Chise may have stopped the dragon's rampage, but at a great cost: she has been cursed, and a dragon's curse is unbreakable! Chise and Elias are visited by Marielle the witch, whose fellow witches claim to know the secret to helping Chise. There's one catch -- in exchange for their aid, Chise must join the witches' coven.
It's been a long time since i read the 7th volume so the first half of this was spent trying to remember the plot. However once i got back into it i enjoyed it... also damn that ending!
„Tu nu înțelegi că ești mai importantă decât mine, nu?„
Atunci când nu am mult timp la dispoziție pentru citit, aleg un volum manga de la @nezumi_bynemira știind că în doar câteva zeci de minute o să am parte de acțiune și multă magie. Zilele trecute m-am bucurat de lectura volumului 8 din Mireasa Străvechiului Mag (traducere din japoneză de Antonia Ivanciu, Mălina Coşan și Cosmin Tița).
Cartea este centrată în jurul a celui de-al treilea blestem căzut asupra lui Chise, cel al dragonului. Și dacă atitudinea fetei dă dovadă de multă maturizare, Elias se dovedește a fi extrem de îngrijorat, dându-și la iveală emoțiile puternice pentru ucenica sa.
Mi-a plăcut cartea și normal că acum sunt nerăbdătoare să citesc următorul volum. Mireasa Străvechiului Mag este o serie interesantă, ce cu fiecare nou număr mai pune câte o cărămidă la relația dintre Elias și Chise. Magia nu lipsește din niciun capitol, evident.
OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG! Elias NO! Elias fucked up! Oh my God no! He really messed up! I know Chise has messed up before but Elias really messed up and Ruth did too! It's really scary! Please let Chise be okay!
Finally Elias acts like the centuries older inhuman being that he is.
Look in like Elias - I like him goofy and sweet and oblivious and caring. But that's not him. Not really. He isn't an alchemist who's a tad off. He's not a mage or witch who's lived a couple centuries. He's a Fae being, an Elder God. He's lived and seen so much.
So why would I expect him to NOT do everything necessary to help Chise? To keep her? She is his world now and like a desperate person he reacted by doing what he could to the max. It's just his thought process meant he'd go farther.
We first meet Chise, chained by the neck and wrists being passed over to her new owner, a bone-headed mage whose name she learns later is Elias. A penniless orphan sold on the black market she learns about herself, the magical world filled with fairies and other fantastical creatures as well as what it means to be a part of a family. Her new life as a mage's apprentice is just the beginning as it comes with the secondary title of Ancient Magus' Bride...
I've read this series totally on my own except for volume 7 which was complimentary... and this is the first time that I wasn't sad this wasn't an ARC. I have been consistently RAVING about this series since volume one. It's takes ideas that are seen in a specific light and turns them on their head.... Things like slavery, power, and what it means to be abused. It was great and beautiful... Until volume 8... (DAMMIT!) Well that was a bit dramatic considering I only lowered the rating a star. But the thing is I can't get behind where this is going... the villain is NOT someone that should be sided with no matter what you believe is going to happen, especially when you expect your loved one to accept your own decisions.
This is the first time that the relationship felt one sided. The mangaka actually has written it to be this way and I can see the deliberateness in bringing us to this moment and having Chise rebel. I get it and in a way support the female empowerment in it. BUT a relationship is a TWO WAY STREET! You want to die and want your loved one the accept it?! Then you have to accept that they may want to try to do something about it. This idea of FORCING others to accept your f*ed up choices is why so many teenagers are committing suicide. It's okay to compromise. It really is okay, especially when they compromise for you too! This totally lacked all tension because I knew the outcome as soon as events came to light...
Okay so what am I saying?! It sounds like this volume made the series go to total shit in a hand basket. No, no, its not that bad. I don't agree with Chise's thinking on this one issue but I see it stems from society... its hard to blame her. And she is mentally ill. Let's get that straight from the start... Chise has been mentally ill since her mother abandoned her. And as for the plot I quite enjoyed the whole coven issue, I was quite tense through that whole ordeal and worried about the one witch... So there is still some of the old magic from the series! I just hope this is resolved quickly and we move on...
The art is gorgeous. That never changes and for that I am grateful! I quite enjoy characters that are overboard sacrificing for others. There is a beauty in that idea that I love to explore. It doesn't really work with the idea that what Elias wants comes second to Chise's self-sacrificing... it makes this entire plot so contrived that I physically hurt from reading this. It's not hateful though and most will enjoy seeing the all-powerful Elias get taken down a peg or two.
The Ancient Magus Bride is a sensational series... I seriously love it and find it the best seinen series around! I frankly didn't enjoy the direction of the plot for this volume and hope we don't linger in this for too many future volumes... but I still can't help NEEDING to know what Elias will do next and see if, for once, Chise can have a little self-preservation or if not allow Elias to have it for her!
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Oh. Good. Grief! Soooo much has happened!!! Just when I thought things were winding down, a whole new new massive story appears! Must start volume 9! Highly recommend this one! 5/5
3.5 stars. I wasn't feeling it for most of this volume - it just feels kinda cluttered and hard to follow, but the plot developments in the last third or so were the drama I've been waiting for. I like that we finally get to see Elias acting like the ancient monster he is lol, and Chise having a bit of a wake-up call.
This manga gets a bit cluttered and loses me sometimes, but I'm invested in the characters and the universe so I keep coming back.
Uh-oh. Is Yamazaki unsure of where the story is going? I was disappointed in the whole disjointed presentation here. Maybe the author needs to re-think adding so many characters.
Book: The Ancient Magus Bride, Volume 8 Author: Kore Yamazaki Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars
Well, this one just opened the plot way up. I thought Volume 7 was a great volume in terms of action, but this one was great for the plot. Here we see all of the moving parts really start to come together to give us this big bang and show that we have been waiting for. We also see characters make some rather difficult and almost shocking choices that I am sure is going to set up the next volume with a bang.
Like with the other volumes, Volume 8 picks right back up where we left off. We see Chise dealing with being cursed and Elias trying to do everything he can to save her. While the hunt for the dragon is still on, this is the main focus of the book. We see just how much Elias actually cares for Chise and how he will do anything to save her life. Up until this point, it has seen liked Chise’s and Elias’s relationship has been very one sided-meaning we’ve seen Chise pretty much worship the ground that Elias walks on. Here, we see Elias actually start to show us some emotion and actions that gives us something. We see him really develop feelings for Chise, who almost pushes it back. It’s almost like she’s afraid now that he is returning her feelings to her. This is something that has never happened to her before and it makes sense for her to seem somewhat afraid.
It is this that pushes Chise into a rebellion. We start to see her do things that she hadn’t done in the other volumes. It’s almost like she is being forced to accept that others may want to help her and not let her die. While this can be seen as going against her wishes, I do see why others want her to live. The other characters have grown to care and love her. She just really hasn’t seen just how much of an impact she has had on others. Again, this all comes back to her never having this until now. If you aren’t used to having someone care about you, it can seem a little overwhelming. While I don’t really support her actions at the end of the book, I get it. Just based on what we have seen of her character, what she does, does actually make a lot of sense.
I do think though that the whole situation could have been written a lot better. We have a super high tense situation here and there were times that tension did come across the best. We knew the stakes were high because we were told, but a lot of the characters’ actions just didn’t allow that to come to life. Had that tension been able to come to life, I would have given this a much higher rating. I think it will come with time, but it was just kind of a letdown.
This review applies to most of my current Ancient Magus' Bride reads, so prepare for a copy and paste to each.
While the story started off with a lot of explanation to the world and the magic, this series has delved into the confusion of itself, whether that be due to the story writing styles of Japan or translations, as this is a feature I notice in many manga.
There is an emphasis on unnamed issues, feelings, and peoples which can leave the reader confused and distanced from the characters, causing a rift between the reader and the story in that they are too confused and puzzled to delve into the world itself. The constant struggle to cure or keep Chise safe has, at this point, grown redundant. As much as I'm loving the story, I'm at a loss as to how we've made it as far as we have because it feels like nothing has happened. The big bad villain--if he indeed even is one--has been scarce, conflict is based around TV show-styled action and plot, making each book both stand on its own as well as give enough tidbits to the overarching plot to make the reader curious.
I'll keep reading, but I'm worried that the story is going to be dragged out and become redundant and pointless.
Ooooooof. Hard-hitting, but I can only laugh cuz Allen Walker from D. Gray-man is planning to sue for copyright infringement on that arm! Having been so jaded by "[character] did something amazing but it cut their lifespan" trope, was not expecting the host of other characters to be so heartbroken/desperate to keep the main character alive. This happens in a shonen battle manga, they go on with their lives expecting that life to end when it ends; but here, they are all treating it as an absolute death sentence and she'll be stone cold in a week! Regardless, more fascinating aspects of the world pop up, including our first look at a coven of witches, more looks into the Alchemists' college, and the further machinations of the troublesome dude who's been instigating all this madness.
I don't think I know of any manga more in need of a "Previously in..." summary and character profiles inside the front cover. For some reason, everything that happened in the previous volume just falls out of my head when I crack the cover of the new one. About halfway through I get sucked in by the character interaction and forget to care about what I've forgotten until some character who apparently I'm supposed to remember shows up and does something significant toward the end of the book.
I think it has something to do with the exceedingly slow pace of the story.
I really, really need to remember this time to wait to read this series until I can read five or six books in a row.
Firstly, I feel for Elias, he just wants Chise to be okay. You know? Like, how many times can he get her out of a situation like this? At some point he's going to go to far to try and save her.
And Chise. Just. You make horrible decisions. You do.
I have no words. But clearly I can't stop here. Onto Volume 9!
Dacă ziceam de volumul șapte că s-a terminat în pom, ei bine, la fel s-a terminat și acest volum, rămânând cu o teamă în suflet pentru Chise și Elias, mai ales că au avut parte de câteva discutii contradictorii înainte de final.
Încep să se comporte tot mai mult asemeni unui cuplu, iar dacă înainte doar se foloseau unul de celălalt pentru anumite informații sau altele, a început să se sudeze o legătură tot mai puternică între ei, căutându-și sprijin și nu numai. Elias devine tot mai atașat și ia decizii pripite, Chise își dorește cu totul altceva decât Magul, iar de aici, ambii ajung în impas, lucrurii excaladând și discuțiile o iau pe arătură…
Chise este un personaj greu încercat, iar acest lucru s-a observat și-n volumele celelalte, însă nu a fost suficient cât a pătimit, ci mai are o povară de dus, un blestem aruncat asupra ei de dragonul de pare l-a salvat în volumul anterior. Acest blestem nu este unul ușor de dus, cin contră, îi amenință viața și din această cauză, multe lucruri se schimbă în povestea Magului și a ucenicei…
O poveste tot mai captivantă cu fiecare volum, cu finaluri în pom și pomul în aer, lăsând dorința de a afla mai multe și mai multe… Oare de ce nu are și această manga formatul omnibus, să cuprindă câte două volume? Mă întreb eu oare…că e prea faină și prea repede se termină volumul…