Mahoutsukai no Yome – 4 [Everything Must Have a Beginning]

This week on Mahoutsukai we get a Kingdom of Cats, a Serial Kitten-Killer turned formless evil and some new not-so-nice faces.

Mahoutsukai did a lot right this week in my opinion. It created an interesting 2-3 episode story arc with the Cat Killer formless evil. It introduced us to the Sorcerers and setup what will probably end up being a prolonged conflict. Finally, it had Chise finally start doing things, regardless of how reluctant she might be. That last one may not seem important, however when a story is able to proceed regardless of its lead, a viewer will start to ask why they are even there. We will get to that in a moment though, so for now lets jump in.

The general story of this episode I liked a lot. The interpretation of the “Cats have nine lives” myth, along with the Mina & Matthew/Cat Killer sub plots made for an interesting setup. I have no doubt that all three are going to come together into one single narrative. In-fact, I have my own suspicions as to how it will do this, which I will include at the bottom. The formless evil blob part was a bit of a disappointment, though its animation was nice. The reveal that it was Matthew worked well in particular, as it was being hinted the entire episode. Everything was just dark enough to be creepy without losing the wondrous fantasy nature Mahoutsukai has.

Next up Mahoutsukai gives us the Sorcerers. Not to much to be said about these two, as they are really only relevant for the second half of this episode and don’t have many speaking lines. However we can infer a few things about them. First, Elias clearly has a history with Renfred, just based on dialogue between the two. My guess would be that Elias is somehow responsible for either his lost arm, the scars on his face, or perhaps both. Regardless this is not the first time they have met. We can also assume there is some greater plan behind what they do, wanting to keep this evil blob alive. Its possible the blonde one is related to Mina, but that’s pure conjecture on my part. Finally we can thank them for forcing Elias’s hand and finally getting an explanation on what a Sleigh Beggy is.

Finally we have Chise. Chise finally got to do something! Though it wasn’t much, and she still got kidnapped/held hostage again, Chise has been tasked with her first job. I like this, and I like that Elias isn’t good at everything. He has his shortcomings and it turns out actually fixing things, like cleansing an island, goes against his skill set. Sadly while performing this task however, her only thoughts were about Elias. Specifically how she fears failure will impact his treatment of her. Just goes to show life-long trauma cant be dispelled in a few days. I hope that with this Chise will begin to play a larger and larger role in the story, saving herself and not simply reacting to her surroundings. Only time will tell.

Now lets move on to the actual animation and art of the episode. There were a number of strong scenes and Mahoutsukai seems to have a ‘show don’t tell’ mentality for certain things. This isnt the case for large, plot necessary, revelations but it helps set the mood. For example we were first introduced to Matthew through a hazy flashback at the start, where he looked quite menacing. I know it made me suspicious of him from the start. There is also the constant focus on Elias with angles/lighting that makes him look sinister, such as the end of the episode or in his shadowy form. Another thing of note was the final lake scene, with Chise, the cloak and the Censer. The smoke drifting off, lights and embers in the air as she walked on the water. Mahoutsukai knows how to frame a beautiful image that is for sure.

All in all a good episode. Mahoutsukai had some beautiful scenes, a creepy story and deeper look into its world and magic. Now I did say I had my own theories about next episode, so feel free to skip this bit, knowing I thought this was a quality episode. We know Matthew was the Cat Killer and that a Sorcerer was coming through town, that Matthew was going to ask said Sorcerer for a way to cure Mina. I suspect that the Sorcerer was Renfred, or someone affiliated with him. I suspect that they told Matthew how to take the 9 lives of a cat and use its life to fuel/cure/heal Mina. But it didn’t last forever, so he had to keep doing with more and more cats, eventually having to move on to humans. Of course Mina discovers this and everything goes down hill from there.

I think the theory itself is rather obvious, since Mahoutsukai was alluding to something like that through the entire episode. Yet I suspect there will be a twist in there somehow, most likely to do with why the Sorcerers and Renfred want the evil blob to remain alive. Regardless, we will find out next week. See you then!