3 Episode Impression: Mahoutsukai no Yome

Synopsis

Chise is a young woman who hasn’t has the easiest of lives, and in this rocky path she finds herself at a slave auction. When she is purchased by the mysterious Magus Elias, she finds a new door open to her and a new life awaiting as an apprentice and future wife.

The Good

With just three episodes the series has established a beautiful art and animation style with wonderful nature scenes, clever landscaping which made scenes looking bigger than they are and just presents a general visual pleasure. Then there is the magical scenes; though there aren’t many, the ones that do appear are worth looking out for as its animation makes for unique style of its own.

The concept of the story itself is an interesting concept that holds both thought provoking scenes and heartfelt scenes. With the world building aspect of the series, it gives a solid explanation to many things without being too overboard and it also present new and unique ideas that makes it its own. Things like the fairies and the way that alchemy and magic works are nice little touches to the story.

Another highlight so far is the way that the animation of the series works. During certain scenes that involve sitting down and discussing things, a lot of series make their surroundings rather stagnant to take focus on the discussion. But here it is interesting to see that there are still things going on around the character and a character who is listening actually interacting with other things in the room or doing their own thing, it seems more human and relatable.

There are many positive aspects to be found with the episodes so far and from what is shown so far there is much potential for growth and development.

The Bad

One point that can be said against the series is the exploration of the emotional factors. While we do get into the heartfelt and sombre in different times in different episodes, but there could have been more than that. While there are amazing visuals going on and the scenes lays itself it out  like the manga, there could have a deeper look into the the mentality of the characters. Like what are Elias’ thoughts as things happened to Chise or how Chise herself is handling certain things, just the basic mentality of the two could have been explored more.

Then there is the romance, while is established that Elias deeply cares for Chise and Chise has dedicated herself to Elias, it would have been nice to have seen like a few scenes of build up between the two. On one hand, they hold an interesting and sweet dynamic to them but on the other hand it feels rather rushed. In fact a lot of points in the series seems a little bit rushed. Like, one moment they are learning on what can help Chise in her new studies then the next they are off to check on dragons. Perhaps it is just this author’s opinion, but they could have stretched things out a bit.

Overall, these are the only issues to be found in the series so far and from a look from the bigger picture, it could be improved in future episodes. There is a lot to admire from this series, however, not even a series with as many good qualities as this be completely perfect.

Conclusion

This by far is one of the best fantasy series to come out in a long time in this author’s opinion and to think it is only in it’s third episode. Sure, they are some issues with the development of certain scenes and portrayals of certain character traits. But the balance of the genres and the measured amount of magic scenes shown brings up a lot of potential for the series. The art and design is an appealing visual and the way that they manage to make things bigger than they seem and present beautiful scenery along with the fantasy elements.

Story wise, there is much depth to it as stated and many thought provoking moments. But at the same things didn’t get as properly as explored with how faithful the series seems to be to the source material. While not bad as a whole, there is a limit to things. Overall there is a lot of good, some bad but an overall enjoyable experience to have with this series so far.

Rating: 8.5/10