![]() Chise does so, but returns to her aunt’s home to find that she is being shipped off once again to yet another new “home” that doesn’t really want her. He asks that Chise do one thing for him: return a book he borrowed from his beloved before he was bound to the library. Sneaking out to visit the woman he loved before her impending marriage to another man, he fell and died-only to appear in the library as its guardian. As he dies, he tells his story-that he is already dead. The third episode, begins where episode two leaves off, with Miura mortally wounded. It was her own actions, not anyone else’s, that lead to the destruction of all she held dear. Before, she had just been a social pariah, but with the death of Miura, Chise now has a reason to hate herself and all she is. It something that any child could accidentally do-especially one worried about the health of her one and only friend. Yet, she loses all this due to her own tiny mistake: she left a door open. She was safe, content, and even had a friend who liked her for who she was-a friend who was even considering adopting her. For a brief moment, she had what she always wanted: a place to belong. In fact, the only way to drop it any lower is to give her something good in her life and then cruelly take it away-i.e., exactly what is done in the second episode. This not only leads to the destruction of the library, but also ends up killing Miura as well.Īt the end of the first episode, Chise’s life is at such a low point that it seems impossible for it to get any worse. Of course, it is then that Chise makes a mistake, accidentally breaking one of the rules that protect the library. ![]() ![]() It doesn’t take long for her to come out of her shell as she spends every possible moment she can in the mysterious library. Moreover, the librarian, Miura, is a kind man-and the first person who Chise has ever met that can see what she can.įinally, she has found a safe space, a place where the monsters are more cute than scary and there is a person who treats her kindly. While the library is, like the rest of the world, filled with strange creatures, all seem content to do nothing but read. Chased by a monster made of rats, she stumbles into a mysterious magical library in the wooded area of her local park. The second prequel episode is the story of the one positive moment of Chise’s childhood. It’s a hellish existence for a child-and one that is only compounded by being ostracized and treated like a pariah by both the children and adults in her extended family. She has no idea which monsters are safe and which are dangerous and so has no choice but to treat them all like they all are out to get her. There are literally monsters out to get her and no one else can even see them. Not only is Chise an orphan (thanks to a suicide nonetheless), she also lives in a state of constant terrified paranoia. This episode has one purpose in the overall narrative: to show just how terrible the status quo is for Chise’s life. And while most ignore her, more than a few watch her intently-and some are more than happy to attack her outright. Whether in her aunt’s house or in a park, the monsters are everywhere. Her aunt reacts angrily to the seemingly ungrateful child and her odd outbursts.Įven making friends outside of her family seems impossible. Her cousins mock her behavior along with her mother’s suicide. But adding to her problems is the fact that she can see terrifying monsters everywhere-monsters no one else can see. With a mother that committed suicide and no family members who particularly want to take her in, Chise already faces a hard road. In the first The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Those Awaiting a Star prequel episode, we see a bit about Chise’s life as an elementary school age child. The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Those Awaiting a Star manages this magnificently. It needs to show why someone would hate their life enough to give it away to someone else but would also, at the same time, understand that their life is valuable enough for someone else to want it. This is no easy task and the story needs to walk a fine line. ![]() The Ancient Magus’ Bride: Those Awaiting a Star is a three episode OVA prequel tasked with answering one major question: why would anyone sell themselves into magical slavery? Upcoming anime The Ancient Magus’ Bride is the story of Chise, a high school aged girl who sells herself into slavery at a magical auction-only to be bought by an ancient, inhuman magus in order to be both his apprentice and bride. ![]() Image source: 松竹チャンネル/SHOCHIKUch on YouTube ![]()
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