Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Today we continue our look at Mahoutsukai no Yome. Like I said last week I really haven’t found anything bad in the anime so far. It’s way better than I remember it being both in terms of storytelling and animation. So what happens next for this lovely couple? Let’s continue with the second half of this anime.
Opening and Ending Theme
We get a new opening called “You” by May’n. Now a lot of people really dislike this opening and say that the first one is better which I have to agree with. However, I don’t think this is a bad song. I like it, it’s sung well and the instrumental is very good. My only complaint would have to be how the animation doesn’t match up with the song all that well. It just shows clips from past episodes instead of being it’s own thing. It’s lazy and uninteresting.
Now the second ending is “Tsuki no Mou Hanbun” by AIKI & AKINO from bless4 and I didn’t care for this ending. While the melody is good, I just didn’t find myself getting all that invested or interested in the song and would usually skip over it. On top that the animation for the song is lazy once again.
Episodes 13-16
We start episode 13 with Elias and Chise shaving the wool off these sheep-like bugs that are flying around the house (they look like they would make good pillows). One of these creatures is a snow bug which attacks Chise and steals away the warmth of her body so Elias has to warm her up in the greenhouse (why the greenhouse? I don’t know, it is pretty though). Once she wakes up she finally works up the courage to talk to Elias about what she learned about his past. Elias tries to erase her memory but Chise stops him saying she wants to learn more about him and promises to never be afraid of him (how could she, you’re way too goofy). Elias also opens up to Chise and says that while she was away, he experienced loneliness although he didn’t know it until Chise told him (remember, he has no idea what human emotions are. The guy is literally a kid within the body of a monster). After this we get a little montage of them doing activities and stuff. As days go by they receive a visit from a mage named Ashen Eye a mage who has lived for 1000 years (wow, the miracles of modern magic). He’s come to see Chise to give his blessings for her well-being by turning her into a fox (Yume: Wonderful. She and I can go running through the forest).
In episode 14 that whole Chise getting turned into a fox storyline gets resolved quickly. She runs off into the forest giving into her animal instincts until Ruth and Elias catch up to her and remind her what she’s leaving behind (an animation budget that rivals that of a Studio Ghibli film. The possibilities are endless. Scene here: https://youtu.be/qD5ZsvhFvFI). She turns back into a human and they return home where we get a story that just punches you in the feels. Joel the kind old man who lives with the Leanne Sidhe is about to die. According to Elias, he has about a week left to live and he handles the news quite well as he’s content with his life. His only regret is that he won’t get to see the Leanne Sidhe again as he once did in his younger days (that’s more than any reason to keep on living). Chise wants to make his final wish come true not only for Joel but for the Leanne Sidhe as well who believes she’s responsible for his state. Chise discovers that there’s a magic cream that will allow humans to see spirits that she can create, but Elias tells her that making the cream is forbidden as humans aren’t allowed to see spirits (well I broke that law years ago). Despite being told this Chise still wants to make the cream and Elias gives her his full support however he won’t help in the making of the cream (fair enough). It takes Chise 5 days to complete the cream and when she does, she gives some to the Leanne Sidhe who in turn applies it to Joel’s eyes. The two finally meet where Joel thanks her for staying with him all these years and harbors no ill will towards her. He soon turns to ashes and dies but not before promising to give his life to her in the next life (it’s quite a touching scene). After this, Chise and Elias return home where Oberon is there waiting for them and asks for the rest of the cream Chise made. She hands the cream over to him but as she does she starts coughing up blood.
Episode 15 opens up with Chise collapsing after coughing up blood which was caused by the magic building up within her. Oberon and Elias takes her to the world of faeries (which strangely looks like the caves from Fraggle Rock) and arrive at a place called Ant Hill to have Chise be treated by a doctor named Shannon a faery who was raised by humans after a mix-up at the hospital (well that’s just crazy, you would think a mother would recognize the child they just gave birth to). While there Elias talks with Titania (oh, it’s the booby faery) who implores Elias to just stay in their world that way Chise has a better chance of living saying that if she stays in the human world only suffering awaits her. But Elias says that he wants to understand humans and wants Chise to live the life of a normal human (scene here: https://youtu.be/3Qt0JmDDgbU, normal humans don’t learn magic and interact with the supernatural. Her normal life flew out the window the minute she met you). In the second half we get the feels from Silky as she waits patiently for the return of the others by completely redecorating the house (scene here: https://youtu.be/XDJrI4ZcPXU). We also see her past where we discover that she used to be a banshee (a creature of Irish mythology that possesses a clan and cries alongside them when a member of the clan dies). The last of Silky’s clan died and she’s now at loss because now she has no one to carry the sadness and burden with her (she is truly alone). With nowhere to go and no clan, she just wandered the land aimlessly until Spriggan found her, transformed her into a silky and sent her to the house that Elias currently resides in (scene here: https://youtu.be/ddK9gt25dC4). Elias and Chise leave the land of faeries and return to the real world where it’s winter.
Episode 16 is a pretty good and relaxing episode. It’s winter so that only means one thing. . .Yule (aka Christmas). With Christmas only a few days away Elias and Chise prepare for it like a loving couple (with some amazing scenery to set the mood. Scene here: https://youtu.be/rLtms9xVEUI). One day, Chise receives a message from Alice who wants her help in finding a gift for Renfred in London (shopping date). Chise also hopes to find a gift for Elias and as they shop Alice talks about her past where we discover that as a child she was a drug dealer and lived a shitty life with shitty parents. Her life turned around however when Renfred took her in where at first she didn’t trust the guy all that much (to be fair his actions were questionable. A grown man picks up an underage girl off the streets and invites her to live with him as his apprentice. I would call the cops) until he saved her from a monster and from there she swore to become his bodyguard (scene here: https://youtu.be/WoSZSg2bIB4). They both find gifts for their respected masters, say their goodbyes and return home. Once Chise returns home we see Elias is upset that she left without saying anything (well she is at that rebellious age) and she gives him his gift which is a new pendant. Elias also made her a gift which is a big teddy bear and we see she got gifts from everyone else who cares about her which she’ll open tomorrow and she’s excited for it (scene here: https://youtu.be/TrJgMKb6Ww4).
Episodes 17-20
We get another side story in episode 17. It starts with this girl named Stella (https://youtu.be/G7a1TxVV4Bg) looking for her brother Ethan who has gone missing and nobody not even the parents know who he is. We find out later that the two siblings had a fight where Stella said she doesn’t need an annoying littler brother and Ethan said he doesn’t need an annoying older sister. The faeries and spirits of the forest heard this so one of them took Ethan destroying the sibling bond they had. While Chise, Ruth, and Elias were out, Stella begs them for help offering to pay them in sweets. They accept (scene here: https://youtu.be/ScivuIDxBgs, those must be some good sweets) and go to the forest where Ethan disappeared where in order to get clues on where Ethan went, Chise has to give them something for their services (that’s how it works in the world of faeries. You want their help, you’ve gotta give them something in return. This same logic applies in the real world). Chise gives them crystalized flowers which were made from her magic and acts as a delightful snack for the faeries and spirits to get directions on where Ethan is. She even goes as far as giving her blood to a spirit just to get information (scene here: https://youtu.be/XKSZK8gCr-I). They finally find Ethan in the arms of Ashen Eye (he’s back~) where he says he’ll give Ethan back if they can find him (him being Ethan) before sunset (scene here: https://youtu.be/ntIIRC0aodo). To add to the fun, he also kidnaps Elias where he and Ethan talk about what being a family is and what it’s all about (in the end, this episode was a means to expand the character of Elias. Remember, he doesn’t understand humans or emotions. Things like love, hate, friendship, envy, and family are all anomalies to him). In order to find them Chise uses her beast form and transforms into a bear (Yume: Oh what the hell? I thought you were my fox sister) and finds them in the river of the forest (scene here: https://youtu.be/SczT_lXkshU) where Stella and Ethan make up and Ashen Eye restores their bond in exchange for one of Chise’s crystalized flowers.
In episode 18 Stella comes to visit and keeping her promise of giving them sweets for helping her find her brother (I’m amazed she found the place). During her visit we actually see Elias get jealous of Chise spending time with Stella and ignoring him. Of course he doesn’t know what jealousy is and because of this throws a temper tantrum and runs off (I really do wonder which of these two is the child in their relationship). Chise runs after him and transforms into a wolf (Yin-Yang: Alright, all wolves howl with me out there) which allows her to catch up to him only to fall into his trap and get tied up in tentacles (looks like Elias discovered tentacle porn and wants to know what that’s all about. Scene here: https://youtu.be/2bYMWTWaDps). Elias begins to hurt Chise a little so she calls out to Ruth but Elias is interrupting their connection to each other. She uses her wand to shoot a flare up into the sky letting Ruth know where she is but even than he can’t seem to find them in the forest (now what good is having a nose if you can’t use it?). He receives help from the daughter of Yule as a thank you for following the customs of Yule and offering up raindrop fruits and branches for her mother. She uses her flame to point out Elias’s shadow and Ruth dives in to reunite with Chise who explains to him that he’s feeling jealous and what jealousy is but he still refuses to let Chise go so she takes drastic measures and threatens to stab herself with a knife if he doesn’t let her go. He complies and lets her go apologizing and they return where they sleep together and Chise sings him a lullaby which puts him in a deep sleep (scenes here: https://youtu.be/2bYMWTWaDps and https://youtu.be/Fls0WidRIo4 and yet the girl can’t make one sleep pill). She goes to Angelica for help where we get to meet her husband who is a regular guy (living an extraordinary life with a wife and daughter who are mages). Angelica gives Chise a potion and forces it down Elias’s throat which wakes him up (scene here: https://youtu.be/iADqUbvkqw8). While this is all going on, in the dragon’s nest, poachers have caught two young dragons. Lindel tries to save them but Cartaphilius shows up and takes the dragons for himself.
In episodes 19 and 20 Elias and Chise get approached by the college who study magic about one of the missing dragons and ask them for help in finding and recovering it (Mission: Dragon). They manage to track the dragon to the slave auction (the same one Chise was in) where Chise can actually hear the thoughts of the dragon and he is scared out of his mind (I actually feel sorry for the guy. He’s just a kid, locked and bound inside a cage, and doesn’t know where he’s at. If I was in his shoes I be terrified too). The dragon’s fears soon get the better of him and he transforms into a monstrous creature prepared to go on a rampage in London. Chise manages to absorb the magic from him which knocks him out but at the same time curses Chise. Her right arm completely transforms into a monstrous creation (any other time this would be cool) which will drive her mad with pain until she eventually dies which according to Elias will be next spring (scene here: https://youtu.be/eYiwfiktNxU). Some time goes by and Chise kind of accepts her fate until a witch named Mariel drops by and tells Chise to become a witch that way they can study the curse and hopefully find a cure for it. With the support of Elias and Ruth, Chise agrees to become a witch and heads off to one of their meetings.
Episodes 21-24
Things take a bad turn in episode 21. Chise and Elias go to the witches’ meeting where they’re told that there’s no way to remove the curse without killing the dragon who gave her the curse in the first place. Desperate to save Chise, Elias does some research and then kidnaps Stella where he plans to transfer Chise’s curse to her (because he is jealous of their friendship. Man, I never would have pegged Elias as a yandere). Elias knocks Chise out but she wakes back up in time to see what Elias was doing and she out right punches him (most women slap guys, Chise just punches them. Scene here: https://youtu.be/B3rOZMGEHto). Chise goes to check up on Stella where we see that Cartaphilius has taken over her body (that is some FMA season 1 shit right there) and offers to give Chise a spell that will save her as well as give back Stella in exchange for her coming with him (or her). In a shocking moment, Chise removes Elias’ necklace and goes with Cartaphilius.
In episode 22 Chise gets brought to Cartaphilius’s dark lab (turn on a light man! This isn’t Fan4stic) where he explains that his plan is to swap curses. He’ll give Chise his curse of immortality while Chise gives him her curse of death and he can finally fulfill his dream of dying. He forcibly switches their left eyes (that’s just gross) to see if the transplant is possible and it’s a success. Cartaphilius puts Chise to sleep where she dreams about her childhood. We see that everyone in her family could see spirits but her father was the only one who could fight them as the mother seemed to have a frail body (scene here: https://youtu.be/wiQkY89-I50). The family was happy until one day the dad left and he took Chise’s brother with him (no letter or nothing, he just left his wife and Chise behind). Things got bad with Chise and her mom as they were tormented by spirits with one even attacking Chise while the mother was out. Eventually, the mother tried to kill Chise but stopped herself and committed suicide (scene here: https://youtu.be/MPs4jePHBw0). Chise then confronts the dark version of her mother that she’s been holding onto all these years where she thanks her for killing her and this allows Chise to finally move on with her life and not be held down by the burden of her mother (scene here: https://youtu.be/auuZa4pHcY0). Chise then comes face to face with a fragment of Cartaphilius (or what’s left of his humanity after all these years) who reveals that he’s both the blessing and curse that keeps Cartaphilius alive. The fragment is willing to give that blessing to Chise if she wants to live and she asks the fragment what it wants in return to which it replies death. Chise wakes up from her sleep and overpowers Cartaphilius and begins strangling him to find out why he keeps doing awful things (https://youtu.be/98RbeUllar4).
Episode 23 opens up with Elias who’s pretty upset that Chise left (it’s your own damn fault, you tried to kill her friend). So upset that he destroys half a forest in his monster form that the fairy spirits have to come and stop him. Titania and Oberon come in (where Titania got smaller and had breast reduction. (Corbin): Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo~) where they offer to find Chise for Elias on the condition that when they bring her back, he keeps her locked away in the house forever (like a caged bird) but Elias says no realizing that he must become a better person if he wants to be with Chise (that means no more trying to kill her friends). Titania still offers to help him find Chise so they cast a location spell and begin searching for her. Meanwhile, Chise enters the memories of Cartaphilius where we see he took over the body of a young gravedigger named Joseph who was despised by his village and tried to help Cartaphilius in the past only to fail until he finally reached the point of no return and fused with Cartaphilius (scene here: https://youtu.be/lz5AwjbDBOA). This in turn caused their memories to combine and they became confused on who they were (you’re crazy). Chise dives deeper and finally finds out why Cartaphilius was cursed with immortality, it’s because of Jesus. During the crucifixion of Jesus, Cartaphilius threw a stone at Jesus and God punished him by making him immortal (so why didn’t God condemn the guards, religious leaders, or the mockers at the crucifixion? Was the stone that big of deal? Must have been some throw Cartaphilius did?). Cartaphilius regains consciousness and attacks Chise in an enraged state as he still can’t remember what he did to deserve this curse. Elias and other allies arrive to save Chise where Cartaphilius rans away with Chise chasing after him followed by Elias, Ruth, and Michelle who transformed into a bull (running of the bull in London) to give Chise a ride (scene here: https://youtu.be/VQxTxDLUYKg). Elias and Ruth catch up to them where Chise is still mad at them but says they can fix their mistakes by helping her.
In the final episode we start with Chise and Cartaphilius fighting each other and I have to say this fight is poor and anticlimactic (uh Wit, I know you guys did Attack on Titan, is there any way you can insert Attack on Titan into this scene?). Ashen Eye shows up to get taken out by Elias (scene here: https://youtu.be/2wufLH1fHto) and then Chise somehow puts Cartaphilius in a deep sleep after he stabs her in the chest which she survives (scene here: https://youtu.be/q38m5yc1slc, that was. . .messy). As for the dragon curse on Chise, the Cartaphilius inside of her has worked out an agreement with the dragon where he’ll keep her alive for the time being and the dragon will one day kill her (okay, now about the arm). Chise passes out only to reawaken in Elias’s bed where the first thing they do is argue with each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/lzit1w6rVzU). They eventually come to an agreement about their future decision-making and life returns to normal (well as normal as it can get around here) where we see Cartaphilius is in deep sleep and being kept safe by Chise. We see Ashen Eye is still alive where he’s upset at how everything ended (he wanted more gore, blood, and tears). Later on, Chise surprises Elias in the forest by wearing a wedding dress and veil where she gives him a ring and they promise to stay together (scene here: https://youtu.be/r1Q4UYcclx4).
Final Thoughts
Wow, this anime still holds up. This is a very good and interesting anime from beginning to end. The animation was spectacular and the music was great as well. I loved all the various spirits we got to see throughout the anime and how they got all of their mythical origins right. Their designs are creative and I like how expressive and different they are from each other. Hands down the best feature of this anime is the relationship of Elias and Chise. It’s a beautiful relationship that’s handled correctly and maturely. Both of them are children who each have their own issues. Chise has a hard time trusting and opening up to others while Elias doesn’t understand human emotions, however both of them help each other understand their issues and help each other grow as people. That kind of storytelling is great and watching their relationship grow is a joy to watch. I really don’t know why this anime didn’t pull Wit out of Attack on Titan’s shadow as it seemed to do everything right. I really have no complaints about this series. It had a good story, great characters, and it’s easily one of the best romance stories I’ve ever watched.
Final Score
The final score for Mahoutsukai no Yome is a 9/10 with a must watch seal of approval. I’ve heard rumors that a second season is in the works and will most likely be debuting sometime this year. I don’t know if this is true or not, but I hope it is because I really want to see this series again in anime form. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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