I do like how purposeful shirahama-sensei has been so far with the queer stuff like. I’m rereading vol9-12 for Reasons and it’s reminded me that. due to The Specific Way The Japanese Legal System Is, one of the ways gay men are able to approximate the legal rights of marriage is by adopting their spouse. and to me this makes the choice to have Atwert (canonically Galga’s lover) take him as an apprentice even more meaningful. Without this context it’s a bit of an odd writing choice but with this context they’re not only grounded as a political allegory (a LOT of witch hat is sociopolitical commentary) but also experiencing something that would be familiar to the japanese queer audience. Anyways idk I just think it’s interesting. Also wanted to share this with non-japanese fans to. preempt some fandom weird.












