Review of The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2

Two factors to keep in mind before I get into this. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen Season 1 and I wasn’t over the moon about it. In fact, I was pretty tepid. So going into this one, I was foggy on details for that season (though I did recently take in both sets of OVAs) and hoping for a step up in this season. This is also one of two series that thrive on their mysteries. As such, there’s a certain degree of expectation that at least some of those mysteries will be resolved in the end. Unfortunately, I don’t think this seasonexceeded the original. It’s intriguing in a lot of ways. I’m fond of the worldbuilding and it’s never looked so good. We’re getting to see a much more confident and positive Chise, and meanwhile a somewhat more fish out of water scenario for Elias. Her classmates are intriguing and seeing a wider variety of forms and magic definitely set it apart.

But then I return to those mysteries and everything just seems half finished. That’s likely because it is, with part 2 already being announced, but that largely just leaves this unresolved. There’s a lot to unpack here, but it yields more questions than answers. And given the setting of a school, there’s less variety in the worldbuilding and the momentum for the series just feels muted. The ending gives reason to believe that will change in a hurry next season, but it doesn’t make this one substantially better.

So, it’s a bit disappointing. I had high hopes for this mid-season, but it just left me a bit empty. There’s some really intriguing concepts in here and a lot of great ideas to expand upon, but I’m just not wowed by anything yet.