, and euinie accompany are voiced by their same voice actors. though whether there are more voices provided for other scenes showing more than 3 is unknown

it seems that shirahama was actually in the recording studio in person when they were recording for the merphon voices (she notes it being a fun memory), which is probably why she knows about the voice actors in the first place

the tests the witch students go through aren't meant to be a means of filtering down numbers, and you can pass any of them with enough time and practice. though riche is noted as not wanting to draw any magic she doesn't want to, which could be both a strong point and a shortcoming

coco has good eyesight due to being raised on the plains. likely the lack of obstructions in the landscape makes it so that the people who live there get used to seeing things far away

agatto and riche are noted as being quite talented in their generation; while coco is obviously a beginner this also seems to imply that tetia was a little bit behind or hadn't reached the skill level yet where qifrey felt he could recommend her to take the second test

euinie's grip is based on those for holding brushes, rather than pens. while it's not "wrong", shirahama notes that it could make it more difficult to draw cleanly

apparently twitter went down or just stopped working for shirahama while she was doing her thread so she wrote the rest from here on at her bluesky account. though the rest of the posts are simply reactions

that's all for this week. next week will be the final episode! let's hope we can get another season greenlighted

[kirbypoyopoyo]

we've reached the end of the witch hat atelier anime folks, but fret not because season 2 has been confirmed! no deets yet on a timeline, but as always official twitter accounts are the best source of truth

onto commentary tidbits from wha episode 13!

students draw the magic seals on their own equipment, as it's a good way to practice. coco may already be aware of this since she's very happy to hear that agatto has kept coco's original seal on her shoes rather than redraw them herself

apparently shirahama never realized how often she draws qifrey with his hands put together until she saw it in the anime lol

the magic used for the snake golem (written as 'moving stone statue' in japanese kanji) is a warfare magic that existed before the day of the pact. as a result, it's been forbidden and its seal is lost knowledge, but parts of its foundation lives on through smoke and water sculpting magic (like the kind qifrey uses to make his dragon).

there's a difference between magic that turns a living being into stone and magic that grants movement to a sculpture

because sasaran is constantly floating and also has a ratty cloak with ripped edges, shirahama remembers that he was a lot of work to draw

when it comes to fight or flight, riche is the type to stand her ground (and start throwing hands when it comes to the police i guess lol) without fear and take immediate action

agatto is noted to be one who's incredibly adaptable to the situation and has a wide variety of magic to use when the time comes

shirahama remarked that it was cute that rails for the merphons were also made, though this made me wonder if she forgot that's what she drew in the original manga as well (it could also be a general "aww how thoughtful" statement towards riche)

though sasaran praises (though perhaps sarcastically) agatto as being good at lies due to being the student of a pointy hat witch (the liars), shirahama says that agatto is actually not that good at lying. more specifically, her lies are found out pretty easily or are rather obvious; agatto's own personality probably also has her avoid lying in general

i had the same reaction as shirahama when seeing riche pull up agatto (someone probably at least her same weight) up with relative ease lol "woah so strong!" --shirahama

for euini's transformation scene in the manga, shirahama originally filled the whole thing with black ink and then drew over it with white ink

shirahama often draws riche as having a mentality that's the image of a capricious but noble beast

apparently an overseas fan analyzed about the extent of qifrey's injuries here from a medical perspective (though even without it we can probably tell the man's not meant to be moving around), which shirahama saw and thought was really interesting. i'm not aware of this post, so i can't really say anythign about it

[alysiusart]

A moment of peace.

[vesperosy]

this tweet has been fucking killing me

[arupinishere]

One of my favorite narrative aspects of the Qifrey tree reveal is how it turns the power dynamic between Olruggio and Qifrey on its head.

It's clear from nearly the start of the manga that Qifrey has an obsession with controlling other people, and also that he is very good at it. His use of the memory-wiping spell on Nolnoa and his gaslighting of Tartah already prove him to be an effective manipulator, but the level of ruthlessness he is capable of for the sake of his goals is established when he wipes Olruggio's memory; after all, if Qifrey is capable of performing a physically and mentally violating act of this magnitude against even his closest friend since childhood, no one else could possibly be exempt.

After establishing him as someone who is so terrifyingly willing and capable of controlling the people around him for years upon years, chapter 93 completely flips this entire aspect of Qifrey's character on its head. Every single action and choice that Qifrey has made until this moment, has been made out of his devoted promise to the weakest possible entity---a child. Even as a grown adult, even as a witch, even as someone who is so capable of controlling and manipulating to get his way, Qifrey is utterly powerless before the memory of Olruggio that only exists inside his head and inside the ribbon on his cap. For the entire series, Qifrey has NEVER been the one in control; since day one, Olruggio has had all of the power over Qifrey, and he doesn't even know it.

You can even see this symbolically in the elements that they represent: Qifrey's water which traditionally quenches Olruggio's fire, becomes Olruggio's fire burning Qifrey's wood. And even in their animal representations of the scalewolf and the liongoat, there's a power dynamic where the "wolf" should be able to predate on the "goat", but a "lion" can easily best a wolf.

[rynsketches]

these tags by @vaguely-concerned cracked me up so I had to sketch it as baby Orufrey

bonus:

[willgrahamscock]

[hanniballecterscock]

things are getting… spicy in the spice section

[willgrahamscock]

[frost-flower-fractured-ice]

Jiang Cheng is the kind of guy who, if you compliment him by saying he looked like he could not lie (i.e. he is honest), would go on a rant about how he could actually totally lie and how he has lied so many times to great success and then Wen Ning pops out from somewhere and says "but actually Wei-gongzi does it better than you" and he bursts into tears.

[minyard-05]

sometimes you just have to say "you are all so fucking stupid" and scroll past

[sticksandstans]

the rise of conservatism and gen z puritanism while still simultaneously trying to be hip and woke is so annoying because you have these people saying "match my freak" and then they get mad at ageplay and petplay and cnc and somno and anything raunchier than a pair of fuzzy handcuffs. you're not a "freak" if you think having a fetish is synonymous with being evil

[fishinateacup]

don't mind me binge reading this manga and dragging all of my friends into the pit of despair that is the witch hat atelier series.

anyway enjoy your doomed dads.