One of 2018’s most favorable animation’s in my opinion was known as the Ancient Magus Bride, which as you may guess involves the world of magic and the supernatural in this one. This particular animation has some minor dark tones, but it’s more or less lighthearted in terms of it’s story with it’s varied cast of characters, including the starring female lead of this anime Chise Hatori who has the ability to see otherworldly things and has raw untapped potential as possibly the last generation of mage in existence.
Story: With the Ancient Magus Bride it follows the Manga very closely here where we see the main character a male mage named Elias Ainsworth enter a auction hall and purchase Chise to become his bride/apprentice due to her raw untapped potential. Chise is brought to the home of this mage and is quickly introduced to the world of magic, unique beings and even legends that people think aren’t real, but are.
The story starts off very lighthearted and gives us a general look at the world of a Mage/Magus, with everyday things being influenced by the surroundings of the world and the story trying to teach us new and exciting things about it. I must admit for a Manga to Anime translation this is pretty darn good for a story following, you have the basic premise and each volume focuses more or less on 2-3 episodes at a time in length. Chise and Elias aren’t forced together, they are together by choice as they each help the other grow and change.
This is a sign of a good story in itself, as the characters grow, change and learn of the world around them, eventually becoming aware more so of things then prior. This story even though it’s sorta cliched with it’s fantasy genre is still well done and the translation of Manga to Anime is giving this one more points as the translations for each episode seem absolutely spectacular in itself. Story wise Ancient Magus Bride gets a very solid B on my end with it’s charming, lighthearted story in the beginning which leads to more entertaining adventures just like the Manga.
Audio: For the purpose of this review I managed to watch both the English Subbed and the English Dubbed versions to get a basic understanding of the translation differences for the audio of this anime. This may not seem like much but with a review you look at every aspect of a product.
In terms of the direct audio translation from Japanese to English it’s good, with some minor translation errors here and there but it’s audio taking from the Japanese source to the English source is good enough to be considered a good point in this particular animation. It’s not to say the voice acting for this is not as good as can be expected, in fact it is far from it with a few major popular cast members backing up the audio department.
Chise Hatori is actually voiced by a very popular female actress in the Japanese voice acting scene, Atsumi Tanezaki who has been a popular vocal actress since 2012, her most recent forays into Anime include Rio from Bunny Girl Senpai and Lily from Fairy Gone. Chise’s English VA is Dani Chambers who recently voiced Raiha Uesugi from the Quintuplets and she has also managed to snag a role in the 2019 reboot of Fruits Basket as the Female Vice President.
Elias on the other hand is played by Ryota Takeuchi who is the Japanese voice for Reaper of Overwatch, as well as his other claim to fame being Abigail from Street Fighter V. In the English VA department he is voiced by Brian Mathis who has many claims to fame under his belt, Macao from Fairy Tail, Mamuro from Ghost in the Shell as well as Bacchus from Rage of Bahamut: Genesis.
So it’s not to say this series doesn’t have a good cast behind it, heck even Rachel Glass, Todd Haberkorn and Colleen Clinkenbeard lend their talents to the English VA section of this as minor characters. Audio wise this is very well done, each episode is well cared for and given the right audio attention.
I am specifically a fan of the music used for this as it was done quite well for what was used, I am giving the audio category a very solid A- on this one, it’s good and feels right at home with the style that this anime presents itself as in every sense of the word.
Visuals: Ancient Magus Bride’s visuals are perhaps some of the most impressive I have ever had the chance to witness, as visually the world itself is stunning and each inhabitant is amazing. The creature design is very impressive as even the minor characters like various mythical beings are well drawn, lending themselves well to the enchanting atmosphere of this franchise.
There’s really nothing more that needs to be said about the visuals here, they are fantastic, showing that even a popular series doesn’t need a spectacular cast behind it, but a strong visual/audio presence like this one does. Ancient Magus Bride gets a solid B- from me here, it’s not perfect but it keeps the anime going nicely.
Overall: The Ancient Magus Bride was a very good conversion of a Manga to a Anime that lent itself well to the genre of fantasy/supernatural, if i had to recommend it for more then one viewing, I would recommend it for a 2nd and even a 3rd viewing if you really liked it that much.
The Ancient Magus Bride gets a overall score of a A-, it’s not perfect, however it is a far better adaptation of a Manga to Anime I have ever had seen before, which is a surprise. You can watch the Ancient Magus Bride on both Crunchyroll and Funimation respectively, the anime is 24 episodes and is available in both Subbed and Dubbed versions.
Recap: Story: B, Voice Work/Vocals: A-, Visuals: B-, Overall: A-.
Final Thoughts: Overall as I stated before the Ancient Magus Bride is worth the watch, you can find it on one of the two platforms I listed above, the Ancient Magus Bride was first aired on October 7th, 2017, with a final episode air date of March 25th, 2018 with no real Season 2 in sight.
However there is a chance that this series will have a 2nd season, but we will wait and see, till next time this is Vergil signing off.
Note: All Screenshots used in this review were all captured by myself, if the editor would like I can provide a link to said screenshots.