Mahou Tsukai no Yome - The Ancient Magus' Bride (Anime Thread)

This is a thread to discuss the anime adaptation of the Ancient Magus Bride, whose first episode has just released. Please, try to limit Manga spoilers to a minimum within their proper tags as to not ruin the experience of those who are just exploring the Anime.

In my opinion, the first episode was already quite lovely, with a great OP and ED theme. It walks on some quite troublesome events and situations, however I hope they do not turn people off from seeing how it develops and dives into such issues.

edited 7th Oct '17 1:58:34 PM by daltar

(I might as well repost this)

It is… intriguing. I'm not sure if I should be charmed or creeped out by the premise (one youtuber pointed out that it sounded like a hentai premise…) − Elias calling Chise his "puppy" doesn't help. But the artistic direction is truly excellent. I'll follow this I think.

I am so happy with the art in the anime, it looks gorgeous and I really like the folk-ish soundtrack, it really suits the story.

As for the premise, without giving too much about it, the series doesn't really focus on the romance much, it's mainly about the fantasy aspect and Chise adjusting to her new life.

Adding on a little: there's a reason the romance isn't really in focus. Like, in-universe reason, not "the author doesn't want to do it" reason.

edited 7th Oct '17 7:52:11 PM by HanabiraKage

Episode 1: This seems like it cold be a very interesting series. The setting is good and the art is generally great (although the super-deformed moments seemed a little out of place). The mage himself seems like and interesting character as well.

This has pretty strong vibes of the basic Bastard Boyfriend structure. The kind of work where the MC is abused/treated roughly, but ooh, I'm sure he really cares underneath, he's just bad at showing it thing. That combined with the whole tall prince bursting in, saving you from the pits and claiming you as his own in the ownership sense dynamic make this feel like a very high budget trashy shojo. It's ignorable, but the undercurrent is pretty strong here and it feels pretty much intentional.

Hopefully it'll give its protagonist some agency, though considering that the opening scene is her selling away her agency, I'm not sure how hopeful on that point I can be. How that develops will probably determine whether I drop this or not.

edited 8th Oct '17 4:20:29 AM by GabrieltheThird

I'd actually suggest reading manga to get an idea whether you like it or not. I find it to be bizarre work to read(it is surprisingly heartwarming), but from what I noticed, it really fast downplays bride part of the title even if it still has weird quasi relationship thing going on .-. For most part, it feels like its actually mentor/student relationship rather than friend or lover relationship, but I can't really tell from Japanese works so I feel weirded out when reading it since I honestly can't tell where its gonna go in that respect. But yeah, it doesn't really bring up the bride part of it at all after beginning, it seems to be more of formality?

Thing about it is that, well, the groom has no real interest in marriage part it feels like, its more of "this is a things humans do" kind of thing if you ask me. They are possessive, but not that way if that makes sense? Like, Elias isn't inhuman just because he has deer skull, he actually IS really inhuman without taking away from his nice moments.

Anyhoo, probably can't say much more without actually having spoilers, but its pretty much world building series(aka those works that focus a lot on how setting works), so slice of life moments mixed with "OH SHIT SOMETHING IS HAPPENING" moments.

edited 8th Oct '17 1:46:51 AM by SpookyMask

Yeah, Elias sounds very self-assured because of his voice, but so far there haven't been any real indications in that direction. While there is a romance aspect to it, it's been building up slowly, to the point where it's just now starting to be wondered about something like 40 chapters in.

Adding onto the inhuman part, whoever is doing the voice direction, and Elias voice as well, is probably aware. Listen closely to his tone and inflections, but more importantly, listen to a specific point in the episode: his laugh.

Jesus, I keep reading "Ancient Magus Bride" as "Angus Bride" and it makes me want to get some steaks.

There's clearly an apostrophe missing somewhere. This title reads as if Chise was the ancient magus, which makes no goddamn sense.

Woops, that was on me. Sorry everyone. Should be fixed now.

You know, that title mistake would be amusing as hell if Chise really ends up becoming a magus herself.

You're not to blame, since that's how the title is written. The Japanese just don't English very well. The French edition has no apostrophe either (because French publishers are sometimes forced to use the English titles even when they make no sense.)

Well, I assume that will be the case eventually? Being Elias' disciple and all... Though I've only watched the first episode, so maybe that falls in the background.

edited 13th Oct '17 5:06:08 AM by Lyendith

Well, she still won't be ancient though. At least not yet.

Can I watch this without watching the prequel OVAs first?

Yes. As I understand it the prequel OA Vs are entirely original material while the TV series are basically giving you the information in the same order that the readers of the manga got it.

Yes, the prequel OV As are entirely new info even for manga readers. They don't deal with anything related to Elias, just some of Chise's fucked-up childhood, so could also make a decent entry point. I'm not sure how the series animation compares, though, so it might be a letdown watching the OV As first.

I'd say after episode 6 or 7 of the anime, you can likely watch the OV As safely, they don't really spoil anything but a character that enters the picture around that point I believe... perhaps a bit more.

Also spoils some character development for Elias.

So a new episode dropped in with A visit to Olivanders'... I mean Angelica's, a derpy cute salamander, Silky being adorable in her doting and surprise dragon kidnappings! Oh my

edited 15th Oct '17 10:27:19 AM by daltar

I do wonder how Chise managed the sudden change in diet. Because Sillky's cooking is very English (and not in the stereotypical way everyone jokes about English cooking). There was a very nice looking dish of fish and chips in episode 1 and episode 2 has a proper English fry-up for breakfast.

That's got to be a bit of a shock to Chise's system.

For Chise, it's probably less the kind of food and more that she's getting fed at all.

It's okay. Silky will take care of her.

…Sunny-side-up eggs with flageolet beans, bacon, tomato, frankfurt sausage and mushroom is certainly not my usual idea of a breakfast. ô.Ô Or a Hobbit breakfast, maybe.

But anyway, the cosy atmosphere of this show is such a delight. And that soundtrack is gonna become my new background music for studying before long.

Chise doesn't seem too weirded out by the salamander climbing on her… And suddenly, dragons! Boy, that escalated quickly. >.>

Also, that priest/pastor (??) is fishy. You can't trust a character voiced by Morikawa Toshiyuki these days.

edited 17th Oct '17 12:50:10 PM by Lyendith

I still can't get over just how pretty this show is.