Review of The Ancient Magus' Bride
A fantasy story can be created by anyone imaginative and creative. They show the aspects that reality does not offer, like a dream, a utopia or something we can't reach. Mahoutsukai no Yomi is one amongst the fantasy stories that succeeded in attracting people intrigued in its mystery. Many people were happy with the anime and thought that it was adequate, but some people did not, and I am one of those people. Although Mahoutsukai no Yomi did succeed as an anime and attracted a lot of crowd, and is probably one of the most popular out there. It failed in giving the watchers a"better" ending. Mahoutsukai no Yomi had a good start but the story became rushed and turned out bad at the end.
STORY
Chise Hatori, a 15-year-old Japanese girl, was sold for five million pounds at an auction to a tall masked gentleman. Abandoned at a young age and ridiculed by her peers for her unconventional behavior, she was ready to give herself to any buyer if it meant having a place to go home to. In chains and on her way to an unknown fate, she hears whispers from robed men along her path, gossiping and complaining that such a buyer got his hands on a rare "Sleigh Beggy."
Ignoring the murmurs, the mysterious man leads the girl to a study, where he reveals himself to be Elias Ainsworth—a magus. After a brief confrontation and a bit of teleportation magic, the two open their eyes to Elias' picturesque cottage in rural England. Greeted by fairies and surrounded by weird and wonderful beings upon her arrival, these events mark the beginning of Chise's story as the apprentice and supposed bride of the ancient magus.
The story itself isn't too perplex nor simple. It's pretty much what you expect from a fairy tale. There are a few cliches, and many of the episodes were as if it was a repeat of what happened the past episode(s). However, that is pretty much what you're supposed to get since it's a fantasy story. Don't expect comedy, because it's fantasy. Don't expect romance, because it's fantasy. Many people get jumbled up within this loop hole where they think that they'll expect something from a mere story if they read or see it. And after they did not get what they desired, they feel uncomfortable, mad, sad or unhappy. Those expressions are totally fine, I will just simply say "Then why don't you check its details first before starting it?" but that doesn't mean that you don't have to start it. Since this anime is pretty popular, many people are intrigued to try it out. Including the ones that doesn't even care about the details and jump straight into the story.
Doing so is pretty much throwing a dice onto the ground, not knowing which number you'll get. Gambling. Many people gamble, and by gamble I don't just mean the ones they do in Casino or for illegal purposes. Gambling means taking the risk of an action in the hope of a desired result. It's a bad habit that many people carry around even if they don't notice it. Okay, I think I'm going off the review to another topic now, so I will just summarize this. Check the details before watching.
Now then, back to the story. When I began watching Mahoutsukai no Yome, I did not expect much. And after watching a few episodes. My mind was absorbed into the story like when I read a fantasy book with around 800 pages. The plot of the anime was fine for a fantasy anime, to summarize the whole plot, it's pretty much : ( SPOILER ) Girl gets bought by skeleton and she helps people in need. Yeah, very simple. It doesn't offer you as much as a complicated story like neon genesis evangelion but as I said before, it's just a fantasy story. Don't expect too much of it.
STILL, after I watched more and more of the episodes and reached around the finale 5-4. The story turns out more trash and rushed and cliches than before which upset me very much. I expected way, much more. Well, I've heard of season 2 so I guess the ending is to be expected(?)
ART
Speaking of the art of the anime, I have no doubts about it. It's perfect. The art style is good, the quality is great and scenes are mostly drawn without rushing, making it look perfectly fine.
SOUND
The best part of the entire series. The soundtracks. Oh boy, I don't even have to write this. Y'all already know that they're incredibly good.
CHARACTER
Chise - Hatori, Chise is the main heroine of the show. Her character development wasn't as good, it was kind of average. Her character development was pretty much just herself trying to overcome depression. That's all, really.
Elias - Despite the fact that he is also a main character of the show. Ainsworth, Elias doesn't really seem to have a good character development as well as Chise. His character development can pretty much be summarized to "a monster that can't empathize learns to empathize, oh, and also helps girl"
Other supporting characters - They're fine, some supporting characters that standout more than the others deserved their spotlight and get some more onscreen they deserved. For an example, we were given the story of Silky before she served Elias, which is good so we'll understand why she's there. And Ruth which is also given a backstory and probably got to be onscreen the most for a supporting character within this series.
ENJOYMENT
Meh. It was ok. I've heard that there's season 2 coming out(?) so perhaps that's the reason why the last episodes were so rush-feeling and not so great.
OVERALL
7/10 - Good, simple story. If you're looking for something a bit relaxing and fantasy. Then this is for you.