The Ancient Magus’ Bride – Season 2 Episode 11 Recap & Review

The small leak will sink a great ship. I

Episode 11 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 begins with Marielle informing Chise about The Testament of Carnamagos. Marielle confirms Lucy’s power will continue to be drained by the user even if they supply her with more power. Elias attempts to track down the user. His attempts fail because he believes it’s the nature of the spell or the user’s concealing themselves. Chise wants to help Elias, but he tells her to let the adults handle it. Alexandra supports Elias’s stance and tells Chise to focus on her classes and keep quiet about their discussion.

Chise bumps into Philomela, and Philomela asks if Chise can give her another pouch of potpourri since the one she has is fading away. Chise asks Philomela if she’d like to make some potpourri with her sometime, and Philomela says she’d like to down the road. While learning about rune sorcery from their instructor, Chise notices a rune with a peculiar symbol. The teacher explains it’s called Thurisaz, used for protection purposes, but he doesn’t recommend it. While the other students work on making a rune-themed amulet, Zoe asks Chise about Lucy.

Zoe visits Lucy after getting permission from Alexandra. Lucy asks Zoe if he can pet his snakes, and Zoe allows it. She opens up about owning numerous spiders, while Zoe says she shouldn’t be quick to ask Gorgons to touch their snakes since it has special meaning to them. Meanwhile, Chise tells Silver she’ll be living at the college until they solve the Lucy problem and comments about Elias’s development of having a friend. Chise visits the back passage’s gatekeeper dogs and brings them the sheep she promised in the previous chapter. It appears Hazel lent Chise the sheep. She’s upset she couldn’t repay the back passage dogs herself, and Hazel finds Chise foolish for helping people who had no qualms about ending her life. Hazel scolds Chise for taking bad bets with life.

Meanwhile, Tory and Narcisse help with trick-or-treat duties since the other instructors handle problems that arise from book theft and attacks. Despite having impressive knowledge, Narcisse says he’s not interested in the college’s problems and wants to let the kids enjoy the Halloween-themed events. Alice bumps into some kids and asks one of them for their costumes.

Meanwhile, Chise meets Lucy and Zoe, who get into a mild disagreement. Lucy wants to work on Halloween, but Zoe feels she should get rest to avoid collapsing again. Rian and Isaac arrive as Zoe confirms Lucy wants to visit the waste tower. Isaac and Rian explain what it holds to Chise. Lucy attempts to leave, but Zoe and Chise insist on visiting the waste tower in her stead.

Zoe, Chise, Rian, and Isaac convince Lucy to stay in bed and head for the waste tower. They find Philomela with one of the instructors and explain Lucy’s situation to the instructor. The person introduces themselves as Fabio and plans to show them what they’ll collect in the waste tower.

At the same time, Lucy chats with Ruth. Ruth tells Lucy not to try anything reckless just as Ms. Wachmann enters her room and tells Lucy she’ll be assigning her a new and less dangerous gathering task.

Philomela tells Chise to be weary of Fabio as he opens the entrance to the waste tower and warns the group of its dangers. The episode closes with Grandmother opening letters and learning that Philomela plans to withdraw from the college.

The Episode Review

With one more episode left, episode 12 may end on a cliffhanger. There are still many mysteries and areas this arc of The Ancient Magus’ Bride has to explore, and it wouldn’t sit well with many fans if they tried cramming it all in the season finale. Therefore, it’s best to expect the perpetrator behind the attacks on Simeon, Lucy, and the others to reveal themselves in the finale.

Whether it be Philomela, Fabio, or someone else working for Grandmother is yet to be determined. However, there’s a chance the person could be the same being who was watching Philomela and Chise discuss the potpourri scenario in the college’s garden. As for this chapter, it was rather slow but touched upon Chise’s issues with looking after herself.

It was great to see Hazel give Chise advice on the subject as it could play a huge role in her inevitable encounter with the college’s enemy. As for Elias, it’s great to see him establish closer connections with new people other than Chise. It helps in making him feel more human, rounded, and less lonely as a character. Overall, this was a fine chapter of the anime and I’m looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for Chise and her friends in the season finale.