MAHOUTSUKAI NO YOME

DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA DramaMahoutsukai no Yome
ONA ComedyMahoyome
ONA FantasyMahoutsukai no Yome: Gakuin-hen
OVA DramaMahoutsukai no Yome: Nishi no Shounen to Seiran no Kishi
OVA DramaMahoutsukai no Yome: Hoshi Matsu Hito

REVIEWS

• 

  Hula

  40/100
  A lukewarm experience of a halfassed anime. Spoilers included.

  Intro:

  The anime starts off as extremely promising and engaging but then quickly starts losing momentum and turns into a generic mediocre-at-best animu in the end. Many people mindlessly praise this anime and some go even as far as calling it the anime of the season. I think it's greatly overrated and I can't help it but to point out some of its many flaws and shortcomings.

  __SPOILERS INCLUDED.__ _(Disclaimer: I did not read the manga.)_ _inhales..._ BOI.

  Characters

  Let's start off with my biggest issue with this anime, the characters. The way the show introduces characters doesn't feel fleshed out and they have minimal backstories which feel horribly rushed.

  They kept dropping in so many interesting characters in the most spontaneous way who were many times more interesting than the actual main storydriven characters and I think they did not give them enough backstory/introduction. It was as if they were just checking off tick-boxes for the quota of characters that they would need to ex-machina-the-story further.
  They needed someone to help craft Chise a magical staff/wand. So they introduced Lindel, the ancient dragon-keeper mage. Lindel has also known Elias for ages. Sounds pretty interesting, right?
  Well, Lindel helped her make the staff in one episode and was shown in Elias' one-episode-backstory and was never relevant in another episode again, excluding the maybe 60 seconds where they showed the kidnapping of the dragonling. That's it.
  Even worse with Rahab, the mage/mentor/teacher to Elias and Lindel. She seems like a super interesting character who could really shed some light on the whole mystery behind Elias, right? Well, she got maybe 5 minutes of screentime at most.

  Why bother introducing characters that feel interesting and relevant to the story when you just sweep them under the rug in the next episode. It's really disappointing and this trend kept repeating.

  Now let's look at Elias, one of the two main characters. He was obviously the most interesting character and we did not find out shit about him in the end. I can't help but hate the fact that they left Elias without a proper backstory.
  As for Chise, I really liked how they introduced her and I kind of liked her backstory in the first episodes, but in the end it boiled down to her being a whiny suicidal brat. They then tried to make her super compassionate and whatnot, but that just didn't sell. She felt really shallow no matter what the show tried to make of her and I could not find a single aspect which I would like about the character.

  Art

  The art is very inconsistent. At some points they use beautifully drawn top-tier backgrounds (e.g. some forest scenes etc.) and in contrast to that they sometimes butcher it with the most generic nondescript smudged rock-n-grass/wall-n-one-piece-of-furniture backgrounds you can think of. Vibrant and detailed vs. empty and nondescript. I really hated how it alternated between said designs. You could easily notice this with static scenes and moving scenes, where a static scene would look incomparably better.
  I know it was most likely because of budget constraints, but that is not an excuse in my eyes. You should try to make your art look consistent throughout the whole show.
  Sidenote: The chibi parts which were supposed to act as comic relief felt out of place and didn't belong into the anime which is trying this hard to be a drama.

  Soundtrack/Effects

  I will try to make this section very brief. I will also disregard the opening and ending songs.
  The music and effects were the redeeming qualities of this anime. I loved how they fleshed out the birds and whatnot in the forest scenes, the background music was really decent and it all managed to fit together really well, especially with the whole celtic/anglosaxon/gaelic music themes during fairy scenes for example.

  Verdict

  As previously stated, the anime is very engaging at first and then goes into very mediocre levels. The main characters are half-decent.
  Elias' story is feels heavily neglected and I doubt I'm the only one who would love to know what turned him into a skullheaded thornmonster.
  Chise's character barely experiences any growth or personality change throughout the whole anime and she seems like a whiny spineless burden to the whole story and finally grows as a character in the last couple episodes, essentially making you sit through maybe 18 out of 24 episodes of watching a unstable teenage girl wading through pools of her own tears, just like Shinji Akari who atleast had the balls to rub one out to a comatose girl.

  TLDR:
  This anime lacked consistency, had too many time and budget constraints, felt rushed, the story was all over the place, the drama was forced at times, it could not make the main grill likeable and left too many questions unanswered and story points unfinished.

  Should you watch it?

  Only if you have nothing better to do.

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• 

  Raeign

  80/100
  Great visuals and soundtrack. Characterisation could do with some improvements. Lackluster ending.

  Spoiler alert

  Great visuals and soundtrack. Characterisation could do with some improvements. At times it seems unbelievable, especially since Chise apparently was abused, yet she seemed open to others, trusting. But it's forgivable, especially since it tries to provide some reasons for why this is so. Eventhough it doesnt come under scrunity in the context of normal human behaviour, I think it's safe to say Chise is far from normal. Mage dude's attitude was also more pleasant than expected, especially given his background. It would perhaps have made more sense to the viewer to provide these justifications for how and why the characters moved beyond their past to overcome their environment. As the viewer we miss these scenes, and it detracts away from the realism, and becomes a shoddy imitation of the human psyche.

  I really liked the ending where Chise drew a moral equivalence between her self and others. Violence towards one self, in her so called self sacrifice that was inherently selfish, and the sudden realisation of it was a nice touch. However the major flaw was that it wasnt drawn out. Chise knew it was wrong, but how she would end this conundrum wasnt delved into. In fact the ending was lackluster. There were a lot of loose ends that needed tying up. It almost seems like there will have to be a 2nd season just to resolve everything. If there isnt, the score will have to be lower. I'd still give it a 8 however, because one of the greatest strengths of the anime is the wealth of research that has lovingly gone into the myths and legends. The animation and the music score are top tier as well, and I'm a sucker for atmosphere, regardless of the storyline.

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• 

  AmishaelAL

  90/100
  Serene, imaginative, quiet, and emotional, you'll love it by the time you're finished

  I’d call Mahoutsukai no Yome a very wholesome anime. It contains loads of different genres that are normally incompatible, but here are all beautifully melded together to create a work of art. There are aspects of drama, horror, comedy, slice-of-life, adventure, and even romance. And of course, it’s set in a fantasy world.

  It has a unique pace; sometimes large amounts of screen-time are dedicated to small details and sometimes the anime will almost disjointedly jump from one scene to another. This can be quite disconcerting and takes some getting used to. However it is resolved several episodes in, and the anime begins to feel much more like a proper story. Or maybe you do just get used to it after a while. In any case, the second half of the series reveals the actual plot, and from there on the anime changes and becomes more focussed story-wise instead of staying events and environment based. I do also think the quality of the anime improves enormously from this point on.

  The majority of the first cour is essentially what I’d call standalone episodes, you don’t generally need to have seen the previous one to understand. Chise is introduced to various characters and magical creatures, and helps them out of difficulties whilst simultaneously bonding with Elias. The fantasy world is explored minimally; information is provided on a need-to-know basis and exposition is scarce. Rather than being a source of frustration, this actually adds to the sense of mystery. It’s a bit like the Harry Potter Universe, so much remained unexplained even at the end but that just made it more intriguing.
  The second half deals much more with the main antagonist. The anime delves into backstories in depth, explores the meaning of relationships and dependency, and brings a lot of the seemingly unconnected elements in the first half together. There are a lot more emotional moments and a lot more action scenes, leading up to a thrilling climax that will leave you on the edge of your seat and then a wonderful conclusion. Not exactly what you’d expect given the tranquillity of the first half.

  The art and animation are breath-taking. The scenery is stunning, the character’s faces show their emotions brilliantly (except for Elias, obviously), and the chibi moments are quite cute and add a sense of light-heartedness.

  The music is absolutely phenomenal. All of it. The openings, endings, OSTs were all literally music to my ears. The first opening theme (as well as being one of the best I’ve ever heard), perfectly encapsulates the tone of the series.

  But the characters are where it really gets interesting. Both the MCs actually grow massively throughout the series. Chise changes from a listless, withdrawn individual into a person who’s not afraid to speak her mind and will go to any lengths to help a friend. Elias develops from a stone-hearted and lonely individual into a being who starts to realise what kindness, friendship and selflessness actually are. Both of them still have a long way to go – Elias has only just begun to understand emotions after all – but watching such brilliant character development is immensely satisfying.

  It’s done realistically too. Neither of them change overnight, they clearly grow as a result of the challenges they struggle through. Painful backstories, dependency, loss and betrayal; each of these things leaves an impact. Chise, in particular, agonises over some aspects of her life but eventually makes the decision to either accept them or change them. Others help show her the way, but she ultimately decides for herself.

  The majority of the supporting characters are memorable and a fair amount of them also have a good level of development. Insights into Lindel’s, Silky’s and of course Ruth’s pasts bring a lot more depth to them. Cartaphilus’ backstory and subsequent actions after it was revealed managed to completely alter my opinion of him (and secured him a place in my list of famed villains), and characters like Oberon and Titania were just enjoyable to watch. I couldn’t help feeling excited every time I saw them pop up (whether they were bringing bad news or good).

  Now to open up the can of worms.
  As for the complaints circulating around the internet that this glorifies human trafficking – I guess I can see why people think that way, even if I personally don’t. But if all human trafficking worked like this – ‘victim’ gets taken by their own choice, given good food, a warm place to stay with their own room and their own space when they need it, a loyal companion who cares about them, the opportunity to study and practice medicine and magic from a brilliant teacher, and the ability to leave and go off by themselves if they actually wanted to badly enough, I think the world would be a much better place. This is nothing like actual human trafficking, it’s an anime about magic and MCs almost always have tragic pasts. Yes, both of them are far too dependent on each other, but this anime isn’t going for a model relationship. It’s about emotionally damaged people slowly bonding.
  And as for becoming his bride, the vibe we get from the story is that Elias wouldn’t make Chise do anything she was really against unless it was for her own good (cos she’s selfless enough to risk her life for basically anyone who asks for help), so even that would end up being consensual or just not happen. Sure she’s underage now, but a) he’s not human b) he’s not planning to marry her for a while. It’s hard to talk about age gaps and glorifying paedophilia when one of the love interests is immortal and the other is doomed to die young. Besides, everyone has their own view on what a competent adult is anyway. Chise isn’t portrayed as a child; she’s more mature than most of the actual adults in the anime.
  I’m not going to discuss this in any more detail, at the end of the day there will always be people who interpret things differently. (It’s one of the things that makes life so interesting, after all.)
  
  So what did I think of this anime? I liked it tremendously, but took a while to get there. I thought it was good from the beginning, but only really got invested in it about halfway through. I’d definitely say it was a worthwhile watch though.

  It’s probably one to go for if you’re in the mood for something that’s serene, quiet, and emotional, but does show a sense of adventure from time to time. XD

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