All the Announcements from Anime NYC 2023

Anime NYC 2023: The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Special Panel

ANN's coverage of Anime NYC 2023 sponsored by Yen Press and Ize Press!

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When conventions host a live drawing panel with a manga artist, you don't usually expect them to be working on their actual manga. They often spend such panels doing sketches, sometimes to give away to people in the audience. This is one of the big things that made The Ancient Magus' Bride Season 2 Special Panel at Anime NYC 2023 special — seeing Kore Yamazaki drawing the next chapter of Chise and Elias' fantastical adventures. As panel host Tim Liu said, "We're gonna publish this; we can't do a giveaway."

While Yamazaki was busy drawing, Liu had a few questions for the artist and her editor, Kyohei Shimpuku. This is Yamazaki's first time visiting the U.S. east coast, and as someone who lives in the mountains with her dog, she described being in such a big city as "amazing." She loves to travel, going to England, Ireland, and Finland for research (Shimpuku is less of a traveler but tags along with her for work).

When asked about her impression of Season 2, Yamazaki discussed her astonishment at how the animators translate her manga artwork, saying, "When I'm writing the manga, I'm only thinking in black and white, so when I see the visuals in the anime, the background, the characters, it's amazing." Shimpuku, who is involved in the anime as a producer, emphasized just how hard the process of making deadlines, with episodes typically finished a week before airing. Regarding favorite scenes, Yazamaki generally likes seeing "the characters talking and engaging with each other and just having fun." Shimpuku takes pride in the opening animation, once again offering a reminder of how hard it is to do such work within the deadlines.

The panel quickly gave way to an audience Q&A, with many Chise cosplayers lined up to speak to the mangaka. Yamazaki struggled to answer the question of who her favorite character was, saying they're all "like my kids," but she slightly preferred the mystical creatures. Shimpuku later noted that Yamazaki tends to go on and on about each character's backstory — "I want to stop her," he said humorously. Given the more specific question of her favorite supporting characters to draw, Yamazaki answered Renfred and Alice.

Elias was naturally a source of interest for many in the crowd. One attendee prefaced a question with the statement, "Not sure if intended, but Elias is kind of hot," to which Yamazaki cracked up in laughter. Someone else asked what inspired the "magnificent creature" of Elias. Yamazaki responded by saying, "Good question" in English, before explaining that more of his backstory will be revealed after the college story arc, so she doesn't want to get into spoilers. When asked why the manga starts with Chise being sold to Elias, Yamazaki answered, "As a manga author, I thought it would be an interesting way. I understand buying and being sold is unhealthy, so I wanted to see how the relationship would be formed."

The U.K. setting of The Ancient Magus' Bride was inspired by Yamazaki growing up reading the Harry Potter series and the books of Diana Wynne Jones. As for how she comes up with the rules of magic in her universe, she looks to books on magic and alchemy and visits historical sites for inspiration. When asked about her favorite story arc in the manga so far, she candidly responded, "To be honest, I sometimes forget what I wrote," before settling on the end of Volume 19 as her answer (she likes the gods).

Unfortunately for the many people waiting in line, the Q&A section of the panel was ultimately cut short — but fortunately, it was because of a fun surprise. All of Shimpuku's harping on one-week deadlines might have been a hint as to this surprise: Episode 20 of Season 2 was ready to screen here at the panel five days before its television premiere! Having not had time to watch Episode 19 yet during this busy convention weekend, I ducked out early.