Witch Hat Atelier gives us what is possibly one of the worst cliffhangers in anime history with the end of Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic”. The rest of the episode is an amazing dark fantasy adventure featuring some honestly very disturbing magical body horror. However, the ending will have you gnashing your teeth in outrage that Bug Films would choose to end the episode on that. Unless this cours goes on past 13 episodes, which will be quite unprecedented in anime history as well, but in very good ways. Alas, this seems like it’s not the case…
Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic”: Details in Brief
Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic” is the 13th and seemingly final episode (you can read my reviews for Ep. 1-2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, Ep. 7, Ep. 8, Ep. 9, Ep. 10, Ep. 11, and Ep. 12 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. 13 “Forbidden Magic”: The Good
Oh, where do I even begin? First off, let’s talk about the story of Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic”, because that’s the real meat and bones of why this episode is so amazingly good. The dark and ghastly results of that story has been practically telegraphed beforehand over the course of the entire cours. It’s the idea, repeated over and over again, that there’s a reason why forbidden magic is, well, forbidden. Now, we see the horrific reasons of why that is when that mysterious Brimhat does…something to Euini (voiced by Hiiro Ishibashi (JP) and Justin Briner (EN)). Something that warps and twists his body into something resembling the mythical werewolf. Indeed, the werewolf vibes were practically telegraphed over the past couple of episodes. The weird scaled wolves were the Chekhov’s beasts that heralded what would become of Euini.
But as dark as that is, the fallout from Euini’s forced werewolf-ing is somehow just as bad. It forces Richeh (voiced by Hika Tsukishiro (JP) and Nerida Bronwen (EN)) and Agott (voiced by Hibiku Yamamura (JP) and Madeleine Morris (EN)) into survival mode as they now try to figure out how to deal with what had just happened. The way that came after a high-strung but optimistic chase across the road provides a very clear contrast to boot, making this incident feel all the more painful after that high. Honestly, it’s a masterful example of building up to a narrative climax.
And Now for Everyone Else
That’s not to say that Coco (voiced by Rena Motomura (JP) and Anjali Kunapaneni (EN)), Tetia (voiced by Kurumi Haruki (JP) and Sarah Wiedenheft (EN)), and Qifrey (voiced by Natsuki Hanae (JP) and Joshua Waters (EN)) are left out of the drama and horror though. They too get their fair share of it after they’re knocked down into the deepest, darkest sections of the underground beneath the Serpentback Cave. It’s here where they discover that the old myths about the lost city were very real in the most horrific of ways.
It’s also a brilliant example of a second narrative climax for a story. Heck, in many ways, Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic” is a brilliant example of two storylines running concurrently with each other, each with their own narrative climaxes and accompanying build-ups leading up to them.
And all done with the quality animation we’ve come to expect out of Bug Films’ animation team. Only now, they show their true skills as we get a gruesome close-up of Euini when he is turned into a werewolf. Every detail of each and every scale growing out of his skin is shown in disturbing levels of detail, and so smoothly to boot. That animation team very clearly show in this episode that their animation magic can be used for horror as well as wonder, mirroring how magic is depicted in this episode.
Witch Hat Atelier Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic”: The Bad
The cliffhanger. My god, that cliffhanger for Ep. 13 “Forbidden Magic”. It’s one of the worst ones I’ve ever seen in any anime series, with the episode just ending right as Qifrey is about to do a last stand to protect his kids. It’s bad enough to leave you gnashing your teeth, crying out in frustration that they chose to end it right before the best part. And this is the last episode of the season. The lack of a preview bit at the end is indicative of that.
Really, the only thing that assuages me is the knowledge that Witch Hat Atelier Season 2 is in the works and on the way. We don’t have any official word on when we’ll get to see it though. Here’s hoping that we don’t have to wait years for it though.
Anime Recommendations
If you too are gnashing your teeth in frustration that there won’t be any more Witch Hat Atelier for a while, then don’t worry, there are alternatives. If you want an action-packed anime, then you might like 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 a more calm anime to wind down with, then you might want to check out 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 season finale of Witch Hat Atelier? Tell us your werewolf-y thoughts in the comments section below.
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