The Ancient Magus’ Bride - Episodes 16-18 (Review)

By: EyeSpyeAlex The good thing about the world is that even when it gets hectic, new episodes of anime will still air. I am finally caught up on The Ancient Magus’ Bride! Need to catch up too? Check out my previous review here!With the Christmas season upon them, Elias and Chise prepare for the Yule. Through a montage, we see a Chise and Elias explore the forest and gather items. As they prepare various items from the forest, the Horned God and Dark Lady pass them. Once home, Chise receives a note from Alice to meet her in London.In London, Chise and Alice shop for presents for Renfred and Elias. After struggling, they finally find the perfect presents, and their mood is lifted. That feeling doesn’t last when they run into ghosts of Alice’s past. Once they are alone again, Alice tells Chise about her sordid history with drugs, and how Renfred saved her from destruction.Feeling like she’s made a new friend, Chise heads back home, where she finds Elias waiting for her. She gives Elias his Christmas present, a new bolo tie, and he presents her with a teddy bear. Chise heads to bed, feeling excited for what the new day will bring. Upon awakening, Chise discovers the bear has sprouted crystal flowers; a manifestation of her excess magic. After opening presents, Chise and Elias head out to thank Simon for the presents he sent.On the way, they run into a young girl looking for her brother. The girl, named Stella, is looking for her brother Ethan, who went missing after they got into a fight. Even worse, her parents and grandparents have forgotten that Ethan existed! After making a pact that Stella will repay their kindness with sweets, Chise and Elias begin to help her search.With the help of the faerie folk, the group finds Ethan with Ashen Eye. Having heard the siblings wish to be related to someone else, Ashen Eye took Ethan for himself. Ever the trickster, Ashen Eye hides Elias and Ethan, telling Chise that if she cannot find them before the sun sets, they both will belong to him. Using her werebeast fur, Chise transforms into a bear and easily locates Elias and Ethan, then reunites the siblings with their parents.Keeping her promise, Stella soon returns to Chise’s home with sweets. The pair hang out, causing Elias to become jealous and leave. Chise once again uses her werebeast fur to find him, this time transforming into a wolf. Upon locating Elias, he traps her. Chise talks Elias down from his temper tantrum before he can eat her, and the pair head home. As they prepare to go to sleep, Chise sings Elias a lullaby, which inadvertently puts him under a sleeping spell.With the help of Angelica, Chise figures out how to wake Elias up. Her happiness is short lived, as she collapses from exhaustion. Meanwhile in Iceland, a pair of dragon babies are captured on Cartaphilius’ orders. Before Lindel can save them, his henchmen flee with the dragons.Besides finally ending on a good cliffhanger, these latest episodes have done a really awesome job staying true to the manga. The animations continue to be stunning, and an almost 1:1 adaptation of the manga series. The only downside is that they used a montage to show Chise and Elias preparing for the Yule. This part in the manga was beautiful, and provided a lot of information about mage practices and beliefs. It’s really a bummer that they glossed over it.New episodes of The Ancient Magus’ Bride air on Saturday’s on Crunchyroll and VRV platforms.