The Ancient Magus' Bride Watch Order: OVAs, Two Seasons and the OAD
Release order: the Those Awaiting a Star OVAs, season 1, the Boy from the West OAD, then season 2 in two parts. Dates and episode counts from ANN.
Watch in release order: the three Those Awaiting a Star OVAs, the 24-episode first season, the three-episode OAD The Boy from the West and the Knight of the Blue Storm, then the 24-episode second season. Nothing newer is listed in Anime News Network's encyclopedia as of October 14, 2026.
Everything, in order
| Order | Entry | Length | Released in Japan |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Those Awaiting a Star (OVA) | 3 episodes | August 2016 to September 2017 |
| 2 | Season 1 (TV) | 24 episodes | October 7, 2017 to March 24, 2018 |
| 3 | The Boy from the West and the Knight of the Blue Storm (OAD) | 3 episodes | September 2021 to September 2022 |
| 4 | Season 2, part 1 (TV) | 12 episodes | April 6 to June 22, 2023 |
| 5 | Season 2, part 2 (TV) | 12 episodes (13 to 24) | From October 5, 2023 |
The prequel OVAs: Those Awaiting a Star
Wit Studio made a three-part prequel before the television series. ANN's 2016 announcement says it "tells a story from before Chise meets the Magus," from an original story by the manga's author, Kore Yamazaki, and that the three parts would be bundled with the sixth, seventh and eighth Japanese manga volumes. Each part also had a short run in Japanese theaters. ANN's August 2017 report gives the dates: part 1 screened in August 2016, part 2 opened in theaters on February 4, 2017 and shipped with volume 7 on March 10, and part 3 opened in August 2017 and shipped with volume 8 on September 9. ANN's November 2017 report, written after part 3 shipped, repeats those dates. A later ANN report from October 2018 gives February 2018 for part 2 and October 2017 for part 3; we follow the reports written at the time, which agree with each other and with the volumes' order.
The ANN encyclopedia entry lists three episodes of about 23 minutes. Its summary has Chise, already living with Elias, finding a Japanese picture book tied to her lonely childhood, so the OVAs assume you know who Elias is. Watching them first follows release order; watching them after season 1 works too, and is our suggestion if you want the premise from the series itself. Funimation's North American home release of the first 12 TV episodes included the OVAs, ANN reported.
Season 1
The television series premiered on October 7, 2017, directed by Norihiro Naganuma at Wit Studio. ANN's episode list runs from "April showers bring May flowers." to episode 24, "Live and let live.", dated March 24, 2018. A three-minute promotional piece for the manga's College arc, released in March 2019, is listed separately by ANN and is not needed.
The OAD: The Boy from the West and the Knight of the Blue Storm
The next anime moved to a new studio. ANN's March 2021 report says Kazuaki Terasawa directs at Studio Kafka, "a new animation studio established specifically for the OAD project," and that the story, written by Yamazaki, "is set some time before Chise enrolls in The College." The three episodes were bundled with limited editions of Japanese volumes 16, 17 and 18; ANN's June 2022 report dates those to September 2021, March 10, 2022 and September 9, 2022, and says Crunchyroll streams the OAD outside Asia. Because season 2 is the College arc, the OAD fits between the two seasons.
Season 2, in two parts
Season 2 is one season split into two cours. Studio Kafka and Terasawa continue, and ANN says the season "adapts the 'Gakuin' (College) arc of the manga." Per ANN's June 2023 report, the first part premiered on April 6, 2023, and the second part premiered on October 5. ANN's episode list for the first part ends on June 22, 2023 with episode 12. ANN files the second part as a separate encyclopedia entry, labeled "TV 3," but its reviews number those episodes 13 to 24, and its review of episode 24 was published on December 21, 2023.
Reading on
Seven Seas publishes the manga in English, and the Ancient Magus' Bride catalog lists the volumes and the season 1 box set. For the series' lead, see our piece on Chise Hatori.