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Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

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All right it’s time to take a look at this fantasy romance manga from a while back. It’s always interesting to be looking at the same title twice in a row like this within such a short time frame. The anime was also pretty faithful to the manga so it’s not like there are a lot of changes here. That said, you can be assured that I will be doing fresh writeups for all of the characters and won’t be reusing anything. This is still a complete review in its own right so that fans of the manga are not left out. Lets jump into this one.

The series starts with the humans offering Sariphi up to the monsters as their latest tribute. The world is divided into the human kingdoms and monster ones. There is a rough peace treaty going on which involves the humans sending a sacrifice every year and the monsters leave them alone. Sariphi is surprised though when the beast king Leonhart says that he won’t eat her and to just go away. He’s never destroyed any of the sacrifices and only keeps the tradition alive so that the peace isn’t lost. When Sariphi refuses to leave, he decides to make her queen but this doesn’t please most of his subjects. They insist on her going through many different trials and challenges to prove her worth. Will she be able to pull this off?

Leonhart doesn’t look great for most of the series because of how much he puts up with here though. He’s the king so why is he letting the followers dictate what he can or cannot do? I would understand if he was a president or someone without absolute power, but he is the King. Moreover, he is the strongest in the kingdom. The way I see it, he should just shove aside anyone who gets in his way. It shouldn’t even be a contest, he just needs to tell them what he wants.

Unfortunately he does have some confidence issues despite his bravado. He has a tragic past involving being part human and so a part of him is always worried that this will come out. It’s unfortunate because this really holds him back in a big way and even by the end of the series everyone is pushing him around. He leans too heavily into trying to be a reasonable, democratic leader which doesn’t work when you’re the King. So while I give him some credit for not being evil and destroying the hostages, I didn’t think he worked very well as the main lead.

As for Sariphi, she’s a solid heroine but definitely one who can be rather naive at times. She readily goes into enemy strongholds to prove herself as the upcoming queen and nearly dies several times. She does not put herself in the best positions to win here. I know that she doesn’t want to make herself a burden to the King but without plot armor, that’s exactly what she would have been doing there. If she died in any of the battles then there would have been no chance for peace. She tends to trust everyone right away which isn’t a good idea in this environment. Early on she was good at reading facial expressions and I thought that might play a bigger role later on but it never really did. So I appreciate her bravery but often times it wasn’t really warranted here.

Anastasia has a very small role but ends up looking a lot more formidable. She has survived a long time by keeping to herself and not making big waves. You get the feeling that she could defend herself if needed though. I liked her quiet confidence here and if anything it’s too bad that she didn’t get more of a role. She’s really good for the info dumps but that’s about it.

Now for a great character we have Lanteveldt. He goes from being a lone wolf type figure to Sariphi’s most reliable attendant. The guy has serious skills and while he isn’t quite the strongest fighter in the kingdom, he always gives it his 100%. I like his confidence and in this case it’s a loud one. The guy will talk tough to anyone and doesn’t back down just because someone else is royalty. This kind of character is always a lot of fun and he elevates the series whenever he appears. He gets some critical fights throughout and even when he loses, he prioritizes protecting Sariphi whenever he can. Now that’s what I call a quality character.

We also have Bennu who does his best to protect Sariphi at all times. He has the abilities of the Phoenix so he is in a good position to do this, but at the end of the day it does take time to transform. So I would say that Lanteveldt is still a bit more reliable in that sense. Also, Sariphi tends to have Bennu wait instead of attacking immediately which also stacks the deck against that character. Not much you can do when your leader says to stand back right?

Ilya thinks of himself as a protector but he looks really bad right out of the gate. He really doesn’t read the situation at all and part of the problem is the way he handled the situation. Even if she was kidnapped by evil monsters, Ilya treated Sariphi so roughly the whole time. There’s no way it would have gone well and she would have resented him regardless. The fact that he refused to listen to her at all was crazy. Yeah he gets his big redemption arc in the end but the guy had so much potential and squandered it immediately.

Now Fenrir at least makes for a very imposing villain. He’s the second strongest character in the series behind Leonhart and the guy has a lot of aura. He does get a little whiny at times and I didn’t buy into the origin story much but he does serve his roll well as a villain. I definitely have to give him that. When he appears, you know that he is going to go all out and he gives us one of the rare fights in the series. Ultimately he may not have been a match for the king but at least he tried to fight him fair and square without cheap tricks.

His right hand man Gleipnir was really solid and definitely one of the standout characters. Now he definitely had a really tough backstory. Things really did not go his way at all and yet the guy continued to stand strong. Once he was saved by Fenrir, he proved to be super loyal and did everything he could to make him the king. The guy was also super powerful in his own right and I dare say he would be 3rd in the series in terms of power level. With his battle IQ I wouldn’t even be shocked if he could dethrone the top two.

Then we have Set as another one of the big villains but he is the kind of guy to use cheap shots the whole time. He plays politics and uses optics to try and take Leonhart down since he knows that victory would be impossible otherwise. Hey, it’s a valid tactic considering how weak the guy is but ultimately I couldn’t take him seriously. His entire plan revolves around all of the guards being mentally weak, the country turning against Leonhart, and Anubis being a big traitor. So in my mind this was not a good plan at all and should have failed right out of the gate. The fact that it didn’t fail basically comes down to luck which is why it was not a great plan. I was just waiting for Set to go down the whole time. Somebody needed to teach him a lesson after all!

Anubis is a character I lost a lot of respect for. I talked about loyalty a lot for Landeveldt and Gleipnir. It’s what made them such great characters because they would follow their leader no matter what. Ultimately the problem with Anubis is that he could not keep that same energy. When the chips were down and the situation got tough, he folded immediately. Not what you want to see out of a character like this. Even though he eventually sees the light, I couldn’t forget this. Whenever a character betrays a close friend like that just because of third party sources or without confronting the guy directly. Anubis doesn’t have a true confrontation with Leonhart before going crazy.

Jormungand is a hero who actually has loyalty and does his best to protect the king. He doesn’t hesitate when the truth of his past comes out and continues to fight. Honestly, it’s rough how many people were quick to turn against Leonhart when he was exposed. He’s still the same guy after all. A lot of them really got lucky with how nice he is because there would be a ton of people in jail after I rose back up to power. A lot of them were actively trying to murder him as well which is downright crazy.

Joz and Galois were fun supporting characters who tested Sariphi. What I liked about their test was that it didn’t involve mortal danger or putting her through a whole lot of risk. They just wanted to assess what her character was like and they did good in that respect. It makes sense as a test and once she passed it, they knew she could be trusted. Anubis could learn more things from this instead of trying to undermine her at every possible opportunity. Then Tetra also got to test Sariphi even if it wasn’t quite an intentional test in the same way. Sariphi still showed that she was a good person at her core. She may have had a hard time establishing boundaries but I did appreciate that she was always there to make the world a better place in any little way that she could. If she could just have a little more confidence to shut characters down in their tracks, that would have been perfect!

The art in the manga is pretty good. It can actually get rather intense during some of the battles. The enemies and heroes are stabbing each other after all so some violence is actually expected here. The backstories can also get rather intense. It’s nothing too crazy and this is still a Shojo but the art was ready for whatever tone the manga wanted to present.

In the end it’s still a bit ironic that the series didn’t land any of the romances since it is a romance title but that’s just how it goes of course. With the main romance it’s still hard to get behind the beast thing. It’s a mix of him just being too much like an animal and Sariphi looking like a kid. Even once Leonhart has his human form, you’re just not given much of a reason for her to have fallen in love with him. If anything it feels more like gratitude for being kept alive which is fine but that feels different from love. Then you have Jormungand with one of the attendants but it feels like a one sided crush for most of the series. Once they finally get together it is just a bit too rushed.

While I can’t quite co-sign any of the romances in this series, I do think it handled the other kinds of relationships well. The different friendships in the series are really solid and I liked the master/student dynamics. There was always a great sense of honor and chivalry to be had here. While I don’t care for old settings as much as being in the city, the world building was handled well. It doesn’t feel like all of the issues got to be handled just yet but you have to assume that the main duo will eventually be going around fixing all of the other kingdoms. Ultimately it’s also not like you can just fix everyone but the world is definitely in a much better spot than it had been in previously.

Overall, This is a manga that is fairly strong in some areas but also weak in others. The main flaw is the romance which is really on the weak side and it’s rough because that is such a focus in the story. I ultimately couldn’t get behind the main pairing and that’s hard to get around. In the end the manga couldn’t surpass this, but it’s not a bad read by any means. I would still be able to recommend it if you’re a real big fan of the Beauty and the Beast since it’s going for those vibes. There are definitely better options for Shojo titles out there which is why you would not likely need to resort to this one.

Overall 5/10

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts Review

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It’s time to take a look at a romance anime from a little while back. This one had a lot of mountains to climb to try and be solid though because right from the jump I had my doubts about the main romance. It’s going for clear Beauty and the Beast vibes here which is admirable about inner beauty and everything but it’s still hard to root for. The main guy is…well he’s a beast and the main heroine looks like a child. Mix that together and this romance is going to be a super hard sell. We’ll see if the anime manages to pull this off or if it can at least succeed in spite of this.

The series introduces us to a girl named Sariphi who has been shipped off to the land of monsters as a human sacrifice. It’s not exactly a great honor, it’s much the opposite. She was an outcast in the realm of humankind and was always treated horribly. At least now she could have a quick death but to her surprise, Leonhart says he will let her go. He actually never eats the human sacrifices and only keeps up the tradition for peace between the realms. He lets them slip out the back and presumably when they go back to the human world they live a brand new life. Sariphi has nothing to go back to though and decides to stick around. This forces Leonhart to name her as his bride to be. She will be queen over the kingdom and this news shocks all of beast kind. Is the King being seduced by the human? Many monsters will have something to say about this.

Naturally it’s not surprising that this would cause a lot of friction. It’s completely unheard of after all since humans and beasts are completely different. At least in this series both are totally humanoid and everything but yeah I’d suspect foul play if I was one of the monsters as well. It’s all just so sudden after all and the King doesn’t really go in depth on explaining his pick. He’s the king so why should he right? But the ole “Because I said so” is never a very convincing argument when you really think about it.

So lets dive into the romance right now. Why wait right? There are two main romance plots here. The first is with Leonhart and Sariphi and yes I could not really get into this. At the end of the day, he is in his beast form for nearly the whole series and she’s still super in love with him here. The problem is to me this just feels more like a gratitude thing. She went from a kingdom where everyone wanted her dead or out of the way to a beast that has made her queen. Naturally she owes him a lot and so she is super thankful to be alive. I don’t think it translates very well into the romance though.

I also just can’t really get past her design which is a little too small and the beast being a beast. So with those 3 factors in play, this was a romance that I was not rooting for. I’m afraid that the show will have to try and succeed in spite of it. The other romance with Amit and Jormungand is better but also still underwhelming. It tends to be a little more on the cringe side at times. Amit is just way too nervous the whole time and can barely have a real conversation with the guy. We would have needed a much longer time frame for this romance to really work at all.

Hey, this series isn’t only about romance though so lets get into the other aspects of the show. As far as the animation goes, I would say it looks reasonable. It’s clearly not a top tier contender or anything like that but I wouldn’t say it’s super cheap or anything either. I suppose it’s what you would call average. It checks off enough boxes as needed and will show up a bit for the fights when they occur. It’s not something that would hurt the show but it’s not something that would help it either.

The soundtrack is mainly forgettable as well. The opening songs aren’t bad though. Not my favorites or anything but they have a good beat to them. The second opening definitely wins from the two in terms of audio. So I give the series some props there. Generally the plot and atmosphere are solid as well. The show can get a bit violent and the sob stories can get rather sad but the series is never too drastic about this. They set up the world and have all of the details in place but don’t go out of their way to make everything too gritty to try and set up your sympathy. I can appreciate that.

The cast of characters is also reasonable. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but much like the rest of the show they fit the bill. Nothing too great or too weak. This series manages to keep up a fairly average level in most areas so I could see this one being a bit forgettable after some years. Ironically what will keep it most memorable is the main romance since you’re not likely to forget that even if it’s not for the greatest of reasons.

As far as Sariphi goes in terms of being the main character, I thought she was okay. She has her brave moments where she steps up to to protect her friends and face off with the villains. Ultimately what hurts her is she can be a little too naive though. For every risk she takes that is good, she will take a few that just put her in too much danger. Going along with the main villain Fenrir at one point is an example of this. She gets lucky a whole lot and I think she should stand up for herself some more.

The fact that she is a human going up against powerful monsters does stack the deck against her but at least she has a powerful Phoenix in Bennu. She should use this beast more since it can be super handy> Those flames will burn anything in their path after all. With the exception of Fenrir and Gleipnir, I think these would be enough to protect her from virtually any character in the series. She just needs to play things a bit more cautiously.

Then we have Leonhart and I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of this guy either. He’s the king, yet he lets himself be pushed around by traditions all of the time. How I see it, if he was a villain then he would ignore everyone and just make Sariphi his queen. Anyone who didn’t like it would just be wiped out. I’m not saying Leonhart needs to wipe anyone out but they should be respecting his authority as King. So if he says that she is going to be the queen then I need everyone else to back off.

Every time they take Leonhart to the table with threats about how she will be kicked out and everything, it’s just super insulting. Ultimately she usually says that she wants to take the challenge and he relents, but it’s not a great look on his end. This is when I need him to man up. He’s one of the wimpier kings that I’ve seen in a series like this. I know that tradition is a big thing but being King gives you the option to toss this away. No matter how many times he roared in the series, he couldn’t make me forget that.

Then you have the super “loyal” butler Anubis. He’s constantly trying to get rid of Sariphi and even thinks about murdering her at one point. This is not the guy that you want to have as your right hand man by any means. Anyone who would even consider murdering the queen to be like that can definitely not be trusted. Like that was just completely insane. Then later on he also doubts Leonhart himself. Yes he ultimately finds his way back to being a decent person but there should be absolutely no doubts. His actions put everyone in danger time and time again. Some would say that true loyalty is being able to make a move against your master and I would argue that it means always making sure they are safe and get what they want.

It’s an oversimplification and there are other factors at play but murdering the queen to be is not one of them. Then we have Ilya who is a terrible character through and through. Where to even start with this guy? He claims to be in love with Sariphi but was never around when she needed him. Then he shows up causing all kinds of damage to “save” her when she was doing just fine. I would get it if she was super beat up, bruised, or seemed off like mind control. The problem is that it was obvious that she was doing find.

He goes as far as to tie her up and everything which makes him look absolutely terrible. I like the drive of wanting to save her but he took it the absolute worst way possible. The instant he was not willing to even hear her out when she was explaining things was when he was completely doomed. You can’t come back from that. He also would not be able to protect her. If they go to the human world she will be murdered and if they wander around, a monster will eventually take them out. He is strong, but he is only human and that is not enough in this world.

If you want a real protector, then you have to go with Bennu. Bennu can have an attitude and is rather slow to protect Sariphi sometimes. But you know what? Bennu is still ready to help when it counts and trusts her completely. That’s the kind of bodyguard you want to have. I’ll take the loyalty any day.

Back to the army forces, we have Jormungand who is a really powerful fighter. He is very serious and always on top of business. I can respect that and his skills are legit. He is very quick to side with the king even after a lot of people start turning on him. This guy has actual loyalty and so he was always a welcome sight. In a lot of ways he’s what Anubis should have been.

Another good loyal character was Lanteveldt. He can be a troublemaker and always keeps everyone on their toes but he will protect Sariphi. He takes on a lot of injuries as the series goes on but never falters. By the end I would say he is one of the stronger characters even if he will never rise to the top. The fact that Fenrir and Leonhart have actual aura blasts and projectiles makes that matchup just plain unfair. Lanteveldt has his quickness and agile moves but at the end of the day those simply aren’t going to be enough to win sometimes. Still one of the best characters though. I like his confidence and you always get bonus points for not just following royalty.

Then we have Joz and Galois who are fairly minor characters but do a good job of testing Sariphi. What I liked about their test is that they weren’t risking lives or doing any of that crazy stuff. No, they just wanted to see how Sariphi would treat those who appeared to be lower in station. And she did very well of course because she’s really not into any of that stuff. Considering her background it makes sense, but even without it she just has a code of ethics that the other characters lack.

She also to show her kindness with the minor character Tetra. Tetra got to see why Sariphi made for a really good queen who would rule with a just hand. It’s definitely not something that you could really say for any of the other ladies who wanted to be queen. Most of them tend to look super petty throughout the series. Tetra is a nice kid, she doesn’t do a whole lot here but it’s always nice to have more allies around. Anastasia is more of a random character who appears near the end but she is able to read the ancient scripts which is handy. Honestly it’s impressive that she has survived so long while being an outsider and not really having any connections. Definitely not something that just anyone could pull off. She has a tough aura to her so even though her role is fairly small, I thought she was fun.

Now we get to some of the big villains. First up there is Gleipnir who is a super good assistant to Fenrir. The guy has unwavering loyalty which is second to none in the series. Fenrir saved him from a very short life filled with nothing but negativity and gave him a solid purpose. Gleipnir was eternally grateful and really honed his skills. In terms of pure skill he is probably the best in the series. I really liked his automatic weapons and I dare say only the top two would be able to defeat him. He would wipe the floor with every other fighter. He’s my second favorite character in the series behind Landeveldt.

As for Fenrir himself, he’s a solid main villain. The guy has a pretty tragic backstory and basically wants to prove that he is actually the best. The thing is that his abilities are nowhere close to Leonhart’s and they never will be due to how the power levels work in this series. The guy wouldn’t have made a good king anyway. I found him to be a bit whiny at times so if he got more screentime then it would probably get even worse. He worked because he didn’t appear for very long and that was probably the best way to do it. Also, his abilities were impressive. The show didn’t have a ton of action scenes so this guy got to help change that.

Finally we have the villain Set who is super petty and only gets as far as he did because the king is too soft. This guy wants to uncover the big conspiracy and set everyone against Leonhart. Great, I get what he is doing here but the thing is that it should not matter at all. Leonhart is the king no matter what shape or form that is. Set could and should have been stopped very early on but of course Anubis fumbled the bag which was the big mistake here. So yeah I never really liked Set and only plot armor let him last as long as he did.

Overall, Sacrificial Princess is a good reminder of why you have to be strict and tough as a King. The role of a King is different from that of a president or governor. A King has absolute power and so you must remind others that you have this power. You never have to be cruel or do anything crazy with this, just make sure that your decisions are respected. Pretty much the whole series only happens because everyone feels like they can talk back to the King and do what they want. Even the minions try murdering him during the climax of the show. That is absolutely crazy. Leonhart’s goals are good but at times he can just be a bit too naive. Ultimately it’s not a bad show or anything but I don’t think there is a whole lot here to capture your attention. I’d keep it near the middle for that reason because without the romance there isn’t a lot left. It’s not part comedy so there isn’t a whole lot of humor here either. The fights are good though when they happen. Ultimately, how much the show catches your attention will be completely dependent on how much you enjoy the characters and the setting. We’ll see if the spinoff/sequel/follow up gets animated at some point.

Overall 5/10