Though the fantasy genre spans a pretty wide array of characters and stories, it is not known for spotlighting disabled characters. Of course, there are fantasy anime and manga out there with disabled characters, but it isn’t the most common experience for fans.
Witch Hat Atelier is an exceptional fantasy manga created by Kamome Shirahama, featuring a young witch-in-training named Coco. While Coco isn’t disabled herself, a few characters throughout the series are shown to have various disabilities. Here’s how Witch Hat Atelier sheds an interesting and important light on characters with disabilities.
Witch Hat Atelier's Qifrey Is Losing Sight in His "Good" Eye
Much like his former teacher Beldaruit, Qifrey is also disabled -- but his disability is invisible. He is missing an eye, which he covers with a dark glasses lens, and is said to be losing sight in his other eye. Readers get a glimpse into Qifrey’s increasing blindness a few times throughout Witch Hat Atelier. Although the reason for the sight loss in his left eye is unknown, Qifrey comments that he will likely lose the little sight he still has left in his "good" eye.
Custas and Tartah Have Disabilities - But Still Play Prominent Roles
A handful of other characters in Witch Hat Atelier are likewise shown to have disabilities -- but unlike various other fantasy series, the disabled characters here are not pushed off to the side. Instead, they play integral roles within the story and even aid the main character, Coco, and her fellow apprentices.
One of the most prominent disabled characters readers see in the manga is Custas. He doesn’t start out as disabled, but is involved in a tragic accident and his legs are crushed by a large boulder, leaving him physically disabled. Custas remains hopeful and believes there’s a chance he may regain the use of his legs, but everyone around him is skeptical. His close friend Tartah even tries learning medicinal magic to help – however, it’s forbidden for witches to learn medical magic. When Coco finds out, she must keep it a secret, otherwise Tartah will get into big trouble.
Most of Custas's appearances in Witch Hat Atelier find him using a magical walking chair to get around. However, he becomes fed up with this device and seeks help from Coco and Tartah, asking them to fix his legs using magic. Both refuse, and instead make a magical cape for him. Shortly after, Custas meets a Brimmed Cap witch named Ininia, who “fixes” his legs by fusing them with wood.
Tartah is another important disabled character who appears throughout the series. Aside from the other girls at Qifrey's atelier, Tartah is one of the first friends Coco makes. His disability is a little less noticeable than Custas’s, as he is not physically disabled. He has a condition called “Silverwash”, which washes everything he sees in a sheen of silver; he cannot correctly distinguish colors from one another. Silverwash is likely similar to color blindness. Though he comes from a witch family, Tartah is hesitant to learn magic because of his condition. Later in the story, he decides to become an apprentice and study magic, though he currently has yet to choose a teacher.
The Mysterious Beldaruit Fills an Important Role in Witch Hat Atelier
Like Tartah and Custas, Beldaruit isn’t one of Witch Hat Atelier's main characters, but he has a key role to fill within the story. Beldaruit is one of the Three Wise; a trio of powerful witches who conduct the laws, education and foreign relations of witch society. He was also Qifrey’s teacher.
There’s no doubt Beldaruit is a strong and prominent figure within Coco's world. During the "Great Hall" arc where Coco and her friends meet Beldaruit, he gives them a test. He wants the girls to show him a unique type of magic that will surprise him – he prefaces this by saying he isn’t quickly astonished, and there are few types of magic he has yet to see. Beldaruit doesn’t say this to discourage them though, and his words have the opposite effect, showing the girls the importance of working together.
Beldaruit is an intriguing supporting character because little is known about him. Many Witch Hat Atelier fans assume he is physically disabled, but this has never been officially stated within the manga. However, readers have picked up on simple visual cues throughout Beldaruit’s introduction to make this assumption. When Beldaruit is first introduced, he is shown using an assistive aid: a magically-laced walking chair. This chair is powered by magical seals and has ram-like legs and horns.
It’s also highly implied Beldaruit is in generally poor health and spends a lot of time laying in bed, and Kamome Shirahama has yet to reveal how he ended up potentially disabled and ill. Witch Hat Atelier treats disability like any other aspect of a person -- they may see the world differently because of their disability, and that's okay. They do not need to be fixed, and Shirahama displays this clearly by giving them prominent roles throughout the story.