Drama
VisionQuest
Vision is alive again—or as much as the AI synth ever is—in Disney+’s ‘VisionQuest.’ Though violent and profane, the show itself returns close to ‘WandaVision’ form.
Among other things, the realms of anime are often filled with magic and adventure, post-apocalyptic dangers and evil beings with great power.
All of those things are a part of Coco’s world: a Ghibli-esque fantasy landscape filled with rustic villages, wool-clad peasants, magical contraptions and mysterious witches wearing pointed hats. Of course, these witches aren’t the evil spellcasters who once harmed people and destroyed things. Those foul conjurors were outlawed long ago.
These days, only the very special are granted the ability to know the closely guarded secrets of magic—even though people can see the stuff bubbling up in the water and air around them. And that’s much to the sighing chagrin of 12-year-old Coco, a seamstress apprentice who lives and works with her mom in their little shop.
Coco has always been mesmerized by the idea of witches and magic. In fact, Coco was probably only 5 when she came upon a masked person who sold her a “mystical” picture book with a small wand at a local fair. Her mom said it likely wasn’t a real witch, but Coco has dreamed over the book and treasured it ever since.
Then, out of the blue, Coco gets the chance to meet an honest-to-goodness witch, who stops by their shop looking for fabric. While there, the witch, named Qifrey, deigns to help someone repair their magical carriage. He secrets himself away during the repair, but in her excitement, Coco kinda, sorta, accidentally peeks in on him.
While watching, the young girl witnesses magic’s “absolute secret”: Magic isn’t a birthright at all. Anyone can create spells by drawing ink circles filled with special symbols. In fact, those magic “seals” look very much like the ones that Coco has in her treasured picture book.
That night, in her exuberance, Coco realizes the little “wand” she has is actually a pen. She uses it to copy from the picture book and accidentally casts a forbidden spell, sealing her mother in a massive magical crystal.
Qifrey, sensing the magical danger, arrives just in time to rescue Coco from the foul magic. And his first instinct is to have the magical authorities (the Knights Moralis) wipe Coco’s memory of everything associated with this terrible happening. But then he thinks better of it.
Coco, and her memories of the now destroyed book, could be Qifrey’s only chance at tracking down the evil magic-caster that caused all this. If conscientious people don’t take action now, some past horror might rise again.
So, Coco becomes Qifrey’s young apprentice—his fourth, actually. She will learn to use the magic that she holds so dear and perhaps, someday, find a way to free her crystal-entombed mother.
The tutelage will be difficult. Coco will face danger. But at the very least, Coco will have the chance to right her wrong and help protect the world from a threatening danger: The brim-hat witches.
Crunchyroll is a subscription streaming app that showcases lots of anime and animation series from around the world. And Witch Hat Atelier is a popular series in its large stable. In fact, this anime is so favored that its second season is already in production.
So, what can viewers expect from these first 13 episodes?
Well, for the most part, this is a sweet show about a young girl who’s striving to do good. Coco stumbles and struggles in the lessons she’s learning from the protective and caring Qifrey. But she always makes the right choice and lovingly strives to go the extra mile and help others. The show promotes kindness, teamwork, thoughtfulness and patience.
Of course, as you might have guessed from the above description, there are also witches and witches presented in this story mix. But neither of those two groups are exactly representative of the real-world practices of witchcraft as we might know it. This show’s approach is much more fantasy focused.
Perhaps, the closest comparison would be the light and dark sides of the Force, as depicted in Star Wars movies. The pointed-hat witches, then, are the Jedis, and the brim-hats are the Sith: magic-users who want to tempt people to unharness their power in dangerous and potentially destructive ways. So viewers can see an underlying symbolic motif here of good versus evil—helpful goodness against power-hungry sin. (It should also be reiterated that the “spells” in this case are drawn circular “seals” inked on paper, not spoken incantations or curses. Which definitely points things in a more fantastical direction.)
That said, any time you’re constantly throwing around the concept of “good witches,” and the woohoo fun of spellcasting, there’s the danger of desensitizing young viewers to the idea of real-world, dark spiritual things. And that’s definitely something that discerning parents should consider with any magic-casting anime of this stripe.
Beyond those witchy story elements, there’s not a lot to duck away from here. There are some perilous moments involving Coco and other young kids. Later in the series, the word “d–n” pops up once or twice. (And it should be noted that the popular Kamome Shirahama manga that this anime series is based on features an LGBT couple in its later issues. But that relationship isn’t introduced in this initial season.)
(Editor’s Note: Plugged In is rarely able to watch every episode of a given series for review. As such, there’s always a chance that you might see a problem that we didn’t. If you notice content that you feel should be included in our review, send us an email at letters@pluggedin.com, or contact us via Facebook or Instagram, and be sure to let us know the episode number, title and season so that we can check it out.)
As a girl, Coco buys a magical “picture book and fake wand” from a mysterious, masked figure. (The man quietly chuckles after she toddles off.) Coco treasures those objects even though her mom calls her purchase a waste of money.
Years later, after Coco meets and serves Qifrey in her mother’s shop, the witch is surprised by the young girl’s skill marking and cutting his desired fabric. They strike up an easy conversation and relationship. So later, he asks her to watch the door as he helps magically repair a broken flying carriage.
However, while shooing away some curious boys, Coco looks in to see Qifrey drawing with an ink pen to cast his magic. After Qifrey leaves and the shop closes, Mom tells Coco she’s relieved: “You love magic so much, so I thought you’d say you wanted to go with that witch. I lost your father to illness, so if you left, too …”
Coco passionately declares that she will always stay by her mother’s side. They express their mutual love. Later, Coco is tempted to try using magic herself with circular patterns she copies from that old picture book. Something horrible happens: Forbidden magic freezes her mother in crystal.
Qifrey arrives just in time to save Coco from being consumed as well. Coco admits her wrongdoing and cries out in anguish over what she’s done. Qifrey moves to have her memory erased, but Coco balks. “If I forget everything, who will save my mom?!”
Coco also proclaims that she’s spent so much time with that picture book she’s memorized every circular seal and picture in it. That knowledge could lead to those who use forbidden magic. Qifrey agrees to take the girl on as his apprentice and teach her magic casting. She will learn to become a witch.
Coco goes to Qifrey’s atelier. She meets his other young witch apprentices: The pink-haired Tetia is the upbeat, warm-hearted optimist of the atelier. She loves saying “thank you” almost as much as she loves hearing it. The quiet, reserved Richeh is an individualistic girl who hates to be told what to do. And the stern Agott, the academic prodigy of the group, is super-focused on her own improvement. She can’t stand the idea of coddling someone who “knows nothing!”
All three are a little hesitant around Coco since they had all heard about the outsider who had cast forbidden magic. Coco quickly tries to fit in as best she can, though she repeatedly makes mistakes and stumbles. Agott makes it clear that Coco’s inability to do the simplest things is what caused the disaster with her mother. “Because of what you’ve done, she’ll never return to being human,” Agott growls.
Qifrey explains the history of magic to Coco, pointing out the difference between the magic use of today and that of the past. “When humans are given the power to do anything, anything is what they will do,” he tells her. “And so, many horrific spells were created.”
Qifrey goes on to say that good people with a conscience turned away from the terrible conflict of that past age and united to form “The Pact,” an agreement on helpful forms of magic that bring happiness to all and the forbidden, hurtful forms of magic.
Qifrey then leaves Coco in Agott’s care since he has to run an errand. After he leaves, Agott glares in Coco’s direction and says, “No more cushy little lessons. Your tests start now!”
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
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