Screened between 2021 and 2022, “The Boy from the West and the Knight of the Blue Storm” is a 3-episode OVA taking place between the first and second season of “The Ancient Magus Bride”, just before Chise attends college. Considering that the first season ended in a way that could have well concluded the series as a whole, seeing where the story moves after that is intriguing by itself. Let us see where the whole thing leads us.
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During a heavy storm, lightning strikes an ancient stone, chipping two pieces off of it. In response, the Wild Hunt appears, but with their leader missing, they begin roaming the forest randomly, much to Spriggan's concern, since the impact of the Hunt on the fauna and flora of the forest is quite significant. Meanwhile, Gabriel, a sickly boy suffering from asthma, has moved in the area from London, and is having trouble adapting, with his situation making his relationship with his parents quite tense. While exploring the forest, he comes across the stone and picks up one of the broken off pieces and takes it home. It appears that a young boy resides in it, and Gabriel feels he has finally found a friend. Things however, are not that uncomplicated.
Spriggan finds the second stone, which ‘harbors' a horse which he brings to Elias's house, warning him that he must find the Wild Hunt's missing leader and reunite him with his horse or they will eventually destroy the forest. Elias accepts the job since the Wild Hunt's presence is what is causing Chise's illness. Expectedly, the two arcs eventually collide.
That Chise is sick once more is no surprise, since the whole story seems to revolve around her being the archetypal ‘damsel in distress'. However, the parallel presence of Gabriel, the Wild Hunt and the mysterious boy does add a very appealing sense of drama, and a bit of mystery, although who the boy and the horse are is quite obvious from the beginning.
Gabriel's sickness and the fact that it has alienated him from everyone, and has made him constantly overacting towards his parents, who do have their own set of problems, is the main source of drama, and is quite well implemented in the narrative. One could say that the kid is just obnoxious, when he first appears in the story, but the way he reacts when he finally finds a friend, and the way the adventure he has to experience changes him, will definitely make the audience empathize with the young protagonist. Lastly, one could say that the whole thing is essentially a cautionary tale about not trusting strangers, choosing your friends carefully, and picking your parents over this type of ‘freedom', in an aspect that is wrapped in coming-of-age package.
The mystery about the Wild Hunt and the appearing boy adds a bit of mysterious ‘intrigue” but most of all, allows for the action of the last episode to unfold, with the slight, as usual, battle, the running horses, and the question (not really) about the fight of Gabriel being the most impressive part of the OVA. It is here that the animation of Studio Kafka finds its apogee, with the speed of the events being a true wonder to watch. Hirotaka Kato's character design, which is once more, much better in the supernatural beings than the humans, also finds its zenith here, with the ominous presence of the dark nights and their horses being rather memorable.
Regarding the backgrounds, the OVAs follow the same combination of rural contemporary life and fairytale, including, though, a series of scenes that border on being real and not drawn, mostly of the forest, which are definitely impressive.
Although obviously an effort not to let people forget the franchise in the long gap between the first and the second season, “The Ancient Magus Bride: The Boy from the West and the Knight of the Blue Storm” is a nice addition to the main arc. It also offers a welcome transition to the second season, which seems to change the main setting of the story significantly.
