This Dragon’s Maze actually has a good story arc to solving it.
If you didn’t get the joke before the cut, don’t worry. Here, we left with Coco and friends trapped in a city labyrinth with a giant dragon hunting them. They discover that all routes seem to lead them in circles, and that the dragon seems to be getting bigger.
At a low point, Coco has a heart-to-heart with Tetia in which the latter wants to mend fences, feeling bad for putting blame onto Coco. In the chill of the labyrinth, she ends up showing off a half-finished spell of hers to create a bed of warm cloud.
As comfy as the spell is, it ends up actually becoming the focus of a plan (hatched by Coco in a fit of kindness) to get by the dragon without having to battle it head-on. Much to Agott’s frustration, Coco’s concept of giving it a warm, fluffy bed as a distraction is enacted as the best idea anyone has. And, to Agott’s credit, she’s willing to work with it in order to get out of a hard situation rather than letting her spite get the better of her.
The girls figure out that they can make the “bed” more solid and functional by using sand produced by Richeh’s wall-breaker magic as the medium, while Agott’s speed and accuracy drawing casting seals will be essential. While the girls prep, Coco (told to sit this out, in a more fair if still harsh way than before) practices her drawing and inadvertently helps Agott stumble on the last key for getting everything in order.
The show then turns the visual wonder up to max for its action, as the girls create a massive cloud of sand and lure the dragon onto its bed, which indeed gets it off the trail of four little girls long enough for them to reach the central spire it was defending and locate the casting seal for the forbidden magic keeping them in this twisted realm. They efface the seal, leading to another action scene as the sky is rent open, the dragon awakens, and Qifrey (who found the other end of the Brimhat’s work back in town) appears through the portal, rescuing Agott from a dangerous fall and a dragon’s maw and knocking the dragon out cold with a vast flood of conjured water for an encore.
Coco is a little late being retrieved, and in the meantime seems to have an encounter with the Brimhat, who waxes eager to teach her more of the dark side… some other time. Qifrey asks (or demands) the shopkeeper analyze the Brimhat’s ink left behind at the scene, since the magic being done is quite the anomaly, and we’re allowed to reach a rest before the next episode.
This was a big one, and the production clearly knew it. They use every second of the running time, with important scenes playing (namely the ones once everyone is back in town) while the credits roll. If, by this point, you aren’t at least a bit impressed with Witch Hat Atelier, I don’t think anything is going to convince you. I mentioned some potential pain points last week, so this week I’m going to gush a little.
The studio behind this one has done basically nothing else; the only other credit I could find is Zom100. Granted, many members of the staff have long and storied filmographies, but making any major creative project is a team effort in which a single weak entry can tank the final product, which is how such talent often gets wasted.
Instead, Witch Hat Atelier seems to have stuck the landing. The sound, the art, the careful scripting for the new medium – they all serve the goal of trying to create an experience as big, wonderful, and magical as the world Coco sees spreading out before her, or that readers likely experienced the first time they cracked the Manga open and were introduced to its setting, characters, and scenario.
I’m not sure where they’re going to cut this season – it’s awkward, given that Witch Hat is an ongoing manga, but I can at least think of a couple places where their current pace could get us that would make… acceptable stopping points, with my eye on one in particular. If I’m right, there’s enough material in print for at least a second outing, and it would be a dang shame if we didn’t get there. You don’t want to rush these things (or at least I don’t, because I know what can happen), but I hope Witch Hat Atelier meets success in the market enough to continue with this kind of quality beyond the limits of a single season.