The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2

Episode 10

The world of magic has always been dangerous. Chise's known that since the shadows started walking and talking to her as a child, and while her journey as a mage has helped her better understand the Neighbors, that has only ever served to mitigate and contextualize the threats they can pose. Befriending the fae – as much as they can be, anyway – is more a matter of learning what lines not to cross than true camaraderie, and in many ways being a Mage simply means you've learned how to direct those threats in the direction you want. For a mage, magic is playing with fire, and now that she's learned to stop burning herself, Chise is being forced to confront what happens when she can turn the flames onto someone else.

That conflict, more than anything, is what makes the action so gripping in this episode. Because like the Nuckelavee encounter before, the action animation leaves a lot to be desired. The direction gets mighty confused whenever people have to move quickly, and there are at least a couple of moments where it's hard to know where anyone is in relation to one another. The fight itself is brief, so those problems aren't enough to wreck the episode outright, but it's clear now that combat is not this production's strong suit, and that's not exactly great news as we dig into the murderous machinations of this arc's story. AMB isn't strictly an action series, but it has very often resolved things with at least a skirmish, so if this is the best the adaptation can muster, it will need to lean extra hard on the character writing to stay upright.

Thankfully, that's very true of this episode, as the fight resolves with what is easily the season's darkest moment. In just about any other show, Chise luring their assailants into the in-between space and the waiting jaws of hunting hounds would be a triumph. Yet instead of a celebratory moment of our heroine outwitting her enemies, it immediately turns into horrifying torture that both she and the audience regret immediately. Just like when she shredded the Nuckelavee, Chise is confronted by how her own power – in this case, her knowledge of how to exploit the hounds – allows her to enact direct, brutal violence on others, and it's anything but triumphant. It's frankly a miracle that she's able to strike a bargain to save either of the werewolves and even that just burdens her with more guilt as the survivor shuffles off with the remains of her mate. If season one was ultimately about Chise learning to value her own life, it would seem this season is about her learning just how dangerous she can be, and how ruthless (but not Ruth-less!) she can become if she isn't careful.

Easier said than done, now that she's involved herself with the Websters and whatever forces are seeking to annihilate the surviving siblings. The world of sorcery may be more ordered and organized than the fanciful fae, but it is no less dangerous or capricious. In many ways that order simply makes the cruelty more damning – and not just the family-assassinating variety either. Before even a drop of blood was spilled, the Webster family was more than happy to abandon their son for the “failure” of not being a sorcerer, all while making Lucy feel responsible for her own brother's banishment. At least Neighbors, for as vicious as they can be, are simply acting by their own nature – human cruelty is always a choice, and one that has battered Lucy until she's left suspicious, bitter, and always on the defensive. As far as Lucy is concerned, showing mercy to those assassins was nothing but an insult to her lost family and years of trauma.

Now Chise finds herself bridging these two worlds, contending with the horrors of both while trying to hold onto her own compassion. It's a fantastic, perilous place to put our protagonist, where the big question driving interest isn't just “What will happen next?” but rather “Will our hero survive this and still be herself?”

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The Ancient Magus' Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.