Forum - View topic(The) Ancient Magus' Bride (TV).
|
Goto page Previous Next |
| Author | Message | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
|||
|
#12
The magic staff is finished and Chise gets a boost to her negligible levels of self-esteem. Although the flight scene is a charming one, I get a sneaking feeling it's a clever way to keep the costs down for this episode since there are bigger fish to fry. Chise's dream halfway through her episode is a curious one since it's completely at odds with her own perception of her departed parents. Something must have happened that could change a family with an understanding of her abilities to one that wanted no part to do with her, even going as far as to take their own lives. Elias is also undergoing a change in his perception of his "purchase". He doesn't really say aloud what those two indescribable feelings are, but it wouldn't be too much of a cliche if they were the obvious answers based on context. Now that Chise has finally accepted herself as a permanent member of Elias's household, it seems next week brings another commission and more world-building. The way next week's trailer put it, it seems the second half of this adaptation begins next week. |
||||
|
||||
DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
|
|||
|
I was excited in seeing Chise's transformation had her turn into the flaming bird, just like the imagery of the OP. The metaphor is pretty obvious, a phoenix are a symbolism of rebirth, so very much a sign of things have changed for her. Maybe somewhat funny that she just came back from the land of the dead, she rose from ashes.
|
||||
|
||||
Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9834 Location: Virginia |
|
|||
|
@Harleyquin
Chise's father is not shown to have taken his own life. I think it was in the first episode that she said she didn't know where he was. He apparently just left the family taking her younger brother. We don't know if one or both are still alive. Something shown in this episode but without comment is that both of Chise's parents had the "sight". Her mother even offered her hints as to how to deal with the apparitions. Also Chise's hair color came from her mother. |
||||
|
||||
Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23752 |
|
|||
|
Really good midpoint episode. It was wonderful to see Chise's realization that she had worth as an individual and that she was important to other people. It touched my tender maiden heart, it did.
|
||||
|
||||
yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
|
|||
If that's true, it makes the rationale for the mother's suicide much less obvious. We're led to believe that she threw herself off the balcony because she couldn't cope with Chise's visions and was horrified to discover she had brought this spooky girl into the world. If the mother shares Chise's power, that whole explanation for the suicide needs to be shelved. I find the fascination with red hair intriguing. I first saw it be an issue in Juuni Kokuki, but Youko's hair color is explained away later in the story spoiler[she's not really Japanese but from the Kingdoms]. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime takes place in a faux-European setting so it doesn't count either. But here Chise is clearly ethnically Japanese, and her unlikely hair color is commented upon by one of the characters. I can't find any good estimate of the proportion of Japanese people with red hair, but it has be well under one percent. (I, too, was a redhead, though it's all been replaced with grey and white by now  . It came from the Irish side of my family.)
|
||||
|
||||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
|||
Agreed on the suicide theory. Personally I'm more interested in when Chise's father acquired supernatural sight. The dialogue they had suggests he wasn't born with it and required time to get used to seeing things normal people don't see. Unless the Japanese national is mixed-blood (mainly European, perhaps Ainu heritage), chance of having natural red hair is effectively zero. There are exceptions (one Japanese school-going girl was expelled from school for refusing to dye her naturally brunette hair colour black to blend in with everyone else) but just about everyone from the East Asia region has black hair. |
||||
|
||||
|
Alan45
Village Elder Posts: 9834 Location: Virginia |
|
|||
|
It is common in Japanese stories about the equivalent to fae, that they tend to avoid the cities. If Chise's father grew up in the city he may not have seen one even though he had the "sight". Don't forget that according to Elias, Chise tends to attract them. For the mother it may have been the difference between seeing an occasional supernatural entity and finding everywhere she lives infested with them.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
|||
If you're referring to 妖怪, then there are some who only occupy urban settlements. Perhaps another plausible interpretation is Chise being a magnet for specific supernatural entities which her father would never have encountered otherwise. |
||||
|
||||
|
Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23752 |
|
|||
|
Episode 13
So happy to have this show back. Yep, being a magician's apprentice is definitely a dangerous job. Getting leeched by snow bugs, getting turned into a fox... all in a day's work. I think the apprentices should unionize and agitate for safer working conditions. |
||||
|
||||
Yttrbio
 Posts: 3652 |
|
|||
|
Alternatively, I feel like old man Ainsworth could probably have figured out most of the "human" stuff he's interested in by just picking up a few YA novels, as opposed to buying a slave.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23752 |
|
|||
|
Woulda saved a few shekels, that's for sure... Actually, this idea of Chise "teaching" Elias to be more human is a bit of a hard sell because Elias has been depicted as basically a decent entity right from the get go. Sure, a little clueless, but basically an okay kinda... thing.
|
||||
|
||||
|
DuskyPredator
Posts: 15457 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
|
|||
|
I am reminded of a discussion I saw about discounting the OVA as being explanations of things in the show, refusing to watch them, when this episode pretty neatly placed them right in the middle of the episode. That Chise has now opened up quite a bit to the big guy.
|
||||
|
||||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
|||
|
Not sure what to think about the new OP other than the song trying to fit with the theme of the series as close as possible with the visuals giving almost nothing away as to what is to come from this quarter. First OP probably better than its successor both visually and aurally.
After the last full episode's big emotional development, everything seems to settle down into a humdrum everyday routine in a spellcaster's peculiar household. The scenes with little dialogue and nuggets of what Chise lives through during the summer are again a clever way to disguise budget-saving measures. It's only the final scene with Ash-eye that viewers are reminded this is not a series centred around slice-of-life scenarios. No prizes figuring out the narrator at the start of the episode. What's interesting for me is what this ancient being wants despite being on at least neutral terms with Elias. There's too little to go on at the start with its little preview shots but it's almost certainly centred around Chise and her gifts. |
||||
|
||||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
|||
|
#14
A clever segue into a new story arc as Ash Eye's little prank doubles up as proof of the strengthening bond between the titular pair and allows the poet/vampire pairing to make its final appearance. The timing is almost TOO good since it's not a subtle hint that the relationship between the dying poet and his scantily clad muse is meant to be a reference for Chise with respect to her own bond with Elias. The final scene comes as a bit of a surprise (that's two episodes in a row for this second half, surely the animators aren't going to make it a habit for the rest of the season) but thinking back there have been one or two visual cues over the last few story arcs that Chise has been burning the candle at both ends. Oberon's appearance is again timely since the trailer effectively confirms Chise has to face yet another trial (this time of her own making) which should make her better equipped to deal with emotional upheaval in the future. I thought the voice was familiar and didn't check last week but this week more or less confirms it. There's a slight difference in pitch but Nakata Jouji is doing a variant of his classic Alucard voice for his current role in this series. |
||||
|
||||
|
Harleyquin
Posts: 2834 |
|
|||
|
#15
No idea how the source material went about it but this week is basically two story-arcs fitting into one episode. One introduces the changeling doctor Shannon (and her ex-human spouse) while the other gives the long-awaited background story of Silky the housekeeper. Not a lot happens in terms of plot, so the animators use the episode to reveal lots of world information without needing to go into extended monologues. The Rip van Winkle effect of the fairy world applies at maximum effect in this franchise together with the other well-known Celtic folk tale of the changeling and its connection to the human world. Unlike the role of harbingers of death they are most famous for in fantasy franchises, Banshees are more like Domovoi in this franchise in their attachment to specific homes and the human families which dwell in them. It's a small world that spirits like Silky inhabit. Viewers would never have guessed that the vampire from last week and Spriggan have interacted with Silky in the past (especially the latter's important role in saving Banshee Silky and transforming her into her current role as well as naming her). I'd asked the question about Silky's name in this thread and this episode gives an official and complete answer to my query. There's only one thing which disappointed me in this episode and it was the lack of detail on how Elias took over as Silky's master. It's very obvious the house she now dwells in is Elias's current abode, but viewers are not told how ownership of the dwelling changed hands. Her interior redecorating abilities appear to be tied to her role as the house guardian and she's given carte blanche by Elias to change the layout as she sees fit when he is absent for considerable lengths of time. |
||||
|
||||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group