The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 Review

Magic Academy Arc

The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 (Mahoutsukai no Yome Season 2 / 魔法使いの嫁 SEASON2) is, obviously, the 2nd Sason of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. But, it’s also pretty different from the 1st Season, in contrast to Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear Punch!

This season of the series takes place almost entirely at the Magic College. This is a school for sorcerers and mages located somewhere beneath London. And, if you want to know the differences between sorcerers and mages, my Episode 2 review covered that.

Now, something I’ve said before on this blog is that I don’t like “magic academy” stuff very much. Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, I’m sure the current magic academy arc in Mushoku Tensei Season 2 will be good. But, I always prefer exploring the world of a series over being locked in a school.

But, I actually don’t think this season is any worse than the first, despite the setting. And there are two reasons for this. First, we get a lot of lore from this season, which I like. And second, this season felt quite a bit darker than the first.

On the lore front, we get to learn about the various, important magic families. We also get to learn about the aforementioned difference between sorcerers and mages. And, we learn about the dangerous creatures that inhabit the “other side.” There are more than just dragons.

That’s not to say this arc is great or anything, though. It’s fine. There are plenty of bad things about it, too. I don’t particularly like most of the new characters. And the story of this arc, outside of the lore, isn’t very interesting, either. Someone at the College is after Chise, oh no!

Chise’s New Friends

There are quite a few new characters in this season, many of whom are Chise’s classmates. The most important of these are Lucy, Zoe, Rian, Philomela, and maybe Isaac. Not every student at the college is a new character, though. Alice Swayne returns from Season 1, as well.

Lucy Webster is Chise’s roommate at school. Her family, the Webster clan, were the victims of a massacre that left only her and her brother alive. Lucy’s family was also once known for their magic spiders whose silk was used to create magic books.

Zoe Ivey (Ivy?) is half human and half gorgon. When his headphones are removed, his snake hair goes wild. Possibly due to his gorgon instincts, Zoe is afraid of Chise at first. He can tell that something about her isn’t human. And, he’d be right. Chise is carrying a dragon’s curse in her body.

Rian Scrimgeour is Chise’s first friend at the College. He comes from one of the Seven Shields families that founded the school. But, Rian doesn’t want anything to do with his family. He also wants Chise to teach him magecraft since, unlike most of her classmates, she’s a mage, not a sorcerer.

Philomela Sargant (Sargeant?) is a cousin of Rian. However, the two of them don’t get along. That’s probably because Philomela is from a branch family that works as assassins. This also causes Lucy to hate Philomela due to the whole Webster Tragedy. Though, there’s no evidence Philomela had anything to do with that.

The last student I want to mention isn’t Isaac. It’s Alice, Chise’s friend from before she attended the College. Since it’s been so long since Season 1, I forgot Alice existed. And her new, short hairstyle didn’t help. But, Alice might be my favorite student.

Darker Than Season 1

Earlier in this review, I mentioned that Season 2 is darker than Season 1. What did I mean by that? Well, of course, there’s the story of Lucy’s family getting slaughtered. That’s pretty dark, sure. But, that’s not what I meant.

What I meant is that the things we learn about the world in this season are much darker. Specifically, when we learn about the various beasts that call the “other side” home. There are the Hound Dogs, the Nuckelavee, the Each-Uisge, and the curse of Carnamagos.

The Hound Dogs are one-eyed dog-like creatures that reside in the back passages. To traverse their domain, an offering must be made and a contract “signed.” If you break the contract, the Hound Dogs will hunt you down for the rest of your life. That’s pretty terrifying. But, they’re not the worst of the bunch.

The Nuckelavee is a large creature resembling a centaur. It also only has a single, large eye. But, what makes the Nuckelavee so scary is what it says to Chise. It tells her that as long as she looks “behind the shadow,” it will not spare her. And, it implies it’s not alone in that.

So, what about the Each-Uisge? At first, it doesn’t seem that scary. It looks like a water horse. But, the Each-Uisge is a creature that lures people onto its back, then drags them into the water and eats them. And, Chise almost became its snack.

Finally, we have the curse of Carnamagos. This isn’t exactly a creature, per se. It’s the embodiment of one or many of the curses found in The Testament of Carnamagos, a forbidden book. We really don’t know much about it other than that it’s bad news and can kill people.

Conclusion

In the end, I rated The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 at a 6/10. That’s the same score I gave the first season. But, since it’s been so long since I’ve seen the first season, I can’t say which I prefer. What I can say is that I prefer the OP song from Season 1.

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 becoming a supporter of this blog, check out Patreon.com/DoubleSama.

My review of Season 2 Part 2 is available now.