The Ancient Magus Bride Season 2

[Twi]

Review done, changes below. They skipped out on some stuff about Simon and Stella, so read at your own risk.

Spoiler:

Changes made are pretty much due to the compression of the source materials, so I will be spoiling everything they missed from Chapters 50 to 53: "The Cowl Does Not Make the Monk (I) - First Impressions Are The Most Lasting (I)":

• As mentioned before, Gabriella, the nun of Father Simon's church, happens to be with him at his home when the arc starts while he's baking sweets. She snacks on them even though he tells her not to, but when questioned why he continues to make them, it's because he needs to in order to remain himself.
  
• That's when the doorbell rings and he tells her to stay hidden since it's not proper for a woman to be found in a priest's home at this time of the day. His visitor is a Japanese boy with glasses who we learn is an auditor from the Church, who brings up Simon's reports mostly covering things like a diary involving the harvest and he claims to only have a passing familiarity with Elias, whereas the previous observer called him extremely aggressive.
  
• The reason that the kid is there is because all the previous observers had been chased away by Elias and they know that Elias was at the Dragon Auction, which he intentionally did not report. He was covering for Elias, which meant he was neglecting his duties.
  
• Gabriella grabs the kid by the collar and pulls him away for bullying Simon, who she calls weak, and offers him a cookie that Simon made. He yells at her not to, when Elias appears, and the kid tries to take him in for being unfit for his duties.
  
• He pulls out a Bamboo pipe that has a fox spirit in it (Kuda-kitsune) and tries to use what amounts to Mystic Eyes of Binding on Gabriella, who it turns out is a vampire (though she states that she's human enough to where his eyes don't work on her unlike regular ones) and she puts him under with her own Hypnotic Eyes so that Elias can destroy his memories.
  
• We then get to understand the structure of the Church, namely, it's more of a Conclave of different religions rather than one. It acts as an organization that observes, preserves, and exterminates the supernatural. If the neighbors and others don't harm humans, then they'll try to reach a compromise to benefit both parties and if they can't then they'll remove them.
  
• It's divided into Shepherds, who have the greatest influence and act as factions leaders. Pidgeons and Roosters are charged with observation. Crows and Ants work to preserve relations between non-humans and humans. Wolves and Locusts remove threats to protect people. Each faction answers to different Shepherds, so they're more like a loose collection of private armies.
  
• Elias notes that in the ten years that he's been watched, Simon never once hated him like the others. Simon reveals that's because he can't hate someone more than he hates himself.
  
• We then get his backstory where he was raised by his grandparents since his mother had gotten arrested for drug use and his father ditched him to go back to Italy. He baked sweets for the first time and gave her some since she planned to turn a new leaf when she got out in a few years. She died two days later his grandmother got hit by a drunk driver and two more days after that his mother fell downstairs while eating his sweets.
  
• He was taken in by his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. They were good people and died tragically, his cousin drowned near his sixteenth birthday from eating ice cream he made and the other two from a home invasion while he was away on his eighteenth birthday after he baked cookies for them four days earlier.
  
• He fell into depression and started doing drugs, and fighting, all to escape the thought that it was because of him they died. Then he met a nice girl who was reaching out to him and started thinking about marriage, she convinced him that there was no way his sweets could be killing people who ate them and it was just a coincidence.
  
• She wore him down until he finally made something for her, and then she had a stroke at work a week later. He pretty much decided to slit his throat at her grave when he was approached by members of the Church, who allows him to see the neighbors they were with with a slight prod due to him having some inherent talent.
  
• The woman was Alonza, a Shepherd who had been keeping an eye on his through her pigeons. They learned that due to a circumstance of his birth, he can place Jinxes upon others, where if a condition is fulfilled it will bring about a certain outcome. In this case, any human who eats a sweet he makes will die after a set amount of time.
  
• She does assure him that it's not so much his fault as the circumstances he didn't have any control over, but trying to kill himself wouldn't even begin to atone for all the lives lost. So he needs to live on and if he feels he can't then to become her obedient little lamb in return.
  
• Then she enrolled him in a seminary school, and got him his priesthood, before sending him out to look over Elias since others would go picking a fight. If he died... well, that's what he wanted.
  
• Elias asked why he keeps making sweets if he knows it'll kill every other human but him, but he states that he makes them to remember the people he lost. Because they meant the world to him.
  
• The two then bring up Elias' emotions and Simon wants to help him understand what he doesn't, which ties to their mutual friendship and secrets. The peaceful life Elias has with Chise now is only because Simon basically covers for him.
  
• Back to the fog, we see that when Chise left her behind Ashen Eyes showed up to comment on how Stella keeps getting involved even when she doesn't have the Sight and states it's because she keeps hanging around Chise.
  
• Stella at first accuses Ashen Eyes of being responsible for the fog, but it states otherwise though does admit when she brings up that Ashen Eyes might not have brought the fog in but is taking advantage of it to pester Joseph to accept an invitation to cause trouble and was refused yet again.
  
• Stella, possessing what amounts to basically the bravest and most foolish heart for a ten-year-old, threatens Ashen Eyes that despite being powerless she'd find some way to make it regret messing with Chise. Ashen Eyes calls her out by saying in the thousands of years they've wandered around, vows being kept are few and none from children. Stella states she'd be the first, otherwise, how could she face Chise again after everything she'd done for her?
  
• Ashen Eyes basically falls in love with her determination, seeing it as foolish and beautiful because Chise is the reason she's become so entwined in their affairs yet she still stands by her side. So Ashen Eyes even goes so far as to call her by her true name rather than a child of man, before unveiling its true form and entering into a contract with her.
  
• The reason Elias approached Rahab to learn about Humans was that Lindel hates them, which is why he moved to the Land of Dragons.
  
• When Chise smelled Stella, she picked up the scent of something drier than the mist (sand) but before she could recall it was Ashen Eyes, Stella pushed her into the house while Ashen Eyes questioned how long Stella could protect Chise.
  
• The auditor kid gets put into a trance by Gabriella and then she takes him to be "re-educated" by Alonza, the Shepherd who taught Simon, since even if they sent him back the cycle would repeat.
  
• Chise and the others make it between the College and their home in 5 minutes due to how the back passages work. In payment for teaching them about it, the Centaur asks for medicine since he doesn't want to go back to the herd for every little ache and sniffle.
  
• Elias takes his human disguise as they enter the College, where they run into Angelica making deliveries to the College rather than her visiting Elias at his home.
  
• Angelica mentions how she would throw a tantrum when he wouldn't let her wear the necktie because she knew it was precious since no matter what form he took he always kept it close. Elias states that it was because it was the first thing anyone ever gifted to him.
  
• When Chise was asleep, she was actually dream-diving again somewhere so deep in her soul that not even Ruth could reach her despite being bound to one another. Ruth accepts that if she wants to die then he'll die with her, but what he fears is that he'll be too wounded to help her when she wants to live and thus that is the only part of their binding that he regrets.

Basically, the whole purpose of the arc was to set up some future plot points like the division in the Church, Stella entering into a contract with Ashen Eyes, and so on for future events. However, because those technically won't factor in much for the College Arc, they cut them due to time constraints. I hate it because it defines so much of Simon's character and Stella's resolve, but I understand.

[Kanon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the kind of stuff they could easily add in later. I think they're focusing on the College arc and if the show is successful enough to get a third season, they go back and cover all this. They did leave Chise smelling Stella to leave the door open.

Anyway, it was a nice episode, and explained why Elias called Chise his bride when he never treated her like one. Turns out Rahab didn't explain so good.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the kind of stuff they could easily add in later. I think they're focusing on the College arc and if the show is successful enough to get a third season, they go back and cover all this. They did leave Chise smelling Stella to leave the door open.

Anyway, it was a nice episode, and explained why Elias called Chise his bride when he never treated her like one. Turns out Rahab didn't explain so good.

Like I said, it's stuff that won't factor into the current arc so I get why they trimmed it since they don't have 24 episodes to work with, but I hate that it was removed. They're working with the episode count they have. I'm just posting all of it in the event they don't come back to it or we don't get a Season 3.

Or realistically Season 4 depending on where the 12 episodes end. The arc itself is as long as the first half covered in Season 1.

[Master_Yoma]

Well its good to see Rahab again but she could of picked a better time to summoner her then when she was with Stella

That is some short cut but it really have its draw backs

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Twi

Review done, changes below. They skipped out on some stuff about Simon and Stella, so read at your own risk.

Spoiler:

Changes made are pretty much due to the compression of the source materials, so I will be spoiling everything they missed from Chapters 50 to 53: "The Cowl Does Not Make the Monk (I) - First Impressions Are The Most Lasting (I)":

• As mentioned before, Gabriella, the nun of Father Simon's church, happens to be with him at his home when the arc starts while he's baking sweets. She snacks on them even though he tells her not to, but when questioned why he continues to make them, it's because he needs to in order to remain himself.
  
• That's when the doorbell rings and he tells her to stay hidden since it's not proper for a woman to be found in a priest's home at this time of the day. His visitor is a Japanese boy with glasses who we learn is an auditor from the Church, who brings up Simon's reports mostly covering things like a diary involving the harvest and he claims to only have a passing familiarity with Elias, whereas the previous observer called him extremely aggressive.
  
• The reason that the kid is there is because all the previous observers had been chased away by Elias and they know that Elias was at the Dragon Auction, which he intentionally did not report. He was covering for Elias, which meant he was neglecting his duties.
  
• Gabriella grabs the kid by the collar and pulls him away for bullying Simon, who she calls weak, and offers him a cookie that Simon made. He yells at her not to, when Elias appears, and the kid tries to take him in for being unfit for his duties.
  
• He pulls out a Bamboo pipe that has a fox spirit in it (Kuda-kitsune) and tries to use what amounts to Mystic Eyes of Binding on Gabriella, who it turns out is a vampire (though she states that she's human enough to where his eyes don't work on her unlike regular ones) and she puts him under with her own Hypnotic Eyes so that Elias can destroy his memories.
  
• We then get to understand the structure of the Church, namely, it's more of a Conclave of different religions rather than one. It acts as an organization that observes, preserves, and exterminates the supernatural. If the neighbors and others don't harm humans, then they'll try to reach a compromise to benefit both parties and if they can't then they'll remove them.
  
• It's divided into Shepherds, who have the greatest influence and act as factions leaders. Pidgeons and Roosters are charged with observation. Crows and Ants work to preserve relations between non-humans and humans. Wolves and Locusts remove threats to protect people. Each faction answers to different Shepherds, so they're more like a loose collection of private armies.
  
• Elias notes that in the ten years that he's been watched, Simon never once hated him like the others. Simon reveals that's because he can't hate someone more than he hates himself.
  
• We then get his backstory where he was raised by his grandparents since his mother had gotten arrested for drug use and his father ditched him to go back to Italy. He baked sweets for the first time and gave her some since she planned to turn a new leaf when she got out in a few years. She died two days later his grandmother got hit by a drunk driver and two more days after that his mother fell downstairs while eating his sweets.
  
• He was taken in by his Aunt, Uncle, and cousin. They were good people and died tragically, his cousin drowned near his sixteenth birthday from eating ice cream he made and the other two from a home invasion while he was away on his eighteenth birthday after he baked cookies for them four days earlier.
  
• He fell into depression and started doing drugs, and fighting, all to escape the thought that it was because of him they died. Then he met a nice girl who was reaching out to him and started thinking about marriage, she convinced him that there was no way his sweets could be killing people who ate them and it was just a coincidence.
  
• She wore him down until he finally made something for her, and then she had a stroke at work a week later. He pretty much decided to slit his throat at her grave when he was approached by members of the Church, who allows him to see the neighbors they were with with a slight prod due to him having some inherent talent.
  
• The woman was Alonza, a Shepherd who had been keeping an eye on his through her pigeons. They learned that due to a circumstance of his birth, he can place Jinxes upon others, where if a condition is fulfilled it will bring about a certain outcome. In this case, any human who eats a sweet he makes will die after a set amount of time.
  
• She does assure him that it's not so much his fault as the circumstances he didn't have any control over, but trying to kill himself wouldn't even begin to atone for all the lives lost. So he needs to live on and if he feels he can't then to become her obedient little lamb in return.
  
• Then she enrolled him in a seminary school, and got him his priesthood, before sending him out to look over Elias since others would go picking a fight. If he died... well, that's what he wanted.
  
• Elias asked why he keeps making sweets if he knows it'll kill every other human but him, but he states that he makes them to remember the people he lost. Because they meant the world to him.
  
• The two then bring up Elias' emotions and Simon wants to help him understand what he doesn't, which ties to their mutual friendship and secrets. The peaceful life Elias has with Chise now is only because Simon basically covers for him.
  
• Back to the fog, we see that when Chise left her behind Ashen Eyes showed up to comment on how Stella keeps getting involved even when she doesn't have the Sight and states it's because she keeps hanging around Chise.
  
• Stella at first accuses Ashen Eyes of being responsible for the fog, but it states otherwise though does admit when she brings up that Ashen Eyes might not have brought the fog in but is taking advantage of it to pester Joseph to accept an invitation to cause trouble and was refused yet again.
  
• Stella, possessing what amounts to basically the bravest and most foolish heart for a ten-year-old, threatens Ashen Eyes that despite being powerless she'd find some way to make it regret messing with Chise. Ashen Eyes calls her out by saying in the thousands of years they've wandered around, vows being kept are few and none from children. Stella states she'd be the first, otherwise, how could she face Chise again after everything she'd done for her?
  
• Ashen Eyes basically falls in love with her determination, seeing it as foolish and beautiful because Chise is the reason she's become so entwined in their affairs yet she still stands by her side. So Ashen Eyes even goes so far as to call her by her true name rather than a child of man, before unveiling its true form and entering into a contract with her.
  
• The reason Elias approached Rahab to learn about Humans was that Lindel hates them, which is why he moved to the Land of Dragons.
  
• When Chise smelled Stella, she picked up the scent of something drier than the mist (sand) but before she could recall it was Ashen Eyes, Stella pushed her into the house while Ashen Eyes questioned how long Stella could protect Chise.
  
• The auditor kid gets put into a trance by Gabriella and then she takes him to be "re-educated" by Alonza, the Shepherd who taught Simon, since even if they sent him back the cycle would repeat.
  
• Chise and the others make it between the College and their home in 5 minutes due to how the back passages work. In payment for teaching them about it, the Centaur asks for medicine since he doesn't want to go back to the herd for every little ache and sniffle.
  
• Elias takes his human disguise as they enter the College, where they run into Angelica making deliveries to the College rather than her visiting Elias at his home.
  
• Angelica mentions how she would throw a tantrum when he wouldn't let her wear the necktie because she knew it was precious since no matter what form he took he always kept it close. Elias states that it was because it was the first thing anyone ever gifted to him.
  
• When Chise was asleep, she was actually dream-diving again somewhere so deep in her soul that not even Ruth could reach her despite being bound to one another. Ruth accepts that if she wants to die then he'll die with her, but what he fears is that he'll be too wounded to help her when she wants to live and thus that is the only part of their binding that he regrets.

Basically, the whole purpose of the arc was to set up some future plot points like the division in the Church, Stella entering into a contract with Ashen Eyes, and so on for future events. However, because those technically won't factor in much for the College Arc, they cut them due to time constraints. I hate it because it defines so much of Simon's character and Stella's resolve, but I understand.

Poor Simon. Just...poor Simon.

[belatkuro]

Kinda sus of the hood guy to fall down just before the contract took effect. Wonder if it actually took effect for him at all and he will expose Ivy without repercussions later on.

[Frontier]

Is Lucy in some kind of long-distance relationship with someone? Not that she seems to care to hear from them. I wonder if it's the person Chise reminds her of .

Chise and Lucy are still feeling each other out and Lucy is still very prickly and harsh, but it's not out of any sense of malice, she's just a very straightforward and serious person and doesn't have time for any nonsense...but she also is surprisingly considerate in her own way. She reminds me a lot of Miorine from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury .

"The Webster Tragedy?" I guess if her entire family was wiped out, that would explain a lot about why Lucy is so surly and distrusting. And it seems like the Seven Shields Families might've been involved? Especially considering how hostile she was towards Rian .

Lore! So we've got the Seven Shields' Families who formed the college to keep sorcery going after the war ended, and Chise even has four members of said families in her class, though Rian seems keen to leave his family behind and forge his own destiny .

Well, that escalated quickly. Zoe tries to avoid Chise, Chise tries to apologize, Lucy won't let Zoe get away until he hears Chise out and thinks he's just being rude...and then it turns out he's a Gorgon with snakes for hair !

Zoe actually has a pretty interesting story. Gorgons don't speak normal human language and yet his father, who was a sorcerer and mage-linguist, was able to meet, fall in love, and start a family with his Gorgon mother (and she seemed quite the beauty). Even hatched Zoe right out of an egg, of all things !

So Zoe as a hybrid was an outcast even in his village...and then his dad couldn't be bothered to keep worrying about him over his own work, so he sent him off to the College. Although I guess it did provide him a chance to make some real friends and meet people with their own issues that can relate to him. Lucy even complimented his hair !

Chise and Philomela have to stop meeting like this. So Philomela's family is known for intelligence gathering which is why she's spying on everybody? But it seems like she's being controlled and has no sense of will outside what people tell her to do. It says a lot that it seems like Chise was able to get through to her because she made a request rather than order, something Philomela isn't used to .

I guess this turned out for the best, all things considered. Chise got to make friends with Zoe, Chise and Zoe's secrets are out but to people they can more or less trust (even besides the contract which seemed more for Philomela than for the rest), Chise might have made a connection with Philomela, and we saw some new sides to Lucy !

Seems like the St. George twins have their own hang-ups about inheriting the family business, though they also seem to be considering leaving it behind on their own terms to become Mages...

[Twi]

You know what time it is. The review is done, and the changes that explain a lot of the subtle details are below:

Spoiler:

There is some information left out due to the compression of the source materials, but I know based on the next episode preview they're covering the stuff about Renfred and Alice (which is about two or three chapters worth of content) so I will bring up the other stuff they skipped from Chapters 54 to 58: "First Impressions Are The Most Lasting (II) - Better Bend Than Break (III)":

1. Elias is speaking with Angie at the start of the chapter asking how long it had been since she married her husband and why she decided to. It's a secret that she honestly never told her husband, following up on their discussion that didn't happen in the anime due to event shuffling.
   
2. On the way to get changed for class, Chise runs into Rose Lynn and she reminds her of the King of Cats back in Season One.
   
3. Lucy brings up that Chise wasn't at the College over the weekend and so Chise explains that she likely won't be sleeping in the room with Lucy since she goes back home every day due to the backroads she and Elias can take.
   
4. The reason Chise thinks that she reminds her of Joseph is that he's the only other one who tells her to her face when she makes them angry.
   
5. Jasmine reveals that Lucy transferred here halfway through the primary course, rather than how most of them are enrolled since childhood.
   
6. Rian explains that most of the sciences transition into sorcery as you advance into higher classes, but most of them are still mundane since they have to integrate themselves into the rest of society. Even if they don't become sorcerers, they find jobs that use their talents like becoming craftsmen or even using their skills to amass wealth in a normal company to keep doing research.
   
7. Rian's family could also be considered magical mercenaries rather than just guardians (like Alice), as sorcerers who can take up arms are always in high demand. Most sorcerers are researchers first and foremost.
   
8. During the walk with Lucy, she explains that she sees Chise as a coward who is nice for all the wrong reasons and thinks it'll turn out fine as long as she suffers quietly. That's what reminds of her someone she knows (the person on the phone with her).
   
9. Zoey wonders when he started hating hearing the words that he's special because his father used to tell him that no one had hair and eyes like his. Even though he loved him very much and was a lot like his mother.
   
10. Part of what motivated Lucy to chase after Zoey was because Rian pointed out that she doesn't make friends, but she also made it a point not to make enemies either.
    
11. During the search, Rian gets a bird's eye view by using sorcery to adjust gravity affecting his body so that he could jump up into the trees. Isaac notes that his family's specialty was the modification of the body but he made it look too easy.
    
12. Chise uses her enhanced sense of smell to find Ivy, noting that it was a soft smell that flows like water but it's not wet and it rustles like dry leaves. Basically, showcasing her sense of smell while Lucy finds something about her odd as she does so. Chise also notes that Lucy is trying to be soft with Zoey as an apology, in contrast to her normally prickly self.
    
13. Zoey explains that his father and mother became friends after they met in the Caucus Mountains, and around the time they finally learned to understand each other's words, she laid an egg. There were no others like him and he rarely even left his house because he was so weird compared to them. He was brought up being told to hide what he was from humans as well due to how valuable Gorgon's parts are, especially when he can't control his eye powers.
    
14. Lucy asking him if he wanted to become a sorcerer after she asked Chise earlier tipped Chise off that she was trying to figure out what's important to people.
    
15. Ruth brings up that Philomela had been stalking them from the moment they left and was the one who probably spied on her earlier at the nurse's office and her room. This references how she told him to memorize the scent in the manga compared to the anime.
    
16. Both Chise and Ruth note that there's a strange smell coming from Philomela that isn't normal, even if it's faint. Chise can also smell fear when she brings up that she can't refuse if ordered, indicating that she was likely conditioned to not refuse any order given.
    
17. Isaac explains that the great families are all a big cluster of intermarriages, mixing bloodlines for magical power and politics. Rian specifically used to play together with her when they were children.
    
18. Rian's contract spell is relatively lax since it only affects you with a burned tongue or fingers if you snitch. Lucy felt it didn't go hard enough like cutting out the tongue or fingers, which he states would have a higher reagent cost compared to this version.
    
19. The Contract spell specifically only covers a single secret, so they chose to have it cover Zoey's secret instead. Chise was fine with this as her condition isn't relative to her safety compared to Zoey's.
    
20. Isaac notes that something flowed out of him when the spell was cast, with Rian explaining that it divided the cost of the spell between them equally. He also notes that Philomela (who did not react to the spell being invoked similarly to him) was easily the most untrustworthy person there.
    
21. After the contract is made, Lucy brings up that since the staff all knew about Zoey they could have just asked them to place a spell of forgetfulness on Philomela instead of the contract.
    
22. Chise quietly tells Philomela if she gets pressured about the secret then she can tell whoever asks about her Dragon Curse, as she knows it's scary being used by someone else without any say of your own. As she does this, the panel showcases the dragon being tied up in a cage, symbolizing the memories of the dragon who cursed her and referencing how Joseph intended to use it.
    
23. Philomela thinks to herself that silence, acceptance, and obedience are all she is allowed to do.
    
24. The discussion between Jasmine and Rian reveals that the Seven Shields are divided into houses that have futures and those that don't. Specifically, Scromgeour, Nightingale, Forsyth, and Hoenheim have a future because their goods and services are in constant demand. But their house is a relic of the past that isn't needed anymore.
    
25. St. George is named after the dragon slayer, and their family has protected mankind from beasts since time immortal. But, as referenced multiple times throughout the series (including the discussion with Simon about the Church that was skipped), a lot of the monsters of legend no longer exist or have made themselves lesser (like the Dragons in the sanctuary) and even Werewolves and Vampires have been absorbed into humanity (see Gabriella). They are obsolete in contrast to Scrimgeour, who protects sorcerers from other people.
    
26. Rian specifically tells Jasmine to be more careful because it might paint a target on her back, since stuff like the slaughter happens all the time. Jasmine points out that's why they usually have Guardians (see Alice and Renfred), and the Websters were just unlucky but it's over now. However, Rian also notes that as long as even one person is still alive (Lucy) it might not be over after all.

Overall, there were just a lot of little details that were absent due to time rather than it being outright cut, but with those little details you can understand the situation between the Seven Shields (contrast to the Church) and insight into Philomela's situation, as well as more insight into Chise's developing physiology since she can even pick up the scent of fear. Zoey being a one-of-a-kind hybrid is also interesting in its own way since there are a lot of parallels to Chise's situation.

[Kanon]

Was the scene where Chise puts her nose against Ruth's in the manga too? Were they sharing Zoe's smell?

I'm surprised the pace of the anime is still this slow given how much content they're cutting. I guess making it a single cour might have been intentional, as in they felt it was too long. Not that I'm disliking it, but not much has happened compared to S1.

I kinda thought Chise was staying at the dorm during the week and going home for the week-ends. Why did they even give her a room? Works great for Lucy either way, she basically has the room for herself. I like Lucy, she basically has no filter and doesn't care what other people think of her. The opposite of Chise.

[Twi]

Yes, actually. Ruth tells Chise that they'll put both their noses together to find Zoey in the manga while doing so.

And all students technically get a dorm room, it's just that Chise's circumstances are unique due to the fact that she has access to travel methods most sorcerers don't. She's enrolled as an ordinary student (even if she can't do the practical magic classes), but she just so happens to know a shortcut that reduces a three-hour trip into 5 minutes. Mage privileges, am I right?

Now that I think about it, outright teleportation is something that only Mages really use (with a few exceptions, one of which might be mentioned next episode) and even that takes more magical energy than a sorcerer typically can utilize from their magical cores. Elias skipping from London to his home with Chise in the first episode of Season One was from him tapping Chise's reserves and we saw that she could fly back home from the Dragon Sanctuary in practically no time, which is something a sorcerer likely couldn't do. That's typically why Sleigh Beggys are so valuable because they pump out so much magical energy while being able to absorb it from the atmosphere like Mages, but they keep dying young for a variety of reasons despite more of them being born than natural born mages and sorcerers.

[Master_Yoma]

Well Ivy finely show what he is and Chise react at all didnt even flinch when the snakes came to her

Lucy just to stubborn

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I kinda thought Chise was staying at the dorm during the week and going home for the week-ends. Why did they even give her a room? Works great for Lucy either way, she basically has the room for herself. I like Lucy, she basically has no filter and doesn't care what other people think of her. The opposite of Chise.

I like her too, but I still think it's pretty insensitive to tell Chise, whose first language isn't English, that she talks weird.

[Guardian Enzo]

Ripping those ear muffs off Zoe was a lot worse than just insensitive.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Ripping those ear muffs off Zoe was a lot worse than just insensitive.

Admittedly she thought it was to tune other people out but not for basically health reasons...and she did apologize for it.

[SeijiSensei]

In what war did mages and sorcerers die as Isaac recounts over lunch? I believe Mahoutsukai no yome takes place in present-day London and environs. Is he talking about World War II? Some other fantastical war where mages and sorcerers allied to fight monsters? Have we ever been shown or told anything about this war? I re-watched all of season one just recently and don't remember any mention of it there. Perhaps I just missed it. You'd think that a war where mages and sorcerers allied together might have come up in one of the conversations between Elias and Renfred. I'll take a look.

Originally Posted by Frontier

Is Lucy in some kind of long-distance relationship with someone? Not that she seems to care to hear from them. I wonder if it's the person Chise reminds her of .

I thought it might be a parent, but you could be right. It might be a spurned lover, though it's hard to see why anyone would want to be in a relationship with Lucy given her current personality. Already in this episode though we can see the inevitable melting effect Chise has on everyone around her.

And I drew the same conclusion Lucy did about Zoe's ear muffs. I thought they might even be playing music. Lucy has a cellphone so Zoe wearing a pair of headphones doesn't seem out of place.

[Twi]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

In what war did mages and sorcerers die as Isaac recounts over lunch? I believe Mahoutsukai no yome takes place in present-day London and environs. Is he talking about World War II? Some other fantastical war where mages and sorcerers allied to fight monsters? Have we ever been shown or told anything about this war? I re-watched all of season one just recently and don't remember any mention of it there. Perhaps I just missed it. You'd think that a war where mages and sorcerers allied together might have come up in one of the conversations between Elias and Renfred. I'll take a look.

It's WWII. One character we've seen actually lived through the war and came back to find their home (Dresden) destroyed by the end, though I'm not sure if they'll cut that info or not.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Anh_Minh

I like her too, but I still think it's pretty insensitive to tell Chise, whose first language isn't English, that she talks weird.

That wasn't what she meant. Chise always uses keigo, and that's what ticked her off. It's ironically a bit hard to convey in English when it's supposed to the language they're using. Well, basically, overly polite and apologetic.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kanon

That wasn't what she meant. Chise always uses keigo, and that's what ticked her off. It's ironically a bit hard to convey in English when it's supposed to the language they're using. Well, basically, overly polite and apologetic.

I know it's actually a Japanese story in Japanese, and probably wasn't meant that way. But still: if a foreigner speaks in stilted, overly polite English, maybe it's because their command of the English language is lacking, or because they lack the cultural baggage to be confident of when they can use a more relaxed language, or even because the more familiar turn of phrases aren't actually any easier than the polite ones from their perspective. Anyway, it's rude to get all up in their grill about it.

And word of god is that Chise is a relatively recent learner of English. (IIRC, she started studying it seriously when she decided to sell herself.) She's doing very well to never have problems communicating.

[Kanon]

I get what you mean now. That's a good point, I hadn't seen things from that perspective.

I never thought much about the lack of language barrier for Chise. Kinda figured it was magic.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by Kanon

I get what you mean now. That's a good point, I hadn't seen things from that perspective.

I never thought much about the lack of language barrier for Chise. Kinda figured it was magic.

Trivia: it's why Ruth has a girl's name. She didn't know it was one.