When it comes to anime and manga, it seems as though it’s rare these days to find a fantasy story that succeeds without overloading itself with a lot of action. Fortunately, The Ancient Magus’ Bride is just that – a brilliant fantasy story that wins people over based on the quality of the world and its characters, not flashy action.

The series, which began airing in October 2017 and can be viewed for free on Crunchyroll, focuses on a girl named Chise Hatori. Chise begins the story by selling herself into slavery and being auctioned off accordingly; she grew up being passed around between family members (all of whom considered her behavior abnormal) after her mother committed suicide. Chise learns that the reasoning behind her abnormal view of the world is because she is a special type of magus called a Sleigh Beggy – an almost extinct kind of mage that is extremely powerful at the cost of having a severely short lifespan.

Chise is purchased by Elias Ainsworth, who makes her his apprentice as well as his fiancée. Elias is known as the Thorn Sorcerer and though he has a human-like body, his head is (normally) a skull with large horns. Elias hopes to find a way to extend Chise’s lifespan beyond the three or so years that she would have left naturally.

Much of the story focuses on Chise and Elias’ relationship – how they learn to trust each other and how Chise is able to draw genuine emotion out of Elias. It’s brilliantly written and feels extremely genuine; the moments of warmth that the two share as they try to each figure out their place in the world is something that puts The Ancient Magus’ Bride up above many of the other series running this season, despite the fact that the series doesn’t actually present itself as a romance show.

There really can’t be enough positive things to say about the animation in this series, either. It is vivid, colorful, lush – the magic effects that are used pop out of the scenes in such a way that feels natural instead of forced. It might be one of the best-animated series of the last decade, if I’m being honest. The backgrounds especially are worth paying attention to; there’s a lot of little details that might be missed if you aren’t looking for them.

I have not read the manga – it’s licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment, who have already published several volumes – but I think the anime is a really good place to start. They’re planning on a 24-episode season for this show, so it’s not at all too late to start watching. For those looking for a deep-rooted fantasy story, The Ancient Magus’ Bride might be just what you’re looking for this season.

-Carrie Wood