#runeris rambles

[runeris]

Witch Hat Atelier Episode 5 Rambles

I've been inactive on here for a while, but I just need to talk about the newest witch hat episode. That was incredible.

Spoilers up until the Witch Hat Atelier Anime Episode 5, and then manga spoilers after the break.

I didn't realize this until after reading discussion threads, but the episode doesn't have its opening. It just drops you into it.

Coco giving Tetia her hat and lending her cloak to her was adapted really well. Plus the animation of Coco warming up next to Tetia was fun.

Richeh, best character, dropping from above the cloud "bubble" like its nothing. Can't wait for her to get more focus later on.

I'm a bit disappointed that they didn't adapt Agott's "She's operating on the assumption that she's going to fail?" realization. It really drives home the difference in mindsets between the two apprentices. One either does it perfectly or not at all, while the other does it with failure in mind.

THE SCENE WHERE THEY PLAN THE WHOLE THING WAS SO WELL DONE: Coco drawing her and everyone else beside the sleeping dragon for her point to stick, Tetia getting excited about her dream becoming a reality, Richeh marveling at the idea of how even the greatest of beings are helpless against a fluffy and warm blanket(best character btw), and Agott slowly realizing that the idea is possible, with a little compliments from the others to encourage her.

Coco reinforcing that magic is the gift that brings happiness to the world after bringing up how Qifrey told her to learn a kinder magic is the core of what this series is about. Magic is supposed to bring happiness.

Then they figure out the potential composition of such a spell, which was also a really good sequence. Actually, I'm realizing that I'll say that for the rest of this episode but you can't hold back PEAK. Anyways, the fact that a good few minutes is spent on the brainstorming session gives even more credence to the fact that these are regular people trying to solve a difficult problem.

Coco drawing a Pyreball spell correctly(pay-off from the last episode) with Tetia and Richeh being there to support her was much more satisfying than it felt in the manga. The camera panning to all of Coco's failed attempts was ahhhhhh. I'm running out of words to describe this.

Then they execute the plan, and can I just say this was the best animated sequence I've watched this year. Everything from the smoothness of the motion to the music was just breathtaking. The scene with everyone drawing each seal, then finally executing each seal back to back to back.

I was worried that the anime could never compare to the manga, but this plus Episode 3's changes add so much to the story and heart to the series.

Dragon-Disabler Cushion ftw!!! Though I do admit that Serpent's Bed of Sand is cool, and Agott should get naming rights for the foreseeable future.

Qifrey stepping(flying?) in to save Agott, then proceeds to solo a dragon and win is certainly not a good sign for everyone wishing to avoid those articles claiming that Qifrey is the strongest witch(title goes to Olly obviously /j). That was also beautifully animated by the way, the dragon turning into a flower was compensation for them not animating Qifrey drawing a water flower earlier.

Iguin you magnificent enigma, keep aura farming.

I forgot that Coco cries at the end of this arc and it made me feel a bit inside. When she looks down at everyone's muddied clothes and realizes that they went through all of this for her, then the tears start... ahhhhhhhhhhh. Qifrey did a really good job at comforting her too.

And lastly, Qifrey silencing the ED with a death stare. I hope we get more of those as the series progresses.

And now onto the spoilers for the latest manga chapters. Thanks for reading this far! Spoilers start after the break.

"Magic being the gift that brings happiness to the world" and "Magic taking away the happiness of the world" is a repeated theme throughout the series that gets explored a few times. I'm not smart enough to go into a detailed analysis on how, but it's there. We see it in the Dragon, Custas, the people of Romonon, just everything about Silver Eve... Anyways–

SPOILERS FROM HERE ON. BEWARE ANIME-ONLIES.

The way that Coco's just going through it in both anime and manga as of right now makes me think of the "What it's like reading Witch Hat Atelier" video. Suffering builds character.

I hope they continue adapting chapters with this high of a budget, but unfortunately, I don't see a justification for it until the Second Test at the soonest. And, despite what everyone seems to be saying on Twitter, I really don't think we're finishing the Second Test in Season 1, and I'm really hoping we don't get it at Season 1 at all.

Romonon deserves a whole five to six episode arc, and there isn't enough for that this season. Unless we're getting two cours this year(best case scenario), I feel like it'd be best for season 1 to adapt volumes 1 to 3(end just before Romonon) and for season 2 to adapt volumes 4 to 7(end with Chapter 40 iykyk).

I say this knowing that Euini is 100% getting introduced before the season's end thanks to the OP, so really, I'm just as clueless as everyone else and making assumptions as I go. At the end of the day, I trust Shirahama's judgement.

Don't really know how to end this off. Thanks for reading this far! Don't forget to hydrate today. Don't expect more of this.

[runeris]

Do you guys wonder if Coco will ever meet people who knew her before she became a witch(other than her mom, of course), and how that conversation would play out?

Or do you think that the Knights Moralis wiped everyone's memory of Coco(could be possible but doesn't seem practical)?

I'm leaning towards the latter, but I'm not sure if the Knights could whip up a spell like that with what they have. On the other hand, if the Knights didn't mindwipe Coco's memory from the villagers, than that generates a lot of potential for angst.

It's just occurred to me that it's also possible, and likely easier, for the Knights to erase both Coco and her mother's memories from the villagers, so this post might've been just me going in circles.

[runeris]

Writing a fic about the conversation with Qifrey and Beldaruit that supposedly happened during the time period in between chapters 1 and 2/episodes 1 and 2. It doesn't seem like much time passed in the anime, but I'm assuming at least four hours in between those.

Even with Shirahama's vague allusion to a Witch Gossip Social Media site(saw this mentioned on Twitter, I think Shirahama talks about it in one of their live thread reactions which leads to several more questions down the road), I don't get how news of Coco's status could spread quickly enough to reach Agott, Richeh, and Tetia.

Anyways as much as I want to dive into the nitty gritty on how witches gossip, the fic will primarily focus on that first thing...

Okay one more thing, why does Qifrey have Guard Briar seeds on his person. He uses them to guard Coco's house, but where did he get them? Consider me shocked if a shop in town both sold guard briars, and was open at whatever time in the morning this takes place in.

[runeris]

Rambles and Analysis on HSR 3.8(Spoilers!)

and now it's time for the spoiler talk! Kindly finish the quest first before reading under the cut. Or don't, it's up to you.

Deleted Memories

From a lore perspective, I get why the Stellaron Hunters would tell the Dahlia to delete all our memories regarding the Swarm on Penacony. Heck, this kinda recontextualizes the Fate Collab quest since now we know that there was an existing link between the Swarm and Penacony.

But if we entered Amphoreus with the baggage of Firefly dying in front of us and the weight of what that would mean for the actual living Firefly, then it's safe to say that having those memories + all of Amphoreus's Troubles would lead to the Trailblazer leaning ever so closer to Nihility.

My big headcanon right now is that when we see the other receptacle in the middle of 3.7(the one who goes: "I trailblaze because I have not seen the end") we're seeing a Trailblazer on the verge of Nihility, a Trailblazer who didn't answer Herta-Nous' questions "correctly" which would lead to the universe not getting rebooted. I know the leading theory is that the other receptacle follows Finality, but I think Nihility is equally likely with the Stellaron Hunter's insistence on keeping us away from Nihility.

Also, idk where else to put this but the fact that Kafka gave TB, Firefly, and likely Silver Wolf, a resistance to memory tampering/deletion via her Spirit Whisper is really neat and cements my Stellaron Hunter Family dreams.

Harmony Lore Drops

SO other than Hoyo shoving the fact that we can't trust anything that happens in Penacony down our throats, and causing trust issues that will likely never be resolved... we also got some Harmony lore bombs.

And I say that literally because I did not expect Stellarons to be a "gift" of the Harmony. They definitely weren't Destruction, but I was expecting either Abundance or Propagation connections. Not the supposedly "chill" Aeon who just wants stuff to sound nice.

AND ALSO, SUNDAY BECAME AN AEON. Or rather was on track to becoming an Aeon with a NEW PATH. I can't even add much to that because that's actually baffling.

Dahlia

I saw a lot of people talk about how they wanted an "evil character" and are disappointed with how the Dahlia turned out. And I kinda get that? If a character was implied to have a trait which they didn't actually have then I'd be peeved. SO I get why there are people who don't like her.

However... I tend to not like evil characters so I was really hoping she'd be more neutral, and I'm glad that turned out to be the case. Dahlia's a fascinating character from a lore perspective. A Cremator who was a former Memokeeper, follower of the paths of Destruction, Rememberance, and potential LORD RAVAGER WHO SEEKS TO DESTROY REMEMBERANCE.

For a "Cremator," she doesn't actually seem to want to destroy other people's memories? At most, she wants to see and experience them. Her goals are mostly related to "Greed" and "having more near death experiences" if wanting to dance with Acheron is any indication.

Also, her and Black Swan's... interactions. They exist. They look like an interesting pair of former "cellmates."

Firefly

Warning: Everything before this is a somewhat coherent collection of my thoughts on 3.8. This section will be less of that.

Now, I'm a Firefly enjoyer. Have been since 2.0. She's constantly number 1 every time I've done the ranking HSR characters. I could go into an in-depth tangent about why, but that essay exists to never be posted! That being said...

FIREFLYYYYYYY. Firefly deserves so much more omfg. If she wasn't my favorite character before this quest, she'd literally SOAR to the top of my list.

Yes, I'm a weak human being who's susceptible to characters that evoke strong emotions. So not only am I hearing about Firefly's backstory and motivations again, I AM WITNESSING IT HAPPEN RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY EYES.

She wanted to try dreaming, and then she was able to dream, and then she experienced the happiest times of her life AND THEN SHE PICKED UP A SPACE BOMB AND DIEDDDDDDD. SHE DISSOLVED RIGHT IN FRONT OF US AGAIN. SHE JUST WANTED TO LIVE AN ORDINARY LIFE, AND WE'RE ONE STEP TOO LATE AGAIN. HOYOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We're likely not seeing Firefly again for a long time. I'm assuming that we're getting an Amphoreus revival way before Firefly and the Trailblazer meet face to face. But that's just speculation.

Okay this is getting way too long, I'm saving the rest for another post.