The Ancient Magus' Bride - Episode 23 (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlexAfter waiting an agonizing week, we finally have a new episode of The Ancient Magus’ Bride to watch. Need to catch up? Check out my previous review here!Distraught that Chise has abandoned him, Elias has reverted back to his monster form as he searches for her. When he destroys some trees in anguish, the Faerie kingdom guards show up to halt his actions. They are soon followed by Titania and Oberon, who attempt to soothe Elias into submission so they can take him back to the Faerie kingdom. When Elias refuses to leave without finding Chise, Titania agrees to help him. Using her powers to call upon the goddess Morrigan, Titania spreads her vines far and wide to find Chise.Meanwhile, Chise is trapped in Joseph’s memories of his past. She sees him as he once was, a gravedigger that could hear the dead. While digging a grave, Joseph hears someone calling for help. He digs up the person, a man wrapped in bandages named Cartaphilus. Sick of being bullied by the townsfolk, Joseph tells Cartaphilus that as soon as he heals they will leave the town and make a new life together. The only problem is that Cartaphilus can’t heal himself, nor can he die from his wounds. Joseph reaches this conclusion and in a momentary lapse of judgement, decides to merge with Cartaphilus. The two then leave town and continue to head through time, absorbing more people along the way, the whole time in everlasting agony.Cast out of the flashback, Joseph is enraged that Chise saw his past. The pair grapple, and Joseph pins Chise and attempts to rip her arm off. Just as it seems that he’ll succeed, Titania appears with Elias and Ruth and Elias stops him. They are soon joined by Alice and Renfred, who followed a neighbor to the location.Feeling outnumbered, Joseph unleashes his chimeras that were growing in large tubes in the lab. He flees through a portal in the ensuing battle, with Chise close behind. On the streets, Chise runs into Marielle, who offers to help Chise as an apology. Marielle transforms into a bull and allows Chise to ride her as they chase after Joseph. Joined by Ruth and Elias, Chise and Marielle chase Joseph all the way to a fountain, where Chise prepares to square off against him.Once again, the episode ends in a frustratingly appropriate cliffhanger. With next week being the final episode, we seem to be in good shape to tie up all loose ends. Chise addresses that she is still mad at Elias, which hopefully means they will discuss what happened in the final episode. The only thing that seems uncertain at this point is the fate of Stella and the dragons. However, with Chise and Joseph having their final confrontation, that should be addressed in the resolution of their fight.This episode had a lot of really beautiful moments with the faerie creatures. The auras that the actions of Titania and her neighbors were beautiful and added a lot of color to otherwise drab scenes. The only real letdown of this episode were the chimeras. Given the amount of detail seen in previous chimeras, these ones looked generic in comparison. I have high hopes though that next week’s episode will be absolutely stunning.New episodes of The Ancient Magus’ Bride air Saturdays on Crunchyroll and VRV platforms.