The girls keep running in circles. They come to the realization that they’re trapped in a very small, enclosed space. Maybe even a pocket dimension! Luckily, what Coco spotted in last week’s episode — y’know, before Agott had her (admittedly valid) crash-out — might just be the Casting Seal keeping them trapped here.

Coco wants to redo the seal on the shoes Agott had lent her, but she still can’t draw steady lines. As we saw last week, give her tools similar to what you would find in dressmaker’s shop and she excels. Give her standard pens and she doesn’t excel. Only now does Qifrey finally decide to take Coco shopping. He’ll finally let her pick out her own writing instrument, which feels like what he should’ve done in the first place. I dunno about this guy, man. Even if I assume his intentions are good, he seems like a sloppy instructor in general. He does not strike me as an adult who has it together. If it weren’t for his looks (I’m told he resembles a certain beloved JJK character) and his VA, would viewers be so tolerant of his foibles?

When the episode opens, Qifrey meets with a fellow witch named Alaira. They have a bit of catching up as they descend into the watery depths where an entire city lives among the whales. Qifrey tells Alaira that Coco isn’t his official apprentice yet, because you gotta pass your tests first. Unfortunately, it’s a bad time for one of them. So bad, you could even die. Welp, it’s a good thing he entrusted Coco to Agott! Surely, nothing bad can happen while he’s gone! I mean, yeah, Agott looked a little surly the last time he was there, but, um, she’s always like that! She would never, ever endanger an apprentice-to-be!

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.