My readers should be so proud of me for double uploading within a 24 hour timespan. Happy Labor Day! Now I'm going ghost!
I decided to branch out (not really) and buy a paperback copy of manga for once. I still didn't physically go into a bookstore (I'm an Amazon junkie) and got myself a copy of The Ancient Magus Bride. During this review, I either expect the reader has read the manga series up to this point or watched the series which stops at the first arc at volume nine.
The first arc involved the Cartaphilus, who is also known as Joseph, a mysterious being that looks like a young boy but is much older. He is a cursed child who does as he pleases because he is immortal and has nothing better to do than to wander the earth. Just for shits and giggles, he conducts experiments on the dead and the living although he has forgotten the purpose of his experiments.
Joseph is not our bride of the series but only an extension of her. The bride is Chise Hatori, a 15-year-old Japanese girl, who was sold for millions at an auction because she lost herself. She was purchased by a tall masked gentleman. During the auction is when she heard the term, "Sleigh Beggy." At the time she didn't understand what that was or what it meant. But it is someone who is able to connect with spirits and a source of magic from another realm, unfortunately for them, they don't have long lifespans.
The one bought her was Elias Ainsworth, he is a mage, who lacks human characteristics. Though he looks intimidating and scary he is actually very gentle and has a child-like learning capacity because he is incapable of relying on what emotions he experiences. The reasons he buys Chise, it to have her become his apprentice and wife, along with figure out how to prolong her lifespan.
The dynamics of their relationship is very confusing because at times he acts as if he is a father to Chise or a child, and then he can be her lover. But it confuses easier to tell the difference. I'm very weird and did get butterflies at the end of the first season (not sure if there is a season two in the works because the manga is still in progress) but the ending was very heartwarming because they officiate their relationship (noooo, not with sex, perverts).
Volume 10 of the manga is named after higher learning because Chise gets invite to go to the University of Alchemist (Edward and Al Elric should have enrolled here).
She was only invited in exchange she gets a free education that will apply to her magic but the university gets to experiment and study her because she's a Sleigh Beggy. Elias was her plus one and received a teaching position at the college as well. To set up this arc, Chise meets new friends and encounters old ones such as:
It is pretty clear having to now adapt to dealing with a roommate, classes, and figuring out what her husband is up to Chise is unaware of the agenda that is being pushed against Elias. With the church now involved and the professors concerned for the students' safety. The volume itself just sets the stage for the next arc of the manga which will consist of the church and the university. Volume 11 will release September 9, 2019, and season two has yet to be announced for the series but the first season is on Crunchyroll.