The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 08 – Mage-Snack Camp

Chise insisted that Elias not accompany her on her camping trip, because she wants to learn how to take care of herself. Elias proposes a compromise. He makes a smaller, dog-sized duplicate of himself that isn’t very strong. Chise shares her tent with Lucy, and while fetching water from the lake, meets an each-uisge, a white water horse that drowns anyone who tries to ride it. She makes sure to warn Lucy not to get on any horses she sees.

While Chise really wanted a more independent trip, she’s still comforted by the presence of both Ruth and Lil’ Elias, which quiets the voices she’s not sure are neighbors or those of her classmates. But there’s something out there lurking in the sea.

The next morning, Chise makes a Philomela sighting, but she scurries away after exchanging good mornings. Lucy doesn’t understand why Chise is bothering with Mela; Chise sees a bit of herself in her. Lucy, however, hates all sorcerers, which makes sense if they killed her family.

The last night of the trip comes before Chise knows it. Lucy says she has to study as soon as they’re back at the College. She says she has important things to do, “unlike” Chise, but Chise says there are things she needs to do too, only she’s not certain if she’ll ever be finished. Giving Lucy a taste of her own medicine, rather that say what those things are, Chise simply says goodnight.

Later that night after going to the bathroom, the pages of a magical book turn, and Lucy ends up passing out on her way back to the tent. Chise wakes up to a sudden magical disturbance and locates Lucy, who has been completely drained of magical power. Chise is a veritable font of magic, so simply holding Lucy helps her recharge, but she and Elias have bigger fish to fry: a nuckelavee, a giant centaur-like amphibious monster.

Ruth returns with the boys when Chise and Elias are running away from the nuckelavee, and while Zoe’s head snakes temporarily stop the monster, he soon passes out, and it’s on the move again. Lil’ Elias calmly reminds Chise that he’s in a form that can’t defeat something like this, so it’s up to Chise. That said, he can offer her advice and information on their opponent, who cannot touch fresh water.

Chise has Elias summon the each-uisge, and she and Rian hop on its back. This serves as an enticing lure for the nuckelavee, which gives chase all the way to the freshwater lake. The each-uisge dunks Chise and Rian, then kicks the nuckelavee in too.

It starts to disintegrate, as the fresh water is poisonous, but not before it’s able to grab Chise. It almost kills her, but in a gorgeous sequence, the dragon that dwells in her blackened arm awakens with one purpose: to destroy the “horror” before them.

The arm essentially has a mind of its own, and it confidently slashes the nuckelavee to bits. Chise swims to shore, where Rian is holding the each-uisge from attacking her with a magical axe. Chise isn’t about to let the water horse eat her, but she snips off her ponytail for it to each, and that appeases it enough for it to return to the depths of the lake.

On their way back, Chise isn’t just sporting a new-look with her hair, but her face. Only Rian recognizes the face, because he’s seen it many times before…in his mirror. It’s the face of someone who didn’t know what to do when things took a turn, and they certainly did take a turn suddenly here!

Chise was saved thanks to Elias’ knowledge of monsters, Rian’s brave stand, and most importantly that blackened dragon arm of hers, which certainly did know what to do. But this camping trip demonstrated that even when she’s not looking for trouble, trouble finds her, and she wasn’t in control when it mattered most.

The thing is, Chise shouldn’t be so hard on herself. That dragon arm isn’t going anywhere, for one. Even if Elias isn’t a a true groom, he’s still committed to being her lifelong companion. And she continues to bond with her new friends at College. The times when she’s ever going to be totally alone, able to rely only on herself, are vanishingly small.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 06 – Choosing Their Roles

When Chise asks Elias why he intended to make her his bride when they met, he’s literally saved by the bell. Unsure of how to answer such a question, but knowing that eventually he’ll have to, he reaches out to Renfred for advice. The thing is, Renfred considers Alice his daughter, not a prospective spouse. Alice overhears this, and is troubled.

That night, after the buses have stopped, Alice is picked up by Chise in Simon’s Citroën 2CV. The priest assumes they’re good friends, but at first the two girls are hesitant to define themselves as friends, but Simon notes how everyone defines and interprets things in different ways, then points out all of the ways they are indeed good friends, and they can no longer deny it.

Alice has a tasty dinner, prepared by Silky, at Chise and Elias’ house. There, she learns that Chise and Elias sleep in the same bed, but tonight, Chise will share her bed with Alice. In that bed Alice opens up about her current conundrum regarding Renfred.

Alice recalls the day Joseph paid them a visit. While Alice is ostensibly Renfred’s “bodyguard”, on that day he protected her, at the cost of his arm and the reopening of his face wounds by Joseph’s hand. She was too weak to protect Renfred then, and feels like she’s only grown taller, not stronger.

While she’s happy Renfred sees her as a daughter, she doesn’t want to think of him as a dad, since her established idea of a father is a worthless deadbeat, not and awesome mage. Her familiar Will pops up to tell her not to stress over nomenclature. If she wants to be his bodyguard first and foremost, she simply has to keep grinding towards that goal.

When talk turns to Chise’s relationship with Elias, Chise bashfully withdraws under the covers. It’s still a sensitive subject, simply because she hasn’t gotten an answer from Elias as to why he made her his bride. Fortunately, later that night when she climbs onto the roof, he’s there, having also not been able to sleep.

There, the two hash things out, more or less: Elias admits that making her both his apprentice and his spouse was a “convenient solution.” Chise says, in other words, he had certain roles for her in mind. Only different individuals define their roles in different ways. But labels, as it were, aren’t as important as the feelings and intent behind them.

Whatever her and Elias’ roles—husband and wife, apprentice and master—she’s happy when he’s with her. As for “happy”, she defines it quite eloquently as the state of being able to “make it through another day.” Having heard that definition, Elias tells Chise he’s happy he got to speak to her, and happy to take on the role of husband.

The next day at the College, Renfred scolds Alice for lollygagging when class is about to start, but she uses the opportunity to tell him that she rejects the role of daughter (and someone he must protect) that he has foisted upon her. She doesn’t want to be his “duty” or “job”, she wants to be his bodyguard.

To all this passionate yelling, Renfred responds by patting Alice on the head, tells her she’s still a child as long as she’s standing there shouting, and tells her if she wants to protect him, she’d better run along to class. It’s probably not how Alice wanted their talk to go, but at least she was able to convey some of her feelings to him.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 05 – Scent of a Dragon Woman

This week we witness and extended interaction between Chise and Lucy Webster for the first time since they met. Despite Chise being cursed, Lucy is the one with the dragon-sized chip on her shoulder. There’s an almost performative quality to her rude abrasiveness. That Chise is immune to it only makes her more irritated.

Lucy doesn’t wait up for Chise, who runs into Jasmine St. George in the hall, who doesn’t know how Chise can stand having Lucy as a roommate. Jasmine also lets slip about something called the “Webster Tragedy”, but doesn’t elaborate, realizing she’d already said too much.

At the cafeteria Chise meets up with Rian and Isaac, but Zoe Ivey once again excuses himself from Chise’s presence. Chise learns about the Seven Shields, the seven distinguished families that founded the College. Jasmine is from the Saint George Family; Rian is from the Scrimgeours.

Unlike most of the other scions, Rian seems to want to separate from his legacy and forge his path on his own, without access or favor. That’s why he asked Chise to help him with magic. When Chise asks about the Webster Tragedy, he’s tight-lipped, and asks where she heard that from.

Later, Chise runs into Lucy again, and the two of them run into Zoe, who once again avoids Chise. When Chise asks him if she’s done something wrong, he ignores her and keeps walking. This doesn’t sit right with Lucy. Chise may get on her nerves with her timidity and apologizing, but she’s her roommate, and people being rude pisses her off, so she runs Zoe down and pulls of his headphones.

This…doesn’t have the effect she’d intended, as the headphones are actually earmuffs to limit the sounds Zoe hears. Without them, his hair suddenly turns into a tangle of snakes. Scared and panicked, Zoe runs away, calling Chise a “monster”. Rian and Isaac happen to appear, and both they and Lucy end up following Chise, who sends Ruth to find him.

Ruth leads the quartet to a hedge maze where sound is suppressed, and they find Zoe in one of the dead ends, scared to death. Turns out he’s the son of a human sorcerer and a Gorgon, a creature once persecuted and hunted. While the snakes lash out at Chise, they don’t harm her (probably due to her Sleigh Beggy status).

Lucy places the earmuffs back on Zoe, and apologizes for taking them. Zoe goes on to say that his father urged him to go to the College so he could get used to being outside and even make some friends. Zoe then asks Chise what her whole deal is, as she doesn’t smell human to him; in fact, she smells positively toxic.

In a gesture of trust and in the spirit of full disclosure, Chise reveals her blackened arm and tells them about her dragon’s curse. She even lets them touch her arm, and they are both surprised and amazed to learn something new about their mild-mannered new friend.

While the curse riles up Zoe’s snakes, about which he’s very self-conscious, Lucy tells them they’re a beautiful shade of green. She doesn’t know it, but she’s fulfilling Zoe’s father’s assurance that if he went to the College, he’d eventually meet someone who’d say he was beautiful.

This pleasant exchange is interrupted by a noise on the other side of the hedge. Ruth has tackled Philomela, who was eavesdropping. Rian points out that her family deals with intelligence, so it’s kind of in her nature (Philomela is also his second cousin).

The others can’t very well let Philomela go blab about what she heard from Zoe and Chise. When Chise approaches her, Philomela says she’ll obey an order to stay silent. But when Chise says it’s not an order, but merely a polite request, a little bit of color seems to return to Philomela’s wan face.

The whole group agrees to contribute a drop of blood to a magical pact that will punish them if they say or write anything about what they’ve heard today. Non-magical high school friendships have similar pacts, but not with surefire supernatural consequences for breaking them!

The thing is, this isn’t exactly overkill. Even knowing the little that we know about the school, there could well be parties who don’t have Chise or Zoe’s bests interests at heart; maybe even quite the opposite. And that this pact includes everyone means they’re binding themselves together. What is friendship but a mutual sharing, not just of secrets, but of times—both good and bad?

Even after the pact, Lucy is distrustful of Philomela, whose family Lucy blames for the destruction of hers. But blood isn’t and shouldn’t be the whole story, or the sole obstacle to them becoming friends. I’m hopeful Chise can facilitate their becoming friends.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 04 – To Grandmother’s House We Go

Last week’s semi-cliffhanger felt like Chise was suddenly transported somewhere dangerous, but this strange foggy place is actually completely detached form normal time and space. It was once home to Elias, and its sole current occupant, a woman named Rahab, was his teacher for decades, as well as Lindel’s.

While there was an uncanny sense of threat—”summoning” being scarcely different from “abducting”; using telekinesis to examine the tie Elias gave her—but it turns out Rahab was simply testing something out, and it happened to work. She has no ill will towards Chise, and is in fact eager to hear how Elias is doing, and who Chise is to him.

Rahab taught young Elias a great many things—as much as she could—including doing her best to explain what a “bride” is: a partner; someone by your side; someone you care about. Those are all true, but they barely scratch the surface of the love required to consider someone your bride.

This meeting with Rahab, who has a serene, grandmotherly-like aura about her, is how Chise learns for certain that what Elias had in mind when he wanted her to be his “bride” may not be that classical idea of one’s wife, which obviously tracks.

As for the simple act of smiling, Rahab laments she wasn’t able to teach Elias that, but Chise reports that nowadays he’s smiling a lot. You can see the sparkle of pride and relief in Rahab’s eyes to know how well Elias is doing, and how much humanity he’s been given thanks to Chise. Chise in turn thanks Rahab for taking Elias in and teaching him, since it led to him rescuing her.

When Chise returns to her home where Stella, Angie, and Elias are waiting, only a moment or two have passed from when she disappeared. Chise now knows a lot more about where (and who) her Elias came from, and surely feels closer to him, even if he’s still fuzzy on the whole “bride” thing.

When it’s time to head back to the College (does Chise just stay at her dorm part time?), she notes it’s getting late, but Elias intends to use a “back passage”, a place or a thing regular humans either rarely if ever interact with or which is hidden from them entirely.

A centaur guide leads them through a red phone booth, and urges everyone to maintain contact through hand-holding, as it would not be pleasant to get lost. We learn why when a pack of monstrous drooling beasts known as “the Guard Dogs” appear. The Centaur offers fresh meat in exchange for safe passage along a narrow route.

The back passage is another instance of how magic and magical things can be extremely useful, even miraculous, but only if properly respected. Break the rules and things will get very ugly very fast. I couldn’t tell you exactly what Philomela was doing in either of her scenes, nor what Lucy was dreaming about that made her awaken with such a start, but I do know that the bags under their eyes indicate it’s taking a toll.

Lucy and Mela still seem quite distant from Chise so far, who is by all accounts a go-with-the-flow social butterfly at the College, unlike the two of them. Confidence emanates from this show’s unrushed, measured presentation that prioritizes atmosphere over alacrity. But whatever’s going on with these two young women, it’s a given that Chise will eventually become involved.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 03 – A Gathering Fog

Rian’s appeal to Chise to teach him magic is interrupted by his guardian/teacher Tory, who thinks the two of them and Alice would make a good circle of friends. Rian is also interested in Alice, who isn’t the slightest bit interested in becoming a mage. That’s when her familiar Will-o’-the-Wisp pops out, gives Rian a glance, and tells him he’s “no good [for magic]”. Rian expected as much, but isn’t so ready to give up.

Rian leads Chise and Alice to the teacher’s lounge where Renfred is scolding Elias for being too laissez-faire with safety precautions in his class. Narcisse is also there, and after studying Chise and placing his hand on her shoulder, determines that she’s just a normal girl, and welcomes her to the College. He reports to vice-principal Gregory on the steps that she’s no threat to the school’s present balance of power…left unsaid is the qualifier “for now.”

These little ominous scenes on the periphery aside, Chise finds herself in the hustle and bustle of daily school life, and while it’s a little overwhelming, she takes it in stride. There are many classmates to meet, and while nearly all of them are cordial or friendly, Lucy eats all by herself, and the vivid green-haired Zoe Ivey has to flee the table, so distressed at the prospect that neither Elias nor Chise are human.

The energy and rhythms of the College prove draining to both Chise and Elias, accustomed as they are to a much slower, quieter life in their country house. The two of them, joined by Ruth and Silver, have a rest in the shade of a tree. Elias tries and fails to lie on his back like Chise due to his protruding horns, but Chise has him lie on her lap, enabling him to look up at the sky for the first time since taking his current form.

Talk turns to Halloween and its origins as Samhain, and how the gods of yore have faded with the rise of science. As she washes harvested pumpkins in the river, Chise accidentally crushes one of the gourds in her freakishly strong dragon hand. She’s then visited by Joseph, who doesn’t eat, only drinks water, and sleeps a lot. She brushes back her hair and her green eye becomes steel blue like his. The battle between Carty’s curse and the dragon is ongoing within Chise, so she’ll be borrowing his eye a bit longer.

Joseph shuffles off back to sleep, while Ruth informs her that she has a guest: Stella, who had texted she was visiting well in advance. Chise forgot, because she just doesn’t use her phone that much. I don’t think we’ve even seen it yet this season! But just as Chise and Stella are in the middle of a conversation, a thick fog surrounds them, and Chise and Ruth are transported to another plane. Chise asks the right question—Where are we?—but we’ll have to wait till next week to find out.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 02 – First Day of School

After keeping the silver-haired girl from hitting the deck, Chise gathers her in a princess carry, showing off her dragon curse strength. When asked what’s wrong, the girl simply says she “gets nervous easily”, but Chise offers her tea and potpourri to help with that before continuing on her way.

Chise meets up with Alice, who is sporting a new butch look, since she had to cut her hair in her contract with a Will-o’-the-wisp. Alice is a welcome friendly face at this strange new place, and when Chise says “thank you” instead of “sorry”, Alice is further encouraged by her scarlet-haired friend’s progress.

After Alice gives her the little nudge she needs, Chise enters the classroom and soaks it in (the room unfolds from her POV). Everyone else is already there, but everyone seems to be mostly keeping to themselves when their teacher, Narcisse Maugham, enters. He greets the class with a stirring, inspiring speech about sorcery, only to admit that today’s class will be boring old Latin. Chise meets another girl in Veronica Rickenbacker.

The next class is more interesting, as it’s a magic class taught by Elias, taking the form of a human woman of unknown provenance. He summons a variety of faeries and the like, then calls upon Chise and Alice to demonstrate to the class how to light and blow out a candle using magic, which relies on outward power (as opposed to sorcery, which is the opposite).

Alice overhears the students murmuring about her disparagingly, so rather than simply light the candle, she roasts it in a column of flame that hits the ceiling; a product of the Will-o’-the-wisp borrowing her anger. Chise, on the other hand, quickly befriends a pink salamander, touches noses, says a little incantation, and neatly lights then extinguishes the candle, impressing the class.

When it’s time for them to have a go at magic, few run into much success, as the gathered faeries aren’t interested in helping them just yet. One student, May Atwood, is nearly eaten when he makes the mistake of calling the salamander a “lizard”. One strapping lad, Rian Scrimgeour, takes the rejection of a red flame faerie to heart. After class, he flags down Chise, introduces himself, and asks if she’ll teach him magic.

Overall, it’s a quiet, low-key first day, which helps Chise get over a lot of her previous reservations about returning to class years after what went down when she was at a regular school. But this place is far more her speed. Flanked by friends old, new, and yet to be, she’s primed to embrace her newly acquired strength, build up her confidence, and thrive.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride – S2 01 (First Impressions) – Freedom in Her Heart

Not going to lie: I don’t remember a ton about Mahoutsukai no Yome which first aired over five and a half years ago. That was a lot of anime ago. But I do remember that I really enjoyed it, and even if it felt more or less complete after 24 episodes, I’m not going to complain about having Chise and Elias back in my life this Spring.

When alchemist Adolf Stroud invites Chise to attend the English College, Elias is wary, but both she and Adolf get something out of it. He’ll be able to study a Sleigh Beggy carrying two distinct curses up close, while she’ll get to go back to school, so she can learn how to be helpful without sacrificing or destroying herself.

So they’re not separated for too long, Adolf arranges for Elias to come on as a visiting magic instructor. The College is a huge underground complex consisting of seven towers dedicated to various functions (classrooms, dorms, etc.) The computer model is a bit stiff, so after Chise is officially welcomed by College President Liza Quillyn, Adolf takes her on a tour.

When they reach the infirmary, its head doctor, a caterpillar woman named Alexandra Heath, tosses Elias and Adolf out so she can have a candid conversation with Chise. Alexandra is aware of Chise’s extremely colorful medical history, but Chise informs her that Cartaphilus’ eye is giving her flashbacks to a thousand years of his memories, threatening to overwhelm and change her personality.

Alexandra promises to keep a compound eye on her. If there are going to be adverse changes, the College is in the best possible place to be treated. Chise then heads to the dorm tower and is greeted by four talking cats, the dorm mothers. She chooses Rose-Lyn because of the “freedom in her heart” the dragon Nevin once spoke of.

When Chise reaches the door to her dorm, she is anxious about disturbing her roommate if she’s sleeping inside. By the time she finally musters the nerve to open the door, she opens it right into that now-awake roomie’s nose; not the auspicious first meeting she’d hoped for. The roommate, one Lucy Webster, shakes Chise’s hand and shows her where her stuff is, but makes clear she isn’t interested in chatting or being friends. I’m sure once she gets to know Chise she’ll reconsider!

Chise tries to be quiet as she changes into her College uniform, but Renfred’s apprentice Alice texts her, summoning her to the training center ASAP. When Chise arrives, Alice is nowhere to be found, but she and Ruth (her Grim familiar) only find a silver haired girl who faints as soon as they arrive. Chise catches her in her arms, but isn’t sure what to do next, as usually it’s her in this girl’s position. I’m sure she’ll figure it out!

Even as I watched this episode, which was full of callbacks to the previous season, I gradually regained some knowledge of the whos, whats, and wherefores. Funny how memory works. The switch from Wit to Kafka Studio doesn’t seem to have had any ill effects on the production values, which are considerable. I’m really looking forward this one!

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 21

In an episode that opens with Chise sharing a bed with Elias, these two splitting up would have been at the absolute bottom of things I expected to happen. But with her condition deteriorating and the meeting with the witches ending up almost completely fruitless, Elias decides to take Chise’s life out of her own hands, for what he believes to be her own sake…as well as his own happiness. Before they part ways, Mariel reminds Elias that only life can pay for life.

Elias has always been called “half-assed” or a “monster” but Chise was the first and only one who would “look at just me.” Well, thanks to his actions this week, she may never look at him that way, or any other way, ever again.

Just as she relays her suspicions Elias and Ruth are up to something behind her back and asks for Ariel to back her up, Elias knocks Chise out. She guides herself out of the dream with an image of Nevin, telling her that whatever others have planned for her, all she can do is be clear on what she needs to do.

With that, Chise breaks out of the dream by stabbing herself in the leg and does what must be done: stop Elias and/or Ruth from sacrificing anyone to save her. When she finds Elias has brought Stella into the house to be the sacrifice, Chise is, understandably, furious.

Even worse is when Elias tries to explain himself: not liking how Chise looked at Stella (i.e. their friendship), and not being able to stand it, and stating as long as Chise can continue to live he’ll be happy. After urging Stella to run away, she punches Elias in the face and storms out.

Of course, what Chise didn’t know is that Stella had already been possessed by Joseph, AKA Cartiphilus, who only pretended to be Stella in distress. But it doesn’t matter; Stella or Cartiphilus-possessing-Stella, Elias sought to transfer Chise’s curse to them. That makes Elias no different in Chise’s eyes anymore. He is a monster after all.

But here’s the thing: human beings are perfectly capable of becoming monsters, or doing monstrous things, if they feel there are no other options. If anything, Elias taking the steps he did were simultaneously appallingly naive and contemptuous of Chise’s wishes, and just plain wrong, but incredibly human nonetheless.

Chise isn’t the kind of human to put her life or welfare before anyone else’s. Cartiphilus knows this, and also knows how angry Chise is by Elia’s betrayal. So he offers her Stella’s life and a spell that will save her own, in exchange for her cooperation. And Chise accepts without hesitation, teleporting away with Carty and leaving her necklace behind.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 20

The no-longer-captive dragon escapes its binds and tears up the auction house, giving Chise and Elias a thrilling ride into the London night sky. Once again, Chise puts another life before her own—in this case the dragon’s—and ends up paying for it like never before.

The cost of her sacrifice this time is a dragon’s curse, which infects her left arm, now huge, gray, and scaly. Shannon is able to stabilize Chise, but the curse will quickly tear through that Sleigh Beggy body (already weakened by two additional curses that Chise can think of), killing her.

This time, there’s nothing that can be done. Chise can choose to live on the Fae Side where she won’t have to hide the curse, and she seriously ponders it. Back when she didn’t want to live, Elias saved her. Now that she wants to live, death has her in its grip.

Unable to help her himself, the mage Elias invites a witch, Mariel, to his home for “alternative treatment.” Mariel, who wants to get her hands on dragon blood, considers Chise the next best thing, and urges her to join her coven. If she does, the witches might be able to help her.

That’s a big might, but with Chise, among other things, not wanting to die by Spring and Stella wanting to throw a birthday party for her next year, even Elias agrees their only course is to join the witch’s gathering.

It would seem Cartiphilus orchestrated this whole thing, reasonably certain that Chise would try to help the dragon at the cost of her own health in the scenario that unfolded. He used her own good nature in order to slap her with a curse that has the opposite effect as his. To what end? Is he trying to die?

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 19

We jump from a cold open in which Cartiphilus’ smirks while one of the poached dragons is being dissected as they cry “please stop” and “I want to go home”, to a scene at the college where it’s revealed Renfred is a weepy drunk.

Methinks the composer is a bit too proud of his slide whistle “comedy” theme. The tonal shift is clunky to say the least. Things swing back from jocular to dark when Chise has a very disturbing dream involving an amnesiac Cartaphilus in London.

She awakens to find Alice, Renfred, the Selkie, as well as several members of the “College” she knows nothing about (nor do we) hanging out with Elias in the sitting rom. The College members range from tolerable (Adolf) to embarrassingly awful (Tory). They inform Chise that two dragons have been poached and they’ve come seeking help from her and Elias.

Elias refuses, properly citing Chise’s fragility, but Chise overrules him, and before you know it, we’re back at the underworld auction house where Chise gave herself up to be sold to the highest bidder; one of the dragons is on the block. The man who arranged for Chise’s sale, Seth, gives Chise a checkbook and card tied to a account containing half of the value of her sale, since she was technically her own seller.

It’s strange that she didn’t have access to this cash until now, when she may have to spend it all bidding on the dragon. At least Seth seems pleased that since last they met Chise has become someone who actually, you know, wants to live.

Buying the dragon’s freedom in the auction seems like the College and Chise’s play, and the two combined would seem to have enough to do so, but things (predictably) go pear-shaped when the dragon goes berserk, breaks free from its physical and magical binds, and starts breathing fire.

Chise can sense the dragon’s emotions—its scared and wants to go home—but it might be too late to reason with it. Who the woman is who whispered in Chise’s ear, and what Cartaphilus’ convoluted plan is this time (if he even has one) remain unclear. I just hope this doesn’t all end with Chise yet again coughing up a couple liters of blood…followed by more slide whistle.

 

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 18

The day after Christmas, Stella shows up with sweet treats to hang out with Chise, as promised. Chise is so unaccustomed to friends as we know them that not only did she not expect Stella to come, she doesn’t quite know what to do.

Stella, who we learn is just ten but very mature for her age, tells her not to sweat it; being friends is nothing more complicated than being with someone, talking and listening to them. It shows how far Chise still has to go, and how little Elias can help her.

In fact, having Stella around is apparently too much for Elias, who isolates himself in his study then storms out of the house without any warning. Worried, Chise ditches Stella to go after him, transforming into a wolf to keep up. Elias traps her in the shadows and binds her with tentacles.

Elias doesn’t say much, but he does say that Stella’s presence made him want to leave the house,. He felt better when Chise chased him, but couldn’t stop running, and now he can’t seem to let her go.

Meanwhile, back in London, Stella and her family seem to be being watched/stalked by Cartiphilus and Ashen Eye. What the heck to they have planned?

Chise manages to fire off a flare with her wand, and Ruth manages to find her when a Fae daughter of Titania reveals the shadow where he’s holding her (she helps because they gave her a proper Yule offering).

Chise puts a knife to her throat, which causes Elias to immediately release her. He’s rightfully ashamed and contrite, but Chise forgives him and suggests they go home and get some sleep.

Elias, as we know, is even more emotionally stunted than Chise, lashing out when he doesn’t get his way like a small child. Here’s hoping Elias eventually learns how to control his wilder instincts whenever faced with a perceived slight.

However, Chise accidentally puts Elias into a deep sleep when she sings him a lullaby, and she heads to London to seek the aid of Angelica, meeting her non-magical husband David in the process.

David lends Chise some perspective as someone who knows he doesn’t have all the time on Earth with his wife and daughter he might like, but that he intends to make the most of that time, and so should Chise.

Chise returns home with a recipe for a potion that will wake up Elias, and it works like a charm…but she’s so exhausted from her ordeal that she immediately passes out beside him, leaving Ruth to explain.

Meanwhile in Dragonland, some poachers apparently hired by Cartiphilus(?) try to capture two of the young dragons, but they’re thwarted by a pissed Lindel. Is there a connection to what Carty was doing with Stella in London and the attempted dragon theft here? To be continued.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 17

In a diverting case-of-the-week that involves non-magical clients, Chise meets Stella, a girl just a bit younger than her, who can’t find her little brother Ethan after he ran off after they had an argument. What makes this most likely a magical case is that Stella’s parents have no memory of their son.

Obviously, Stella’s a wreck, but she’s not so much of a wreck she isn’t totally freaked out by a huge skull-faced dude coming out of Chise (or speaking through her body, turning her eyes silver). I also snickered when she reacted to the dog talking.

Turns out the big teddy Elias gave Chise also turns her excess magic into crystal flowers, like a kind of release valve to preserve her body. She puts those flowers, which are like candy to fae, to good use asking the various beings in the forest where the kid went.

In fact, Chise, wanting desperately to do something for someone after so much has been done for her (though if we’re honest, she’s done plenty), goes so far as to let what looks like a more feral Elias suck her blood in exchange for info on Ethan’s whereabouts. This troubles Stella greatly, but as Elias tells her, mages aren’t omnipotent, and in exchange for something, they must be willing to give something in return.

When they finally locate Ethan, he’s in the clutches of the ancient trickster Ashen Eye, who has claimed the boy as his own after Stella’s harsh words to him (“I don’t need you!”) broke their familial bond and made the kid fair game.

Knowing what happened when Ashen Eye was involved before, I figured no one was actually in any real danger, even when both Ethan and Elias are sucked into a dark void (Ash isn’t omnipotent either, but he’s been around the block, and  a lot more powerful than the younger Elias).

The loss of Elias causes Chise to wig out momentarily, but Ruth consoles her. Ash simply wants them to jump through a few hoops; he’ll only keep Ethan if they can’t find him, and if he and Stella can’t reconcile. As they search, Elias must deal with Ethan, who immediately takes a liking to his bony head.

This causes Elias to transform into a kind of Winter Ops version of Chise, and with his uniquely non-human perspective on humanity, gets Ethan to define what he thinks family is. It’s more than just blood; it’s people you want to be with more than anyone else, even if you don’t always get along and say things you don’t mean.

Chise uses the pelt that Ashen Eye gave her to transform into a were-bear, and uses her heightened sense of smell to locate Elias and Ethan. As I suspected, Ash is satisfied the siblings have learned their lesson and warns them to choose their words carefully, because they aren’t sure who might be listening who will take those words seriously.

When initially speaking through Chise, Elias got Stella to agree to pay them in “sweets” for their services locating her brother (who the parents now remember, reuniting the family as it was). But Chise gets something a lot better for her kindness: she gains a friend in Stella.

And hey, even after all that exertion, Chise doesn’t pass out, cough up any blood, or go into any kind of trance or coma, so everything comes up Team Ainsworth this week. I just hope Chise doesn’t immediately revert to her “ZOMG I’m so useless” attitude next week; she’s without doubt earning her keep.

Mahoutsukai no Yome – 16

The pagan holiday of Yule is upon Chise and Elias, and the Yule Twins appear to remind them to make their preparations, gathering various logs, boughs, leaves and berries. Elias wants to make certain Chise doesn’t overwork herself (she herself wonders if she’ll make it to next Fall), while they both have to convince Ruth that he’s not a failure of a familiar after Chise’s latest scare.

These scenes are imbued with the spirit and the beauty of the season, from the snow shimmering in the setting sun to the awkward exchange of kisses under the mistletoe. Elias reports that Chise’s kiss made him a little “tingly” in the neck and back, but is that because he felt something emotionally, or just feeling the effects of having to crouch down?

The next day, after receiving a message via bird in the night, Chise sneaks away to London on her own, where she meets Alice. Alice wants to hang, but also needs advice on what to get Renfred for Christmas. It occurs to Chise she hadn’t even considered getting Elias a gift, but wants to do so.

As they shop and eat and eat and shop, Alice eventually runs into a “straggler from her past”, who wants to sell her drugs. When he doesn’t take no for an answer, Alice kicks him in the balls, and Chise scares of his friends with a ferocious Ruth (eager to redeem himself).

Now that Chise has seen a glimpse of Alice’s past, she tells Alice not to hold back on talking about that past just because it might be uncomfortable; after all, Chise knows something about rough pasts!

Alice was a drug dealer and an addict until one day Renfred plucked her off the streets, invited her into his home as a ward of sorts, and stayed with her throughout the long, painful withdrawal process.

Once she was clean he put her to work organizing his library, but when she opened the wrong book a monster jumped out to attack her, and Renfred took the attack for her, having his face all ripped off.

From then on, Alice knew she could trust Renfred, which made him the first person she could trust in her life. Now that extends to at least a second person, as she clearly trusts and likes Chise enough to open up like this.

Once their shopping for their respective masters is finished, the two part ways, and Chise and Ruth (who is happy Chise has made a friend) head home, where an “angry” Elias is waiting. I use angry in quotes because he himself isn’t sure what it means to be angry, but if he was going to be angry it would be because Chise ran off alone without telling him anything.

Still, Elias is happy with Chise’s gift for him, a new string tie, while Chise learns that Elias has a knack for making teddy bears, and made a big one, his best yet, for her. He also points out other presents for her to open Christmas morning.

Chise goes to bed warm, excited, and actually looking forward to the morning, something that would have been quite foreign in her dark past. The next day Ashen Eye finds “a pitiful child” walking in the snow; likely the subject of next week’s episode. But this week was all about Yule, Christmas, and two women with dark pasts living much brighter, happier lives. I can dig it.