The opening was so gorgeous and filled to the brim with potential hints that it gave me brainworms so I'm going to be analyzing it and pointing out anything interesting I've noticed.
Please note: this is very long and it will contain manga spoilers up to chapter 95 and obviously episode 2 of the anime, so read at your discretion.
We open on the atelier's dark windowway, that activates to reveal Coco superimposed on a forbidden magic seal. We never really saw it in the manga, but it's definitely the one she traced over in ep 1.
I think this represents how that petrifying spell is what opened the door (windowway) into the world of magic for her.
We then transition to this shot of Coco with various objects hanging on strings which matches the volumes' table of content page. The hanging objects are different for every volume, and I've only put a picture from volume 1 for reference, but I think we can find objects that appear up to volume 9, notably the ink bottle with the nib on the left and the three star shaped tassel next to it.
Now, I don't think that this means that we are going to see volume 9 animated because that's well into the Silver Eve Arc and there is no way they are fitting 45-ish chapters into 13 episodes but maybe we'll be getting hints or set ups for future arcs? I've seen on twitter (which is questionable at best) that they are apparently shuffling around some chapters for the anime and this might be an hint at that if that turns out to be true? I'm not against it to be honest, we'll just have to see how/if they do it.
We then have a shot of Iguin and their picture book transitioning in to this Coco panel that is clearly a call back to the chapter 3 cover. This is really cool, but I'm not sure it has any meaning besides being a nice call back for manga readers.
We move on to the title card with a quadryphon passing over it, and it's probably a stretch, but I was immediately reminded of this beautiful panel from ch. 8. Not really a deeper meaning to it probably, but I thought it was a neat detail.
Then, we get this blink and you miss it shot of the Three Wise, which is likely a direct nod to this panel form ch. 30. This happens right at the end of the Second Test Arc, which we are getting animated at least in part, so for me it's a 50/50 if this means we are getting at least Beldaruit introduced as a cliffhanger for the Great Hall Arc for next season (pretty please) or if it's just a nice foreshadowing for the worldbuilding, which is more likely as this is followed by a quick shot in the same style of the Tower of Tomes.
We then move on to one of my favorite shots of the op: Coco in between her pointed hat and "her" brim hat with scales in the background. This encapsulates perfectly her struggle throughout the entire series and I love how it's portrayed in the op.
We then have a few establishing shots of the atelier family (minus Olly) and Coco's mom (is that to show her two families? T.T) before we transition to a beautiful scene of baby Coco at the fair that culminates with this shadow of Iguin looming over her in the form of a brim hat. I don't think I need to explain how neat this is to anyone who has read the manga.
Then, we move on to this sequence where everyone in the atelier is drawing something together. We can clearly recognize Coco from her straight line and the way she holds her pen. Opposite her we can find Agott with her expert and steady curve, in perfect opposition and mirror to Coco. In the bottom right corner we have Richeh with her small seals, and in the left margin we find Tetia. In the top left corner we find Olly with his searneedle wand. I love how he waits for the girls to take the lead before joining in the drawing as well. Opposite him, in the top right corner we find Qifrey, who is notably the only one not drawing. This could just be because, his job as master is to supervise the spells, so he's observing here, but knowing what we know about him this breaks my heart. Olruggio, too, waits before joining in, observing their students, but the thing is that he does join them in the end, while Qifrey doesn't. It creates this separation between him and the rest of the atelier, like he can't join them, not fully, or we all know what happens to him. This double meaning kills me! Good job Bugfilms, I'm emotional over my pookies drawing lines now.
Then they move on like nothing happened to this shot of various seals. I can clearly make out Tetia's bed of sand spell, it's basically center frame and very visible and the spell under the scattered palm quire pages could be the flying puppet spell they use to distract the dragon, which makes a lot of sense since we are getting the dragon this season but then there are a few other seals that I'm wondering why they included... The first offender is Olly's phantasmal pyreball seal, it's partly hidden under the pages at the top of the frame but it's one of the more unique spells we got in the series so it's clearly recognizable but it's introduced well into the Silver eve Arc so I'm not sure why it's here... is it to represent Olruggio? It's roughly where his hands were last frame but why not make it a simpler pyreball or the snugstone seal then? There is also the big spell in the top right corner that I couldn't really figure out what it is but to me it vaguely resembles the one Jujy uses during the silver eve parade to guide the fishes? There are also a few smaller light spells scattered all around, though I don't remember if they have any relevant use.
On the other hand, you can make out the memory erasing spell from beneath the pages on the right corner. This was already clearly shown in episode 2 (fowl move btw, have it be represented as fire burning the memories away) and it's interesting that here they put it roughly where Qifrey was in the previous shot...
Speaking of Qifrey, we transition to a shot of him with a pen and a ink bottle reflected in his glasses, which is very pretty, but I'm still unsure if it's jus a cool shot to signify his job as a master or if it's an hint toward his secret and the true nature of conjuring ink. What I'm sure of though, is that someone in that studio had a fun time with this next shot of Qifrey surrounded by silverwood trees, which, besides it being a gut punch to my feelings it's also a clear nod to the ch. 14 cover page.
Next we move to a couple of shots that pay homage to Shirahama's gorgeous paneling but in anime form. I didn't notice anything noteworthy on the first one with Coco, Tetia and Richeh, besides the girls being cute, but in the second one, besides orufrey doing their usual subtle yearning, I noticed the gadget in the second panel to the left. It looks like some sort of aid to draw circles? A weird protractor or compass maybe? Or is it automated? Is it a real tool or a magical one? It's certainly interesting and I don't remember seeing anything like this before so does anyone have any ideas?
But speaking of longing stares, we have Agott looking at Coco and then a picture of her 'outsider' self is superimposed over her. This could mean that at this time in the story she can only see the outsider girl, and not yet Coco herself (but we'll get there).
Then, we have this shot of the underwater Great Hall with two random witches? Correct me if I'm wrong but we don't know who they are right? We also get a good look at the Argentgard (but no Beldaruit) which, again could be hinting that we are going to meet him by the end of the season.
We then have a cool shot of the Knights Moralis before moving on into this shot of Coco following the lights into the windowway. At first I thought each color represented an atelier resident, but going frame by frame, the only colors clearly visible are purple, orange and light blue. Now, either these are for Agott, Olruggio and Qifrey rispectively (because those are the colors they are usually associated with) and we are missing Tetia and Riche for some reason, or these are just cool effects and I'm reading too much into it. I could also see it being a representation for Agott, Tetia and Richeh, but while light blue works for Richeh, Tetia is always associated with pink, not orange? I don't know, I'm probably overthinking this shot. The next shot, on the other hand is clearly inspired by Agott's decorative spells and it's cute that we see all the fantastical animals and three witches that might represent our girls.
We then move through a couple of shots until we get this panel of the girls (and Brushbuddy!) framed by a dragon tail that I think is a nod to the chapter 6 cover art.
Then, we get this beautiful shot of Coco and a mirror that for some reason really made me think of the cover art for chapter 28. It's not a one to one, but it certainly has the same vibe and theme of duality within Coco.
We move on to this cute shot of everyone passing through different frames as if they were windowways, which slightly reminds me of the cover art for chapter 60. Also, we got a look at Alaira and Euini, which for me, with the ed, basically confirms that we are getting at least up to ch. 23 animated. With all the hints at Beldaruit making an appearance I'd wager we're getting up to ch. 30, but that's my personal preference speaking.
We then move on to a shot of Kalhn, with an obvious reference to the famous double spread page of the stairs from ch. 5, followed by a beautiful shot of the silverwood inside the stationary shop. We end the Kalhn section with this cute shot of Tartah, Agott and Coco but, as many have already pointed out, Agott has very few interactions with Tartah, so it's interesting that they decided to put her here to cockblock share in Tartah and Coco's shenanigans.
We move on to this cute sequence of Coco's joy being reflected on the many ink bottles of Tartah's shop which is really cute, but it also made me think of the cover art for chapter 17 with Tartah inside the fractured ink vial. (I'm sorry, I put too many images in this and tumblr is yelling at me... you'll have to look this one up)
After another quick session of orufrey longing stares, we move on to my favorite sequence in the op: the picture frames as windowways. It's a stunning scene to end on and not only it references one of the anime key visuals, but it strongly reminds me of the chapter 39 cover art.
Well... This got super long so I won't waste words to gush about how much I loved this op in general but yeah. They did good.
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