A few days ago, I finally cracked open the first volume of Witch Hat Atelier, which I had bought a while back when it was on sale. It’s a decent read, but I haven’t fallen in love with the series yet. Nor do I can tell if I ever will. After all, despite it ending on a cliffhanger, the first volume didn’t exactly make me jump and buy the second volume. Why? Well, a couple things bother me.
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Even though I’ve owned the game for over a year now, I still haven’t started it. I haven’t even booted it up. After watching this opening episode, maybe I should. But going in blind for now is okay, I think, because the anime seems to be its own thing. Well, not exactly. It obviously has callbacks to the game — callbacks I can neither recognize nor appreciate — but I think I can still enjoy the adaptation without some of the context. And boy is the opening episode an information overload — an overdose, even. Blink and you’ll miss out. Is there a story? Not in the traditional sense. Instead, we bounce around like the terminally bored, clicking through various sites, looking and hoping for something to catch our attention.
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I wouldn’t be too interested in this show if it was just a bunch of people from the past doing battles against demons. What can I say? A part of me simply can’t immerse myself in a story if I have to also imagine living in the olden days before the existence of modern conveniences. You might think I’m referring to stuff like smartphones and the internet — and sure, living without them would suck — but I’m talking more like refrigeration and a proper ass plumbing system. That’s why the thought of being isekai’d into a fantasy universe has no appeal to me. Yeah, yeah, I now get to cast magic… but I also gotta take a dump in an outhouse. Thanks but no thanks. Plus, could you imagine eating nothing but salt-cured foods all the time? But that’s what you gotta do before the advent of refrigeration. People also wouldn’t know about germs and bacteria, so they’d stick their grubby, lil’ mitts on everything. Ugh. No thanks. Keep the past away from me.
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Oh good, it’s another villainess show with a twist. This time, however, the villainess can’t rid herself of the prince. But why would she want to? Isn’t the villainess supposed to try and steal the prince away from the heroine? Well, in her previous life, Bertia was a big fan of Cecil’s route (yes, of course, she’s a Japanese girl who has been isekai’d). The fictional version of him had helped her through some rough times. As a result, she’s content to fulfill her role as a villainess in her second life even if it means he gets to live happily ever after with someone else, i.e. the heroine. She’s willing to sacrifice her own happiness for him, which is a bit disturbing if you think about it. I mean, you gotta be able to separate fiction from reality. For instance, just because Bertia claims to be the villainess doesn’t mean she has it in her to actually become one. She’s not an inherently bad person, and thus Cecil has no reason to annul their engagement. In fact, this story is being told from the prince’s perspective, and he finds her utterly fascinating.
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From the looks of it, Koyuki, our protagonist, was bullied and teased relentlessly in elementary and middle school. She was even ostracized because a girl got jealous. Even now, jerks will target her (though this will likely happen to any girl or woman just trying to mind her business in public). As a result, she has developed a defense mechanism; she projects an icy exterior that keeps others away. I’m glad the series decided to literally show us what the rampart might look like. Y’know, just in case the metaphor hasn’t sunk in.
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