I glance previews sometimes and I thought this be charming to watch. It did deliver on this but it also scratches an itch for maybe the individual that craves a place of belonging. (Disclosure, this did take me six months to watch. I'm lousy with time and I get lost in the things I can do. So yeah.)
Titbit: I want to talk about the first scene first you see in the show because I think its an interesting indicator to who the character Chise is at the start of the show and how she sees her sense of self. It opens up in an action house where there's a form on a table between the auctioner (you learn his name is Seth later on) and Chise, Seth asks her literally "You are not going to regret this later right?" Maybe they just wanted reassurance or just curious but in this inference Chise responds with "no" and it is pretty certain. Soon after she signs. What you glean here is that she has no attachments to the world and no sense of self. Even the collar that follows shortly after does not seem to faze her. But yeah she's brought by a magician called Elias that breaks the collar off her when they leave the auction. And that's when the story introduces you to magic. Thankfully for us Chise is unfamiliar with this or what her existence means to the magic world. So we both get to learn about magic and the mysteries that are in this world too.
Magic: I don't really want to focus too hard on the magic system or its rules but how magic phenomenon has a weird concurrence with a theme in wanting to belong. Just like the humans of the world, monsters and magical creatures seem to want a place to belong to as well. One example is Silky, a faery. They used to be a different kind of fairy too but they go through a magical transformation that is only caused from wanting to belong somewhere. And she's one of the only magical characters that does that in the story so that's interesting. Anyway there's a bunch of magic things in this show that make me think everyone wants a place to belong. Even the relationship between familiar and magicians are another example of wanting to belong. It's basically a symbiosis of one and the other getting something from it and working together. And as far as I know they only do this if they like each other. In literal terms they are friends I think. And I love this.
Characters: I love the cast in this show. Its a lot of fun honestly. But let me ask you something. What does Chise, Elias, Cartaphilus, Silky, Ruth and Lindel have in common? They have magic, this is true. But what I wanted to get at from this question is that they all want a place to belong to.
Elias:
No one knows what they are. And when you learn about him its his struggle with fitting in. He's constantly imitating others. And he hates it when people fear him as a monster. He runs away to be alone whenever he's caught in an awkward social situation where another character sees him as this scary entity. He just wants a place to belong guys.
Cartaphilus:
They are like the antagonist of the show? I couldn't hate them even with the extreme cruelties they had done to others. They are just really old, sad, and pitiful really. I actually really like them as a character. More so in season 2 because they are retired from being evil? I don't know. Anyway they do all this bad stuff because they want someone to feel the pain they do. The kind you get from living for a long time and just being miserable for the whole of it maybe? Chise is probably the closest they call as a friend? Not that they would admit it.
Chise:
I really liked Chise. They start out as being hollow and purposeless but each episode you see them grow. Sure they make mistakes but they learn from it and take on advice from others. And what she's been through. I love how the show does not wash over that. Some stories like to have a great change in a character via struggles but never mention it again. Like a story arc that's sealed away. In this when they grow they make inferences about their past too. Chise when she realises that she can belong here with Elias still finds herself later on with the same questions like "Do I belong here?", "Do I have the right to live?" But every time there's a bit of growth. More leniency in just happily being there in the moment. She sort of starts to look for the future.
My send-off?: I think there's something for anyone in this show. I mean its fun, it has a compelling story, and a believable magic system. Usually those combinations make me think a bit about the world-building and what I personally got was a fictional world that pulled me in because I related to feeling lost and wanting a place to belong to and that's what I got out of this experience. There's a cast of characters that they themselves are trying to find a place to belong to. Some have found their answer, others are still looking for it. And the message I got from the anime is that its okay to be in either boat. This does not necessarily mean you will have the same experience as I but I want this review to mean something for you. Something to think about and infer from your own experience, so that you can think about what you got from Magus Bride.
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