The ancient magus bride vol 9 by Kore Yamazaki

The villain known as Josef/Cartaphilius brings Chise to his home and prepares her for the deal she’s now entered into: she is going to give Josef her cursed left arm. Josef is in quite the predicament. When he merged with the cursed being, Cartaphilius, he started to slowly decompose over centuries, but he can never fully die. He’s convinced that with Chise’s arm cursed from the dragon, he might finally have some relief from his torture. But first, he exchanges eyes with Chise to make sure his body won’t reject her arm, and in doing so, the two share their past memories and share their tragic backstories.

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This is such an important volume for the story of Chise and her enemies, and I'm a little bit sad that it happens this late in the series! The payoff of having Chise's past revealed with Josef is pretty sweet, but it has been a long time coming. While many other volumes of this series have been fairly heartbreaking, this one takes the cake with our two most tragic folks, and I do manage to feel pity for Josef even though he has been making everyone's life harder for the last seven volumes. This feels very much like the end of a story arc, and the ending isn't quite a cliffhanger, so if you're on a limited budget and need a logical place to stop, this volume would be a decent place to do so.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 8-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5, vol 6, vol 7, vol 8

Publisher: Seven Seas
Publication Date: September 11, 2018
ISBN:​ 9781626928015 (Paperback)

Tags: Rating: 8/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Fantasy, Romance, Seven Seas