World is Still Beautiful

Summary: >

The Sun King conquered nearly the entire world. In order to keep their autonomy, the Principality of Rain will offer a bride for the king. Losing a match of rock-paper-scissors, the fourth daughter Nike is volunteered. It gets a little strange when Nike discovers king Livius is only a young boy, though only in appearance. It's clear by his eyes that he's capable of sinister things, and has little innocence.

Nike struggles to adjust in her new role, but takes an interest in Livius. Over time she thaws his heart, but will it be enough? In a land parched by the sun and rarely touched by water, a girl who can call rain is a valuable asset. What few realize, is that Nike's power has far more destructive potential.

Thoughts: >

The idea of "spunky princess" creates upheaval in a kingdom, and warms the heart of those around her could very well be a Disney movie. It also has enough anime traits to where it feels like a mixture of the two. This gives it an unusual flavor, yet by the end I felt it was missing a certain something I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Nike carried the show for me, however in her relationship with Livius, I didn't think the two gelled very well. Livius is a mature, but randomly bratty 15 year old with tyrant like traits. Everyone else was "just there". (Aside from the prime minister who turns the palace into awesomeness.)

The story and idea of the princess who can call rain works very well, especially major plot points which highlight different weather phenomena she can create. I liked the concept of calling rain through song and it's a decent one, but gets tiring and repetitious hearing the same one (in parts) nearly every episode. In the last episode features the hauntingly beautiful farewell song, which highlights the potential this could have been better simply with a more varied catalog of music.

Per episode stories are fair, and the overall plot (thus far) makes a decent showing. The pacing is mostly consistent even if slow, with some oddly accelerated parts here and there. Plot points are dropped in hinting at a much bigger story which this anime never gets to, but it feels complete enough right now to pick up. Not a bad watch all things considered.

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