English Dub Review: Witch Hat Atelier “The Dragon’s Labyrinth”
Overview:
In the last episode of Witch Hat Atelier, the girls found themselves pursued by a dragon with them trapped inside a strange maze. The story immediately picks up in the latest installment, “The Dragon’s Labyrinth.”
Our Take:
Things open up with Coco comforting Tetia, who seems utterly traumatized by the trial by the end of the last episode, returning her hat and offering up her own cloak. This leads to a sweet moment between the girls, with Coco not only reassuring her, but Tetia revealing that she’s horrified over the thought that she made Coco feel like she was to blame for the whole mess. Even after Coco notes that it is totally her fault, Tetia feels that this is no excuse.
Given the character’s bubbly personality, one could be tempted to think Tetia’s behavior was a mask, so it is nice to see her genuinely want to make Coco feel better. She also gets to share a childhood dream of hers: a spell that effectively creates a cloud you can sleep on.
As the story goes on, it becomes Coco’s chance to prove herself and find a way to defeat the dragon. Early on, she muses that Agott’s fire spells don’t seem to be too effective against the beast. She also starts to prove that practice pays off, with her already starting to understand some spells. This proves to even have an effect on Agott, who realizes that repetition is what’s needed to conquer the dragon.
The girls finally team up to defeat the dragon, with some even taking to the air. Making use of Coco’s earlier cloud spell, they prove able to subdue it with a bunch of sand clouds. In essence, they’ve created a giant pillowy cushion for the dragon to rest on. And, more importantly, not want to get up from. As the dragon lives out the dream of everyone who’s not a morning person, Agott muses to herself that she hoped that the spell would’ve worked out as something more dignified. However, as the others point out, if it works, it works.
Most of the episode feels like a self-contained bottle episode, but then the viewer notices there’s still a third left to go. The story cuts to Qifrey and Brushbuddy searching for the girls, and just in time. It turns out escaping into the outside world won’t be easy, especially as the dragon returns. Things get dire when Agott nearly falls to her death without her flying Sylph Shoes.
Fortunately, this gives Qifrey his big moment to save the day. The story doesn’t give him too much focus. But for the little time he has, he sure makes good use of it.
However, before everything can get resolved, Coco still has one more encounter with the masked witch, who hints at their intentions with the girl. Foreshadowing at what’s to come, it shares that it is giving her a gift.
