Without hope and deciding to abandon her life, Chise instead contracts herself to a supernatural auction house, letting the highest bidder enslave her for whatever use they desire. An intimidating figure makes an unsurpassable bid, but despite the figure he carves, including a head resembling a horned beast’s skull, he surprises Chise by proving to be a mage, and doubly so when he tells her that she is to be his apprentice, the first of several kindnesses that has Chise questioning how she values herself.
I’ve heard the hoopla around The Ancient Magus Bride, but I’m not familiar with the manga nor have I watched the OVA’s. Still, I was excited to see what the fuss was about, and this first episode…my goodness. SO much good stuff going on. The series has an interesting setup – there appears to be some wonderful world building here, much desired for a series about magic. More importantly, there’s grace and love running through this story, with the gospel message appearing right in episode one; I’m eager to see if this bears out (and where it doesn’t).
— TWWK
You can stream The Ancient Magus Bridge on Crunchyroll, which judging by its ads, really, really wants you to see it.