The second book of the manga all-girl reduced version of Harry Potter was a real yawner. The girls gotta escape a dragon in a maze and then save some randos from a river that’s burst its banks. What’s the main storyline again? Oh yeah, Coco’s trying to learn magic to save her literally statuesque ma. That’s put on hold for this book! Great…
So the dragon - it sounds interesting, no? But this is a very safe, very cutesy-poo kid’s comic so there goes any tension - you know they’ll overcome it easily. I expected that but I also wondered what the point of it was. Why transport them to a maze with a dragon in it if the dragon’s not going to relentlessly chase the girls - what’s the goal? It just seemed so pointless and was really boring to read.
And unfortunately it continued to be boring. The girls go on a picnic with Master Qifrey, a new adult character called Olruggio shows up and adds nothing to the story beyond exposition on some more new dull characters called the Knights Moralis. Yeesh, no wonder it took me weeks to slog my ass through this crap!
The finale is a dreary set-piece where Coco and co. gotta save some people from a river that’s burst its banks. Oh and Coco and Agott have a one-sided rivalry. Zzz…
I remain totally impressed with Kamome Shirahama’s gorgeous artwork. I loved all the visuals from the myriad witch hat designs and even the interstitials where, in one, Qifrey is simply lying back on a window seat and it looks incredible. The dragon maze was the only part of the book that didn’t do anything for me as those were just a series of blank walls, but the dragon design was terrific.
The second volume of Witch Hat Atelier is pants. There’s just not enough happening here to engage me. The material was thin and too cutesy by far - I’m done with the series!
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