So, even though I'm not currently paying for Crunchyroll services (not enough money for it at the moment), they've still got my email, and they're still sending messages to it nonstop. It's all promotional stuff, of course, so I ignore them for the most part, but I noticed a month ago that they kept sending me emails about a movie night or something for an anime called The Ancient Magus' Bride. I promptly deleted the emails, though I suppose that the name stuck in my mind, because come September, I get an email saying something alone the lines of "The Ancient Magus' Bride Announces New Character, Fairy King Oberon!", to which I thought, "Wow, Crunchyroll must have a really serious hard-on for this anime if it's making announcements about a new side character."
So, curiosity got the best of me, and I watched a couple of trailers. Which led to me watching the two of the three prologue episodes that are still available on Crunchyroll. Which led to me reading the manga. Which got me instantly hooked and absolutely pissed at myself for not taking up their offer on that movie night thing.
The story of the Ancient Magus' Bride begins with our main character, Chise, at the auction house. She is a rare kind of human called a Slay Vega, who absorbs immense magical energy and can see and interact with creatures that most other people can't, things like faeries, goblins, and elves. As such, a dejected Chise is the "item" being put on auction. She's been shuffled around from one home that doesn't love her to another for all her life, and all she wishes is for whoever buys her to at least want her and be able to use her in some way. There, she is bought for a whopping five million pounds by Elias, a magus who possesses qualities of both a fairy and a human. And, you know, he has some sort of animal skull for a head. Can't forget that.
Elias then tells Chise that she will be his apprentice and whisks her away to his home in Britain, where he teaches her how to hone her abilities and become a magus. And, he tells her at the end of a very exhausting first day, he intends to marry her, too.
So, yes, this is an unconventional romance story between a being that is hundreds if not thousands of years old and a fifteen year-old girl. And I know that sounds like it's creepy, but... honestly, it still is, even when you try not to think of it like that, especially when their relationship sometimes shifts into something more father-daughter-like. Or when you stop to think about the fact that he actually bought her at a slave auction, or-
OK, let's stop thinking about why this relationship may or may not be creepy. He hardly ever mentions marrying her again past the first chapter.
Though I still do wish she was at least eighteen its'socreepy
At least the mangaka seems aware of how creepy this may come off as.
Creepy implications of the main pairing aside, the story is quite unique, and Chise and Elias are both very dynamic characters who grow from their interactions with one another as the story progresses. Chise, once dejected a not having any will to do anything for herself, grows to love her life and those around her and eventually strives to preserve her frail life as best she can while simultaneously looking out for those around her. Meanwhile, Elias, who doesn't understand human emotions, learns from Chise just what it is to be human slowly throughout the series. He learns of loneliness and jealousy and anger, among many other named emotions, but the one that they never say aloud that we know he feels most around her is "love".
Add in a diverse and fun cast of side characters, and you've got yourself a pretty decent and dynamic palette of characters to deal with. Especially when you have a setting where magic and non-human creatures exist.
Oberon and Titania, for example, are fun when we get to see them; the leannan si in love with an old man is a tragic but compelling character; Lindenbaum, the dragon keeper in Iceland, is always a treat when we get to spend time with him. You can tell that the author of the manga had fun with creating the world and all of its characters.
My personal favorite by far is Ruth, Chise's black grim familiar and brother figure. His relationship with Chise is, in my opinion, a perfect way to convey a relationship between to characters that, while not siblings by blood, certainly act like and care for each other like siblings.
He cares for her and looks out for her, worries about her and protects her, and while she's always at the top of his priority list, they are both simply contented with being around and looking out for one another. They're sweet. Not my OTP, but definitely my BROTP.
That said, however, my experience with the manga has been a little dulled compared to how it could be due to the fact that, well, I'm not a big fan of manga.
I know, I'm an anime fan but don't like manga? What the heck?
I simply find it a little hard to follow, particularly in action-packed series or any point in which there is action, so when characters go throwing around magic and such, I get a little confused as to what is going on. Escpecially when it's in black and white. My vision's bad enough as it is. And then there a panels where I can't really tell what's going on, and I'll have to go back and reread.
Like in chapter two, where Chise and Elias are going out to town. It took me a while to figure out that the man that suddenly appeared next to Chise was Elias using a glammour to appear human.
I'm not sure if that's poor planning or just because I'm dumb, but either way, manga just isn't really the right type of media for me.
Though, looking at this again, I'm sure it's poor page planning. You can clearly see that Elias is to her right, so why is Chise turning to her left to see the newly transformed Elias? It just looked like she turned around to see a stranger on the other side of her.
Either way, I get confused, an it just puts a slight damper on my experience.
Which is exactly why I'm looking forward to this anime adaptation coming out next month. I'll be able to watch this without the struggles that come to me while reading mangas. From what I've seen in the trailers and first two prequel episodes, too, the animations looks beautiful and fluid and perfectly captures the magical feel on the series, something that isn't easily achieved in black and white. I can't wait to see elves dancing, with flowers springing at their feet. I can't wait to see the ancient gods of winter roaming the woods on the first night of yule. I can't wait to see mischievous fairies try to drag an unsuspecting Chise into the fairy realm. And I just can't wait to see my bae Ruth's sad backstory, or the leannan si's tragedy unfold, or the arc with the dragon poachers and the auction house on screen.
This is a story that, in my opinion, is made to be on screen, and I simply can't wait for it.
You have a great day! Bye~~
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