Back in March 2021, it was announced that the highly praised anime adaptation of the manga series The Ancient Magus’ Bride would return as a three-episode OAD. The three-part story will be titled The Ancient Magus’ Bride: The Boy From the West and the Knight of the Mountain Haze and will be bundled with the 16th, 17th, and 18th volumes of the manga starting on September 10th, 2021.
Fans have been anxiously awaiting any news about this OAD and finally, on Friday, June 4th, they got their wish as the staff released a promotional video to YouTube revealing the general story beats and two new cast members!
As previously announced, Studio Kafka is taking over for Wit Studio (Vivy – Flourite Eye’s Song –, Attack on Titan) for animation production. This means a new director and writer as Kazuaki Terasawa is the new director working off scripts written by Aya Takaha and Yoko Yonaiyama. It’s not all new faces, however, as Hirotaka Katou is returning as character designer and Junichi Matsumoto is composing the background music. The primary cast members will also be returning to reprise their roles.
As for the new cast members, we can now report that the role of Gabriel will be played by Hiromi Igarashi and the mysterious boy will be played by Aoi Ichikawa.
Originally a manga created by Kore Yamazaki, The Ancient Magus’ Bride first started its serialization in Monthly Comic Blade magazine in November 2013. After that magazine bit the dust a year later, it was moved to Monthly Comic Garden magazine. The series is up to fourteen volumes in both Japanese and English.
The first anime adaptation didn’t appear until 2017 but when it did splash onto the scene, it made a memorable and lasting impact! Running for two cours, the series blew fans and critics away with its intense story beats and a narrative that dares you to look away knowing full well that you won’t be able to. The series was so popular that it took home the Best Drama award at the 2018 Anime Awards, hosted by Crunchyroll.
Source: Comic Natalie
