English Dub Review: The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King “The Warrior Princess Is a Prisoner of War; The Unknown Is the Source of Confusion”
OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)
Serafina de Lavillant of Illodren, a Knight Captain, is captured after a hard fought battle by Veor, the barbarian king of the other side. To her surprise, Veor does not wish to make her a prisoner, but his wife. Later, the pair visit the local river, much to Serafina’s protest.
OUR TAKE
Ey, it’s another kinda sorta romance story! And it involves kidnapping, like all good romances start! There’s Beauty and the Beast and…probably some others, I’m sure. Anyway, questionable means of “picking up” women aside, the first episode sets the scene rather well, with our protagonist and now bride to be Serafina leading her fellow knights as their captain into battle with some feral barbarians. However, when facing Veor, the king of these mongrels, she is utterly overpowered and taken to their camp, where she learns of her fate: to one day be Veor’s bride! So, it sounds like the premise of this series will be about Veor and his barbarians slowly winning Serafina over to have her actually want to be his bride which…sounds like Stockholm Syndrome even if things go absolutely to plan, and that’s without the concerning implications happening around them. Keep in mind that these barbarians were just attacking the forces of Serafina’s kingdom, so does this mean they won that battle and invaded that kingdom? Are Serafina’s friends and family being similarly overtaken by others in this group? And if they didn’t, why does Serafina not use this as an opportunity to negotiate a ceasefire with their marriage as a concession? It’s still not a good outcome for her, but it would at least be interesting and revealing about her character to see how she considers that offer when her peoples’ lives are on the line.
The second episode also kinda just lets these probably pressing questions go by the wayside to have a fun first date by the river! This also puts for attention on something hinted at in the first episode, namely that, back in her own kingdom, Serafina’s strength as a knight was seen as helpful to some, but a hindrance and an insult to others, including her brother, who wished she would hang up the armor and focus on finding a husband. Well, good news for that jerk when and if he finds out about this, though I imagine that one of the unexpected perks that Serafina is going to find from this arrangement is that Veor will probably encourage her to be strong and fierce, seeing as that was what attracted him in the first place. Also he is apparently completely unrecognizable without his facial hair, and said hair apparently grows back within hours, which is pretty fast even for me, who looks like an unhoused person after a couple weeks. Anyway, single episode review next time!
