Review of The Ancient Magus' Bride

This show, sadly, is uncannily similar to Twilight. Unlike Twilight, however, the people who worked on this clearly cared for the source material and put love and care into its adaptation, so it already comes out ahead in that regard. Despite the good art and genuinely magical-feeling world, where this show falls flat is its basic premise. There is simply no getting around how hilariously abusive and manipulative the romance in this show is. The age and power gap, as well as Chise's "status" as a powerful magical item of sorts just kinda come across creepy, and this is all before taking into account that she'sa slave bride of sorts. She gets a fair amount of freedom and the new life is surely better than what she had before, but it still gives me the heebie jeebies.

In addition to the abusive undertones, there is no dramatic tension whatsoever. A lot of allies introduce themselves in the worst possible way only to immediately apologize and reveal that no, I did not kidnap you, I was just... kidnapping you to mess around a bit. No, I'm not actually gonna drown you, it's part of the plan. That kind of thing. It would have been better to focus on the relationship instead of very contrived-feeling obstacles.

This show is well made. It really is. But it can't overcome its fundamental flaws. If you can overlook its flaws, it's almost kinda cleansing and cozy, but I could not. The best parts about this show are when there is no plot and magic things just happen.