Manga Thoughts: Witch Hat Atelier 9

Not carving a lot of time out of recent days to read manga, it took me a while to get around to the ninth volume of Witch Hat Atelier. It might have been a little more prominent than usual in my mind as I worked my way through some other recent titles. Beyond my familiar interest in Kamome Shirahama’s artwork and story, the ninth volume’s cover could have done something to get my attention. The blue-grey of the hats and cloaks of Coco and her fellow apprentices had predominated before among the equally subdued shades of other characters’ clothing, but here it had been replaced by the red and black of a “Knights Moralis,” the enforcers of the rules upright witches place on themselves and impose in secret on others.
( It’s not all ominous, but... )