Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season Two, Part One Blu-ray Movie Review

The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 is a romantic horror-mystery series. Created by Kore Yamazaki, The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 features animation production by Studio Kafka (The Ancient Magus Bride OVA). Executive produced by Kōji Yamamoto (Angels of Death, Burn The Witch) and Yoshihiro Hosaka (Mythical Detective Loki Ragnarok, Boku to Kanojo no XXX). The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 features the first part of The Ancient Magus Bride season two saga – with more to come in the future.

Produced by Kyohei Shinpuku, Naokado Fujiyama (Golden Kamuy, Vinland Saga), and Takeharu Sengoku (Giant Beasts of Ars), The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 features theme song performances by JUNNA  (opening) and edda (ending). The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 delivers fun for series fans. Distributed on home media and streaming by Crunchyroll in North America, The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 features voice-performances by Atsumi Tanezaki and Ryōta Takeuchi.

Chise (Atsumi Tanezaki) and Elias Ainsworth (Ryōta Takeuchi) have returned. Chise wants to get some answers about the curse that inhabits her. Attempting to learn more about herself, Chise now joins College. College is a special school with a myriad of sorcerers and magical folk.

Some of Chise’s fellow students have dark and distributing secrets. While at College, Chise also encounters the British Library. As it turns out, there is even a secret society, too.

Things become complicated when a magical book disappears. Now it is up to Chise to help stop things from becoming even more dangerous. Students’ lives are now at risk. Can Chise help save others or is she going to find a deadly fate?

The series highlights the journey of Chise as a central component of the production. The character has returned and the second season brings more to the table for her character. The character is on a big journey. The character designs by Hirotaka Katō (Eyeshield 21, Hozuki's Coolheadedness) add to the production, too.

The character designs are creative and fit the style of the characters. The design work is quite effective and impressive for both Chise and Elias. These design elements add not only to the character designs, but to the character of the series itself. The art for the character designs is all the better as a result.

The animation is one of the highlights of the production. The animation features some stunning aesthetic qualities. The production features art direction by Seiki Tamura (March comes in like a lion, Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine) and chief animation direction by Kōhei Tokuoka (Bungo Stray Dogs, Chaika - The Coffin Princess). The animation style is consistent with the first season – providing a brooding and gothic atmosphere with some undertones that are effective for the genre. The style of the animation is solid. The animators did a good job with the background animation and line artwork. These aspects do add to the series sense of style and bring out extra artistic qualities in the animation. The line art is well done, too. The animation ebbs between the darker undertones (some more obvious than others) and some surprising lighter animation palate elements – more akin to the romantic side.

The cinematography by Mayo Suzuki (Kumamiko - Girl meets Bear, The Rolling Girls) provides the series with a good visual balance. The series has a nice sense of both light and dark animation styles. These animation styles blend well together and work well as highlighted by the cinematography. Suzuki is certainly gifted as a cinematographer and provides crisp visuals with a nice visual sheen.

The score composed by Junichi Matsumoto (Plunderer) is a decent backdrop for the production. The music adds to the series sense of style. Matsumoto provides a solid backdrop to the series darker fantasy elements and the more mysterious undercurrents of the production.

Written by Kazuaki Terasawa (Fuyu no Okurimono, Kedama no Gonjiro), Aya Takaha (Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, Psycho-Pass), Chiaki Nishinaka (Shinkalion Change the World, Kizuna no Allele), and Yoko Yonaiyama (Ya Boy Kongming!, COLORFUL STAGE! The Movie: A Miku Who Can't Sing), The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 is solid series. The concept is good and a lot of fans will find appreciation in the gothic blend of romance and horror-fantasy.

Directed by Kazuaki Terasawa (Idol Incidents, Altair: A Record of Battles), The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 has a lot to offer fans of the first season. The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 continues the series successful formula. The series has the balance of fantasy and mystery that fans expect to find. The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 brings the series back for more fun and enthusiastic fans will be happy to return.

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season Two, Part One Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Released on Blu-ray by Crunchyroll, The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high- definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The high-definition presentation is impressive with crisp and clear animation. The background animation and line art are well-done, too. The high-definition presentation has an abundance of visual finesse. The animation is well-encoded without egregious issues like compression woes or egregious banding.

One of the benefits of Blu-ray disc releases is the superior video encoding. Blu-ray provides superior video bit-rates compared to streaming video services. Streaming services tend to provide a lower quality presentation by comparison. For home theater enthusiasts, it is worth noting that one can sometimes eek out a little extra quality on physical media.

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season Two, Part One Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes two lossless audio presentations: English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround sound and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 (with English subtitles). The sound direction by Shōji Hata (DARLING in the FRANXX, Fairy Tail). The lossless audio presentation is crisp and well-detailed. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The English audio track offers a somewhat more robust soundstage with 5.1 surround but the original language audio sounds clear with the effective 2.0 audio track. The English subtitles are well-done, too.

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season Two, Part One Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Blu-ray release includes an o-card slipcover. The slipcover adds some extra value to the package design. The packaging looks nice in hand and fans will appreciate the design. The package will look impressive on a shelf, too.

On disc supplements include:

AnimeJapan Special Event Video (HD, 38:50) highlights a special presentation filmed in 2023 with the Japanese cast and production team. In Japanese. English subtitles. It is nice to see such an expansive interview with the cast and team provided on the release. Fans of the Japanese language version will find this to be a worthwhile inclusion on the series Blu-ray release. Fans can hear some details from the cast about working on the series. As a special presentation of AnimeJapan, the Special Event recording is something of note.

Interview with Japanese Cast – Atsumi Tanezaki (Chise) and Ryota Takeuchi (Elias) (HD, 8:08) provides some more information with the cast about the series production. Insights provided by two of the prominent cast members. A nice inclusion to see on the release.

Interview with Staff (Director and Character Designer) (HD, 9:21)

Promo Videos (HD, 9:01)

Textless Opening Song (HD, 1:32)

Textless Closing Song (HD, 1:32)

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season Two, Part One Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Ancient Magus Bride: Season 2, Part 1 continues the series journey. The second season picks up the story and brings back the central characters. The animation is well-done and continues to be one of the most impressive aspects of the production. The series has effective production merits such as the score and direction.

The Blu-ray release provides a nice high-definition presentation. The high-definition presentation provides nice clarity and detail for the animation. The release also provides lossless audio.

The most pleasing surprise about the release is the inclusion of some quality supplemental material on the release. The set includes both the AnimeJapan Special Event Video filmed in 2023 and interviews featuring the cast. Fans of the series will be even more intrigued about the release and opting for a purchase with the nice supplemental package. Recommended.