The Ancient Magus’ Bride Episode 5

By: EyeSpyeAlex I’m back with this week’s latest episode of The Ancient Magus’ Bride! Providing us with a thrilling conclusion to the issue surrounding the cat kingdom, episode five gives us the closure we needed. Need to catch up? Read my previous review here!Renfred and his accomplice Alice, offer Chise freedom from her servitude of Elias. As a sleigh beggy, Chise is a constant conductor and absorber of magical power, something Renfred believes Elias to be exploiting. Despite the offer, Chise chooses to decline. After all, Elias called her family, something Chise has never had.With Elias holding the sorcerers at bay, Chise can finally perform the cleansing spell. She is sucked into Matthew’s memories, and sees what led him and Mina to this fate. Matthew sought the help of a sorcerer to heal Mina, who was often sickly. The sorcerer tells Matthew to kill cats and bottle their lives, which can then be given to Mina to heal her.Mina catches Matthew in the act and is horrified by what she finds. The sorcerer soon appears and forces Mina to drink the cats’ blood, which liquifies her. The sorcerer laments at the failed experiment, and leaves Matthew to tend to his wife’s liquified corpse. Matthew doesn’t have to worry about being lonely for long as Mina’s cat Tim arrives. As the first king of the cat kingdom, Tim unites the remaining cats and strikes down Matthew, trapping his remains with Mina’s.Although Mina wanted Chise to erase her and Matthew from existence, Chise finds an alternative solution. With the Ariel assisting her, Chise is able to cast a spell that frees Mina’s and Matthew’s spirits. Molly then sacrifices her final life to lead the two to the spirit world.This was a really powerful episode that continued the theme of love. From Mina and Matthew’s undying love, to Molly’s willingness to sacrifice her life for her human, the episode shows love knows no bounds. Still, I wish we could have seen some love shown between Chise and Elias. Given that they’re the main characters, it would be nice to see the relationship start to develop between them.When it comes to animation, Wit studio continues to impress. The scene where Mina and Matthew turn into dandelions and float away was beautiful. The shot of Molly cuddling with her human filled my heart with warmth and made me need to cuddle my own cat. Prior to the show airing, I read a few concerns online from people worried about Wit animating this show. Given the phenomenal job they’ve done with sticking to the source material, I don’t think they have anything to worry about.New episodes of The Ancient Magus’ Bride stream on Saturdays on the Crunchyroll and VRV platforms.