How would you rate episode 3 of

The Ancient Magus' Bride ?

My hopes of seeing something magical in Iceland weren't disappointed. When Nevin the dragon borrows Chise's powers to share his last dream of flight with her, extreme beauty goes hand in hand with heart-wrenching sadness, not just because the majestic creature is dying, but because we learn something most alarming about our protagonist. If left unmanaged, Chise's special Sleigh Beggy powers put an expiration date on her life, which Elias' own master, Lindel, estimates to be around three years. It's a bombshell worthy to be dropped in a third episode, immediately leading to the question of why Elias hasn't made teaching Chise how to control her powers his top priority. Keeping his future bride alive long enough to marry her certainly should be pretty high up on his list?

Elias's spare gift of enough room for Chise to explore this world and the powers she despises from a new point of view isn't just wanton negligence. Chise can only be saved if she wants to be saved. Telling her that what she hates most and contemplated killing herself over is actually killing her all on its own probably wouldn't be the best way to help her appreciate life again. Appreciating life enabled Nevin to die so peacefully, something Chise is painfully envious of. Her perception of death has been shaped by her mother's suicide—ugly, violent and traumatizing. Even after contemplating her own death every day, the memory was probably too terrifying to let her follow through. Instead, all it's done is prevent her from living. To reach a death like Nevin's, Chise has to learn how to live first. It's both chilling and strangely comforting when she first realizes the place she just played in with the hatchlings (dragon belly rubs!) doubles as a cemetery. Not for Chise, of course, who will grieve over Nevin refusing to admit this fact to spare herself more pain.

When the dragon hatchlings celebrate his life and passing, Chise is left speechless, though clearly affected by what she was allowed to witness. Unfortunately, it's in moments like these that this adaptation misses out on a few chances to go beyond the strength of the source material and make use of everything in its arsenal to tell this story in a way that only animation can. From the moment Elias reaffirms Nevin's heartbreaking invitation to become a wand for Chise, to the dragon pups coming up to snuggle, to Elias and Lindel leaving the scene, to Chise catching a leaf, we stay in a single unbroken wide shot. What is Chise feeling right now? Is she grateful for the hatchlings' distraction? Is she still sad but trying not to be? Is she too lost in thought to be either appreciative or perturbed? It looks like she's just going through the motions, because we're too far away to catch any subtleties. She could be almost-smiling, but she could just as well be indifferent. With something as simple as a shot of her hand either clinging to the beana's fur, briefly hesitating to pet them, or being completely passive, so much more could have been communicated. While I don't need everything spelled out, I feel like I'm often assuming instead of inferring from what's actually on screen.

Most shots and cuts simply convey the basics of an adapted story, rarely adding anything to sell it more cinematically. Compared to the lovely backgrounds and lighting, the editing as well as some of the shot compositions feel very pragmatic. This is all the more surprising given the same creative team worked on the Those Awaiting a Star OVAs, which fully embraced its strengths as animated storytelling. Even if the OVA's story was meant to be told on screen, that doesn't mean the team couldn't be just as creative when adapting. Note that I'm neither trying to compare OVA and TV budgets here nor criticizing the series' more subdued approach to magic in favor of characterization. It's a sole reliance on the strength of its source material that prevents this adaptation from rising above it so far.

Fortunately, all is well on the audio side, with the soundtrack becoming more prominent, enriching the experience without becoming deafening. The insert song turns Nevin's last flight into an almost serene lament, and the scene's visual stillness becomes an asset. Atsumi Tanezaki's performance between being emotionally withdrawn and expressively raw is wonderful, and I look forward to the moment Chise will be able to express sadness and joy and move me to the bone, no pun intended.

Despite my frustration with certain aspects of its visual execution, there was a lot to appreciate about this episode. Linking the fates of dragons and mages, both on the verge of extinction, made Nevin's death powerful on a thematic level. In mage years, Elias is part of the same generation, passing on the torch to his apprentice who might just be among the last of their kind. It's almost like he and Lindel are watching their own future. Equally moving is Nevin's speech about being content to fly beneath the sky rather than above it, encouraging Chise to appreciate her mortal, often painful life while flying as free as she can underneath the same sad and beautiful sky. The dragon designs are unique, falling into the same creepy but cute department Elias exists in so comfortably. And how cool is a furry dragon?

There's more than enough merit in this production to take its story from great to special in its own right. So far, we're "only" at great.

Rating: B+

The Ancient Magus' Bride is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Anne is a translator and fiction addict who writes about anime at Floating Words and on Twitter.