The Princess Blog

This hasn't been the best year in terms of new anime. The past two seasons had a dearth of princesses after the Winter 2024 isekai explosion . Not only that, but the Spring 2024 season was severely lacking in romance. Get your tissue boxes ready because the new Fall 2024 season is here to change all that. Nearly half this season's anime shows have a romantic arc of some sort, which is a great follow-up to the shocking love confession in last week's episode of Wonderful Precure . Two anime shows from this season that stand for having romantic princess-oriented plotlines are Nina the Starry Bride and The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor . These are the types of shows that I never get tired of. Although they follow some stereotypical anime tropes, they are the only way to relive some of the original Disney Princess archetypes  that have been lost to time in Western animation . Nina the Starry Bride is the newest take on the female-oriented rags-to-riches doppelgang

Marian and the Elf  is the second book in the Elves & Legends series by Anabelle Raven . The books in this series are loose fairy tale retellings set in a high fantasy world of humans and elves with magical powers. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, Ella and the Elf , so I decided to give this one a try. Although I don't usually enjoy Robin Hood-inspired stories as much as princess ones, this book had both! This version of Marian is a rebel princess who becomes a pirate in an attempt to escape her cruel father. Generational trauma is something that this book shares with its prequel and will likely be an ongoing theme throughout this series. Another continuing theme is prejudice. Both books tell love stories between a human and an elf in a world where the two races are at odds with each other. This one is more action-packed than the gentle Ella's story, so it appeals to a more adventuresome audience. Although Marian and the Elf  is inspired by the Robin Hood legends, there