The Princess Blog

It's no secret that modern anime tends to be derivative. Almost every new animated show from the East tells the story of a character reincarnated  into another world or a younger version of themselves. However, another trope, specifically among anime about royalty, has dominated the airwaves. Nearly every would-be anime princess in recent years begins her story with a broken engagement to a prince. This was the catalyst of everything from 2023's I'm Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness  to last year's 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy and The Do-Over Damsel Conquers the Dragon Emperor . This season, a brand new show entitled I Want to Escape from Princess Lessons  follows in their footsteps. The series begins with a noble lady named Leticia forced into an arranged marriage with Prince Clarke. To prepare her for her future as a princess, her parents send her to the castle for private finish...

The final day of the fairy tale advent calendar  contained a generous offer of four books from Emily Deady's Fairy Tale Royals series. This author was new to me, so I decided to check one of them out. Although I was going to start at the beginning with her "Cinderella" retelling, I settled for Pearl of Magic  because it's hard to find good retellings of "The Little Mermaid."  This was another adaptation that did not contain mermaids , but it still had some magical properties. The main character is a type of sorceress whose race is oppressed by other kingdoms. She is silenced by a magic necklace and must get to know her captor through hand gestures alone. The story is similar to  The Prince's Captive  by Celeste Baxendell . Aizel is a Majis who uses her voice to command power. When her people are persecuted and her sister's life is on the line, she must agree to kill an enemy prince that she rescued from drowning. Meanwhile, Prince Erich, whose king...