Particularly in the second season, The Ancient Magus’ Bride has strange episode titles in the form of short adages. Many of these titles make no sense – at best, they may resemble a phrase that would make sense if worded differently. What the hell does it mean when you say, “Even a worm will turn”? But, on occasion, the proverbs are actually comprehensible. Episode 21 has an especially good title: “The burnt child dreads the fire.” It’s nice to have creative titles, as long as they are understandable.

Anyway, thanks for visiting Anime Rants today. I’ve fallen pretty far behind on Fall 2023 anime series, but I’m attempting to catch up here in the last quarter of the season. So, without further rambling, let’s look at some episodes of The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2.

Note: These reviews do not contain detailed episode recaps, but only my thoughts on specific events and important moments.

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Episode 19: Man’s Extremity is God’s Opportunity

My notes for this episode might be a bit random and sparse because I’m tired and burned out mentally. But I’ll do my best. I still didn’t catch the name of the man who always guards Liza, so I looked it up online. His name is Gregory and he is a shapeshifter that can turn into a huge bear. One strike from his mighty claw might have been enough to kill Philomela, though it only damaged Alcyone. Anyway, Gregory was really cool.

It was cute when Elias patted Chise’s head. Like Elias, I felt proud of Chise when she resisted the urge to run after Philomela by herself right away. She instead discusses her impulse with others and agonizes over the decision. The reward for this progress was Elias stepping in to help her. He agreed to go with her and pursue Philomela. Zaccheroni also went along, bringing Zoe, Isaac, and Lucy against Liza’s wishes.

The dragon inside Chise gets stronger every day. In this episode, it took over her body completely for a short time, morphing her into a large red reptilian. Fortunately, the dragon was only helping, taking over long enough to track the scent of Philomela’s spirit and emotions. Once they arrived at the home of Philomela’s grandmother, the dragon retreated back into Chise, and she had control of herself again.

This episode taught us about “underground veins” of raw magic power that run beneath the surface. Great cities and places of wonder and plenty are usually situated above an underground vein. A red dragon like Chise can swim in this magic veins, but such a thing would normally be too dangerous for most creatures. In order to follow Chise, Elias had to take Zaccheroni and the students inside him to shield them. I thought that was a pretty nifty trick to protect people, even if the inside of Elias looks a bit creepy.

Although Philomela worries about whether her grandma will really bring her dead parents back, the old hag does at least appear to be preparing some kind of magic ritual. In the meantime, Alcyone is trying to remember an important memory from her creator, Adam Sargeant, that could help her save Philomela. Outside, Chise sees a bunch of crows, which then turn into a woman and demand an offering. I’m guessing this is some kind of crow spirit who guards the Sargeant estate. We’ll find out next time.

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Episode 20: Even a Worm will Turn

The eventful 20th episode showed the story of Philomela’s parents. It was a moving story, inspiring and terribly sad at different times. Iris, the mother of Philomela, was so beautiful and spirited that I hated to see her die despite only knowing her for an episode. I don’t know how ethical it was, but I understand why Adam shot himself. It was to make sure he could escape from his cruel mother forever – or that was the plan.

Alcyone keeps better and better as a character. I really admire her and sympathize with her. I was right when I surmised that, despite being an artificial fairy, she has the capacity to learn. This is a wonderful feature. But it also means she probably feels more human emotions than she lets on. For instance, she feels like a helpless failure who can’t save Philomela or even offer comfort. This hurts my heart to watch. I wish Alcyone could have kept living a peaceful life with Adam, Iris, and baby Philomela.

The entity that I thought was a crow spirit here to defend the Sargeant estate turned out to be an ancient god who appeared completely at random. She is Morrigan, a warrior-type Celtic Goddess who incites wars. I love the mythology in this anime, and I want to learn more about her history and lore. She’s both terrifing and beautiful, as an ancient god should be. Morrigan has the power to demand anything and force obedience. If you make eye contact with her, you might have your eyes gouged out, as if by a crow.

There’s something here I don’t quite understand yet. It might require re-watching some of the first half of the season. Morrigan wanted something from Elias. She seemed to be demanding Chise. Luckily, Elias convinced the goddess that it was too early to fulfill the deal. He promised to have the real offering ready soon. I doubt Elias was foolish enough to enter a contract with a goddess willingly, since they are so unpredictable. But he still ended up in debt to Morrigan, because it’s impossible to refuse the demands of a god.

On that note, it must feel extremely frustrating and gross to be coerced by ancient god-magic. Chise didn’t consent to calling the name of Morrigan and thus starting the violent battle with the guards. She was clearly sickened by the fact that her words resulted in the brutal deaths of other humans. But she had no choice. Fortunately, Chise was able to quickly turn her focus back to the task at hand: saving Philomela.

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Episode 21: A Burnt Child Dreads the Fire

This was one of the better episodes of season 2 so far. One of the things I love the most in anime is exploration of character psychology. Well, episode 21 gave us a journey within the consciousness of Philomela. There was a lot of good psychology and storytelling to unpack. I don’t have time or energy to add my thoughts on every part that struck me as good, but I did take note of a few highlights.

First, there was the motif of “gathering the pieces.” Chise, in the form of a young child, led Philomela’s consciousness around a “school” that was symbolic of her mind. They went around gathering the pieces of Philomela to get a more complete understanding of her ongoing trauma. Sometimes the pieces were scenes that played like in a movie. And sometimes the pieces were objects, like the magic puzzle ball or the flashlight. I thought this was a really cool idea.

When the two girls reach the roof of the school, they have an important conversation. This is, in a way, the conclusion to Chise’s character arc over the second season as a whole. She admits that she isn’t trying to save Philomela out of pure altruism. But she also isn’t trying to be a savior out of arrogance or superiority. Chise sees her old self in Philomela. So, she feels driven to help her past self. I think it was vital for Chise to understand her own motivation and be able to explain it to Philomela.

The most important part of this episode was not the confirmation that Philomela was there for the Webster family’s massacre. That’s been fairly obvious for a while now. No, the most critical point was when Lucy, Isaac, and Chise all asked Philomela to speak up. In order for others to understand and help her, she needs to admit to wanting help. She needs to shout out both literally and symbolically. This is what I’ve been saying for a while now. Nobody can save a person who pushes others away.

I hope Philomela won’t be swallowed by the spirit within the cursed book. I doubt the narrative would let her die at this point. That’s about all I have for now, other than one last note. Early in the episode, we saw a change come over Zoe. His eyes took on a strange pattern and he became suddenly strong and fierce. I’m not sure what happened, but it was cool. The empowered Gorgon freed the werewolf from the curse of mind control, thus ending the conflict. I’m glad Zoe and the werewolf are both alright.

Thanks for reading~

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PATREON