Rickenbackers and Sargeants

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 16 focused more on Veronica than I expected it to. Up until this point, Veronica Rickenbacker has kind of been a background character. She’s Philomela’s master. But, Philomela is the more important of the two for the story.

Episode 16 featured a lot of Veronica content because she was paired up with Chise for the test of courage. And, during this extracurricular activity, Chise asked Veronica about Philomela’s family. Philomela’s not going to tell Chise anything. So, Chise might as well see if Veronica will.

What Veronica tells Chise doesn’t exactly paint her in a very good light. However, we should also keep in mind that we (and Chise) are outsiders. The dynamic between the Rickenbacker and Sargeant families exists for a reason. And, although Veronica is part of that dynamic, it doesn’t seem to entirely be by choice.

The purpose of the Sargeant family is to protect the Rickenbacker family. Philomela isn’t there to be Veronica’s maid. She’s there to make sure nobody assassinates Veronica. Even if it means Philomela’s own death, her job is to protect her master.

Now, how good Philomela is at this role is up for debate. Philomela doesn’t have much resistance to poisons. So, she’s not great at being a taste tester for Veronica’s food. And we also know that Philomela doesn’t like killing things. So, is she that useful? I don’t know. But, Veronica chose her over the other options.

I can’t blame Veronica for being a Rickenbacker. As she tells Chise, sorcerers are bound to their families. So, it doesn’t seem like she has much choice. And she genuinely seems to care for Philomela as her friend. But, at the same time, she’s a narcissist obsessed with her self-importance.

Veronica the Villain

As I said, Veronica’s story of the past didn’t make her seem like a great person. But, on top of that, the rest of her conversation with Chise made her seem like a villain.

I don’t think Veronica’s involved with the stolen Testament of Carnamagos. However, the series appeared to be trying to make us suspect that she is. She was talking down to Chise in a somewhat threatening manner. And the way she speaks to everyone makes everything she says sound sinister.

There’s something about how she always sounds cheerful that’s off-putting.

My guess is that Veronica acts this way because of the family she was raised in. She comes from one of the most powerful sorcerer families and is a bit of a big deal. But, she’s also very aware of how twisted the world of sorcerers is.

Sure, Veronica told Chise that as an outsider, she shouldn’t get involved in family matters. And yes, as I mentioned, it sounded threatening. I’ll even say that I believe she meant for it to sound threatening. But, she said all that because she’s looking out for Chise.

She doesn’t want Chise to get involved because it’s dangerous. And in Veronica’s mind, one of the best ways to get people to stay away is to threaten them. As I’m sure she’ll find out, however, nothing she does or says will keep Chise away. Chise’s already decided that Philomela is her friend.

In my review of Episode 14, I predicted that Philomela would go missing. And I predicted that Alcyone would ask Chise to help find her. But now, I wonder if Veronica will try to push back against Chise helping if that happens. Will she again try to tell Chise not to get involved?

Kimodameshi

What is a Kimodameshi (肝試し / きもだめし)? It’s a test of courage. And since this test of courage takes place at a school, of course, it has to include “seven mysteries.” But, what are the seven mysteries?

There’s the old tree of hangings, the garden of the eternally lost, the window into the netherworld, the hall of the head seeker, the impostor’s mirror, the room of lingering voices, and the twisted observatory.

We get to see four of these mysteries in Episode 16. They’re the tree of hangings, window into the netherworld, impostor’s mirror, and observatory. But, I think we’ve already seen the garden of the eternally lost, as well.

Isn’t that where Zoe hid after his secret was revealed?

Anyway, since this is a magic college, it turns out these mysteries are actually real. At least, some of them are.

What evidence for these mysteries being real do we have, though? Well, the first one is the old tree of hangings. It’s said that a student hung themself from the tree about 30 years ago. And at the end of the episode, there’s a ghost of a student from about 30 years ago.

That’s not all. We can also be pretty sure that the impostor’s mirror is real. According to Violet, it will take on the appearance of whoever answers its call. And, we saw Rian being called to the mirror by an image of a younger Philomela.

If some of these mysteries are real, they all might be. And the one I’m most interested in is the window into the netherworld. We saw Philomela and Isaac investigating this one, and they didn’t see anything. But, rumor has it that it shows you your final moments. Will it ever come up again?

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 16? How did you feel when Veronica was happy about the attempt on her life? Do you think she’s a villain, or just misunderstood? And, which of the seven mysteries do you want to know more about? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 17 is available now.

Magic Puzzles

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 15 begins with the students taking a break from studying. Violet St. George shows up with a puzzle and challenges the others to solve it. But, this isn’t any old puzzle; it’s a magic puzzle!

What makes the puzzle a magic puzzle, though? Well, the most magical thing about it, to me, is how it multiplied. Originally, there was only one puzzle. But, it didn’t take long for each of the students to have their own. Did Violet clone the puzzle? Does he have a bottomless bag? We don’t know.

Other than that, what makes the puzzle magic is both how it’s locked and solved. The puzzle looks like an ordinary, wooden puzzle. It’s in the shape of an orb and has 4-8 interlocking pieces. But, what’s actually holding the pieces together is a spell.

These puzzles are actually two-player games. And, because of that, they have a lot more replay value than a normal puzzle would. One player sets the spell that locks the puzzle, and the other player has to figure out how to break the spell. So, every time you play, you can lock it with a different spell that requires a different solution.

As a mage, these puzzles weren’t very difficult for Chise. She actually solved her puzzle all at once instead of piece by piece. But, Chise’s way of solving the puzzle was more like a brute force attempt.

Her puzzle had a trap spell embedded in it, and Chise’s “solution” busted right through. All the trap did was dye her hair black for a minute. But, imagine if it was a real trap. Chise would have walked right into it. So, it’s clear that she needs to work on her magic dexterity.

Philomela’s Childhood

This episode might be the first one in which we’ve seen Philomela’s childhood. I think there was a brief flashback earlier in the season showing Rian and Philomela. And Episode 14 implied that Philomela was the child present at the Webster Tragedy. But, those scenes didn’t tell us much.

We now know that Philomela had a pretty normal childhood when she was very young. She was able to go on picnics with her parents (and Alcyone). And she even used to play with Rian, climbing trees and solving magic puzzles.

But, even back then, Philomela’s grandmother viewed her as a failure. She believed that Philomela should be spending her time studying, not playing. Though, I’d argue that solving magic puzzles is a form of studying. It’s magic practice. And isn’t breaking into magic locks something that would benefit an assassin?

It’s unclear how Philomela ended up in her current situation. What happened to her parents? Did they die while on a spy/assassination mission? Or, did Philomela’s grandmother have them killed for disobeying her and the clan? It wouldn’t surprise me if the latter was the case considering what we know about her.

I have a feeling that the wolfkin assassin’s story is supposed to mirror Philomela’s. The Sargeant clan took her children and forced her to become an assassin for them. I could see something similar having been the case for Philomela’s parents. And, maybe the clan killed them after they tried to flee with Philomela.

Anyway, the main conflict in this episode came when Rian got mad at Philomela (again). He doesn’t understand why Philomela’s so different from when they were kids. And, to me, that implies he’s willfully ignorant about her branch of the family. Doesn’t he know what she’s gone through?

Who Can We Trust?

Remember the Testament of Carnamagos? Well, it’s still wreaking havoc on the college. Last week, we learned that the book is still within the college’s premises. And, at the end of the episode, we saw whoever stole the book going after Jasmine St. George as she slept.

Now, Jasmine’s in the infirmary, likely afflicted by the same curse as Lucy. Also, as far as I remember, the only reason Lucy is “okay” is because of Chise’s magic. Lucy has to stay near Chise to keep receiving her magic. And that’s why we see her chase after Chise whenever Chise runs away.

Jasmine isn’t the only student to fall ill in this week’s episode, though. There was another girl early on. And, the final scene of the episode shows many students making their way to the infirmary. So, who do you think stole the book?

My prediction is that Violet St. George is behind it, or at least involved in some way. As far as I know, Violet and Jasmine are roommates. So, Violet would have access to Jasmine as she slept. But, there’s more circumstantial evidence than just that.

Violet’s also not acting how I would expect. His sister’s unwell and in the infirmary. But, he’s talking to Chise about how he’s bored. Shouldn’t he be helping to take care of Jasmine as he said he would? Also, he acknowledged that he has the ability to see ghosts. That could be another hint.

As far as I can tell, most of the sorcerers and mages in training at the college can’t see things. They could see the spirits in their classes. But, I’m not sure they can see spirits all the time the way Chise can. So, Violet’s ability to see ghosts seems important.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 15? Who did you think would be the fastest at solving the magic puzzles? What do you think happened to Philomela’s parents? And, who are you predicting is behind the stolen book incident? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 16 is available now.

Philomela the Failure

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 14 has the same, dumb title as Episode 13. But, the stupidity of this title translation has nothing on the next episode. I honestly don’t even know what the next episode’s title is trying to say.

But, I’m not bringing up the title to go on a rant this week. Instead, I want to pose the question, “What’s the title referring to?” This isn’t a rhetorical question. I actually don’t know what the title “Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained” refers to. Did any character venture to do something in these past two episodes?

I suppose you could argue that Philomela pushed herself during the mandatory class. But, that doesn’t seem to fit the saying. I’m also not sure who translated the title into English. Was it someone working for Crunchyroll? Or does this poorly translated title come from Japan?

If it’s the latter, that might explain some of my confusion. Whoever chose the title (it could be the original author, I don’t know) might not have understood the saying. But, at the very least, it seems like it’s supposed to be referring to Philomela in some way.

Now, speaking of Philomela, we learned a bit more about her in this episode. We’ve known that her “grandmother” views her as a failure. But, we didn’t know why that was, until now. There’s more to Philomela being a failure than her being shy. Apparently, she has a hard time killing things.

If Philomela was a normal person, that wouldn’t matter. Even if she was a normal sorcerer or mage, it might not matter. But, Philomela comes from a family of assassins. So, not being able to kill things is a big deal. However, we know Philomela has killed someone thanks to Zaccheroni.

The “Useless” Familiar

As you’d expect, the principal and vice principal of the college are suspicious of Alcyone. They don’t trust Philomela’s grandmother. And they don’t trust Alcyone, by association, either. However, the vice principal doesn’t believe Alcyone poses much of a threat, if any.

According to him, she can’t do much more than keep an eye on Philomela. But, are we going to find out that Alcyone is actually dangerous? My guess is both yes and no. And, let me start with the “no” because that’s easier to explain. Alcyone doesn’t pose a physical threat to anyone

If the vice principal says she doesn’t seem very strong, I’m inclined to believe him. Also, even if Alcyone was strong, she doesn’t have the personality to do harm. She’s more of a caretaker to Philomela than anything else. And, we saw that she’s already befriending Chise, too.

With that said, Alcyone is dangerous in a sense. She’s dangerous because she’s a way for Philomela’s grandmother to exert control. All it took was one voice recording from her grandmother, and Philomela broke again. When she’s desperate like that, there’s no telling what Philomela might do. And that’s what’s dangerous.

Something to keep in mind, though, is that Alcyone doesn’t realize what’s happened. She doesn’t know that she gave Philomela a message from her grandmother. So, when Philomela starts acting strangely, Alcyone won’t understand why that is.

And, this is where my next prediction comes in. I’m predicting that Philomela will disappear and that Alcyone will go to Chise for help.

I’m also predicting Chise will find Philomela with the Testament of Carnamagos. It might not be in Philomela’s possession; I don’t think she stole it. But, wherever Philomela ends up will be where the person who stole the book is.

Sorcerers and Mages and Witches, Oh My!

Back in Season 2 Episode 2, we learned the difference between sorcerers and mages. What we didn’t learn is how witches fit into this system. And now, we have a pair of witches who are doing some very un-witchlike things.

Marielle and Isaac (not Isaac Fowler) are the two witches in question. And, from my understanding, we’re supposed to already know who they are. I do not. I remember Marielle from earlier in this season when she visited the college. But, I don’t remember her from Season 1. And while Isaac looks familiar, I don’t remember him, either.

Maybe witches were already explained years ago and I’m forgetting that, too. But, let’s pretend they weren’t. What are witches and how are they different from sorcerers and mages? What’s immediately clear is that witches in this series aren’t your typical witches.

Instead, witches seem to specialize in investigating magic crimes. Though, that’s not to say that being a witch is the same as being the magic police. There’s no indication that being a witch is a job title, just like being a mage or sorcerer isn’t. So, what can we infer from this?

Basically, mages must use magic in a different way than those other two categories. And due to the way they use magic, it makes them more suited to investigating. How do they use magic? Based on what we’ve seen, they’re able to read others’ memories and share their own.

I don’t know if they can do more than this. But, we’ve seen Marielle do this at least three times in this season alone. First, she dove into Lucy’s memories and learned of Carnamagos’s involvement. Next, she shared her own memories with Isaac. And finally, she shared her memories with the magic shopkeep to get information.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 14? Why do you think Philomela was at the scene of the Webster Tragedy, as was implied? Do you think Alcyone actually poses a threat? And, what do you think separates witches from mages and sorcerers? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 15 is available now.

The College on Lockdown

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 13 is the first episode of Part 2 of the season. Part 1 ended with Episode 12 back in June. And this episode picks up from where that one left off. There’s no time skip or anything like that.

At the end of the previous episode, the college principal decided to implement a lockdown. Nobody can enter or leave the college, either physically or by magical means. Though, I wonder if the barrier could stop Elias if he wanted to get out.

There were two reasons for this lockdown — one of which the principal reiterated in Episode 13. That reason is to locate the source of the attacks on the college students and staff. If the attacks continue, the source is within the college. If they stop, the source is outside the college.

Well, that’s the idea behind this first reason for the lockdown. In practice, I’m not sure how well it would work. Couldn’t the attacker simply stop attacking during the lockdown? I mean, that’s what I would do. If they lay low, it may be difficult for the college faculty to discover their identity.

The second reason for the lockdown is the meddling of the Sargeant family. The head of the family wants Philomela to drop out. But, Philomela doesn’t want to leave. And, the principal finds the timing of this request pretty suspicious. The Sargeant family is a family of assassins, after all.

Now, this is unrelated, but, I need to comment on the title of this episode, “Nothing venture, nothing have.” Whoever translated that title from Japanese into English did a pretty poor job. Do they not know the saying is “Nothing ventured, nothing gained?” That was a pretty cringe translation.

Mandatory Lessons

When the college goes under lockdown, the students receive extra, mandatory lessons. One reason for these mandatory lessons is probably to keep track of the students. If you know they’re in class, you don’t have to worry about them as much. They’re accounted for.

But, the more important reason for these classes is what they teach. The mandatory lesson we saw Chise and her classmates had was on self-defense. If the college is under lockdown, it means there are threats to the students out there. And if there are threats to the students, the students need to be able to defend themselves.

Considering this is a magic college, you’d expect the students to defend themselves with magic. But, that’s not what this lesson is about. It’s about defending themselves with weapons. Why? Because they’re not skilled enough to rely on magic at this point.

Chise might be fine defending herself with magic. However, as Zaccheroni explains, it’s often easier to just use physical force instead. Why use magic when a weapon will get the job done? Also, using magic properly requires significant concentration. Would the students be able to concentrate under the pressure of being attacked? No.

In the end, all of the students manage to defeat their respective familiars. But, some have an easier time than others. For example, Chise and Rian have no trouble. Though, in Chise’s case, this is thanks to the dragon’s curse. It took control of her body and killed the familiar for her.

Someone I expected to have no trouble with this task is Philomela. She comes from an assassin family, after all. But, it looks like Philomela doesn’t actually have what it takes to be an assassin. She was struggling to keep it together after killing the familiar.

Chise & the Dragon’s Curse

This episode wasn’t the only time the dragon’s curse saved Chise. It also saved her at least once in the first half of the season. But, why is this the case? Why would a dragon’s curse be protecting her?

I’m pretty sure I covered this in one of my earlier episode reviews. But, I’ll go over it again anyway. What do we know the curse did to Chise? It gave her all of the dragon’s memories. It allows the dragon to control her body temporarily. And, it gave her a cool black arm that can turn scaley.

What does that all point to? It points to Chise being a vessel for the dragon. My assumption is that the dragon’s curse is going to continue taking over her body. And, the end result that the dragon wants is for Chise’s body to become its own.

So, we shouldn’t think of it as the dragon’s curse protecting Chise. We should think of it as the dragon’s curse protecting the dragon’s future body. It doesn’t care about Chise as a person. That’s why, when the dragon’s curse takes over, it makes Chise do things she doesn’t want to do.

We’ve also seen that a few people recognize Chise isn’t normal. The first person at the college to realize this was Zoe. He was afraid of Chise because he could feel the dragon’s curse within her. He didn’t think she was human.

And now, it looks like Zaccheroni realizes this, as well. He already knew Chise was unique because she could see the special plants in the waste tower. I think only those who have killed someone can see them. But now, he’s also seen the inhumane strength Chise has thanks to her curse.

Final Thoughts

What do you think of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Episode 13? Could Elias escape from the locked-down college if he wanted to? Which students did you expect to perform the best during the mandatory lesson? And, how do you think Chise will beat the dragon’s curse? Let me know in the comments.

If you enjoyed this review, remember to share it with everyone you know. Also, follow me on your social media of choice so you don’t miss out on any future articles — links are in the footer.

Finally, I’d like to thank Roman and JasonHK for supporting DoubleSama.com at the Heika tier this month. To learn more about supporting this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Episode 14 is available now.