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Elias’ insecurities get the best of him and lead him to be a bit abusive. Meanwhile, Joseph is back and up to something.
| Network | ||
| Crunchyroll | ||
| Director(s) | Norihiro Naganuma | |
| Writer(s) | Kore Yamazaki, Aya Takaha | |
| Air Date | 2/10/2018 | |
| Characters Introduced | ||
| David | ? | |
So This Is Friendship: Stella, Chise
That’s right, what seemingly was just an episodic character has hit three episodes and may very well hit more. Especially since, while Alice and others are Chise’s friend, Stella is the one who really wants to hang out, give advice, and just present Chise with the opportunity to be a normal kid. Which may seem a bit weird for Stella is 10 and Chise nearly 16, but let’s not forget that Elias isn’t the only one with arrested development here. Chise may know trauma and means of coping with negative aspects of life, but just talking and eating pastries? That is completely foreign.
This Is Envy, Jealousy, and Insecurity: Elias, Chise, Ruth
Speaking of Elias, with Chise and Stella getting along, there being conversations of Chise visiting her, and what have you, he decides to run off. In fact, in Chise’s own words, she calls the way he is acting a tantrum. Though, let’s be real, considering he pushes her to chase after him and when she finds him, he tangles her up to the point of literal suffocation, what is going on is abuse. The type where, if Chise wasn’t familiar with abuse, and had this sort of twisted, but he isn’t as bad as other people she experienced, kind of life, it would be over. No question.
But, luckily, thanks to the daughter of the Horned God and Dark Lady, seen in episode 16, Ruth is able to find and rescue Chise. Leading to Chise, as Ruth kind of jokes, showing how the dynamic has increasingly changed between her and Elias. That is, Chise going from a sort of daughter to Elias’ father figure to it now being like she is the mom to his son.
This Is Danger: Stella, Joseph, Lindel
Can you believe it has been about 10 episodes since we last saw Joseph in “Let Sleeping Dogs Lie?” Well, he is back and aside from doing something to Stella in passing, he has also attacked Lindel’s dragons. Now, knowing his MO, it likely means he is crafting a new monster. So the final episodes, featuring Chise fighting whatever he creates, should be interesting. Especially considering we see her cough up blood again this episode.
Other Noteworthy Facts & Moments
- It seems Joseph might have had some influence on the Ashen Eye tormenting Chise and Stella.
- We meet Angelica’s husband David this episode and learned they have been together since they were kids. However, they didn’t get a chance to date until much later because he is completely normal. So there was a bit of fear in having him around her life’s work and what could happen.
Collected Quote(s) & .Gifs
Words aren’t for understanding each other. They exist for the sake of talking to each other.
Highlights
Addressing Elias’ Lack of Growth & Changing Dynamics
While Chise has grown to understand friendship, family, and things of that nature, Elias has had to live vicariously. He is still very much ostracized and outside of business dealings, we don’t see any real social calls. Heck, as noted in many a recap, no one really says anything nice about Elias. The majority of the show has pretty much been about everyone warning Chise about Elias possibly pulling something like he did this episode.
Which does bring up some mixed feelings. On one hand, Elias created the safe environment for her to grow as a person, learn magic, and how to lengthen the amount of time she’ll be able to live. However, let us not forget he did purchase her, talked about her marrying him, and tried to kill her when he got jealous. But, despite that, Chise’s means of wanting to handle it is a conversation. And I must admit, I do wonder, considering how much Lindel may have tried, and others, if maybe Elias is either a lost cause or perhaps all these people simply gave up too soon.
Though, then you have to set your sights on Silky and wonder how has she, for however long, not only put up with Elias but seemingly lived with him and barely said much at all?
The Return of a Villain
The Ancient Magus’ Bride has mostly handled the idea of a villain or conflict as something internal. You are your own worst enemy and your insecurities and lack of survival instinct will be what does you in. So, considering Chise is on shaky ground, perhaps just starting to really be sure of herself, it is the best and worse time to reintroduce Joseph. Best since, let’s face it, it wouldn’t be terrible to have a villain be in full force on this show. Yet, at the same time, considering what Joseph’s last appearance did to Elias, which arguably he still hasn’t fully recovered from, who knows how Elias getting involved may pan out.
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