English Dub Review: The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King “Hypocrisy Is the Height of Knighthood”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Sera still struggles to fit in with barbarian society, even as Veor tries to help her get comfortable, but that’s interrupted when dragons attack the village.
OUR TAKE
Okay, we’re past the initial “getting to know each other” stage of this betrothal and/or kidnapping, now it’s time for the “fighting giant and vicious monsters” stage, which occurs around the third or fourth date if I remember correctly. Though honestly, the more fantasy side to this show did come as a bit of a surprise. The OP, which only started last episode, did give some hints at there being a ton of strange and mystical creatures around, but the first two episodes made it seem like this was just a more typical “regular knights and regular barbarians” sort of situation in terms of worldbuilding. And while using that as a backdrop for this unlikely romance story was novel enough for those first couple episodes, I’m actually kind of relieved that there’s this fantasy aspect to it. Not just because I can talk about the fight scenes like the ones shown here, which are pretty cool, but also because the interpretations of fantasy creatures in this show feel pretty distinct from the usual kind. For instance, the dragons that show up here to invade the village feel less like the usual giant flying lizards and are more bird like in appearance, giving them a different flavor of menace, as if the humans fleeing in terror are merely insects at the mercy of winged horror that only sees them as food to be eaten and gathered.
Though as we have seen already, Sera is not one to simply give up when a fight seems impossible, at least not at first. She faces one of the dragons with simply a pair of tongs and even manages to strike it in the eye, which would be impressive on its own, but of course that could only hold it off for so long. She’s then saved by Veor, who was actually battle ready at the time, and we see another hint of something to built on later, which is that some humans have a form of a magical ability. In Veor’s case, he shout loud enough to intimidate any opponent and make them freeze, which would partly explain how he’s been able to become an intimidating leader and opponent. Basically, the main contribution of this episode, besides giving Sera more of a chance to see the perspective and lifestyle of those who she once considered the enemy, is laying the groundwork for bigger stuff to come in this series, so I’m looking that much more forward to seeing how the expand on it.
