Alternative title(s): Kisaki Kyouiku Kara Nigetai Watashi
Light Novel adaptation by EMT Squared
Streaming on Crunchyroll
Premise
Leticia Dorman has spent most of her young life engaged to be married to the prince of the kingdom, Clarke. To prepare for this she’s been separated from her parents and forced to undergo a gruelling education befitting a future queen. So when Clarke one day turns up with another woman on his arm, Leticia is thrilled to be freed from her loveless pairing and immediately sets about escaping from court.
Zigg’s verdict: Prince Alarming
I guess I get the idea in theory? Princess Lessons is clearly trying to juggle two opposing ideas and combine them into a single story – the timeless fantasy of being a fairytale princess with your very own Prince Charming, and the more modern, women-are-doing-it-for-themselves fantasy of being able to screw tradition, make your own way in the world, and have the pretty boys be the ones who are chasing after you. Like I said, I think that’s the theory here. The problem is, in reality these two ideas are kind of an awkward pairing at best and are unintentionally grim at worst.
Like, the main thing I got from this episode is that Leticia is absolutely miserable and the way she’s been treated is basically child abuse. That’s a) pretty much a realistic depiction of arranged political marriages throughout history and b) not necessarily a bad thing for a story, as it builds our sympathy for the main character. The stuff that feels off is when Prince Clarke shows up with another woman and the show *immediately* pivots into goofy comedy mode, basically throwing all the stuff we’ve seen out of the window. Even given this is a broad comedy, you’d expect Leticia to be, I don’t know, angry? Upset that her childhood was robbed from her for nothing? Shell-shocked that the thing she’s spent all her life preparing for has been taken away? The daffy lightness of her reaction is at such odds with the sombre presentation of the first two thirds of the episode that it creates a jarring mood shift that the show doesn’t even attempt to take into account.
Subsequently, I’ve got worries about what the actual plot of the show is going to be going forward from this. Like, clearly the show is going to be about Clarke following her to her new home and attempting to win her heart for real. This raises a bunch of questions with no good answers – How was he able to break the engagement so easily? Does he not actually care about the new woman in his life? Is his affection for Leticia genuine or just a jealous knee jerk? The actual answer to these questions is of course ‘don’t think about it too hard’ but I dunno, it’s not like there’s a bunch of scintillatingly funny jokes to distract me from them. The whole power dynamic of this relationship seems extremely out of whack and while that may be true to the Renaissance Enlightenment Victorian Edwardian non-specific historical period, I’m not sure I really want a romantic comedy about that. There’s nothing truly awful here, but there’s equally nothing worthy of recommendation either, unless you like to muse over these meaningless questions as much as I do.
Still, at least this will only be the second worst show about arranged marriage this season.
