Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 11 “The Test In Serpentback Cave”: Testing The Yuri [Review]

Witch Hat Atelier has always been more than a bit queer-coded, but Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave” is where they make it obvious. The yuri is quite strong here between Coco and Agott, even if it’s quite a bumpy road towards the yuri. And with Richeh getting her traumatic backstory here, this is a surprisingly tense and dramatic episode for something that’s supposed to be a relatively simple test for the kids here.

Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave”: Details in Brief

Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave” is the eleventh episode (you can read my reviews for Ep. 1-2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, and Ep. 10 here) of this dark fantasy anime series. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Kamome Shirahama.

Bug Films (Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead) is the animation studio behind this anime. Ayumu Watanabe is the director of this anime, with Jun Shinohara as the assistant director, Hiroshi Seko as the writer, and Yuka Kitamura as the composer for the music.

The opening theme song for Witch Hat Atelier is “Kaze no Ansemu” by Eve ft. suis from Yorushika. Meanwhile, “Tada Utsukushii Noroi” by Nakamura Hak is the ending theme song.

Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave”: The Good

Without a doubt, the dramatic story of Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave” is the reason why it’s so good. That, and the excellent animation by Bug Films’ animation team, which includes realistic penguin movements by the not-penguins. However, we’ll focus on the story for now. You can even divide this story into three parts. However, the difference here between this episode and the previous episodes is that the three parts focus not on the timestamps of the parts, but on who the episode focuses on.

The Backstory of Richeh

As you might’ve noticed: the first and main part is the story around Richeh (voiced by Hika Tsukishiro (JP) and Nerida Bronwen (EN)) and her past. The exact details of her past are still mostly a mystery right now. However, we can still see that she has a fear and disgust around book learning because of some kind of trauma related to her past. Honestly, I would put my bet on abuse by a previous instructor. It would explain both her hatred of book learning as well as her general distrust of adults. A child who has been abused would be very slow to trust adults indeed.

Especially if said adult, namely Qifrey (voiced by Natsuki Hanae (JP) and Joshua Waters (EN)), tries to get her to do the very thing that triggers her by trying to get her to take a test. However, kudos to Qifrey, he doesn’t do it in a way that’s harmful. He doesn’t just order her to take a test like some adults would. Instead, Qifrey kneels down to look her in the eye, and asks her to please take the test, reasoning with her that it’s for her own benefit. It may seem like a simple thing, but it’s much, much better than how a lot of adults would treat children in this situation. Treating children like unfeeling automatons or soldiers eager to receive orders is a great way to get them to hate you forever. Honestly, I think a lot of parents could stand to learn from Qifrey’s example.

The Troubled Yuri

The second part comes from the growing yuri between Agott (voiced by Hibiku Yamamura (JP) and Madeleine Morris (EN)) and Coco (voiced by Rena Motomura (JP) and Anjali Kunapaneni (EN)). Indeed, Agott makes it pretty clear in this episode that what she feels towards Coco is romance, and she even acknowledges to herself that it’s romantic love. There’s a reason why creator Kamome Shirahama made fanart of The Owl House, after all.

However, there’s a big hurdle in the way, and that is how Agott’s parents raised her. She too is a victim of abuse by her parental figures, and that abuse entails them drilling it into her head that romantic love is weakness. It’s likely that her parents both genuinely believe that love is weakness, and that it’s a tactic meant to isolate her and keep her from seeking help and comfort from another person.

All of which makes the yuri she feels towards Coco very troubled indeed. It will take quite a bit of character development from Agott and an admission of weakness before she can hope to even act on those feelings. And that’s not even taking Coco’s own feelings into account, who seems to be blithely unaware of love. Alas, this yuri will take a while.

Cycle of Abuse

The third and final part comes from new character Euini (voiced by Hiiro Ishibashi (JP) and Justin Briner (EN)). As you can tell by the other two story arcs in this episode, his story is also a story of abuse by a parental figure. In this case, his witch instructor Kukrow (voiced by Hiroshi Yanaka (JP) and Barry Yandell (EN)) is so clearly abusing him that you wonder just how that instructor is able to get away with it in public. While the episode does not explain that, my theory is that Kukrow either belongs to a prestigious family or is very well-connected politically. Either option would explain how he’s able to abuse his apprentice in public without repercussion.

In either case, what is clear is that Euini has a lot of emotional and mental baggage under his belt because of that abuse. It results in him having very unhealthy personality traits that are detrimental to his own well-being. All we can do for now is await the next episode of Witch Hat Atelier to see if he succeeds in lightening that baggage a bit.

Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave”: The Bad

My one big complaint about Ep. 11 “The Test in Serpentback Cave” is the changes in it from the manga. This episode cuts out some critical dialogue and scenes for brevity. Those cut content include a conversation between Qifrey and test proctor Alaira (voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi (JP) and Cassie Ewulu (EN)) in which they openly discuss Kukrow’s obvious abuse of his apprentice. Indeed, they even discuss reporting Kukrow to their government for that abuse, and they even talk to Euini about the possibility of switching to a new teacher: an option that Euini declines out of a desire to still prove himself worthy of his parental figure’s love.

They’re small scenes, but they add so much to the story. It’s a shame that they were cut from the final episode. We can only hope that no more scenes like that are cut in the next episode of Witch Hat Atelier.

Anime Recommendations

If you can’t wait for the next episode and you want action now though, then you have options in the form of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, Zenshu, Blue Box, Solo Leveling, Black Butler, Nyaight of the Living Cat, May I Ask for One Final Thing?, TRIGUN STARGAZE, and/or Daemons of the Shadow Realm. However, if you want something calmer to chill out to, then you might like Spy x Family, Senpai is an Otokonoko, Apocalypse Hotel, Spice and Wolf: Merchant Meets the Wise Wolf, The Ancient Magus’ Bride, My Dress-Up Darling, This Monster Wants to Eat Me, Hana-Kimi, and/or Journal with Witch.

What do you all think of this week’s episode of Witch Hat Atelier? Tell us your troubled yuri thoughts in the comments section below.

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