Review of The Ancient Magus' Bride

魔法使いの嫁 - Mahoutsukai no Yome - this slice of life tells a captivating story that takes the audience into a wonderful fantasy world with colourful, detailed art style. An exciting, emotional and passionate journey into a magical land of fairies, witches, wizards and adventures. Story: faithful to the original with good pacing (9/10). A young orphan, fully aware of the risks and consequences, signs a contract that restricts her personal freedom to an extent that can only be described as slavery. Inevitably, one wonders how this tragic event came about? The prequel: Mahoutsukai no Yome: Hoshi Matsu Hito (OVA) tells the background story, summarised as family breakdownand bullying. Shunned and treated like a social outcast that no one can understand. When auctioneer Seth Noel asks if she's sure she wants to sign, this may seem like a mere formality. But it's heartbreaking to hear a teenage girl answer, fully aware of the consequences, that she doesn't care what happens to her as long as she gets a new home in return. The anime is faithful to the source material, I'll get to the few differences later. The pacing is good, not too fast and not too slow. The characters are introduced in the first few episodes, so it's easy to follow the story and at the same time stay focused because there's hardly any filler.

Characters: well portrayed, courage to deviate a little would have been good (7/10).
The portrayal of the characters leaves nothing to be desired (see also my review of the OVA: Hoshi Matsu Hito). However, as mentioned, some character aspects should be discussed (in order of appearance).
Hatori, Chise:
Her psychological development, which gradually strengthens the young woman's self-confidence, reveals the true beauty of her character, which is all the more unexpected in a lonely teenager who has no family and is shunned by society.
Ainsworth, Elias:
Having the courage to stage the bath scene in a way that differs from the original would have done a great service to the portrayal of his character. He is not human and therefore has no particular understanding of human emotions. But that is no excuse here, the scene made him seem inhuman. Whether it was right to give him a chance, the story's development will show.
Barley, Angelica:
As a technician in the Magus Craft, she runs her own business. Since her skills as a sorceress did not allow her to learn her father's craft directly, she has worked hard to find her own way to deal with magic. Her iron will makes her seem a little tomboyish and almost belies the fact that she is very attractive. In fact, she is the exact opposite of Chise. A self-confident woman who knows her own strengths and weaknesses, and in this respect a stable "mother figure" who can give confidence and security that Chise does not know in this way.
Silky:
The fairy-like landlady of the house used to be a banshee, but due to various sad and depressing circumstances, she has retreated into the household. Although not obvious at first, she cares lovingly for Chise, ensuring that nothing happens to her little "sister". This becomes particularly clear when the village priest pays a visit. Which leads us directly to the next character.
Callum, Simon:
The local priest is a bit of a mystery, having been commissioned by the Catholic Church in England to keep an eye on Elijah. This goes some way to explaining why Silky distrusts Simon and has a strong dislike for him.
Lindenbaum:
He is the guardian of the last land of the dragons and has a respectable age of several hundred years. He is a wise and cultured man, but on the other hand he also has the courage to be whimsical and to have fun. He has been Elijah's master of magic and has tried to give him a better understanding of the emotions of the human race. His credo is: Find the right balance and focus on the important things in life.
Alice:
An apprentice like Chise, with a similar tragic story to tell. She was a drug addict and later became a drug dealer as well. She was not bought by her master, but he defied social inequality and took her off the streets. The first unexpected encounter between Alice and Chise was a hostile one - what other adventures does the fate have in store for the two of them?
Renfred, Michael:
An alchemist with a grudge against Elias and Magus, or magicians in general. He is a serious person, but he is also ambivalent. He hates Magus and magicians, but he cares for Alice, who has a bit of magical talent herself. He is mysterious. It will be interesting to see what aspects of him the plot will reveal.
Cartaphilus:
Longing for an antagonist? Here he is, wrapped in the body of a teenager and the face of an angel, looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth. The devil in disguise, he has everything to be called the incarnation of evil. He is ruthless, and although he is very afraid of pain and suffering himself, he has no qualms about inflicting death and suffering on others. He also has partial amnesia, probably due to his biblical age. He called Elijah and even Lindenbaum "o-chibi-san", which means little boy. The motivation for his heinous acts seems to be a desire to see people suffer. This is because he himself lives forever, but his body ages and dies like a human being. He is therefore cursed to maintain the functionality of his body by constantly supplying it with new body parts. All in all, a successful antagonist, and his extreme dislike of the name Cartaphilus is fitting against the backdrop of the folk tale of the Eternal Wanderer.
Titania and Oberon:
Queen and King of the Fairies, colourful supporting characters that make the anime unique in its way. Both are very special to me, and I enjoy watching them whenever they appear. They remind me a lot of William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream" because the personalities are amazingly similar.
Ruth:
"Brutus" would have been more appropriate for a black Grimm who guards graveyards from those who would desecrate them. Anyway, Ruth is a large black gost dog with the ability to transform into a human. He becomes a close confidant to Chise, with whom she forms a strong emotional bond, almost like her missing younger brother.
There are many other nice side characters who are important, such as Leanan Sídhe, Rahab, Spriggan, but to describe them all would be beyond the scope of this review.

Visuals: Attractive and genuinely enjoyable (9/10)
The art work and the animation are very appealing. The adaptation is as close to the original as possible. There are only a few minor deviations in the design, but none in a bad way. The changes in the character sketches, e.g. Silky or Ruth, were carefully considered and edited. The result, I think, is a very successful adaptation. The diversity of the characters and their expressiveness in general are exactly what you would expect in comparison to the manga and the OVA. The background art is again breathtaking, as it was in the OVA. It impresses with its realism, many details and a great variety of colours. On top of that, the wonderful artistic ensemble is lit up by an impressive play of light and shadow. The animation is fluid and has a lifelike, natural look. The art department as a whole puts on a show that is simply beautiful to look at.

Sounds: beautiful score in harmony with the story, good VA & sound effects (8/10)
The background music, composed by Matsumoto Junichi, is an incomparable sound experience, well-balanced but at the same time emotional, which transports the listener to another world. The harmony between the background music and the dialogue is very pleasing. As in the OVA, the dubbed voices are not overpowered by the music. It can best be described as mutual accompaniment or emphasis. A good example of this is in episode 4, when Chise is walking across a pond, lost in thought. The whole scenario is impressively underlined by soft piano playing. The insert songs are also very nice. My favourite is the one called "アンノドミニ" in episode 8, when Chise makes Ruth her confidante.
The first OP "Here" is sung by Junna with her beautiful, expressive voice. Fitting seamlessly into the anime, the lyrical visual composition of the opening foreshadows what is to come.
The final track is the perfect counterpart to the first opening.
The voice acting leaves nothing to be desired. The choice of seiyû was good, as was the dialogue. Angelika's voice, spoken by Kaida, Yuuko, with her clear and deep timbre is a pleasure to listen to. The voice of Spriggan, given by Yasumoto, Hiroki, is remarkably deep and well spoken, with good pronunciation. Ōhara Sayaka, who voices Titania, makes even a minor character special. She has a lot of experience as Seiyû, so Titania has an aura of mystique and majesty that you would expect from a queen.
Sound effects are an extremely useful but often overlooked feature. In the case of Mahoutsukai no Yome, this would be a shame, as the sound effects are of a very high quality, which makes you feel as if you are immersed in the scene.

Mahoutsukai no Yome is a great slice-of-life anime about rediscovering the beauty in everyday life. Impressively staged with beautiful art and animation. Accompanied by a well-done soundtrack, so that the images and sound blend into a very pleasant overall picture.

Thank you for reading and have fun watching!