English Dub Review: The Ancient Magus’ Bride “God’s mill grinds slow but sure”

A present for someone important.

Overview:

Yule is coming up, and Chise wants to give Elias a fitting present. She sneaks out of the house to do so and on her way, finds Alice.

Our Take:

It starts out with Chise wondering how long she has left to live, and the rest of the episode proves that she intends to make that time meaningful. With Christmas coming up, she wants to show her feelings for Elias by getting him an appropriate present. In doing so, she encounters Alice, and they spend some time together.

We learn about Alice’s past, and how Renfred found her. She used to run with the wrong crowd and was routinely hooked up on drugs from a young age. Renfred found her, took her in, came to her aid to protect her, and even was injured in the process. Alice has a fierce loyalty to him since he was the one who not only gave her a chance at a new life but was willing to put himself on the line to protect her. In that sense, Alice and Chise are quite similar. The people teaching them magic are those who extended their hands to them and pulled them into a new life. Not only did they give the girls a place to stay and belong, but they also saved them from rotting in their old lives. While these acts may have different degrees of selfishness, they were still significant enough for the girls to revolutionize their whole lives. As a result, the girls are thankful, loyal, and also feel extremely deeply about them both. Alice and Chise are good parallels, and while they were enemies at first, it’s clear that they can become allies, and later friends.

On the other side, Elias is expanding his emotional repertoire. While he doesn’t understand frustration or anger, he definitely feels it. He’s frustrated at Chise going out to see Alice where he is unable to follow her because he can’t protect her. Chise has been in so much danger already that Elias is increasingly uncomfortable with the idea that she might be putting herself in more. He is also slowly figuring out that he is affectionate around Chise, such as getting flustered by her kissing his forehead. He learns more with each episode.

Score
9.0/10