#Ancient Magus' Bride

[xxcrossroadsxx]

🎄Merry Christmas! 🎄

Illustration from Season 2 Bluray Vol. 3 purchase benefit. Full (sample) versions and draft below.

[loupy-mongoose]

In recent weeks, @puzzled-zebra got me into the anime (and manga) Ancient Magus' Bride.

Before I say any more, I want to say I've only seen the first season's worth so far! So please no spoilers beyond that!

I am far from being an anime enthusiast. I've tried a few different ones in the past, but very few stuck with me, and I've only seen one or two all the way through.

But AMB has gripped me hard... and I think a large part of that is just how many parallels there are to Jamie's story. I don't know if that makes me self-centered, but it's a story that feels familiar yet very different, and just makes me happy in its own right. Come for the parallels, stay for the beautiful art, charming characters, and intriguing story! ^w^

Anyway, I've made a couple artworks centered around AMB, but I'm gonna put them under a read-more for different reasons.

Some warnings for the below: 1; Painting of a semi-realistic canine skull. I feel like it could creep people out, so I wanted to be cautious about it. ^^ 2; SPOILERS for AMB; Season 1, Episode 8 and beyond of the Anime and the equivalent portion of the manga.

But before that, here's a completely safe page of Woolybug doodles~

AKA a Normal/Bug type Pokemon lol

I wanted to do a painting, and brain said it would be fun to try Elias' skull head.

It was very fun, but also... a pain... as you can imagine...

It's a painting of a panel redraw. :>

Context for this next thing (this is the spoiler part);

The person on the right, who is a black fae dog who's seen here in human form, is becoming the Familiar of Chise, the person on the left. Because it's a Magic Bond™, there was a whole big cinematic to-do around it.

It gave me a silly thought.

I feel like that bit can only be fully appreciated by AMB fans, but I wanted to include it anyway. X3

I've got half a mind to list out all the parallels Zebra and I have noticed, but that'll be a later project. ^^

[coleslaught]

Humor

[ombra-nera]

[fluffygreenkoala]

WE FINALLY HAVE THE OFFICIAL HAIR COLOR + CONFIRMATION HE HAS SCARS

Now if only we could know what color his eyes are... (I'm already really happy, but like- if he could have a moment by himself where he takes down the hood and his eyes were shown 🥺🙏🏻🤞🏻🍀)

I LOVE YOU MY ANGEL SON 😭💙💙💙💙

[dukeoftheblackstar]

I'll read the manga for a better understanding of Elias.

Yes, yes. Much understand. @majo-tsukiko @eyecandyeoz

I'm gonna do a rewatch but this time two birds in one stone. Watch the full ep and then read the counterpart manga before the next ep. No OST skips too.

[jugacolours]

[chaikajpeg]

Nude Elias. No sexual undertones implied.

Photo reference under the cut. <3

Not sure if I can post the reference photo here, so here's the link to the photo on the model's DeviantArt account: https://www.deviantart.com/stockingbird/art/9608-438874601

I strongly recommend checking Stockingbird's page out if you want some nude references! I'll definitely use his photos next time I draw nude Elias (which will happen lol)

Sidenote: this drawing was inspired by the 7th fragment (extra ch 78.5) where we see Elias' feet for the first and last time in the entire manga... That made me realise that feet are the most beautiful part of human body for me simply because we barely ever see them, especially in case of fictional characters since they're usually shown only from the waist up

I also kinda like the white version because shading a human body is difficult as f so I'll post it too.

[animehouse-moe]

The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Episode 15: Needs Must When The Devil Drives I.

Perhaps a slower episode than usual in the front half, this one dives head first into our two caregiver pairings of Elias-Chise, and Alcyone-Philomela. It's really great to see how they approach each and how they interact with one another, so I have a lot to talk about.

Let's start off with Elias! I love his character progression in this episode once more. Just the subtle things like how he says to "reach out to him if anything happens". While he does justify it by the fact that humans are frail to him, the sentiment of Elias attempting to care about another person is absolutely there.

Even better is Simeon's comment about music. Elias shows interest in it, and then extrapolates it to relate it to Chise, and not in just a simple manner. It has him pondering the question "what does Chise like? What was she like before me?". It's an outstanding development for two reasons.

Firstly, it shows Elias' ability to look inwards in retrospect and apply the ideas that other people supply him with to other friends or people close to him. Secondly, during that introspection, it's not just "I wonder what kind of music Chise likes", rather, he uses the initial idea to further expand on Chise as a person, rather than something that comes to mind as an association. It's really really great stuff that shows how Elias is growing and developing as a person.

Similarly, but also somehow different, we get Alcyone in this really great sequence.

I really like the direction through this sequence because it accentuates Alcyone's purpose. Other people do exist, such as Philomela's parents, but all that Alcyone sees is Philomela herself. Is it because of her purpose as an artificial fairy, or is it the beginnings of something greater, similar to Elias? Personally I feel like it's the latter, which I'll explain in just a bit.

First though, this scene of Alcyone looking at Philomela. It's just really pretty, and the depth of field is a nice touch to help viewers understand that Alcyone is only looking at Philomela.

Anyways, why do I think that Alcyone is more like Elias than unlike? Well, it's Elias himself in their conversation. He himself states that he can't stop answering Alcyone's questions, and I think the reasoning is obvious as we begin a two part parallel. Elias sees a version of himself in Alcyone. I think it's a great idea to explore that comparison, especially because the two are currently isolated from the outside world.

And then there's the whole Philomela and Chise piece, which was great. Here though, they explicitly state (or I guess show?) that Chise sees herself in Philomela despite their differences, and that a lot of it is about finding a way to save her past self by helping Philomela. It's very interesting, and ties directly into Chise's struggle with selfishness in a way that might not directly present as that.

And then there's the whole Rian-Isaac breakdown which is really great. We could see glimpses of the tension here and there with Rian interacting with Philomela finally, but the breaking point was really well done. The idea of "two sides of the same coin" comes to mind with the pair, so I'm really excited to see what goes on now that Philomela has been properly added to the mix.

Though I should add, Rian's disposition towards Philomela is very interesting. It's childish, I would say. He's frustrated that the friend he once had is essentially no more, so he takes it out on the version of them that stands in front of him.

The latter half of this episode just brings a lot in terms of breakdowns as it prepares to build things up alongside the mystery of the book swirling around the college.

While the first half might be a touch dry, the second half is incredibly full and rich, sporting great sunset-dyed visuals and surprisingly solid character animation in some sequences.

The book might be the focus of this arc right now, but I'm nearly exclusively focused on the characters because they're just so damn well written.

[chaika-jpeg-shitpost]

I wonder if Chise would've proposed to Elias had he not proposed to her on the day they met... Does anyone have any thoughts to share?

[xxcrossroadsxx]

Happy New Year 2024!

[monochrome-energy]

Silky: Will slam the door in your face when lonely - Mahoutsukai no Yome, Kore Yamazaki

[sebadztian]

Watching The Ancient Magus' Bride...

Why haven't I heard of this before? This is so good!

[ombra-nera]

[kagerou-heathaze-daze]

[dukeoftheblackstar]

I'm such a ho for hands, I can't even. Please. PLEASE.