English Dub Review: Ancient Magus’ Bride “April Showers Bring May Flowers”

Magus Bride has been one of the anticipated titles of the season, and it’s easy to see why.

https://youtu.be/DYbkj4poAoc

Overview:

A young girl named Chise is sold at an auction to the inhuman mage Elias. He intends to not enslave her, but to take her on as his apprentice and offers his home to her.

Our Take:

The art is phenomenal. Each panel could have easily been taken out of the manga, and altogether, the whole thing is very lovely to look at. Even the off-scenes which largely contain filler animation is still well done, which is extremely rare. The rich animation helps the atmosphere of the story and makes the scenes where Elias casts his magic really stand out.

On that note, it manages to successfully convey a fairy-tale atmosphere. The magical aspects of the story are fantastic and draw your eye in, but they can be just as deadly. Magic has two sides, and the show is very quick to establish that. The fairies that Chise encounters act friendly at first and seem to want to be her friend, but that all changes. They’re much closer to original fairies than a Disney rendition, and quickly try to trick Chise into coming into their world and staying trapped there forever.

Interestingly, Elias is aware of this happening but chooses not to interfere until Chise makes her own decision. Had she decided to go with the fairies, he would have let it happen. For a person in a position of power, he is quite vocal about her making her own choices. Likely he’ll end up being a figure that guides her instead of controls her. Also the romantic interest, but we’ll see how that goes.

A difference from the original is Chise’s introduction, which implies that she sold herself into slavery because she had nowhere else to go. It’s a worrisome implication, but the story largely focuses on her all-encompassing feeling of loneliness. With Elias at her side, she will hopefully begin the journey to find a place where she belongs.

Altogether, this series has a very strong introduction! I’m very excited to see more.