The second season of “The Ancient Magus Bride” signaled a U-turn in terms of setting, something that was actually a necessity considering how the first season ended. The result is somewhat mixed, with the season starting really slowly, but definitely compensating in the second part of its 24 episodes.
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Chise begins studying at the College, after Adolf offers her a place in order to study her, as a Sleigh-Beggy who also possesses a Dragon-curse and Immortality-curse is a rather unique entity. Elias is uncertain as usual in any kind of change, but eventually agrees, additionally because College President Liza Quillyn grants him a temporary teaching position to stay close to her. The focus in the beginning is on the two protagonists adapting to their new environment, which includes College doctor Alexandra Heath, a Caterpillar Muryan, Lucy Webster, the antisocial roommate of Chise, Philomena, a silver haired girl who suffers from nervous fear, and Veronica, who seems to hold some sort of ‘leash' on her. Soon, the series begins to focus on the relationship between Chise and Elias, and how they define it moving on, with the same applying to Renfred and Alice. The rest of the key players here are Rian, a mysterious young man who seems particularly interested in Chise and is always mistreating Philomena, Isaac, who always wears a hood, and Zoe, who is soon revealed to be a half-Gorgon. The seven of them, including Lucy, soon form a kind of a gang.
The second part is more action and mystery oriented, and essentially, much more intriguing. A forbidden book is found missing, and soon becomes evident that someone attacks the people in the College, which eventually forces President Liza to bar the whole thing, essentially trapping everyone inside. As werewolves become part of a story that involves the past of Philomena, Lucy and Veronica, things become more complicated and dangerous for everyone involved. Alcyone, an artificial fairy that was made to care for Philomena, Zaccheroni, a teacher with extreme, unusual methods, Lizbeth, Philomena's grandmother who is also the head of the Sargant family, monsters and deities all become part of the story eventually.
As I mentioned before, the first season starts very slowly, with the transition from Elias's house and the various magical locations to the setting of the College being quite awkward, also because the second part does not move in either school drama or shonen paths, as is usually the case with similar settings. Particularly the ‘arc' with the relationships of the four protagonists of the first season emerges as quite dull, since they seem repetitious of what we saw in the first one. The same applies to Elias's past arc and the woman that was important to him, but this part remains somewhat unfulfilled.
Apart from these aspects, however, this part does a nice job of introducing the new characters and setting the dynamics between them, as much as how they affect the relationships of the previously introduced ones. Furthermore, and as the epicenter moves away from Chise and Elias, the story becomes more intriguing, with the fact that Philomena and Lucy become the persons of interest definitely being a tick in the pros column.
This last aspect is cemented in the second part, which moves even more towards Philomena and her cursed past and present, while bringing together all the arcs nicely, close to the finale. Of course, the usual approach of anime, with the heroes trying to save instead of kill, and protect instead of attacking are here once more, although this tactic actually works nicely here.
The whole series frequently seems as it will become a shonen, occasionally crossing into that territory but never actually leaning on it, despite the fact that the College setting offers opportunities to do so in aplomb. However, and despite the aforementioned approach, this crossing actually happens during a training session and the finale, which moves into full shonen action aesthetics, even though the action is also implemented in order to further analyze the characters and their connections. The fact that most of the protagonists are quite weak is also here once more, with the majority of girls frequently fading or feeling sick and being unable to use their powers. This aspect, however, even if too repetitive and somewhat annoying on occasion, has become something of a trademark of “The Ancient Magus Bride” and actually works well once the viewer gets used to it. Lastly, in terms of context, the way the ending is left open to a point works well too, increasing the anticipation for the next season.
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Hirotaka Kato's character design continues to be somewhat bland regarding the faces of the characters. On a personal note, since the first season, I was thinking that there was something strange in the way the characters look, but I could not put my finger on it. It has become apparent in the second, though, that a number of the characters have a ‘hermaphrodite' value, meaning that the girls do not differ that much from the boys on a number of occasions, with Alice (after the new haircut) being one of the most obvious samples. along with the twins. The naming of the characters also seems to follow this path, with Ruth and Zoe being guys for example. I am not sure if there is a comment about equality hiding in this approach, but the truth is, it does not work that well.
The monsters on the other hand, are much better in their presentation, with the villains and the deity appearing in the end, as much as Muryan being quite impressive. Unfortunately, the ‘silly faces and figures' are here once more, although this aspect is actually toned down, and gets even more insignificant as the series progresses. The animation by Studio Kafka is definitely on a high level, both in the non and the action scenes, with the battles being quite impressive to watch, and the werewolves giving a show with their speed.
“The Ancient Magus` Bride Season 2” definitely reinvigorates the franchise, while the quality of the series, particularly in terms of story, is undeniable. Some questionable choices, though, particularly in the first part and the fact that it becomes evident that the creators are not sure which path their series want to follow, bring the whole thing down a notch, essentially stripping it from a place in the best of the year.
