The Ancient Magus’ Bride – Season 2 Episode 19 Recap & Review

Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity

Episode 19 of The Ancient Magus’ Bride Season 2 begins with Philomela urging Quillyn to reopen the College again. Seeing how she’s affecting instructors and students, Quilly has Florence remove the barrier over the College. Gregory attempts to assault Philomela but Alcyone protects her. Suddenly, the female werewolf arrives and flees with Philomela and Alycone. We cut to everyone meeting in the College’s hospital area. Chise and her friends tell Quillyn they want to chase after Philomela. 

Quillyn says it’d be unwise since Philomela’s already losing her humanity. After Chise and Quillyn argue about Philomela for a bit, Elias reminds Chise of her mage status. He learns Chise formed a contract with Philomela and tells Quillyn he plans to help Chise upload her duties as a mage. Zaccheroni, Lucy, and the others wish to tag along with Chise and Elias on their endeavors. Elias says they can but he won’t be responsible for their safety. Suddenly, Chise’s inner dragon powers kick in, resulting in Elias using his powers. 

They all flee the College. We cut to Maribel and her companion discussing something at a cafe. They sense Chise’s dragon energy and wonder what’s going on. Philomela, the female werewolf, and Alcyone return to Lizbeth’s home to give her the magic book. Philomela asks her if she’ll get to see her parents again. Lizbeth ignores her question and asks Alcyone to take her somewhere by sundown. Lucy and the others wake up inside Elias’s underground veins.

Chise arrives at Lizbeth’s domain and encounters the mysterious woman from episode 18. This woman uses her powers to peck one of Lizbeth’s henchmen’s eyes. Meanwhile, Philomela asks Alcyone if Lizbeth will uphold her end of the bargain concerning her parents. She wonders why she wants to see them again in the first place. Alcyone’s unsure what to do in this situation.

The episode closes with her recalling a moment when Philomela’s father and mother tasked her with watching over Philomela when she was a toddler. 

The Episode Review

We’re slowly reaching the climax of the College portion of this story. After last week’s reveal, fans were curious to see why Philomela went through with harming the students and staff at the school. It appears Philomela carried out this mission just to reunite with her parents again, which was hinted at nicely in prior chapters of this anime’s season. 

Yet, as the series shows, Lizbeth is not the most trustworthy individual. It’s unfortunate, but given what we know of her character and what she’s done to others, it makes sense for Lizbeth to be a shady person. Hopefully, she’ll get her comeuppance by this season’s end for her evil crimes. As for Chise, it was nice seeing her stand her ground against Lady Quillyn. 

Although Philomela may be a broken individual, Chise forged a tight connection with her over time. At the same time, it was nice seeing Elias stand up for Chise and break down the differences between Magus’s and typical mages in front of Quillyn. While some fans will be baffled by Chise’s inner dragon powers kicking in, others who’ve stuck with the series will understand the phenomena behind it all.

Still, it’d been great if they’d explained that bit better for those who’ve forgotten about that aspect of her character. Overall, this was a fine episode of the series. It had touching segments and set us up for a background-heavy chapter involving Alcyone, Philomela, and her parents. I’m interested in gaining more insight into their relationship next week.