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baphelon · 7 years ago

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The Ancient Magus Bride/Mahoutsukai no Yome and the magic of its world

Since the Anime has now come to a close and the next Manga chapter won’t be out soon I will state my thoughts on The Ancient Magus’ Bride in a little ramble-review-thingy.

So first I will give a little tl;dr without spoilers: I very much recommend this show. Go watch it now, or read the Manga (best is both) if you want to treat yourself with one of the most heartfelt, creative and beautiful fantasy dramas ever made. It is really something special and it is my favourite Anime BY FAR. The Manga is also an amazing read. Go check it out. But I would advise to watch the three ova episodes after episode 13. It is at least worth checking out if you are into fantasy, dramas, romance (but only to a certain degree), mythology and if you can take some mild body horror.

WARNING! THERE WILL BE A LONG POST AND SOME SPOILERS AFTER THE CUT!

So first I will go over the stuff I liked about the Anime, then some stuff I disliked and then I will ramble on in a kind of conclusion.

PROS:

- The art direction is just incredible. The Backgrounds, the designs... everything fits together perfectly and creates an at times breathtaking world of magic and fantasy. The way they combine illustrious panoramas with heavy symbolism is like nothing I’ve seen so far.

- The animation for the most part is above average at it’s worst and just simply stunning at the high points. - The soundtrack is one of the best animation soundtracks out there in my opinion. - The structure of the storytelling works really nice. Every phrase counts and nothing is just said to be filler. Even in the last few episodes there are callbacks to the first episodes without having to rely on flashbacks or such things.

- I love the characters. The idea of putting a traumatized main character with depression in fantasy setting that is rooted deep within mythology and folklore just works so perfectly. The way the story takes elements of Chise’s emotional state and mirrors them in fantastical settings is a very creative and deep reaching approach (like for example the way she starts seeing her childhood trauma as a curse and deals with it as she deals with the other curses she encounters). I know that she comes across as a little shallow in the first like.. 2 episodes (?) but there is a thing called “character development” and subtly but very very steadily Chise becomes stronger, independent and a very VERY lovable protagonist. I also love how Elias’ last name is Ainsworth which is a clever little nod to the developmental pychologist Mary Ainsworth who developed many theses on the bounds between a child and parents and how traumatic loss of parental figures can shape a child in its later life (recognize something familiar??!! Maybe one redhaired protagonist???). The fact that both protagonists have severe issues and are not perfect in any way shape or form makes for great drama and also great chemistry between the two.

- The supporting cast of characters is great aswell. Renfred, Alice, Simon, Titania and Silky (just to name a few) are all very interesting and cool characters to show the different points of view of the world this show builds.

- The relationship between Chise and Elias is a very interesting character study because it is never explicitly stated if it is romantic, family or even just emotional attachement. I know the finale and many other scenes point directly onto the romantic side but the show still takes its time to explore every little facet of these two. Even the negative sides of the relationship they share... like Elias getting overly possessive... or his emotional detachedness in the beginning... or Chises willingness to obey and be depended only on him just because she hasn’t been welcome anywhere in years. The whole thing is so multilayered and constructed very cleverly. We see a nonhuman magic being of unthinkable power become attached to a (VERY) mortal human and the other way around without it becoming like beauty and the beast. It is -and I cant emphasize that enough- very much different from that!

- The mythology and the way the portray magic is one of my favourite depictions of that kind of stuff ever. A+ for the Mangaka Kore Yamazaki for doing her research on celtic mythology and european folklore!

Some of my personal favourite highpoints of the show include: - The entire ep 3. That episode blew my mind when I first saw it. The introduction of Lindel and Nevin aswell as the land of dragons was soooooo good. Nevin’s last dream is still one of the biggest highlights in the entire show. - Definetly ep 14 in which Chise tries to help Joel Garland and the leanan sidhe Redcurrant. This episode was full of great emotions and the twist ending shocked everyone, I think. - Chises past as portrayed in ep. 22 was touching and the scene where her mother tries to kill her was one of the darkest scenes I think I’ve ever seen in an animated show. - The finale as the one singular original episode of the show did a very great job of tying everything together and deliver a satisfying ending without ruining the possibility of more to come. It is the end for now, but it is a great goodbye... I will miss being able to visit new sights in this wonderful world of magic on a weekly basis but the Manga will still go on, so I got that.

CONS:

- The main part of the second half is not as strong as the first half of the show. There are some pacing issues around episode 16-19 that are not ruining everything but after the deliberately slow dramatic pacing of the first 12 episodes it just feels weird that suddenly much stuff is happing in every single episode. Though granted... the Manga also suffers a little bit from that (the whole Ashen Eye turning Chise into a Fox story is solved equally as qucik and awkward in the sourcematerial for example). But it bounces back from those few a little bit weaker episodes by delivering very much in ep 20-24.

- In my opinion they kinda messed up the whole role of Mariel and the other witches. In the Manga Mariel is a very good developed character that is grounded in one of the coolest side aspects of the world... the witch coven... but in the Anime she just comes across as shallow and confusing. Especially since they decided to only introduce her and Phyllis (the witch stuck to the tree... if you haven’t read the Manga I don’t blame you for not knowing who she is) from the coven (and they even did a bad job at that) whereas the Manga shows us all the members and their little quirks. This also meant that the confrontation between Phyllis and Mariel was weird and nondramatic... but in the sourcematerial it was a very dark and heavy scene that had a lot of buildup.

- Also weird was that they decided to mute some dialogue in some of the later episodes. It worked in episode 20 when they played the music over Chises walk through the village and muted her talk with Redcurrant and the old Lady because they were no real plot relevant talk and in this situation it was just a very interesting idea to let the scene speak quietly for itself... but then they muted the talk Elias and Tory had at the college... which was plot relevant... and very confusing for everyone who hadn’t read the Manga. It felt weird and cheap. “Go buy the Manga if you want to know what they talked about and why Elias did the weird magic thing, you nincompoops!”

- They changed some of the most striking and iconic lines from the Manga that didn’t need to be watered down... the worst contender is in episode 21 when Chise hits Elias and says “You were no different”. A strong and well done line, dont get me wrong... but the original line was “You are no different than him... you are a monster aferall!” which is a faaaaar more deep cutting line. - Some of the “Chibi”-Comedy moments don’t really work in my opinion. They felt awkward and forced at times and can take you out of a scene. I tend to blame this on the way they left out some comedic parts out of the Manga, where situations like these are more frequent. The Anime takes itself more serious for the most part so it just feels a little bit out of place (though some of these moments are really funny and a good tool to release tention like the one in the finale for example). - For nearly the whole show Cartaphilus/Joseph is a very generic and weak villain. He gets some very much needed development late into the story which makes hima ctually interesting as character but up until that he is... meh. Not bad but also nothing special. I feel like there should’ve been more of the interesting (literally) split personality stuff earlier. Like... The Cartaphilus we saw in episode 5 doesn’t even remotely resemble the Cartaphilus in Episodes 20 to 24 at all.

CONCLUSIVE THOUGHTS:

Mahoutsukai no Yome is in my opinion an outstanding anime. It wrapped it’s arms tightly around my heart and it is easily my favourite anime I’ve ever watched. It is definetly not for everyone since the slow pacing, the story that sometimes calls back to every little sentence spoken in episodes before and the dark themes and complex characters aswell as the big BIIIIG chunk of iconography, mythology and symbolism thrown in can repell many people. But for me it was a perfect experience I really needed in ym life. After I found this show and binged the episodes that were released up till the point I started watching (I think it was episode 15 but ???). I read the Manga online and then ordered every volume available at once. Judging by the small Tumblr and Reddit Fanbases I saw so far I think this one will not make it big in general but it will be a sleeper hit. For me it is a 10/10 show that I will remember for a long time. I love it to pieces. Also the OVA is worth watching but do not watch it as an introduction to the show like many did... it does a very poor job in welcoming new people to world of The Ancient Magus Bride.

I kinda feel like I have to adress the “controversy” some people try to force onto this show and it’s fans. I saw many claims of this show being “pedophile propaganda” or it “romanticizing a toxic predator relationship”. I see where these claims come from when it comes to VERY FIRST impressions of the series. But if you watch further than... I don’t know episode 1 or just the trailers????? It is not that??? Like... at all?? Especially since all the involved characters are at the age of consent in their cultural environment??? And it is not sexualized... at all??? And it is critical of everything regarding that no later than episode 2?? What the fuck are these claims?! Even the name Ainsworth shows how much the creators cared to make an interesting drama involving a complex relationship... So don’t talk shit about something that is kinda harmless and that you obviously don’t get.

I could still go on for ages which aspects I like about it, which little details are amazing, how many things you can find by looking deeper into scenes... but that would be an herculean task :D

Phew that was a long one... If you are still reading this... wow thank you for tolerating my rambling! If you liked reading this, let me know! I think I will start doing more of these “review type of things” (I would like to do one for Mob Psycho 100, Re:zero or even Konosuba... maybe Hero Academia??? Who knows what I come up with).

Thanks to Kore Yamazaki and Wit Studio for giving us this amazing experience!

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