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The Ancient Magus' Bride is a shoujo series about a young woman named Chise who has a past of abuse and neglect due to her ability to see supernatural things. through a sequence of events, Chise ends up being taken to England to be auctioned off as a slave to a magician. However, the Magician who buys her, Elias (who happens to be very tall and have an elongated animal skull for a head) tells her that he has actually bought her to be his apprentice (he initially neglects to inform her that he ALSO bought her to be his eventual bride) and that he intends to save her from absorbing too much magic, as she's likely to die within a few years without intervention. from there, they go on a series of adventures involving a variety of mythical creatures, tied in with a conspiracy involving other magicians, as Chise also tries to find out just what Elias actually is, as he isn't human, and isn't like other magicians.
I thought the first volume, though good ,was somewhat stiff and awkward in a lot of places, but it smoothed out the edges in the second volume. I like Chise, Elias and their friends, and find the various plot points interesting, but I'm not really fond of the fact that I'm meant to view Chise and Elias as a slow burn romance, in large part because the relationship comes across primarily as paternal to me so far. There's also the power imbalance and the fact that Chise's emotional issues make that imbalance even bigger, but the series is aware of and handling that aspect pretty well, regardless of the context of the relationship.
There's apparently a prequel OVA series coming out later this year which will come out with later volumes of the manga in japan. I wish it was an adaptatio of the manga plot (Maybe that'll come later? But I imagine the OVAs will be pretty limited in what they can do.) but maybe that will come later.
I thought the first volume, though good ,was somewhat stiff and awkward in a lot of places, but it smoothed out the edges in the second volume. I like Chise, Elias and their friends, and find the various plot points interesting, but I'm not really fond of the fact that I'm meant to view Chise and Elias as a slow burn romance, in large part because the relationship comes across primarily as paternal to me so far. There's also the power imbalance and the fact that Chise's emotional issues make that imbalance even bigger, but the series is aware of and handling that aspect pretty well, regardless of the context of the relationship.
There's apparently a prequel OVA series coming out later this year which will come out with later volumes of the manga in japan. I wish it was an adaptatio of the manga plot (Maybe that'll come later? But I imagine the OVAs will be pretty limited in what they can do.) but maybe that will come later.