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A review by nonesensed
Witch Hat Atelier, Volume 2 by Kamome Shirahama
5.0
Trapped in a maze with a dragon, Coco and her fellow apprentices have to figure out a way back to their teacher Qifrey without becoming dragon food. Why did the mysterious brim-hatted witch trick Coco and her fellows into this maze? And will the four apprentices be able to work together to free themselves?
Everything about this manga's art is gorgeous and it fits the mood the plot is going for perfectly. That on its own is reason enough to give it a read. But what I love the most about this story thus far, is that we get a protagonist who happens to be a girl, interacting with a lot of other girls in a believable way. This is the kind of story I wish I'd gotten to read more of as a child. Growing up, I remember a lot of female characters in media, especially children and teenagers, being very stereotypical in how they interacted with one another. There was a lot of artificial cattiness, weird ideas about "queen bees" (which might happen somewhere but that I've never personally experienced in real life) and always some odd conflict about "who is prettiest" that made it so clear the author had no real idea of what small girls and teenage girls actually say to each other when away from adults and people of other genders. So, this is a wonderful breath of fresh air for me personally, even though I suspect this is just me being old and out of the loop re: modern portrayals of young girls in media (at least I hope it's that).
Also, I enjoy that Qifrey, for all his moral ambiguity, acts like an actual good teacher. Someone not learning from repetition? Put that practice into a daily activity they do anyways! Basic teaching skills, sadly so rare in stories featuring people learning magic (or anything, really).
Everything about this manga's art is gorgeous and it fits the mood the plot is going for perfectly. That on its own is reason enough to give it a read. But what I love the most about this story thus far, is that we get a protagonist who happens to be a girl, interacting with a lot of other girls in a believable way. This is the kind of story I wish I'd gotten to read more of as a child. Growing up, I remember a lot of female characters in media, especially children and teenagers, being very stereotypical in how they interacted with one another. There was a lot of artificial cattiness, weird ideas about "queen bees" (which might happen somewhere but that I've never personally experienced in real life) and always some odd conflict about "who is prettiest" that made it so clear the author had no real idea of what small girls and teenage girls actually say to each other when away from adults and people of other genders. So, this is a wonderful breath of fresh air for me personally, even though I suspect this is just me being old and out of the loop re: modern portrayals of young girls in media (at least I hope it's that).
Also, I enjoy that Qifrey, for all his moral ambiguity, acts like an actual good teacher. Someone not learning from repetition? Put that practice into a daily activity they do anyways! Basic teaching skills, sadly so rare in stories featuring people learning magic (or anything, really).