The Ancient Magus' Bride - Reviews

*spoiler-free reivew*

For those awaiting a good WIT anime.

I'll say it. Wit has finally indeed made a decenty anime. They've been making garbage for a while now but they seem to have finally put the right amount of love into something with the Ancient Magus Bride. It has its problems, but it's definitely something special. This isn't your typical run-of-the-mill fantasy, it isn't Isekai, it's straight up wonder and beauty just like you'd expect to see it in one of its purest forms.

The world is extremely well-crafted. There were so many times where behind wit's dull filter of mediocrity I could really feel a sense of pure wonder lurking just beneath the surface of everything. Usually in magical anime, things are explained out the ass and the explosition is reserved for talking about every little detail of the magic it has to explain. Here however, it feels like magic in a distilled form, it has its mystery, and it stays like that for the most part.

They also have their own creatures, and it all just feels very alive. My favorite episodes are always the ones where they land themselves in a totally different part of the world where one kind of creature thrives, like the dragon one in episode 3. The animation is very good sometimes, and sometimes it's lackluster and unfitting for the rest of the scene, as per WIT. They also try their hand at chibi conversions for comedic effect. Something that never, ever goes well for them.

It's stupid and i hate it.

However that's not enough to distract from how alive they make this world feel sometimes.

Chise starts as a very, very weak character, a typical emotionless girl before she sublty grows throughout the series, learning about elias, the world, and herself. Elias goes through a lot of growth too, enough to cristen him the titular character for good reason, and not just a background force like I expected him to be. The numerous side characters add to the world and the cast quite a bit, and some don't even have to stick around for that long to really matter. My personal favorite is Ruth, Chise's familiar. For some reason I just love the idea of a dog guardian spirit that's just a total bro but is linked to you through a pact.

There are some weaker characters too of course who are unfortunately prominent. I was always annoyed with the ever-present faries, while they add to the atmosphere they're also just irritating sometimes and don't always need to be there. There's also Titania, who has the worst possible character design you could have for a female character. Luckily the ill-used and ill-designed characters are pretty far and few between.

The story is nothing over-the-top most of the time and is mostly explored through a single broken-up arc. Despite the premise being Chise and her life as an apprentice/future wife to this ancient creature, the important character is Cartaphilus, the villain. He's actually a well thought-out character with a lot of humanity despite his inhuman evil tendencies. The story is slow paced and goes off road in a few places but his development is pretty solid.

The other thing that's solid is chise's developing relationship to the world around her and her own powers, as well as to elias. Their relationship is handled well, but not as well as the growth of chise herself, which is always explored beautifully for my taste. There's this one scene that i won't spoil, but she's getting a certain magical item while lindel is singing and faries come in to do a ritual, and the way they do it is masterfully done, my favorite part of the whole series. It feels so magical, I get goosebumps. That's one reason I stopped hating chise early on, she's the pivot for a lot of really cool scenes and her tempate-ness kinda adds to that.

But there are plenty of problems with this anime still. I'd honestly buy the soundtrack to this anime, it's that good, but the music isn't always used to its fullest. Then there are the more Natsume Yuujinchou-feeling episodes that are more episodic in nature, popping up like filler throughout the main story, that I never seem to like. They're just not that impactful to me.

Overall it's a good, solid fantasy anime with a satisfying enough conclusion, but it's left open for a second season. We'll see how that goes. I wouldn't be opposed to it.

Mahoutsukai no Yome was quite highly anticipated and well recieved at its start, but a poorl usage of episodic structure and disjointed plotline sees the series through in a disappointing and often times frustrating way-despite the fantastic score and animation direction. In a similar position to Guilty Crown, the series starts strong with an interesting concept, compellling world bulilding, stunning visuals, and a brilliant soundtrack, only to squander them on a plotline and characters that can only be described as idiotic.

As stated before, the series's strong point is inarguably in its soundtrack and animation, the former being the stronger of the two. Although there didn't appear to be a large number of tracks-you can almost always hear the same few songs being played each and every episode-those tracks fantastic, and you only get tired of them when the plot is exhausting you. The animation quality was overall quite good, but nothing too incredibly fancy.

The setting and overall world buliding of the series is also a strong point, one that is accentuated by a lack of this brand of fantasy in current anime trends.

As for the bad things, I gave this series a 4/10 because unfortunately, a good concept, pretty visuals, and a great score cannot carry a series. The plot of Mahoutsukai no Yome is not inherently bad, it is simply executed poorly. It's episodic structure has its main character, Chise, encounter different people and entities, and we watch as she gets involved and tries to solve their problems. While many of these characters reoccur throughout the series, the "arcs" are disjointed and often confusing, not only regarding their overall pacing within the greater plot, but also in purpose. I often found myself asking "so what?" to many of the arcs, as they felt like filler, and often relied on empty sympathy for any kind of impact. The point seemed to be expanding and developing Chise's development, however it was poorly executed-which eventually led to the climax feeling frustratingly stupid. I can't emphasize the feeling of "Seriously? Why did she do that??" in this series, in fact, it should be the summary.

Which leads into the characters. I felt the most strongly about the cast in the first season, but after dozens of stupid descions made by the main characters (because, what else can drive a plot right?) and empty feeling side characters, no doubt this category is the series's weakest point. Even the alleged grand "development" the characters were building up to felt like they had barely gotten any to begin with.

Overall Mahoutsukai no Yome can be described as wasted potential, and I cannot in good faith actually recommend the series to anyone.

This is by far one of my absolute favorite anime of all time. The Ancient Magus' Bride shows magic and fantasy creatures while staying true to most of reality. The characters are lovable, and the entire plot is extremely interesting, especially towards the season finale, where shit gets real. It's full of such beautiful settings and themes, having the occasional emotional moment. Elias is somewhat problematic, but with Chise's help, he's learning the ways of humans. Just like her mentor, Chise is learning about mage magic from the bonehead Elias. But just because he's her teacher, doesn't mean she always listens to him. Somehow, she always takes matters into her own hands, perhaps wanting to prove that she isn't as weak as everyone thinks? Or maybe she just had enough of staying quiet all her life? Either way, she's a badass and one of my favorite anime characters of all time.

What can I say? Here is literally the best OP I have ever listened to. It's so beautiful, and the animation given with the song makes it even more memorable. JUANNA's vocals along with the instrumental music are absolutely breathtaking. There's a fantasy vibe to it as well, making it an unforgettable experiance as you soar into this heartwarming anime. 

I honestly and completely LOVED this show! Wether it being from the cute little animations and spats between Chise and Elias or the serious plot. The main reason I love this so much is the Art Design. I couldn't get enough! It was so beautiful and the characters themselves are amazing! I love Elias' design. I honestly loved everything about it! The ending was really nice and wholesome to. The only thing I don't like is the "climax" of this story line kinda came out of no where. It was almost like there was a plot? But no set in stone "goal" you may call it. The climax kind of poppped out of no where and yes some characters that resulted in the ending were introduced later on. But still, it just felt a little off. Maybe if it was more eased into the plot or had more of a structurale plot at the begginning. But that's just my taste. But overall through this entire anime I couldn't help feeling what the character's were feeling (I sobbed so much the last two episodes) themeselves wanting to watch more know more just so that Chise and Eliase could be happy together. It was honestly the best anime's I have watched in a while. 9/10 WOULD recommend. 

Twilight – The Anime

When I refer to this as Twilight: The Anime, I don’t mean it literally. While this is a supernatural story, there is thankfully no love triangle between the heroine and a vampire and werewolf. There is, however, a shody plot that incorporates every supernatural story cliché and fan fiction trope imaginal. It’s as if all the delusions that Rikka Takanashi in Chuunibyou or Zaimokuza in MTRC SNAFU spout, you know, the parts that are meant to be the comic relief, were made into the plot to a serious anime. And much like Twilight, it is unjustifiably popular.

Chise is a Mary Sue (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Sue) version of Natsume Takashi, which is too bad because there is initially a lot of possibility with the Chise character. Ellias is the far too seriously written Nyanko-sensei. I’d like to give you examples to support my position, but they would be spoilers and I don't believe in putting spoilers in reviews. And this show, while ultimately a waste of time, does have some merits.

The animation is very well done. While the characters might be two dimensional (both literally and figuratively) the character designs themself are good. The sound is good even if the music is a little maudlin for my taste. And there are several funny unintentional comedy moments, mostly stemming from the lack of understanding of Western names and customs by the Japanese creators. I don’t understand setting a story in England unless you were very familiar with English names, places, and cultural norms. But it is good for the occasional laugh.