‘The Ancient Magus’ Bride’ Season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds Of A Feather Flock Together. I”: Chise’s First School Day [Anime Review]

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” gives us Chise’s first school day at the College. Admittedly, it’s not her first school day period, but it goes much better than her mundane school days. Chise even meets an old friend during class and seems to be making new friends as well. She even gets to find out that her fae husband-to-be is also sometimes her wife-to-be.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I”: Details

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” is the second episode (you can read a review of Ep. 1 here) of the long-awaited season 2 of this dark fantasy supernatural mystery anime. Said anime is itself the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Kore Yamazaki (Frau Faust). Studio Kafka is the animation studio behind season 2.

Kazuaki Terasawa is the director of The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 as well as the writer, with Naokado Fujiyama, Takeharu Sengoku, and Kyouhei Shinfuku producing. Junichi Matsumoto returns from season 1 to compose the music for season 2.

Speaking of music: JUNNA returns to perform “Dear” as the opening theme music for The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2. Meanwhile, “Mubansou” by edda is the ending theme music.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” stars the voices of Atsumi Tanezaki (Dani Chambers in English dub) as Chise Hatori and Ryōta Takeuchi (Brian Mathis in English dub) as Elias Ainsworth. Other important voice cast include Koki Uchiyama (Austin Tindle in English dub) as Ruth and Maki Kawase as Philomela Sergeant.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” premiered on April 13, 2023. You can watch this episode only on Crunchyroll.

Warning: spoilers for The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” below. If you want to watch Chise’s first official day of magic College for yourself, then stop here and come back once you’ve finished putting out the inevitable fires.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I”: Plot Summary

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” actually picks up where we last left off in the previous episode. Chise had just caught a silver-haired girl who’d just fainted and was about to crash into the stone floor. Thankfully, Chise is fast and strong. She’s a bit indecisive though once she’s caught her, debating with herself and Ruth over whether to carry the girl to ths nurse’s office.

This takes so long that the girl wakes up, and finds herself carried in Chise’s arms like a blushing bride. After returning her to the ground and sorting out the embarrassment, Chise ends up learning that the girl is named Philomela, and gives her medicinal tea and potpourri for her fatigue and anxiety. It seems Chise has made a new friend already, even if said new friend seems to want to hide it from a blond girl named Veronica she seems to know.

Unfortunately, Chise gets even more lost looking for her homeroom. Fortunately, her old friend Alice is here to help, since she’s also a student at the College. Alice turns out to also have made a new friend and familiar in the form of the Will-o-the-Wisp spirit from the previous season. With her help, Chise not only finds her homeroom but also takes heart in Alice’s fiery affection. It fills her with enough determination to make it through homeroom. Now for the next class…

Elias, You’re Gender-Fluid?!

Chise and Alice get a surprise at their next class. Partially because they’re now in the same class, and partially because Elias is teaching this class on fae magic…as a woman. Chise is curious about her husband-to-be now being her wife-to-be, but she’s in class right now, so she saves it for later. Right now, Elias is focused on teaching fae magic to the kids, and she wants Alice and Chise to demonstrate it. Both are nervous for entirely different reasons, but they each give it a go.

Alice succeeds in turning a candle into a roaring firestorm for a few seconds, due to her temper getting the better of her. Chise though gains a cute little salamander’s love and affection, which lets her neatly light her own candle for a few seconds before just as neatly snuffing it out. The kids then get a chance to try to befriend the fae to do the same thing, with strict instructions to cease and desist if the fae doesn’t want to. Unfortunately, one of the kids doesn’t get the memo, and nearly gets himself barbecued by an angry salamander he insulted. The class gets a demonstration of what not to do to the fae, and Elias gets hauled off by Renfred for a lecture on not endangering students.

All in all, a good day at College. Chise even has a boy asking her for magic lessons after class. A new friend, perhaps? Well, we’ll just have to find out in the next episode of The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I”: The Good

As a direct adaptation of Kore Yamazaki’s hit manga, the story of The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I” is the best part about it. Characterization and plot pacing are both great. No surprise there. Of particular note is the new girl Philomela. You can definitely sense that there’s something going on with her and that something bad is happening to her. We’re all just waiting to find out more about her at this point. Not to mention waiting for her to fall in love with Chise, judging from the ending sequence. A splash of yuri to any anime makes it all the more interesting, after all.

As in the previous episode, the animation by Studio Kafka is also gorgeous. Again, with emphasis on highly detailed eyes. It seems gorgeously animated eyes are Studio Kafka’s hallmark. However, the fae beings also deserve a mention here, especially the adorable salamander Chise befriends. Yes, it turns terrifying, but it’s a perfectly reasonable response to being insulted. I think we can all forgive it.

The Ancient Magus’ Bride season 2 Ep. 2 “Birds of a feather flock together. I”: The Bad

I’ve been a huge fan of The Ancient Magus’ Bride ever since I read the first volume of the manga years ago. The anime adaptations have so far not let me down, and season 2 is no exception. There’s a reason why I’m giving this episode 100/100 after all.

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