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EP. REVIEW: The Ancient Magus' Bride

Yeah, the business with Shannon and the lake was one of my least favorite scenes in the source manga. Even though I understood the point of what Shannon was doing, I thought it was awfully heavy-handed and got hand-waved too easily. Sadly, the anime version didn't handle it much better, although intercutting it with scenes of Elias talking to Titania was a nice touch.

Also glad to see Silky's story included, as I was concerned that it might get skipped in the interest of hurrying the story along. (And speaking of that, is anyone else familiar with the manga also getting the impression of the pace being hurried along now compared to earlier in the story?)

Elias getting excited about identifying the feeling of anger

Ruth is the best boy. Hands down.

Interesting that you view Renfred giving Alice the option of leaving behind a life where her parents addicted her and forced her into selling drugs as a "kidnapping." In any case, my interpretation is that he didn't do it out of pity or questionable motives. My interpretation is that vial of orange liquid that crystallized was some sort of sorcerer litmus test that showed she had sorcerer potential. But yes, leaving her on the streets as an addicted child drug dealer would have been SOOOO much less creepy.

My take is that all Renfred did was rescue a person with magic talent. Unlike the Chise/Elias pairing, there is no indication that he intends to make her is "bride". Also he has shown no romantic interest in her at all. I have to wonder what he would have done if the stuff in the test tube hadn't changed, rescind the offer??

While Renfred (and you) may be aware of what service the UK provides for drug addicted street kids, that is asking an awful lot of the Japanese author.

the worst for me was how Elias spied on her the whole time and then followed it up with the generic "I'm only looking out for you" excuse.

I'm really not clear what can be pointed to as a sign of Renfred being creepy, either. Even just based on the animated content, he's given not the slightest hint of any untoward intentions towards Alice and has previously demonstrated that he cares about her in a fatherly fashion.

I didn't like that either, but neither he nor Chise are honest with each other. She wanted to go but didn't think he'd allow it. He let her escape but tracked her movements. They need to work things like this out. Elias especially needs to figure out how to let Chise have a relationship with Alice that both women desperately need.

I would have been especially disappointed if I were Chise and learned Elias had watched me buy his present and thus spoil the surprise!

Given how thoroughly Chise has demonstrated a penchant for getting into sometimes-life-threatening trouble and exercising questionable judgment, and the fact that her special nature can literally attract problems, I'd say it would be irresponsible of Elias not to keep tabs on her when she slinks off like she did.