Incorrigible Nerd

This didn't surprise me but I also like to think that I obviously read as some flavor of dyke and I immediately wondered why he had never mentioned his husband in conversation before. "Why today, after nine years of stopping by this store on my way home from work?" I thought. Then I got home and took off my wallet chain and noticed the new charm I added to it last week:

A teeny tiny embroidered bead* lizard for my jacket!

hey witches, shirahama sometimes writes little bits of trivia in her commentary threads during airings of the wha anime, so i figured i'd collect the ones i thought were interesting here

this compiles everything up to episode 2, and i will also refer to events in later manga chapters or other things like the repro select so beware of spoilers

episode 5 - magic is apparently copyrightable in the wha universe. some magic is unique to certain witches who hold authority to draw that specific magic (like a patent perhaps?) while the rest is under public domain that anyone can draw. public magic goes through a process where it's examined and, if approved, then added to textbooks used to teach foundational magic - shirahama intentionally draws agatto as being "bad mannered" compared to her more refined style of speaking (as she comes from a high ranking family). bad manners in this case is more about the fact that agatto can carry herself in a rough manner, such as not caring about sitting criss-cross while wearing a skirt - it seems that the reason the carriage broke in the first episode was probably due to the kids accidentally erasing part of the magic seal, which prevents it from working

episode 7 - the stairway river is in the forest west of qifrey's atelier. it seems among travelers in the wha universe the topic of witches who help people comes up often, which is why dagda went there on a desperate hope after getting out of the forest on the way to kalhn. - this probably means that before, dagda was going to head into kalhn to ask for help but saw the atelier in the distance first - witches typically don't learn swordsmanship, but qifrey did to protect himself during his younger years while traveling alone (trying to get distance himself from orugio) - there used to be a lot of magic swords in ancient times, but as they're used in warfare their numbers gradually dwindled. however, since they're so cool a lot of nobles like to commission them from witches. it's probably ok if the magic is purely decorational - coco knows some basic first aid since she wasn't raised as a witch. this implies that maybe agatto and the others might not have much experience or knowledge about it - some people may say that custas going back for the belongings (which turned out to be mainly dagda's instrument) was stupid, but shirahama notes that for nomadic folks like them who don't have a permanent home, their belongings are both the entirety of their wealth as well as the means of making a living. - since witches need to ensure normal people don't see them drawing magic, there are many that do exaggerated performances and gestures to distract the eye. some even chant fake incantations - normal people don't know much about witches in general, so they end up asking for things they can't do (like healing) because they have the impression witches and magic can do anything.

this may not make much sense to readers who only ready the official english translation, but brushbuddy is called "brushbug" (technically, the kanji for bug or insect isn't used but the kana is the same) in japanese. shirahama clarifies that our lil guy is a type of rodent

the atelier gang's personal clothes come from different sources: agatto brought her clothes from her home, coco and tetia's were bought from kalhn, riche's top and qifrey's clothes were given to them by shepherds in the nearby village

clothes in this region (Naakiwan) can be given as gifts to witches as thanks for their work

while the twin bottles were used by chemists and healers, they were also very widely used as tools for assassination and poisoning

hydro hater qifrey can't swim at all it seems (rather than him not being able to swim as a kid only)

qifrey likes to grown medicinal herbs used in magic and cooking behind the atelier as a hobby

shirahama jokingly said in a twitter space a few years ago that brushbuddy's nickname was official, but in reality it probably didn't stick bc brushbuddy themself doesn't like it

qifrey's magic surfboard (shirahama did in fact liken it to a surfboard, which is a funny comparison to use for hydro hating qifrey) is generally only used when qifrey needs to carry a lot of veggies or luggage. i guess he's a "one trip" kind of guy

although tartah helps out at the store, he's not actually undergoing any magic training (i.e. learning to draw seals and stuff). instead he commutes by boat to the school in the human part of kalhn to learn his letters and maths. obviously, all his school friends aren't witches

the old lady doctor is the director of kalhn's hospital

the magic qifrey drew for coco is a combo of a/c (cooling) + humidifier effects

shirahama had a quick thought experiment on how easy it could be to sneak onto the witches' island just by wearing a cone hat, but figured that they would get found out immediately upon landing and end up with their memories erased and thrown out of town

since coco's family is just her and her mom, she's noted to be the kind of kid who's considerate and can put the feelings of adults first (with regards to qifrey not feeling like he can leave her side to help put out the fire)

shirahama basically says to her "you can ask him to stay with you if you're feeling anxious 😭"

in the manga shirahama used different values of darkness to create variance in the bottle contents. (try taking a look back at those pages!) the way we read the black and white manga may be what it's like to see the world from tartah's eyes

shirahama notes that a color book with organized numbers like DiC is probably just as necessary in the witch hat universe. DiC is a company that makes color books similar to the Pantone ones (they could be more popular since it's a japanese company)

the old man who ropes qifrey in to help with the fire also makes an appearance in the kitchen of witch hat spin off in chapter 20 (you can read my translation here)

you sometimes see people commenting 'wouldn't it be easier to draw using rulers or compasses?' or 'why can't they just use stamps?' when it comes to the drawing system of the wha universe. shirahama states that all she can say right now is that the readers have a sharp eye and a good point! so there is clearly something intentional behind the way she's designed the emphasis on magic being hand drawn only

orugio snoozing and lazing on the sofa was because he had just finished work (likely a big project had concluded). when he's not busy, he'll sometimes come and watch over qifrey's lessons. when he is busy, he'll also sometimes come over and watch over the lessons to give himself a break lol.

you can probably already infer this, but riche's secret hideout is because her pot has a windowway spell drawn on it. it's noted to be her safe space when she wants to calm down since she was young, which would imply it's something she's had before she came to qifrey's atelier so possibly something that came with her from the great hall. shirahama also says it's walnut colored and was originally a smaller pot that was made bigger with enlargement magic

the name of orugio's snugstone is a pun (if you can call it that?) in the original japanese. in japan, there are disposable body and hand warmers usually called 'hokkairo' which typically come in two forms: a stick on pad and a non-stick on bag which you keep in your pockets. hokkairo is actually a brand name that's undergone nounification; it's made from the term 'hokahoka' which describes things that are hot or very warm and 'kairo' which is the actual term for a pocket heater or hand warmer. anyways the original japanese name for the item is "hokka'ishi" where 'ishi' means 'stone' or 'rock'.

the animation team's original design for the snugstone was a bit more 'just a rock' like, but shirahama envisioned it more like a slice of agate and had them reference that instead. she notes the final design came out beautifully

make no mistake as much as shirahama loves dunking on qifrey she also doesn't pass up the chance to dunk on orugio as well. while she notes orugio's kindness during his and qifrey's casual banter, she also says that he's being hypocritical due to orugio's unhealthy lifestyle (staying up all night, not eating properly, etc). the man's got 4 kids to raise!

a fun japanese tidbit: the term shirahama uses to point out orugio's hypocrisy in the note above is 'oma'iu', which is a simplification of the phrase 'omae ga iu no ka yo' or 'you're the one saying that!?". think of a situation where someone you know to have the worst diet ever (junk food, candy, hasn't seen a vegetable in a decade, etc) is the one saying 'you need to eat a healthier diet. how about a salad' and you go 'of ALL the people to be saying that..."

teachers in the wha universe don't choose who gets to be their students, rather it's the students who go and apply to be a teacher's disciple. they initiate the entire process, and if they decide they want to go train with a different teacher then they can bring it up and dissolve the relationship. that being said, it's not something that's easy for a student to bring up...

this is also written in the repo-select, but the merphons are named by combining the words 'gryphon' with 'mer' (sea). they're essentially a mix of rabbits and penguins.

shirahama started the thread with a bit of reminiscing about how she first drew the romonon story 8 years ago (2018). time sure flies!

euinie is slightly older than agatto and riche (for context, shirahama said in a twitter space that she envisions them around 12-14 or even younger). due to his low self-esteem he talks to everyone using keigo (formal language), even though he wouldn't be expected to towards those younger than him

it doesn't come up often but riche is technically a nickname, and her full name is richeritto.

riche's former teacher was a stickler for [his] rules and is kind of a jerk. that being said, he has a better reputation among the adults in the great hall as a brilliant witch who's produced a large number of exceptional witches under his tutelage

in a previous post i commented that shirahama wrote a tweet that could be read as her implying she did the voices of the merphons, but she's actually cleared that up by stating that the merphons that the agatto, riche, and euinie accompany are voiced by their same voice actors. though whether there are more voices provided for other scenes showing more than 3 is unknown

it seems that shirahama was actually in the recording studio in person when they were recording for the merphon voices (she notes it being a fun memory), which is probably why she knows about the voice actors in the first place

the tests the witch students go through aren't meant to be a means of filtering down numbers, and you can pass any of them with enough time and practice. though riche is noted as not wanting to draw any magic she doesn't want to, which could be both a strong point and a shortcoming

coco has good eyesight due to being raised on the plains. likely the lack of obstructions in the landscape makes it so that the people who live there get used to seeing things far away

agatto and riche are noted as being quite talented in their generation; while coco is obviously a beginner this also seems to imply that tetia was a little bit behind or hadn't reached the skill level yet where qifrey felt he could recommend her to take the second test

euinie's grip is based on those for holding brushes, rather than pens. while it's not "wrong", shirahama notes that it could make it more difficult to draw cleanly

apparently twitter went down or just stopped working for shirahama while she was doing her thread so she wrote the rest from here on at her bluesky account. though the rest of the posts are simply reactions

we've reached the end of the witch hat atelier anime folks, but fret not because season 2 has been confirmed! no deets yet on a timeline, but as always official twitter accounts are the best source of truth

onto commentary tidbits from wha episode 13!

for HER mother, it was a large section of her nose (again, reconstructed, but still)

Race, class, gender never seem to really matter as a "oh they're an X so they can't Y or Z" assumption. He's the least scared of and most informed about Big Folk from the get go, very much an embodiment of knowledge being the enemy of fear of our main four Hobbits. Where Sam, Frodo and Pippin all embody other virtues that fight fear/despair like compassion and loyalty and such.

Merry is the first member of the Fellowship to regularly stick up for Sam's hidden virtues multiple times over. I mean it's not as though Pippin and Frodo don't like Sam because (they obviously do very much) but it's Merry who goes "no but fr he's really smart!" and doesn't outwardly underestimate him which Frodo openly admits to having done in the beginning.

GET in line

Stay hydrated :) 💕🌊

Summer is definitely not my season, especially since I have temperature reactive issues- so I’m much more prone to fainting/low blood pressure around this tike of year. So it’s very important I stay cool.

I'm a roastin' as I'm East Coastin' and also a new hamster owner looking for advice on keeping my Lil Guy safe! Op I don't know if you have one already, but I got a stick-on thermometer/humidity gage for the enclosure. The one I got is marketed for hermit crabs, but it was seven dollars and it'll work for any glass/acrylic enclosure (it goes inside the enclosure, not outside). Unfortunately, and I don't know if this is manufacturing defect or if Maryland is just too humid for it to stay sticky, but it keep falling off the adhesive and i was worried it would konk Laundry Hamper on the head or he'd try to nibble on it, so now it's on top of the wire mesh roof of the enclosure, where it seems to be working just as well, i just have to remember to replace it when opening up the top.

Southern California is dry, yeah? If it's too dry, which I've been told is slightly better than too humid but still not great, you might want to put spaghnum moss in the enclosure. Maryland, or at least my part of it, has the opposite problem, too humid, so I avoid it.