First Impressions Friday: The Ancient Magus' Bride Edition
HELLO EVERYONE! Welcome BACK to Nerdy and Confused with the first installment of: First Impression Fridays : The Ancient Magus' Bride edition. Now I bet you're wondering: Just what the hell is "First Impressions Friday"? Well, "First Impression Fridays" is essentially a day for posts about new anime that has just released and my 'First Impressions' of the first or first few episodes of said anime. It will contain a detailed review of my impressions of the following: Storyline, Character Development, Musical Soundtrack, Artistic aesthetic, and Acting. No worries, just so you know what in the world the show is, I will include a general overview of the plotline to keep you informed. No spoilers! I promise! With that said, let us begin!
Brief Behind the Scenes:
The Ancient Magus' Bride (魔法使いの嫁 Mahō Tsukai no Yome) is originally a fantasy, supernatural, and Shōnen themed manga written and illustrated by Kore Yamazaki. It was originally published in Japan by a company called Mag Garden in its "Monthly Comic Gard Magazine" beginning in November 2013.. In North America, the manga is licensed by "Seven Seas Entertainment" which occurred in October 2014. In addition to the orignal manga, Wit Studio, a Japanese animation studio, produced a 3-part prequel OVA of the manga. In other words, a 3-part prelude Origian Video Animation (a term that is used in Japan to refer to various animation that is released directly to the video market without first going through a television broadcast or a theatrical release. Wit Studio is also responsible for the production for an anime adaptation of the manga that began airing this past October 2017.
In terms of the manga, in its entirety, it has been collected into 8 volumes, where seven of which have been translated and republished in English. On the other hand, (because we're here to focus on the anime), the anime is still in production, releasing new episodes to sites such as Crunchyroll weekly.
The anime is directed by a man known as Norihiro Naganuma with the scripts written by Aya Takaha. As mentioned previously, Wit Studio produced the animation and "Production I.G." is credited with the planning and production side of things. For us here in the US of A (America) good ole' "Funimation" is streaming the English Dub for this show.
Alright, PHEW, that was very information heavy ( I know...) BUT! Now we get to some more juicy things!
Plot Summary:
The story begins with a young girl named Chise Hatori. She's a 15 year old who is riddled with extreme depression. She has lost all hope and faith within herself, her eyes devoid of any life. Her family no longer wanted her and thus abandoned and ostracized her. She has also reached such a low point that she doesn’t even value her own life. The result of that: She signs her life away to an underground auction.  |
| Courtesy of Twitter |
It is at this auction that she is purchased by a non-human (kinda confused on his own identity) mage named Elias Ainsworth. Now, much to her luck, he's not some creepy bone-head dude. (HA, pun intended.... *snicker*) He actually deems her as, not as his slave, but as his apprentice and, eventually, his future wife (okay, kinda creepy there)! The subsequent events that occur are the key to both Chise's and Elias' personal growth as they discover more about themselves, about each other, and face the craziest of adventures and obstacles together.
Story line Review:
Alright. So I gotta say, when I first watched this anime, I didn't read any of the information or plot line for it. I simply wanted to be surprised about this new thing. And surprised I was! I won't lie, the initial reaction to Chise and how destroyed she was mentally, emotionally, and psychologically struck a chord in my heart. This is especially so when there was a closeup of her eyes: so dead and lifeless and devoid of any emotion. Honestly, kudos to the animators (and the original artist too of course!) for being able to express such emotion! But yeah, I was a bit iffy. I mean, come on, "young girl who sells herself into an underground monster auction? Bought by a grown bone-head man thing who has an animal skull for a face?! Yeah, you'd question it too. BUT! I must say that I was pleasantly surprised and hooked! I was fascinated by the folklore that was incorporated into the storyline: the "Hellhound" (a legend based in European legends)/Chruch Grim (Creature that comes from Scandinavian and English Folkore), Dragons, Faeries, and Will-o'-wisps (European folklore), among many others. For fantasy and folklore nerds like myself, hearing these mentioned and incorporated made me giddy in my seat as I watched. Trust and believe there were many "AHA!" Moments in discovery of what some of them were. I feel that this was a clever path to take with this particular story.
On another note, I also commend this show for displaying the ramifications of cruelty to the human psyche. For delving in to what can happen to those who are so desperate for love and acceptance. Yes, this is an extreme and obviously has imaginary components, but it has much truth to it that people wouldn't normally realize or acknowledge.
Character Development Review:
When it comes to characters, I can see from the first episode that it's going to be an intense journey. Many of the characters evidently come from harsh backgrounds and are thus are surely a product of that (Chise sold herself for heaven's sake!). However, with the way that even the humorous parts are leaked into the scenes seamlessly, I can tell growth is inevitable. How do I know that? Well, for that you'll have to watch the first several episodes, not just the one, to discover how these characters are growing, learning more about others AND themselves. It's actually quite deep.
Artistic aesthetic
Hirotaka Kato designed the characters and bamboo is in charge of the background art. LET. ME. TELL. YOU. The art is sublime! Take a minute to look at these:
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Just LOOK at that flow and detail! <3
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LOOOKKKK!! So beautiful!
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<3 <3 <3
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I just find the forest scenes to be so beautiful!
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Believe me when I say that the art speaks for itself! That even goes for the cute one; the fact that they can make such an intimidating character so adorable? Yup. You have me sold.
Musical Soundtrack:
BEAUTIFUL musical score! Like, no lie! It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it! The Scottish bagpipes, the smoothness, and the majestic sound.... gah, I swoon and get chills! You MUST pay attention to the background music! Even the Opening and Ending themes are spectacular! It's very rare for me to find an anime soundtrack that sounds purely original to me. More so I've found that there are several that just have a similar continence to them. Similar beat and way the words are strung together...MELODY! That's the word I was thinking of! But this? This is really something else! I'll include a link to some of the songs! But just so you know a bit of the specifics:
The music is composed by Junichi Matsumoto and produced by Flying Dog. A well-known singer in Japan called: JUNNA sings the opening theme song called: "Here". She is also know for her voice in another anime called :"Macross Delta". The second opening theme is performed by an artist known as : "May'n" and is titled" You". May'n is known for her singing the end theme of another anime: "Love Get Chu". Lastly, the ending theme is: "Tsuki no Mō Hanbun" (月のもう半分 The Moon is Already a Half Moon)" by AIKI and AKINO from bless4 .
Here are links to the 1st Opening and Ending Songs:
Acting
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Okay, so, I'm torn when it comes to the acting part of this. I initially started watching the first 11 episodes in Japanese with English Subtitles (quite honestly the best way to watch anime I believe). It wasn't until I was constructing this review that I realized that Funimation actually started Dubbing the series. Thus, I watched the first episode. I actually happened upon the version on Youtube first and initially hated the voices. That is, until I realized that the person who uploaded it had given the audio a higher tone so that it wouldn't get flagged. (Der!). So I searched for the original and LOW AND BEHOLD found it on the Funimation website to stream for free to give it another shot.
Number 1: I was worried. Like, really worried because a lot of the time I've seen English Dubbed series go HORRIDLY wrong. The original could be amazing, but the English voice? You want to kick the screen or throw it. However, upon hearing the English voices, they weren't actually too bad. Well, I'm still not too fond of Chise's English voice at first listen, but perhaps I think it'll grown on me.
TOTAL SIDE NOTE: Speaking of Chise's English Voice Actress: SHE'S A WOMAN OF COLOR!!!
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Now, there will be some of you who don't care, other's who get all mad and might not watch it now (you're surely missing out), those of you who aren't sure why this is a big deal and then those of you who are also cheering like me! For those of you who have no idea why this is so big for me is that the representation of people of color , not only in anime, but also in the actors/actresses behind them is HUGE! I won't get into it much here, I'll leave that to another post, but it's incredible encouraging to see a fellow woman in color in the Voice Acting Business. You GO GIRL! <3
As for Elias'?
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Brian Mathis: Elias'
English Voice Actor
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DAMN HE SEXY! Yea, his voice is the kind of voice that you just want to hear whispered in your ear late at night to get your "fun on". It's alluring and authoritative and it just makes me happy. Quite so. Great choice Funimation. You found a suitable voice that is on par with the original Japanese voice!
As for the others? Eh, They are alright. I'll just have to watch more episodes to get a deeper opinion of them.
Overall, I still prefer the original Japanese acting but don't particularly hate the English. Not bad.
Overall Thoughts
Overall I would list this in my Top 5 favorite animes. With the combination of beautiful art, captivating music, and a storyline to keep your attention and keep you wanting for more, "The Ancient Magus' Bride" is definitely a winner in my book. Highly recommend checking this one out!
It's available on various platforms on line, but the two most common that I use are: Crunchyroll.com and Funimation.com. So curl up on your favorite spot to relax, grab yourself some snack/grub and get to watching this epic anime!
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This will be me soon...
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ENJOY!
That is it for this edition of First Impressions Fridays: "The Ancient Magus' Bride" Edition. I hope you enjoyed it! I'll see you Monday, December 25th for our next edition: Motivation Monday: Lessons Learned! Have a wonderful weekend!
xoxo Niki B
REFERENCES:
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=163782
Seven Seas Adds The Ancient Magus' Bride Supernatural Manga". Anime News Network. October 2, 2015. Retrieved December 20 2017
"The Ancient Magus' Bride Manga Gets 3-Part Prequel Anime by Wit Studio". Anime News Network. March 9, 2016. Retrieved December 20 2017
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