User:Ilikecomputers/sandbox

''Witch Hat Atelier beta development page. This should not be published on the main wiki until deemed appropriate.'' When published, the title should be Witch Hat Atelier (manga) "Is an athlete always an athlete, even from birth? With about astronauts, or pop stars? You never know what you're going to be until you grow up, right? So... What about witches? Is it the same for them? — Page 1, Volume 1"

Witch Hat Atelier (Japanese とんがり帽子のアトリエ, Hepburn Tongari Bōshi no Atorie) is a manga written and illustrated by Kamome Shirahama, first published in Japanese in 2016, and in English in 2019. An anime adaption is in development.

Coco is a young girl with a deep and profound interest in magic. Her pursuit to become a witch, however, is stopped by the fact that she knows witches are born, not trained nor taught. That view is shattered when the witch Qifrey arrives at her village in a flying Pegasus carriage. Coco watches Qifrey cast magic, and discovers how magic really works. A person doesn't have to be born with innate abilities to cast magic! Instead, they draw runes and symbols on paper, topped off with a ring to make the spell work.

Knowing this, traces over a basic rune, and casts a light spell. She casts a fire spell, figures out the basics of spellcasting... and casts forbidden Black Magic that turns her mum into stone and destroys her house. Well, Coco now has no choices but to become a witch's apprentice. Thus, she and Qifrey travels to his atelier and becomes his apprentice. The manga focuses on the (mis)adventures of Coco, her mentors, and the other apprentice girls at the atelier: the quiet and reclusive Richeh, the enthusiastic and outgoing Tetia, and the academic and focused Agott.


 * The Apprentice: The witches living at Qifrey's atelier. In order to become an apprentice, they have to pass a magical trial. The manga series shows Coco improving at her magical abilities, slowing improving the quality of her glyphs.
 * Bag of Sharing: Bottle of sharing in this case. Coco is given a bottle with a powerful magic ink that can cause devastation. The bottle is refilled by a member of the Brimmed Caps. Qifrey tries to use the bottle to track down the member, but fails.
 * Black Magic: Coco accidentally casts one of these spells in the first chapter. Black Magic is outlawed, and no respectable witch use it, but it is used frequently by the Brimmed Caps, who gave Coco the book containing the black magic.
 * Body Horror: This is a part where the manga lays off its shonen appearance and starts being seinen.
 * Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are: A member of the Brimmed Caps does this during the second magic trial. Richeh, Agott, and Euini are hiding from the member who has interrupted their second magical trial.
 * Cliffhanger: The end of volume 2 in English, where Coco is about to get her memory wiped by the Knights Moralis.
 * Cute Witch: Almost everyone in Qifrey's atelier.
 * Easy Amnesia: The Knights Moralis are easilly able to wipe the memories of people who have seen magic. This almost happens at the end of volume 2,
 * Escort Mission: The second magical trial, whose objective is to escort a group of migrating Myphons through the dangerous remains of Romonon.
 * Foreshadowing: The end of volume 3 has a member of the Brimmed Caps stating, "When the apprentices leave their teacher's protection to take the test we shall have an opportunity we cannot afford to miss", hinting at their attack in volume 4.
 * Geometric Magic: How all spells are cast. Spells are cast via drawing sigils and signs inside a ring, on paper, using special magic ink. When the ring is completed, the spell is cast. The larger the ring, the more powerful and stronger the spell. Witches may occasionally choose to almost finish drawing their spell, leaving only a small uncompleted section of the ring, so they can cast the spell at a more convinent time.
 * Ghibli Hills: The area surrounding Qifrey's atelier.
 * Knights Templar: The Knights Moralis, whose members are to find and track down people using magic improperly or using Black Magic. They are very cold and methodical in their duty, carrying out work without any passion so emotions will not get in the way. A large part of the book's conflict is whether the Knights Moralis are justified in their methods, or whether they should loosen control on magic, creating more opportunities for residents to have better lives at the expensive of war and famine.
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: The Knights Moralis only targets memories of magic when they use Easy Amnesia.
 * Masquerade: In this case, the objective is not to hide a secret magical society or supernatural beings. The objective is to hide the truth about magic, holding up the belief that only a small group of born wizards can cast magic. This is to ensure that magic is not abused, and is never used for malicious purposes.
 * Plucky Girl: Coco, who has to face almost getting a memory wipe from the Knights Moralis, accidentally turning her mum into stone, and attempting a magic trial when she's barely qualified to do so. Despite this, she's still enthusiastic and willing to learn more about magic.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Tetia's more outgoing and vibrant personality balances out Richeh's more subdued and introverted attitude. This is literally represented via their hair colours, where Tetia is vibrant pink-red and Richeh blue.
 * Rose-Haired Girl: Tetia.
 * Taken for Granite: The Cavern Nation of Romonon, who turns those with no merit or nothing to contribute into gold.
 * Wild Magic: The magic system before the Knights Moralis and the The Witches' Assembly was like this, where everyone had access to magic, although this lead to the abuse of magic, involving acts such as the forced transformation of another person, and war crimes.
 * World in the Sky: The first magic trial takes place in the Dadah range, where the objective is to pick the Diadem herb. The range is made up of many spherical slices of earth floating in the air, suspended seemingly by nothing.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Richeh's blue hair stands out the most, although Tetia's pink and Qifrey's silver are also notable.