The Ancient Magus' Bride

Episode 10

This week's episode about mages and their masters once again proves how well The Ancient Magus' Bride handles its timing of background information. After Chise's will to live has been restored through experiences that both introduced us to the world and enough characters to build a comprehensive picture in an organic way, she's begun to practice magic consciously and found herself a familiar who contributes much more to the ensemble than occasionally saving her from harm. We've briefly met a future foe, but it's much too early to deal with him. So the time is right to go back to the past and answer at least some of the questions teased about Elias' nature and backstory.

The best way to do that without contradicting Elias' character by forcing him to open up in ways that make both him and Chise uncomfortable is by separating the pair, so Lindel's adorable selkie familiar spirits Chise away to Iceland on her now-grown dragon pup friend. At the nightly campfire, Elias' master shares stories from another camping trip, when the nights were colder and darker, and a strange creature with no past found its way through the storm to collapse in front of him.

At that point, Lindel had pretty much rejected the magical community and its frantic search for answers to the purpose of their existence. (I would be very surprised if this search ends up not being related to Elias' in-between state.) Luckily, Lindel's the decent kind of lone wanderer, picking up a helpless stray and taking him to the master who once named him. We are free to picture what Lindel's life was like before acquiring this name, which is especially nice given how it reflects the christening of Elias under possibly similar but stranger circumstances. All this leads to the strange creature with no memories, not quite fairy but far from human, becoming Lindel's apprentice (er, "acquaintance").

When it comes to Elias' origin, it's tempting to speculate about a couple of interesting things. Rahab's first guess about his nature would have been human experiments in black magic gone wrong, possibly by disrespecting some fundamental rules of magic in order to become more wise and powerful, or maybe to find answers to the questions Lindel had turned his back upon. If Elias ended up like this as a consequence of using forbidden magic, the fact that he's not malicious but possesses childlike curiosity instead opens up all kinds of interesting moral doors. Even if what or who he was before did something terrible, would the result be to blame if he has no memory of the actions that made him end up like this? This is assuming that it was indeed Elias who caused this himself. (If he is the product of someone else's deed, things would not be quite as layered or interesting, rendering him a pretty clear-cut victim.) It's all speculation at this point, but very intriguing for me.

But the way Elias seems to be practicing human behavior and took on a human apprentice/bride also leaves room for the possibility that his transformation was the other way around – from fairy to not-quite-human instead of human to not-quite-fairy, for reasons I don't understand yet. This turn of events would also fit better with Spriggan's disgust, even though Rahab, after quickly qualifying her first theory about a human accidentally transforming himself, never finishes her following thought. I find it intriguing to think about why a fairy would want to become human, flesh-bound, mortal and all.

The recurring curse/blessing dichotomy of being loved by fae has never been more intriguing as well. While directed primarily at Lindel's reluctance to take on an apprentice or engage with others, it's just as much about Elias' own true nature, adding hope and the possibility for salvation to an implied curse or punishment. The Ancient Magus' Bride is wonderfully crafted in theme and almost consistently deserving of an A grade in story – if only the cinematic execution was half as magical. Its uninspired direction of photography and editing continue to be a weak point that's almost compensated by the show's beautiful art design – but only almost.

Other good stuff in the present-day storyline includes Elias' expression of worry, which I'm not sure subtle animation or my own imagination is to blame for. In any case, the show does a good job of making me interpret the “look” of his glowing eye sockets as worried. Elias and Chise worrying about the other is sweet, as is seeing Chise display common sense by finally putting on long pants. She's now able to talk about her mother in much less vague allusions. Even if it pains her greatly to do so, it's still incredible progress. Lindel creating a path of ice so that the reindeer can draw the sled is one of the many examples of casual magic that makes the show's world feel so rich.

Back in the past (which apparently isn't an absolute concept for Rahab, a pretty awesome addition to our mage lineup who sports a modern lab coat), we have a visceral snowstorm partly obscuring Elias' fight with the wolves, making the scene appear even more inhuman. Another highlight is seeing Elias spend valuable seconds looking at the soup Lindel just invited him to eat as if he either A) has a hard time identifying something manmade as food or B) is touched and baffled by such unknown kindness. Maybe it's a bit of both, or maybe he'd rather eat Lindel himself instead of his soup. Lindel tricking Elias to taste sea water for his own amusement is more than just a funny interlude, but the cutest and most telling moment is Elias misjudging average human height and size, turning himself into a much too tiny version of himself. Do humans just seem that tiny to him, or can we take this as an indication of how he thinks the appropriate human size for him would be that of a child, which is both adorable and touching?

In any case, I'm glad the show trusts us to ponder these questions ourselves instead of offering an obvious answer.

Rating: B+

The Ancient Magus' Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Anne is a translator and fiction addict who writes about anime at Floating Words and on Twitter.