I’m kind of ready for this whole Hogwarts thing to be over. But the really sad thing is that once it is, it’s going to be a very long time before we get any more Mahoutsuka no Yome anime – there just isn’t enough material. They could adapt the Majutsushi no Ao spinoff – which is excellent (certainly more interesting than this arc), but I see no evidence it’s massively popular. So basically, as far as The Ancient Magus’ Bride goes this is as good as it gets.
At least we got back to the main plot here, which did generate some interesting moments. The book seemed to make its move, attacking Chise directly as siphoning off a bunch of her magical power (which is a big gas tank). Then, all the sick kids in the infirmary suddenly felt refreshed and nobody would be attacked for the next month. Elias (remember him?) speculates that the book may in fact be controlling the user – or at the very least that the user isn’t strong enough to control it. And Chise opines that maybe the user doesn’t want to kill or permanently damage any of the victims.
Then for some reason there’s about 9 minutes of Chise and Elias picking tomatoes (off trees) and everybody eating them. I thought maybe something sinister was being hinted at there, but it looks like it was just a narrative cul-de-sac. After that it’s Philomela suffering time, with some strong hints that Veronica could be behind everything (though I don’t buy it). I do think Philomela is directly involved in the whole book thing somehow, whether she realizes it or not.
Nicc
November 6, 2023 at 8:40 amOh yeah, the gender-swapped spin-off that has been officially released as “The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Wizard’s Blue” in English. I should get around to reading someday too. I read that it will finish with 10 volumes, which would work well for an anime adaptation should it get there one day.
After the test of courage last week, it’s back to the main story. Chise is helping with the students in the infirmary by sharing her plentiful magical energy. However, one student that recently fell ill and just walked in and wanted more energy, siphoning a large amount directly from her. She saw something while in the middle of that and Cartaphilus provided an unexpected assist to help pull her back. She’s drained quite a bit, but luckily the headmistress is carrying around a lot of candy bars to help Chise recover. Then, everybody in the infirmary suddenly recovers as if the book had its fill. Elias offers some insights on what might be happening with the book, but we’re still no closer to learning about who has it and why.
After that, everything seems to be back to normal and the book doesn’t strike again. Oh yeah, and there’s the rather lenghty scene about tomatoes. A Christmas party is coming up and Chise is busy working on something. Alycone and Elias continue on with their unusual friendship. There’s a dust-up in the canteen as Kevin (Face obscured like Isaac for some reason) brings up the Webster family, which got Chise to be mad at him. Then, we do indeed have more Philomena suffering, who seems to be skipping everything now as she shuts herself in her room. Rian is trying to make amends, but the dormitory cat doesn’t allow him to set foot into the girls’ dorms. It looks like something might be going down at the Christmas party in the next episode.
Guardian Enzo
November 6, 2023 at 12:10 pmI find Wizard’s Blue to be a little more than a genderswapped Mahoutsukai. Yeah the basic roles are there and gender-reversed, but the actual premise and the tone are quite different. It does very well with the Paris setting, and I think the series overall is a better match for an urban European setting than the parent series.
Nicc
November 7, 2023 at 8:26 amThanks for letting me know and I’ll have to go check it out. Speaking of the main series, I suppose they can make some more OVAs until there’s enough material to adapt. The two OVAs that they have released (One a prequel and one in-between the seasons) have been quite good and I wouldn’t mind watching more