The Ancient Magus' Bride

is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kore Yamazaki. It is serialized in Mag Garden's Monthly Comic Garden magazine and is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. Wit Studio produced a three-part prequel original animation DVD (OAD) series which was bundled with volumes of the manga from September 2016 to September 2017 and an anime television series that aired from October 2017 to March 2018. Studio Kafka produced a second three-part OAD series which was bundled with the manga from September 2021 to September 2022 and a second season of the anime television series that premiered in April 2023. Plot Having been ostracized by both her relatives and partially by society, orphaned Japanese high school student Chise Hatori decides to sell herself at an auction in order for somebody else to take her in and have a new place to call home. At the auction in London, she is sold for five million pounds to Elias Ainsworth, a seven-foot-tall humanoid with an animal skull for a head. The magus, who seems closer to a demon than human, either brings her the light she desperately seeks or drowns her in ever deeper shadows in her new country, Great Britain. The series deals with a romantic slice-of-life storyline in a surreal and supernatural light. Characters A teenage apprentice and future bride of Elias Ainsworth. Her father took her brother and abandoned the family when she was young, and her mother committed suicide in front of her causing her to feel unwanted by her relatives and bullied by her schoolmates. She sold herself to slavery, in order for someone to take her in. She is sold for five million Pounds to Elias. He tells her she is a Sleigh Beggy, a special magus who can draw magic from her surroundings and from within herself. However, this severely strains their bodies, making Sleigh Beggys very weak, and fated to die prematurely. Hence, Elias bought her with hopes of preventing her early death in about three years. Her small and fragile state has led others to give her the nicknames of Robin, and Little Bird Mage. She frequently receives gifts that suppress her magic to maintain her health. After being taken in by Elias she starts practicing magic, and finds she has a talent for sleep magic, but can also perform any type of magic at the cost of tremendous strain.