#i dont post ruth by herself a lot i need to change that

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So I watched The Ancient Magus Bride ⚠Spoiler Warning⚠

When I saw the ad of this show on Instagram I said in the comments if that girl doesn’t fall in love with the skull man I’m going to be very disappointed. I WAS NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST! I’m gonna talk about this very differently and this might be really long so I’m sorry. So here’s my thoughts on the anime.

I FUCKING LOVE IT! THIS SHOW GIVES ME LIFE! CURSE YOU ANIME MAKING ME WANNA DATE AND/OR FUCK THINGS I SHOULDN’T! Weeaboo cringe aside hot damn this show is good. Now let’s chat.

Firstly the opening. I don’t really pay attention to openings because I’m on my phone but this one made me stop everything and shush my boyfriend. Talk about something that grabs you. The singer’s name is Junna and she’s only 16 years old. The guitar is amazing and the visuals during it are great and those opening lyrics. WOO! It’s something new and fresh. Get away from the rock style music in a anime about step sisters in love (Citrus) or some dude singing high pitched with a great guitar riff and that be the only part I enjoy (Tokyo Ghoul). I love this opening. I listen to it in my free time and it just fucks me up.

WATASHI WA KOKO. Fucks me all the way up.

So in the beginning we see a girl with red hair and green eyes from Japan whose name is Chise (like cheese and say) and she’s selling herself because she wants to feel wanted and almost jumped from a building because she hates how she’s treated like an outcast. The scene then goes to Chise in chains walking through this auditorium like place with other creatures and this is the first indication or how visually amazing this anime is. Behind Chise are like giant wolf creatures and the reflection of the light from aquariums just….this anime is stunning. The animation quality of this show is 16 outta 10. I usually dont like when a serious anime turns chibi for light banter but when this anime does it I have no issue. The design of Chise, the vibrant colors, the lighting, reflection is absolutely gorgeous.

People are bidding on Chise and a man with a red blanket over his face and antlers bids 6 million on her. In this scene she’s sold to people in a…illegal magic auction i assume and Chise is a Sleigh Beggy.

A Sleigh Beggy is a person who has overwhelming amount of magic flowing from them but the amount of magic is so much that their bodies can’t handle it and they die in a year or two which is weird by the way because if Chise has been a Sleigh Beggy all her life and has lived this long you’d think shed be okay to live a little longer but whatever. Plot holes are like pot holes you can ignore them when you know where they are.

Throughout the show it’s implied but never directly said that there have been other Sleigh Beggys but nobody has really seen them in person. This is mostly because of how every new person she meets is shocked and amazed at her.

Back to the auction after a man bids 6M he wins her and we see that hes maybe 6'11 or 7 ft tall and has a wolf skull as a head (yes I looked it up). His name is Elias and they call him the Mage of the Thorn. We see why later in the episode and in episode 7 when Chise gets stabbed by a giant mantis and he looses his shit. Turning into this creature that I wish I could explain.

Immediately after the auction Elias takes her to his house and removes her chains with a touch. The house is adorable and I love it. I couldn’t live in it by myself though. Elias has a maid named Silver but Chise calls her Silkie. She cooks, cleans, and tends to the garden. In episode 15 we learn that Silkie is a Banshee and she fell into a catatonic state after her first family died. This Faire spirit leads her to a new house and he asks why she was there and Silkie says “I want my family.” this is the first time we hear she has a voice. And that she can talk. Being a banshee though I doubt she really could without breaking stuff or warning of death. 

Even in the short lived sentence Silkie is whispering. The Faire dresses her as a Victorian era style maid with a bonnet and wide dress and names her Silver. In the same episode we gets lots of quiet time with her as she sits around an empty house waiting for Elias and Chise to return. When Silkie was first introduced in the show I thought she would be the quiet character that doesn’t have emotions but everyone would love. In the first few episodes when she gives Chise her plate of breakfast she wraps her arms around her shoulders and rests her chin on her head. In the quiet segment with Silkie she shows that she is bored and misses Elias and Chise in the house. When they return Silkie is happy and hugs Chise. I love Silkie as a character. She takes care of both Chise and Elias which is adorable and she has a scene where she stands outside Elias’s bedroom door with a bat and that got a chuckle from me. Hell I rewinded that scene a few times.

After being taken home ,in the first episode, Chise, while in the bath internally monologues, reveals that her mother tried to kill her and her father and brother left her at a young age. She was bullied in school and pushed to the point of almost jumping off of a building then bringing us to the introduction of the anime.

While Chise is in the bath faire sprites come to greet her and call her Robin and say her red hair means she’s got great magic abilities. Later on in the night one of the faire sprites invites her for a walk in the forest to go outside. Turns out it’s a trap to lead Chise into what’s called “The Other Side” which is basically a relm where Faires live in meaning shed be a Faire. Chise choses not too because Elias is the only home and family she knows so she tells them no and then Elias comes to save her and we see his magic for the first time. Aftrr this scene we get to the meat and gravy of what this show is about. Elias says he will train Chise as his apprentice and he wants her to be his bride.

As Im sure you can tell this anime is about magic but unlike the successful Fairy Tail and the failure (in my opinion) that is Black Clover this is something very different and new. There are mages, sorcerers, witches, dragons, faires, centaurs, and demons in this world and we see so many variations and different kinds of each of these things. Even knew kinds of magical creatures that I’ve never seen before. You can truly see the time, effort, and dedication to this show and its absolutely amazing. I wish I could think of another word but this show is just amazing.

The first episode is very good about making you want to watch the next episode so find out more about the characters and story. It’s also very good at not revealing too much but just enough about Elias that not only makes Chise want to know more but also you.

Elias Ainsworth is a creature of some sort but nobody really knows what. He doesn’t know what but he is half fae. The first memories of his existence are of him walking. He can go into the shadows of people and hide in them (something he does with Chise a lot) and also has this weird ability to change his form from something wolf like with a fish tail, to something snake like, and in episode 18 he turns into this mass where he tries to eat Chise because he’s throwing a temper tantrum. Why? Cuz Chise had a friend over. No I’m not joking. 

In episode 3 Chise meets Lindel who is the caretaker of the Land of Dragons and she goes back to him in episode 12 and this is when Lindel explains how he met Elias. Elias unsure of what he is, is very confused. He thinks he used to eat humans which seems like a stretch but sometime in an episode when Chise sleeps in Elias bed with him (the same scene with Chise and the bat) and he’s threatening to eat her. Not a personal kink of mine but I don’t kink shame. In the beginning it seems that Elias just wants to help her but then it turns into Elias learning emotions and more about humans. It’s adorable really but often problematic.

I say problematic because and @redslayvega talked about this in their post about how both Chise and Elias have mental issues. A summary of their post is that Chise is willing to do anything to make anyone happy besides her while Elias is very dependent on her and has separation anxiety. Anytime Chise leaves to do her own thing he pouts and that affects Chise however she does keep doing it. I forget which episode it is, but when Chise hangs out with Alice on Christmas Eve he says she should’ve done it and he doesn’t trust her to go out alone anymore. In episode 21 the dude takes one of Chise’s dear friends to trade places with her when she gets the dragon’s curse. I mean jesus Elias. Chise rocks his jaw and is pissed. I would be too. She gets angry saying that she wanted to think about it with him. He can’t stand the thought of her leaving him. 

Besides that Chise and Elias’s relationship is very adorable and I absolutely love it. It changes from student and teacher to mother and son, to father and daughter, and in reality their just two kids who need to figure out what emotions really are. Chise doing more than Elias. The sound Elias’s skull makes when he rubs it on Chise’s face is a small but awesome detail. There’s a love between them and it’s not the main focus of the show however a very important aspect and also a good way to build character development and make good relationships between people. The two of them are just too cute. In Episode 6 Elias takes Chise to “The Other Side” to heal her and when they meet the Faire King and Queen the two talk about what kind of kids Elias and Chise should have. Then they bet on how many. Chise blushes at the possibility of having kids with Elias and Elias starts to feel things in his stomach. Butterflies. Elias protects Chise as much as he can and Chise helps Elias when he throws fits i.e. the temper tantrum we talked about earlier.

Chise gets a familiar and names him Ruth in episode 7. Ruth is a black dog who is tormented by the death of his master who was run over by a carrige. I think. He doesn’t remember what he is and it isn’t until episode 8 that he remembers and the two bond and he becomes her familiar. When she dies he dies and they are emotionally connected. I think Chise calls him her brother but I can’t remember. In the same episode of 7 and 8 we also meet the main antagonist of this series.

It threw me for a loop when they introduced an actual antagonist . Up until the point it seemed to be episodes of small missions and favors and days of shopping. If that’s all the show was going to be about I would’ve been okay but them throwing in this was amazing. It happens so suddenly too and there’s no preparation.

There’s a sorcerer named Renfred and he and Elias dont seem to be on good terms but have a good enough relationship to work together when needed. He has an apprentice named Alice who is hot in a suit and generally V attractive. In her backstory she was just a kid on the streets doing drugs until Renfred found her. We first meet the two in episode 4 and 5 when there’s a black mass in the land of cats and while Chise wants to destroy it without hurting the cats Alice and Renfred think to destroy everything. Then in episode 7 Alice is trying to kill Ruth (before he became Chise’s familiar) and Chise uses a potion on her that puts people to sleep. Alice wakes up and explains she’s looking for this kid who’s apparently evil and when she says this a giant mantis mean to stab Alice stabs her and then we’re introduced to the villain and main antagonist. 

His name is Joseph (my boyfriend’s name) but it seems his...demonic name is Cartaphillius. He gets mad when you call him that. He is a sorcerer who wants to make a chimera for some reason. He doesn’t even remember why in this scene. I forget who explains this but Joseph is immortal cuz of someone who cursed him and can’t die. The bastard gets his arm ripped off and just says “Oh silly me.” Like dude. Joseph really does have a reason for what he does or a “goal” of his. He goes around doing fuck all just because he can. We see him mostly doing “experiments”. In episode 4 and 5 we found out he’s the reason for the black gelatinous mass in the land of cats and that was a failed experiment. In episode 19 some goons of his (or people he possessed not sure) take dragons and he kills one for some reason. I dont remember if he just wanted to or if he had a reason but he puts the other one on auction THE SAME AUCTION CHISE WAS AT BY THE WAY. 

In that same episode Chise has a dream with Joseph in it and it seems like there’s another form like some sort of demon or monster inside of him. In the dream when they first start talkig he sounds like a sweet but confused kid then he starts to loose it and pins Chise to the ground and his eyes turn hollowed out. That leads me to think maybe he and Chise are connected somehow. It’ll be interesting to see how what his story it. Something tells me however that Joseph really just wants death. He’s been around so long that he just wants to die fucking around until he finally does. If that’s the case Chise will grant him that death because that’s just how her character is.

I absolutely love this anime. It’s visually amazing. The characters have so much depth and story that I just want to see more of. The plot is simple on the surface but it’s so much more. This is a very different and new anime that I’d recommend to anyone. This anime breaks the 13 episode rule so I’m hoping this show just does the entire manga in one go like Twin Star Exorcists did. I absolutely love it to the core. The animation quality is 10/10. The design is amazing. The colors. The textures and backgrounds give me a feeling. There’s a scene where Chise falls into a river and she sees this giant river dragon and it’s absolutely breath taking. The background music gives this ambiance. So much stuff in this anime is perfect and is done right. This is how you do a magic anime. Agree with me on some things or not. This is a good anime. This is a great anime and I love it with every fiber of my being.

16 outta 10. I’m ready to bleed for this bitch. I know this was sloppy and all over the place but understand one thing. I’m ready to bleed for this show.

Next review will be on Citrus (part 3) and the problem child that is Black fucking Clover and I have some choice words. My boyfriend says hi.