10 best anime to watch if you like The Ancient Magus' Bride

The Ancient Magus' Bride follows Chise Hatori, a young girl ostracized by her family and auctioned off as a bride to a mage named Elias Ainsworth. However, Elias takes Chise as his apprentice instead of his wife, unveiling a breathtaking world of magic, spirits, and mystical creatures coexisting with the human realm.

As Chise finds hope and belonging under Elias's guidance, dark mysteries, and dangers challenge their growing bond. With stunning art, captivating characters, and emotional storytelling, The Ancient Magus' Bride stirs the imagination by interweaving themes of magical wonder, mentorship, and coming-of-age.

Those who enjoyed the anime's mix of tragic adolescent struggles, fantasy worldbuilding, and heartwarming relationships overcoming supernatural threats, will find these 10 anime just as interesting.

10 must-watch anime for fans of The Ancient Magus' Bride

1) Natsume's Book of Friends

Natsume’s Book of Friends (Image via Brain’s Base/Shuka)

Natsume's Book of Friends is a supernatural slice-of-life anime about Natsume, an orphan boy who inherits a book of spirits his grandmother bound under her control. Like The Ancient Magus' Bride, this anime has a thoughtful tone and develops the themes of loneliness and finding belonging.

Natsume tries to free the spirits whose names are written in the book while encountering both benevolent and hostile spirits. With the help of his spirit cat guide Madara, he learns to accept his ability to see spirits and meets both humans and spirits who need his assistance.

2) Violet Evergarden

Violet Evergarden (Image via Kyoto Animation)

This stunning fantasy drama follows Violet Evergarden's difficult return to civilian life in a war-torn world after losing her arms at the end of a continental war.

Initially, Violet is shown as an emotionless soldier trained and used solely as a merciless weapon of war since childhood. However, she struggles to adapt and understand the complex feelings she experiences while learning to ghostwrite letters for clients of the Auto Memory Dolls company that employs her.

Violet hopes ghostwriting can help her comprehend why her commanding officer, Gilbert, told her he loved her in what she thought were his dying words to her at the war's conclusion. Violet's growth into her own person after years of dehumanization, like Chise, makes this an engaging and emotional watch.

3) Mushishi

In this episodic supernatural anime, the wandering mushishi—or spiritualist—Ginko investigates lifeforms called Mushi invisible to most but profoundly influential over emotions and memories of the humans they infect. Some Mushi assist people temporarily, while many others upend lives with tragic consequences.

Calm but resolute, Ginko deploys specialized skills from endured personal catastrophes growing up surrounded by Mushi to contain outbreaks or guide infected individuals. This is similar to mage Elias's role of handling troublesome spirits and magical occurrences in The Ancient Magus' Bride.

4) Spice and Wolf

Spice and Wolf centers on the odd partnership formed between crafty merchant Kraft Lawrence and Holo the Wisewolf. The latter is an ancient wolf spirit hundreds of years old who appears as a young girl who helped protect medieval villages that worshipped her.

As the villages abandoned pagan beliefs over time, the isolated Holo journeys with Lawrence by striking a deal to have him escort her back to distant northern lands she once called home. This tale of timeless spirits cherishing fleeting humans reflects key themes in The Ancient Magus' Bride.

Both lack a place in the world to fully belong anymore due to shifting epochs. Lawrence and Holo develop an endearing romantic relationship during their travels, and Holo yearns to return to the ancient northern forests she protected as worship dwindled over generations.

5) Somali and the Forest Spirit

Somali and the Forest Spirit (Image via Satelight)

In a post-apocalyptic magical world, remnants of industrial civilization have collapsed, giving way to a realm of spirits, overgrown ruins, and roaming mythical creatures. Amid this world, a forest guardian golem discovers Somali, an abandoned human girl.

He decides to protect her while escorting her in search of other surviving humans who may have endured the cataclysmic events that destroyed society generations ago. Naming the energetic child Somali, the golem father raises her while uncovering his own hidden emotions.

Through their travels across beautiful, overgrown landscapes, they encounter various communities and threats—not unlike the mentor-protégé relationship forged in The Ancient Magus' Bride between Chise and the inhuman mage Elias as they face magical dangers

6) Fruits Basket

Fruits Basket (Image via TMS Entertainment)

This recent adaptation improves on the original in every regard. Like The Ancient Magus' Bride, the supernatural story explores dark themes while retaining a heartwarming and hopeful core due to the intimate character moments and development.

Fruits Basket centers on an orphaned high school girl named Tooru who discovers the haunting secrets of the members of the Soma family that take her in after an accident leaves her homeless.

Due to a multi-generational curse, certain Somas transform into animals of the Chinese zodiac if embraced by someone of the opposite sex.

7) Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits

Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits (Image via Gonzo)

In Kakuriyo: Bed & Breakfast for Spirits, college girl Aoi Tsubaki is suddenly spirited away to the Tenjin-ya inn, which exists on the boundary between the Ayakashi Realm and the afterlife.

She soon finds out her now-deceased opportunistic grandfather racked up enormous supernatural debts. She must pay all of them back while working at this Edo Japan-inspired inn functioning as a secret crossroads hosting weary ayakashi travelers heading into the spirit world after death.

Trapped by an ominous contract, Aoi navigates ayakashi social rules at an inn run by the reserved demon Ōdanna. Through her cooking, she befriends staff and guests, slowly thawing Ōdanna's heart—much like how Elias’s realm gradually opens up to Chise in The Ancient Magus' Bride.

8) Made in Abyss

Made in Abyss anime features the abyss—an otherworldly place filled with artifacts, creatures, and secrets that draws intrepid explorers called delvers to venture into its depths. Both shows have an entrancing world filled with the supernatural as well as gut-wrenching moments involving children.

While The Ancient Magus' Bride also has heavy themes, fans can appreciate the thematic parallels of innocent youth overwhelmed by uncaring, supernatural forces. Despite harrowing experiences, the leads discover resilience and hope via their adventures in magical realms.

9) The Morose Mononokean

The Morose Mononokean (Image via Pierrot Plus)

Like The Ancient Magus' Bride, The Morose Mononokean follows a high school boy who becomes entwined with the world of Japanese spirits—or ayakashi—after an opportunistic yokai latches onto him, draining his energy daily.

After receiving help from an unsmiling owner of a tea room that serves as a waystation for yokai passing between the spirit and human worlds, he becomes indebted and begins working to repay him.

The boy subsequently begins helping the Mononokean master in his work, mingling with all sorts of spirits and gods while balancing human school life. He also slowly learns about his employer's mysterious past over the course of their adventures.

10) Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle (Image via Studio Ghibli)

Famed anime director Hayao Miyazaki beautifully adapts this fantasy novel into an imaginative feature film reminiscent of The Ancient Magus' Bride.

Howl's Moving Castle centers on Sophie, a young hatmaker turned into an old woman by a witch's curse who finds refuge in the moving castle of the flamboyant and infamous wizard Howl. Sophie develops feelings for Howl over her tenure as his new cleaning lady while also learning the costs of magic.

Scenes of overgrown nature reclaiming architecture pair nicely with themes of finding beauty and purpose in unexpected places. Both works weave messages about self-acceptance and bonds with magical beings.

Conclusion

The Ancient Magus' Bride stirs the imagination with its take on magical mentors and captivating spirit-filled settings.

These 10 anime titles either provided direct thematic links or nailed the same sense of wonder about the supernatural and its relation to humanity. So try out these anime if you desire more enchanting tales, new fantastical creatures, strong bonds despite differences, or lush animation bringing it all to life.

They deliver forest spirit helpers, stirred curses, alchemical magic, needs that bind humans and supernatural alike – everything that made you fall in love with The Ancient Magus' Bride originally.