Witch Hat Atelier 1×4 and 1×5 Review – “Meetings in Kalhn” and “The Dragon’s Labyrinth”

Witch Hat Atleier anime season 1 episode 4, titled ‘Meetings in Kalhn’, and episode 5, titled ‘The Dragon’s Labayrinth’, expanded the world while also giving Coco and her classmates the opportunity to work together.

With Coco being forced to face a bunch of challenges by taking the apprentice test at the Dadah Range, it was time for Coco to learn a bit more about the magical world she had now become a part of. As expected of such narratives, Coco needed to travel to a magical marketplace, and that’s exactly what ‘Meetings in Kalhn’ did.

Realizing that Coco would be better at drawing spells if she tested out a pen that felt natural in her hands, Qifrey took the girls to the witch town of Kalhn. From what I could understand, said witch town began as a way to protect a nearby city from dangerous monsters. However, more and more witches began gathering at the location, and it soon transformed into a thriving witch town for magical people to socialize and shop.

I appreciated the creative team taking the time to showcase how busy the witch town was. The narrow streets were packed with witches wearing a diverse range of garb and merchants announcing various supplies. We also got snippets of certain conversations that did a lot to make the marketplace come alive.

As for Qifrey’s agenda, he took the girls to a magical stationery shop run by Nolnoa and his young grandson, Tartah. That’s where Coco (and the audience) got to learn about how the magical ink used to draw spells was extracted from the Silverwood Tree, with Nolnoa having one such tree growing in the middle of his shop. The process included collecting the dark sap from a tree branch and then calculating the required concentration of the ink. The lore talked about how a witch fell in love with a Silverwood tree, resulting in the “blood” of said tree housing magical properties.

We didn’t get any information about the different styles of pens that witches could use. So, I’m hopeful to get some answers soon, especially because Coco still hasn’t selected her perfect pen.

Before Coco could spend more time browsing the stationery store, she noticed a Brimmed Hat witch and decided to give chase. I mean, it wasn’t the best decision to run after a mysterious witch without telling Qifrey, but I can’t blame Coco for her rashness. Our poor girl continues to bear the weight of her mother’s current predicament. So, it made sense for Coco to run after the only person who (as far as she knows) could give Coco the answer to freeing her mother.

Tetia and Richeh chasing after Coco was expected. However, I do feel that Agott being encouraged to do the same by Tetia and Richeh instead of Agott staying behind and contacting Qifrey had more to do with plot necessity rather than staying true to Agott’s character. But yeah, all four young apprentices needed to be together for the plot to teleport them to a pocket dimension due to the Brimmed Hat witch wanting to test Coco.

With Coco and her peers finding themselves in a completely different location, with no way to contact Qifrey, I liked how the narrative handled some of the character-driven moments. As if falling into a trap and being stuck in a labyrinth weren’t stressful enough, our young leads also got attacked by a giant dragon. Of course, emotions were going to run high, and a target needed to be selected. Unfortunately, but as expected, the target of the emotional outbursts was Coco.

I can understand why Agott, Tetia, and Richeh blamed Coco for their troubles. They wouldn’t need to survive a dragon in the first place if Coco hadn’t run away without saying a word. However, I do think that Agott needs to be told to take it down a couple of notches when verbally attacking Coco. She’s just a bit too harsh for my liking. Also, I still can’t understand why Qifrey didn’t have a stern talk with Agott after the stunt she pulled by sending Coco to the Dadah Range without permission.

Fortunately, the storyline didn’t drag out the antagonism against Coco because the girls needed to work together to not only counter the flying dragon but also figure out a way to escape the pocket dimension they were in by finding the Seal keeping them trapped.

‘The Dragon’s Labyrinth’ focused on the teamwork after Coco and Tetia talked about their feelings. Yes, to Tetia for realizing she was being unfair by blaming Coco. Agott also became less cold after having the self-awareness that verbal attacks weren’t going to help them escape.

Tetia’s goal to become an accomplished witch involved wanting to create original spells that brought happiness to the world. She had been working on a spell that allowed her to summon a warm cloud. It was a work in progress because she aimed to create an actual floating cloud-like platform for people to sleep on.

With Tetia having a penchant for creating original spells, Agott being the best at drawing spells and coming up with ways to polish work-in-progress spells, and Richeh having the skill to quickly draw small spells, Coco’s part in the team was that of the idea person. As an outsider, Coco brought a drastically different perspective to brainstorming sessions compared to her peers. Coco’s also not a fighter.

It’s Coco who brought up the idea about how, instead of fighting the dragon (which wouldn’t be fruitful anyway, considering their current magic levels), they should focus on distracting it to gain enough time to reach the Seal. With the environment being cold, the plan involved creating a large warm cloud, using Tetia’s spell, to essentially make a bed the dragon couldn’t resist.

I had to laugh at the simplicity of the idea and how it showcased Coco’s emphatic nature, even if the creature she was showing empathy to was a giant freaking lizard!

Though the spell worked, the dragon didn’t stay distracted after the Seal was disrupted. Fortunately, Qifrey (who had followed Coco’s bushbuddy to try and find the girls) appeared in the nick of time to save his apprentices.

The animators did an incredible job with the sequence involving Qifrey gathering the moisture in the clouds to cast a formidable spell against the dragon. You can watch it in the clip above.

I’m very excited to see what else professional witches are capable of. They can definitely cause a lot of chaos if not bound by the rules of the governing witches.

With everybody back in Kalhn, ‘The Dragon’s Labyrinth’ also had a scene where the Brimmed Witch was impressed by Coco’s performance. The witch promised to teach Forbidden Magic to Coco. I don’t know if the Brimmed Witch has already placed some dark spells into an unconscious Coco’s mind while Qifrey was looking for her, or will do so down the line, but I’m so here for Coco being stuck between two sides of the magical world.

Did you watch Witch Hat Atelier anime episodes 4 and 5? What did you think of them?

Let us know.

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.

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