#hitsugi

Mon ami a fait ce meme suite au récent chapitre d'Ichi the Witch. C'est tellement ça !

And that's why she's called the Abyssal Witch!!! I've been wanting to see Desscaras' magic circle for so long, and to have an entire chapter dedicated to it?! Thank you Nishi-sensei 🙏

I like that the majiks closest to her know her very well and aren't afraid to roast her lol. They're her biggest supporters, but they also know how to keep her in line. I also liked what they said about Minakata being a spectacular witch if he was a woman, he's just so cool and strong and smart.

so! world hater majik has an emo band, a group of underlings that are called the "seven stars":

we've met two of them, kizashi and hitsugi.

we can guess that hitsugi is one of them based on the sea-monster design of his true form (a leocampus to match kizashi's octopus/kraken) and that they both seem to have greek letter-named spells (attacks? i think calling them spells might just make more sense).

now, apparently the α, β, γ, etc. - which is a part of bayer designation - is exclusive to the ursa major stars in japanese. based on that, it stands to reason that whm's seven stars correspond to the seven stars of ursa major.

i want to connect this with two previously established things:

firstly, desscaras comes from polaris mountain.

polaris is another name for the north star, and dubhe (alpha ursae majoris - hitsugi, if we're correct) and merak (beta ursae majoris) are stars within the ursa major that point towards it at all times.

(whether this is foreshadowing that hitsugi and whoever is the merak star were directly involved with what happened to polaris, or that dess will acquire them, i can't say, but it's certainly something worth taking note of.)

secondly, while the seven stars seem to have sea creature themed designs - monstrous forms corresponding to various mythological beings of the waters, whm is just a guy with a wave motif and a fluffy hat and scarf.

i've written before about whm's shepherd/sheep design elements and how they tie to ichi's whole hunter theme (as well as the sacrifice theme, having two lambs to the slaughter is in.sane. still)

from the start i was stumped about the waves. what's the point of the waves? decorative? that's not how visual story-telling works! but with the seven stars' sea monster theme, it makes a lot more sense.

anyways, with all of that brought to the foreground, to get to the point: i've been making for a while now jokes about how whm seems like the world's worst suited person to be anyone's boss. they say as much themselves:

all of this nonsense about majiks and humans, they don't care about any of it! they exist to destroy the whole world! and i realized that this indifference, this distance, is also reflected in their design: they're a guy with a wave on their tabard. they don't actually have any stake in the game, not the way the others do.

but what about the fluff? of course, the sheep motif is strong enough on its own, imo. but what if it's also doing double duty? say, as sea foam?

another thing i've been noticing with itw, is a variety of fairytale motifs strewn around: ichi the hunter, desscaras the witch, gokraku the prince, etc. it's a vague theme that i see at times but don't really give much importance to.