Manga Impressions so Far: Boukyaku no Shirushi Hime

Synopsis

This the story of a young princess of a small kingdom and a mysterious king searching for wife. After thousands of blind dates the princess and the king meet and she is chosen as the wife of the mysterious headless king. Now starts the life of the married couple learning what it means to balance duty and their relationship while also trying to work it out.

The Good

More recent shoujo manga have been taking focus on the development of an already established relationship between the two main leads and this one of them, making for a refreshing new look into fantasy romance. To have a story develop a romance but not stretch it with overused cliches and predictable moments makes for a good romance read. The art is soft and easy on the eyes and the characters are all endearing in their own ways.

To put things simply, the relationship development of the main characters is the sweetest thing for the series and the art is simple and soft enough to match the series. The plot is unique and leaves little mysteries yet to be solved in the story.

The Bad

There’s quite a bit of filler to go through before the next arc in the series is found. So in some ways the flow of the story may come off as slow even if the development of the relationship between the leads are going well. What’s more, when the drama of the series does happen, it lasts for around 2 or 3 three chapters or so before tying itself up and moving onto a filler to make way for the next drama. So the transition of genres is not really the greatest.

The art while soft and light is not the most striking for the series and some times, the details seem to fade and you can’t tell much. The characters while interesting at certain points of the series, there could have been more to showcase more dynamic traits of the female lead other than being smart, kind and bad with talking to people. To put it simply, the art is not all that memorable, the shift in genre for the dramatic stories seemed somewhat rushed and there could have been more done with the dynamics of the different characters that make their appearance.

Conclusion

It’s a cute series that takes on the relationship of a newly married couple holding the responsibilities of a kingdom as king and queen. While there isn’t much exciting qualities to be said about the Princess, the relationship development between her and the king throughout the series is sweet and warms the heart with no overly used cliches and tender moments. The plot itself is interesting but the shift in plots at certain points running to around 2-3 chapters seem like a different section for the series altogether. Overall, the art is soft though not great, the plot is interesting but the flow not so much, but the relationship of the characters are great.

Rating: 7.5/10