Review of The Ancient Magus' Bride
What a splendid time, this was. My favorite anime/manga of all time now. And I owe it all to a friend of mine who introduced me to it. I love it so much I've bought every manga volume up to date as of now, every volume of not one but two of the spin-off manga, the two light novels and I've got the entire first season as well as the OVA's on Blu-Ray. I'm totally gonna see this entire series through to the end because of how beautiful it is, both visually and narratively. Realistically, Chise is at the breaking point and lowest form of depressionthat she's just one step away from suicide. It's no wonder she does something like sell herself off as property given she feels her life is worthless. All because she has the power to see magical creatures (fae beings) when almost nobody else can. One of them purchases her yet he never once treats her like property and actually welcomes her into his home to teach her how to use magic but also hoping that one day they can be a couple. Elias does this at first for his own benefit but he himself grows as well, over time. Chise and Elias are teacher and student to each other with Elias teaching Chise magic and Chise teaching Elias more about humanity and having emotions when the time is right.
It's not just through Elias that Chise grows, too. By meeting brand new people not at all from her own life? She can get a fresh start and connect with people MUCH easier which doesn't just help her grow, it helps us learn more about the stories of others who have mostly interacted with fae beings too, whether they realize it or not.
And it's not just the positive emotions though. The negative ones play a good role in this as well, showing how growth can come from it as well but also show how sometimes we need to be careful with them and whatever actions they fuel. Not only does it show good quality of the emotions, both positive and negative, there's some real mystery with the plot as much as the fae. We're guided through a great journey with these characters and the world they're in from start to finish.
This series is so well crafted not just with a well paced story with good drama, believable characters with many having depth, some being complex and all around having various forms of enjoyability, this series has a fun sound track and good animation as well. It's easy for anyone with a heart to get drawn in, which I believe is one of the reasons it's so beloved. This anime has such great value, not just because this feels like something I myself would write, but because I feel it's an exemplary way to appeal to a general audience.