The Ancient Magus’ Bride – Season 2 Episode 3 Recap & Review

Birds of a feather flock together II

Episode 3 of The Ancient Magus Bride Season 2 begins with Tory greeting Rian and Chise. Tory tells Chise that he and Rian have a tight student-teacher relationship. Rian asks Chise and Alice to follow him since he knows where Elias went. While walking, Rian asks Alice if he can observe Alice’s magical capabilities since he knows she’s skilled.

Alice admits she doesn’t want to become a mage; she wants to become her master’s bodyguard. Her familiar pops up and disses Rian’s strength. Rian admits he wants to learn magic so he can make Tory proud. Meanwhile, Renfred yells at Elias and warns him to be more careful. Narcisse notices Chise, Rian, and Alice looking at them from behind the door. Narcisse welcomes Chise to the school and says he’ll teach her everything she needs to know about the Language Arts. Chise, Rian, and the others plan to visit the cafeteria for food. Narcisse stumbles upon a man named Gregory. Gregory asks Narcisse for intel about Chise.

Narcisse tells him Chise is normal and won’t be a detriment to the staff or college. Gregory asks Narcisse to inform him if she or any other student acts out of line. In the cafeteria, Rian tells Elias and Chise about the cafeteria’s rules. A girl named Beatrice invites Chise, Elias, and Rian to eat with them. At the table, other students introduce themselves, and Beatrice confirms everyone’s from the primary division. Chise spots her roommate Lucy eating alone at the table, but Sofia claims she always does that. At the same time, Chise spots Veronica, Philomela, and two other students.

Beatrice confirms those four always like eating together. Suddenly, Zoe acts strange at the table and excuses himself. Elias asks Chise if she’s okay, and Chise tells him she’s fine. Lucy glares at the group and wonders what the point of becoming friends with people is if they’ll be enemies anyway. Alone, Zoe wonders what’s wrong with Chise and Elias. Adolf calls his pal Lindel at night via his magical device. Adolf tells Lindel that Elias has become an instructor at the college. He asks Lindel if Elias ever attempted to harm someone in front of him. The next morning, Elias stumbles upon Chise and Ruth relaxing by a tree.

Chise’s worn out by his first week of College, but she’s found a goal she wants to complete. She tells Elias only a few things are bothering her. Lucy won’t pay her any mind, and Zoe is afraid of her. Elias admits he’s been tired and has been feeling a lot of warmth. Chise helps Elias rest on the ground.

Afterward, she, Elias, Ruth, and Silver attend to the garden to harvest pumpkins. During their activity, Elias shares a tale about the Samhain Festival. Chise heads to the river to wash pumpkins. At the river, Chise ends up breaking the pumpkins due to her overwhelming strength. She receives a flashback depicting her having bloody hands.

Suddenly, Chise sees Joseph, who tells Chise he still hasn’t received an answer from her. Ruth tells Chise someone wants to meet her, and it’s her baker friend Stella. Elias allows Chise, Ruth, and Stella to head to their home. He promises to finish the work with the pumpkins. The episode concludes with Chise and Ruth getting teleported to a misty terrain.

The Episode Review

This was a peaceful and mysterious chapter of The Ancient Magus Bride Season 2. The anime continues setting up more mysteries for viewers to ponder over and places Chise and Ruth in a misty location. Based on the preview toward the end, it appears Rahab has sent them there. Why Rahab did such a thing, remains unclear.

However, it may have ties to Elias since we receive a shot of Rahab after Lindel and Adolf’s conversation concerning Elias’s possible violent habits. It was nice getting to meet new characters at the school, but it feels like some will be tossed aside in favor of others. Characters like Zoe, Philomela, Beatrice, Lucy, Rian, and Veronica feel like prime candidates to receive great development.

This is based on how much attention they received in this episode and prior ones. Lucy, Zoe, and Philomela have the potential to stand out the most due to having quirks that are different from their other classmates. On that note, the episode could have benefitted from giving viewers some background details on Joseph and Stella given it’s been a while since we last saw these characters.

Overall, this was a decent chapter of The Ancient Magus’ Bride. It had wholesome humor, a mysterious aura, and introduces fans to new characters with great potential. Hopefully, we’ll start receiving more fun college antics and answers to the questions the story has yet to answer.