2 out of 5

Directed by: Norihiro Naganuma

It took me a while – like, all season – to realize that I wasn’t really feeling The Ancient Magus’ Bride.  I had a lot of credit built up due to my enjoyment of the deftly understated OVA, and because the show has the same contemplative, quiet pacing, it’s easy to feel like you’re getting served up something similar.  And in fleeting moments, you very much are: as ‘Sleigh Beggy’ Chise is willfully sold off as a magic item of interest (Sleigh Beggys being a resplendent source of magic) to Magus – and skull-headed – Elias, we witness Chise’s discovery of the heretofore unseen, fantastical elements of the world, as well as her coming around to an appreciation of life, family, and love that her upbringing did not instill.  These moments are interesting for the lore they lay out, of forest creatures and succubi and the like, but the emotions Chise experiences feel like they were already somewhat approached in the OVA, and the show’s attempts to expand on that – Chise is dying, you see, but also she is to be wed to the Magus, hence the title – are very non-committal, to the point of falling flat.  And any time we get a little headway down any particular avenue, whether it’s learning about Elias’ past, or establishing a “foe” with an opposing and scurrilous magic user, the show hits pause as part of its poetic shtick and then we switch focus to something else temporarily.  The effect, instead of acting as world and character building, is to lower the sense of urgency of events so as to be non-existent, as well to unwittingly render the characters less interesting by not allowing us to follow through on what we’ve learned… until episodes later, when its lost relevance.

This has a great toll upon the central relationship between Chise and Elias, but the general obtuseness of the narrative also never really sells us on some key Whys and Hows – Why Elias is interested in Chise; Why she develops feelings for him; How magic is constrained and used in this world…  Things that the OVA allowed us to take for granted, as it’s a tale that takes place in the midst of everything already having been established, the series seemingly wants to be able to do the same, while also acting like it’s walking us through the development of the same.  And thus we never quite move forward.

The animation and character / creature design by Wit Studio is quite good, thankfully, and the incidental music by Jun’ichi Matsumoto is exceedingly pleasant, and alluring.  Coasting from those brief moments where the show hits on the appropriate sense of wonder, it’s enjoyable and tricksily entrancing, but The Ancient Magus’ Bride ticks by without ever really feeling satisfying, and that stacks up episode by episode to equate to boredom, and a two star rating.