The BEST episodes directed by Norihiro Naganuma
#1 - Better to ask the way than go astray.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 12
Lindel finishes the staff that Chise had finished carving. As she finishes, she meets an old friend, who offers her some wise advice.
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#2 - Looks breed love.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 14
With Chise being transformed into a fox, she takes off running into the woods. Elias chases after her. Later, Chise is visited by the Leanan sídhe, who is attached to Joel, claiming that Joel will not wake up.
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#3 - As you sow, so shall you reap.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 22
Having captured Chise, Cartaphilus begins grafting parts of her onto himself. He forces her to relive some of her worst memories.
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#4 - Let sleeping dogs lie.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 8
Alice sees Elias' changes and decides immediately that he could never be human. Sorcerer Cartaphilius, who is attempting to capture the black dog by manipulating Renfred and Alice, causes Elias to show a completely different side of himself when his "work" hurts Chise. Those who know Elias call him the Pilum Murialis.
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#5 - Lovers ever run before the clock.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 11
Elias, is an odd failure who pretends to be human -- but is it because of his master's words, or because of his distrust for humans, that he stopped communicating about himself? Lindel's alias, Echoes, refers to the to a song akin to the sound of snowmelt, traveling through the wind, causing the blooming of flowers and the dancing of fairies. The magic of the song turns into a mirror the surface of the water Chise peers into. What does she see beyond the mirror?
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#6 - Nothing seek, nothing find.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 23
Elias earns the help of many, and they form a search party for Chise. Meanwhile, Chise and Cartaphilus relive his past together.
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#7 - Live and let live.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 24
Cartaphilus and Chise argue over their respective approaches to dealing with their own suffering, beating each other up brutally in the process.
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#8 - The balance distinguishes not between gold and lead.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 3
Simon, who is assigned by the Church to keep an eye on Elias, visits with some business. One of his requests brings Chise and Elias to the ends of the earth, where they meet Elias' mentor, Lindel, along with an old race on the verge of extinction. An old one, about to return to the earth, spends his last moments sharing a dream with Chise.
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#9 - Talk of the devil, and he is sure to appear.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 7
The dog, with its flowing, black hair and burning red eyes, called Chise by the name "Isabelle." The Church's final request is to investigate a black dog that emerged in a cemetetry, but the black dog ends up saving Chise from danger. Meanwhile, Renfred's apprentice, Alice, is also on the move, looking for the black dog.
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#10 - It's Just Soccer
Aoashi - Season 1 - Episode 14
Fukuda tells Ashito to change position to defender, which was not something Ashito could stomach. His teammates, wondering why Ashito didn't show up to the announcement of the A team promotion, learn the truth and feel shocked. Tachibana, Ohtomo, Togashi, Kuroda, and Asari go and look for Ashito, but he's nowhere to be found. It is Hana, who walks up to Ashito, sitting at a bus stop all by himself.
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#11 - Any port in a storm.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 19
In the land of dragons two young dragons are kidnapped from Lindel by Cartaphilius. Chise awakens from a dark dream to find, Alice, Renfred, Adolf and college administrator Tory Innis in Elias’ home. They explain Cartaphilius stole the two dragons using a teleportation device he stole from Renfred and want Elias to find the dragons and take them home
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#12 - Necessity has no law.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 21
Elias and Chise attend Mariel’s coven meeting and meet Phyllis, Mariel’s high priestess. Secretly, Elias is given information that could help Chise. Following the meeting, Chise becomes suspicious of Elias' activities.
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#13 - Love conquers all.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 5
To sorcerer Refnred's eyes, Chise is a sad girl, being duped by a mage. But no matter what Elias' true motives are, Chise has no intention of leaving him. Elias was the first person to value her, after all. As she walks towards the epicenter, she learns of the truth behind it. The sight of a boy appears behind the tragedy.
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#14 - April showers bring May flowers.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 1
Having given up on life, 16-year-old Chise Hatori sells herself at an underground auction, where she is bought by Elias Ainsworth, a not-quite-human mage, for 5 million pounds. She learns that he intends for her to be his future bride, and her world begins to change.
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#15 - None so deaf as those who will not hear.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 9
With the church's requests fulfilled, things were supposed to go back to normal. But Elias has been acting strange since the last request: he'd vanished on the first morning after Chise had spent a night in his room. Neither Angelica's kind words nor Ruth's pure words are enough to put Chise's mind to rest.
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#16 - God's mill grinds slow but sure.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 16
Christmas is coming up. Alice invites Chise out to London, where they hang out together and go gift shopping for Renfred and Elias.
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#17 - East, west, home's best.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 13
Chise and Elias are in the middle of shearing Wooly Bugs, magical creatures who eat cold from the air and grow wool with magical properties. Chise becomes distracted and is attacked. As Chise recovers, she and Elias open themselves up to each other more.
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#18 - Orange Colored Landscape
Aoashi - Season 1 - Episode 5
The letter of acceptance arrives to Ashito in Ehime. Ashito and his friends are overjoyed at the news, but Noriko, Ashito’s mom, looks at the celebration with mixed feelings. Hana tells Ashito to have a heart-to-heart with Noriko, but he never gets the chance until the day of his departure.
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#19 - There is no place like home.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 15
With King Oberon taking Chise into the Fairy realm for recovery, Silke becomes agitated waiting at home. Chise slowly recovers under Dr. Shanon's care, a fairy that was raised as a human.
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#20 - Look before you leap.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 17
Stella, a young girl Chise encountered while Christmas shopping, finds that her brother, Ethan, has gone missing and her parents have forgotten he exists.
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#21 - Demons, Underwear and Crabs / The State of Hell and This and That
Hozuki's Coolheadedness - Season 1 - Episode 2
In hell, the river pollution was as controversial as it was in the land of the living with its trash-ridden Sanzu River. There were particularly large number of items from coffins such as Rokumonsen (a ferriage fee for the crossing of Sanzu), eye glasses, wrist watches and the deceased's favorite items from their lifetime. The new Gokusotsu, Karauri and Nasubi were ordered to clean up the mess. Despite working diligently at first, Nasubi, who gets bored easily soon started to sing a song. Satan, the king of hell from EU decides to visit Japan to meet The Great King Enma. Although he starts off in a friendly manner by handing The Great King Enma presents, his true intention was to take over hell in Japan. Satan later went on a tour around hell guided by Hozuki, but was soon flabbergasted by the extreme cultural differences starting with the strange lifeforms and also insubordinate workers leaving their bosses to die.
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#22 - We live and learn.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 10
Chise and Selkie climb aboard a dragon's back to meet Lindel, to have her own mage's staff made. Frustrated by Chise's acceptance of her being kept as a pet by Elias, he describes the time he found Elias in the darkness. Meanwhile, Elias, who had stayed at home by himself, receives a letter from a sorcerer's college.
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#23 - Everything must have a beginning.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 4
Long ago, the humans and cats of Ulthar, city of cats, were struck by a great tragedy. For generations, the souls of those who were at the center of this tragedy have been sealed away by the king of cats. Chise and Elias travel to Ulthar in order to complete Simon's second task: to purify the spirits that remain.
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#24 - Vagabond, Maeda Keiji!
Sengoku Basara - Season 1 - Episode 3
Free-spirited Keiji hopes to build an alliance against the threat of the Demon Lord. His visit with Uesugi ends on a promising note - but his meeting with Date Masamune leads to a battle.
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#25 - The Faerie Queene.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 6
Chise is deep in thought as she watches the souls return to where they'd belonged all along. More than ten days have passed since the incident at Ulthar, but she is still in a deep sleep. Elias and Simon stand worriedly by her side, when they are met by two unexpected guests: Titania, Queen of Fairies, Lord of Tír na nÓg.
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#26 - One today is worth two tomorrows.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 2
Few people know the truth about the bookstore on the outskirts of London that Elias frequents. He takes Chise there, where they meet Angelica, who teaches Chise a little bit of magic, but... The true power of the Sleigh Beggy materializes a fragment of Chise's memories.
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#27 - You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 20
As the dragon rampages, Elias tells Chise they must absorb the dragon’s magic in order to stop it. This leaves Chise in a predicament as Elias becomes unable to help.
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#28 - The Instrumental Duo of The Mighty Rivals / Mental Sports Day
Hozuki's Coolheadedness - Season 1 - Episode 5
The story begins at the herbal medicine store "Gokuraku Mangetsu" in Togenkyo. Hakutaku was explaining Momotaro the secrets of becoming popular around girls while making a medicinal hotpot. Around the same time at Hell's Enma palace, Hozuki was explaining the finer points of tortures in hell to Shiro and the gang while also making a special hotpot. While cooking, Hozuki realised that he was missing one important ingredient and decides to meet the gatekeeper who had them. At the public square, Gokusotsu all across Hell gathered for the "Gokusotsu Grand Sports Day". Nasubi was relaxed as usual but Karauri on the other hand was nervous. Female Gokusotsu like Oko were also present. Hakutaku and Momotaro arrived at the square and were greeted by Shiro, Kakisuke and Rurio. As part of the program, Kakisuke was to do a coordinated group gymnastics and Rurio a song with his seniors. Shiro was however not quite sure what to do. Soon, the fireworks calling for assembly was launched and The Great King Enma announced the beginning of the sports day!
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#29 - Forgive and forget.
The Ancient Magus' Bride - Season 1 - Episode 18
Stella visits Chise with her payment of sweets. Elias, irritated by and jealous of Stella, runs away. Chise finds him hiding in a shadow but becomes worried as he restrains her and seems to want to eat her.
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#30 - The Samurai Who Was Once Inch-High / The Quagmire Sisters Of The Mountain
Hozuki's Coolheadedness - Season 1 - Episode 11
While Hozuki was reading a book at Enma Palace's library, Shiro came by and began complaining how he discovered the Japanese folklore "Momotaro" that described Momotaro's dog as an Afghan Hound. Shiro's issue didn't end there as he had trouble reading the Japanese folklore "Inch-High Samurai" to the puppies. Hozuki was kind enough to lend him a hand but... Speaking of which, where is the Inch-High Samurai? The Yamagami (mountain god) "Princess Iwa" was upset as usual and threatened to kill any beautiful women who entered her mountain. Meanwhile at Enma Palace's lounge, Hozuki and Oko were eating together talking about the TV show "Woman's Quarrel Over Appearance" while the Tree Spirit was sighing over his current situation. Although Tree Spirits normally dwell in the mountain of the world of the living, he now takes refuge in hell due to his pollen allergy and the discord between the top 2 members of the Yamagami family, Princess Iwa and Princess Sakuya.
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