The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2

Episode 17

The walls of the College have been closing in for a long while, and it was only a matter of time before something, or many somethings, finally snapped. That's what finally happens with this episode, but it's hard to tell for certain at first. From the outside, it seems like one of the biggest mysteries – the attacks draining people of their magic, now through their dreams – resolves itself. After getting a bulk purchase of magic power when it encounters Chise, the entity seemingly breaks its connection to its victims and stops pursuing anyone, leaving the school to slowly inch back towards an uneasy normalcy. It's only in the final moments that things begin to spiral once more, leaving much of this episode feeling like an eerie calm before the storm.

In some ways, that's frustrating. After weeks of delving into the cast's emotions and motivations, we quite suddenly pull back into a holding pattern, with the audience being drip-fed morsels of darker portents while daily life at the school continues. On the other hand, it allows for a few more moments of camaraderie to play out among these kids, and even among some of the...well, I guess Elias is technically an adult, but I don't know how to classify Alcyone. Is there an age of majority for constructed spirits?

Either way, Alcyone's heart-to-heart with Elias is probably my favorite part of this episode. Elias himself has taken a backseat as Chise has come into her own with the rest of the students. However, I like that he's still clearly growing in his own right, as evidenced by the advice he offers Alcyone about the distance that's developed between herself and Philomela. We, of course, know that happened because the familiar has been unknowingly hijacked by Granny Seargent, unwittingly turning Alcyone from a comforting surrogate for Philomela's parents into an agent of the toxic force slowly squeezing the life out of her. Yet Elias' encouragement still means a lot, and it's nice to see that he's gotten more accustomed to the complicated, nebulous nature of emotional connections.

The rest of the episode returns to the realm of tone- and place-setting from the last cour, establishing one last bit of tranquility with Chise and her friends before things presumably go to hell. That leaves me scrambling for potential threads to pull on, like Chise damn near throwing hands with somebody for implying Lucy might be behind the attacks. This certainly isn't the first time we've seen our heroine get angry for somebody else's sake. Still, it's been quite a while since she's actively gone aggro on somebody rather than immediately jumping into Defense mode. It makes one wonder if that's set up for when she eventually finds out who's been targeting the students and threatening so many lives. Will those forces at work within her push her towards violent retribution? Will she reject that impulse or accept it? Is this me reading too much into a short scene like with the runes last season? I don't know, but until the complete form of this whole conflict is made clear, it's what I've got to work with.

I expect things to be coming to a head soon, if only because I don't know how much longer Philomela can hold out if it doesn't. The girl was already certifiably fractured, and between constant nausea and soiled bandages littering her dorm room, I think we can officially upgrade her to "shattered." Once more, that turmoil is captured perfectly in our closing scene, feeling as if the entire world is unraveling around her, and even familiar (if not exactly friendly) faces like Veronica's start to feel threatening. It continues to be harrowing, enough so that I hope we've reached the tipping point, just so I don't have to watch a person crumble before my eyes again.

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The Ancient Magus' Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.