English Dub Review: The Ancient Magus’ Bride “Everything Must Have A Beginning”

The cats of Ulthar are back.

Overview:

Chise and Elias take a trip to the town of Ulthar, where a corruption threatens the village. Chise converses with the King of Cats and decides to exorcise the corruption. However, a sorcerer and his apprentice are determined to get in the way.

Our Take:

Interestingly, the town that the cats reside in is Ulthar, which hearkens back to Lovecraft’s short story, ‘The Cats of Ulthar’. In that story, no man may kill a cat, or else the cats will rise up and take their revenge. The story the cats tell of a man long ago who killed their kind is very similar to the original tale, except both members of the couple murdered cats, not just the husband. From what it seems to far, many cats were fond of the wife, and after her passing, the husband took his grief and fury out on the cats. Years passed, and his grief remained, even chaining his wife to the mortal plane and slowly becoming corrupted. The wife admits that she’s tired of existing, and quietly asks Chise to kill her. The corruption isn’t entirely made of malice, but it’s something that’s festered and persisted over the years. An interesting spin on the Lovecraftian tale.

Chise has a lot of conflicting emotions this episode. Her mother’s suicide still haunts her, so she can’t fully comprehend a mother doing everything she can to protect her child. Still, she respects the King’s wishes and offers to help. She wants to believe in Elias, and his encouragement gives her strength. At the same time, she is terrified of the prospect of failure, which could lead to yet another person in her life abandoning her. Chise’s wounds are all very fresh, and as previously stated, there’s no way she could recover instantly.

The blow that ends the episode- that the life of a Sleigh Beggy is an extremely short one, is quite a bitter pill. Elias didn’t break the news to her, but then again, they haven’t been together that long. Telling someone of their impending death isn’t an easy conversation to have, nor is it something that’s easily discussed with someone upon meeting them. Elias might have other reasons, but it seems a little too early to mark him off as entirely shady.