Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru

The Shaderan family has fallen on hard times, and the avaricious and callous baron and baroness will stop at nothing to regain status. They favor their beautiful daughter Anastasia, hoping to marry her into wealth, while they treat the second daughter, Marie, no better than a servant. Years of abuse have convinced Marie that she is truly undeserving of love and attention.

On Marie's birthday—used as a ploy to showcase Anastasia—Marie meets Count Kyros Granado, who is immediately charmed by Marie and her knowledge of his culture. Believing Anastasia to be the one he fell for, Kyros proposes via letter. But Anastasia tragically dies on her way to marry him. Forced to take Anastasia's place, Marie becomes Kyros' fiancée, just as he originally intended. Although Marie terribly lacks confidence, Kyros gently helps her find her worth, awakening her to her own beauty and the true meaning of being loved.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Granado, Kyros Main

Hamano, Daiki Japanese

Shaderan, Marie Main

Motomura, Rena Japanese

Mio Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Shaderan, Anastasia Supporting

Tanaka, Minami Japanese

Cecilie Supporting

Terasawa, Momoka Japanese

Granado, Liu Liu Supporting

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Wolfgang Supporting

Asou, Tomohisa Japanese

Johan Supporting

Taketora Japanese

Tania Supporting

Sadaoka, Sayuri Japanese

Giovanni Supporting

Aoki, Takashi Japanese

Kamei, Hiroshi Assistant Producer

Hakozaki, Anri Assistant Producer

Kitagawa, Takayuki Director

Kameyama, Toshiki Sound Director

Reviews

Sep 19, 2025

Marinate1016

Recommended

After last season’s Too Perfect Saint, I needed my seasonal fix of cute girl having to overcome the trauma of familial abuse, neglect and insecurity while developing her sense of self, purpose and worth, with a sprinkle of drama and romance in there. Luckily, Betrothed to my sister’s ex didn’t make us wait too long. Despite this being the latest entry in an increasingly popular genre for adaptations, I think this is one of, if not the best of the bunch and it’s all thanks to the author having their characters act like real people! It’s such a simple, yet novel concept in animanga. Everyone ... acts so normal in this. They communicate, they understand the issues other characters are going through and they’re proactive in finding solutions for problems. It’s the first time in I don’t know how long that I’ve watched an anime and not had to scream at the tv or wonder why a character didn’t say this to rectify a problem. Genuinely every interaction in this is so competently written and even when problems do occur, characters talk through it so you leave each episode feeling content. This might not be the most exciting or groundbreaking story ever, but it’s a very well written romance with two loveable leads, great supporting characters and awesome character development. If want a mature feeling romance and a story where the author understands how survivors of abuse feel and how to comfort them, check this out.

Perhaps my favourite part of this entire story is how great a male lead Kyros is. Yes, he is the Prince Charming who ends up getting with our female lead, Marie, who’s been through years upon years of physical and emotional abuse, BUT Kyros is exactly how you want to see a guy written in this situation. He recognizes that Marie has been through a tremendous amount of abuse and instead of pressuring her or making things about his feelings, he consistently reassures, encourages and listens to her. You know how in a lot of anime when a girl is going through depression or mental issues and she doesn’t say it, the guy will kind of feel something is off, but he leaves it alone or brushes it off? Not in this one. Whenever there’s the slightest hint that Marie is struggling, he either directly asks about it or is proactive in going out and finding what’s going on. Even when Marie tells him it’s fine, he’s able to see through her lie and he understands WHY she tells him the lie. He doesn’t get upset or make it about him, instead he tries to comfort her and make sure she knows it’s ok to speak her mind to him, something she couldn’t do growing up in her abusive household. There’s a ton of examples like that littered throughout this show and it just really makes it an enjoyable watch because that’s exactly how I would handle the situation. Often times when I watch romance anime, I get frustrated because of the cold and aloof nature of Japanese culture, guys not comforting girls when they cry and being afraid to hold hands, etc., this author either has experience with a lot of western romance or is using this as a criticism of Japanese romance tropes because this just hits.

The romance between Marie and Kyros, the core of the story is very believable and so heartwarming. They are truly a perfect couple for one another. While Marie feels like it’s her receiving so much kindness from Kyros, she doesn’t realize all the support and fulfilment she provides to his life. Soulmates is a bit cliche, but they really are. They compliment each other’s strengths and weaknesses very well and most importantly, it all feels earned. Marie coming from an abusive background doesn’t just instantly open up and forget everything she’s been through. It’s a gradual process and it even has set backs like in real life. Often times, the path to healing is a snake road rather than a straight shot, and this story does a great job of showcasing the constant insecurity and doubts that a survivor of such abuse would have, while showing the importance of having such a great support system in place. Speaking of which, Kyros is an amazing male lead and love interest, but it really does take a village and the supporting cast is so good in this one. In any other show, Mio would be best girl. The way she becomes a sister figure to Marie and helps her come to accept herself as beautiful and someone with value is such a sweet plot progression. She is a girl of few words, but when she speaks, it’s nothing but wisdom and encouragement.. or cooking Kyros, lol. There’s a few others like the prince and butler who I loved too. Then on the other side, you have arguably the worst parents in anime history in Marie/Anastasia’s mother and father. I can’t really say why I hate them so much without spoiling too much, but the idea of treating your own flesh and blood like a slave and verbally, emotionally and physically abusing her for years all because of your inadequacies makes my blood boil. It’s because of their evilness that we got this amazing romance and Marie got to live her best life, so it all works out in the end.

I am a big fan of the character designs in this show, obviously this story is marketed towards women so it has a Shoujosei aesthetic and Marie’s design is absolutely incredible. Kyros looks like a dude worthy of someone like her, big fan of him being melanated, the other characters look great as well, the background art is pretty and the animation is serviceable.

I really can’t praise this author enough for how great these characters are. I wish this were more common in anime because I really don’t understand the appeal of dumbing down characters and frustrating your audience like how most romances do. Just write normal humans, normal people are complicated enough and have issues that would be interesting to see. Marie, Kyros and the crew were such a blast, one of my fave couples of the year and a very satisfying end to this season. I will certainly miss them a lot.

Zutaboro Reijou gets 9, out of 10

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Sep 19, 2025

Tharr

Mixed Feelings

Yeah, no. If you're here looking for your seasonal "awww, they're sooo cuuute", you went too far. This is a failed one. The only reason it gets a "mixed feelings" is because it went safe and there was no big damage.
(Also, the whole "recommended/not recommended" is wrong, because thats based on if you enjoy or not a piece of media (anime), whereas rating is based (or should be, because most still don't make the difference) on its objective quality. As in: the story, script, pacing, world building, design, animation, audio, VA, vfx, to name a few. And yes, thats important, because you can be high ... and enjoy a movie with bad dialogue, but when you're watching it again, you realise it is sht. So what are you gonna do then? Change the rating every time you're watching it??)

So, visuals. Meh. The art style is kinda lacking. Decent or cute designs for everyone, apart the main couple. Thats wrong from the start. Yes, we get some scenes (single digits) when they look fantastic, but mostly they don't. The animation is meh. The cinematography, is not here. They went full bubbles & sparkles effects and hoped for the best. The colour palette is meh. Maybe the best part here are: the landscapes and the "objects". As in flowers, fruits, jewelry etc. Some "Team B" took their time and made them look really nice. Good for them I guess.
Audio. Meh or bad. Weird tracks used for "important" scenes and the usual "charming/magical" tracks every time she gets a makeover. The VA was meh, the dialogue's quality might be a reason, don't know. The OP is less than meh (both the track and visuals). The ED is good (with some very nice visuals), or at least catchy.
World building, character development and pacing. Funny. Moderate production value.

And now the "good" stuff. The story is meh at best. Yes, the beginning seems interesting but it gets boring in a few episodes. The so-called mystery aspect was predictable and was used only as a way to give some extra-weight to a lacking story. It failed, obviously. Usually, there are 2 ways to go: diabetes-inducing romance or the romance through adversity (involving drama stuff). Well, they've tried some mix and it failed, obviously (again). 3/4 of the season is about her having trauma and going "I know its not true, he doesn't mean that" etc, while also scenes with the couple being awkward and "cute" and bubbles ans sparkles and blushing and... and.... And then she remembers that she doesn't really care, because its not real... Yes, amazing character development, dialogue, plot and whatever. Oh, sorry. All of that just before the ending when she gets wiser suddenly and everything changes. No, really. The last episode is about setting things straight, the party, what different characters are doing (or will do) and the last 5 minutes are the obligatory "shiny sparkly fairytale ending", with fireworks in the background, obviously.

Yes, I rushed through. The little good aspects are too few and too unimportant to matter. It gets a rating of 5, at most. And "mixed feelings", like I've said before. No rewatch value, obviously. Instead of being a show about cute people doing cute stuff, it tried to be a bit more mature. And it failed. It seems interesting in the first 2 episodes (maybe), then it gets boring and annoying, until the extra rushed pacing in the last episode. So, no. Don't bother.
Have a lovely evening.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Sep 20, 2025

User842713

Not Recommended

TLDR: A visually exquisite experience weight down by shallow characters and an unoriginal story.

The show shines a light on interesting societal and interpersonal dynamics, but refuses to engage the topics in any detail to the point that they feel like set dressing. The male MC, Kyros, is a lord who employs the most capable people regardless of ethnicity/ nationality. Some of the positive sides of this approach, like diversity in cuisine, clothing, care products and procedures, are showcased but none of the conflicts that would arise from different upbringings and culture values are seen at all. Kyros himself is an ethnic minority and seems to ... be the result of a untoward relationship between the previous count and a commoner, who is either vaguely middle eastern or possibly Romani inspired. Their relationship is spoken about for no more than five minutes. Similarly, the consequences of Kyros' racial and cultural background are explored through flashbacks that don't even amount to half an episode and they don't seem to affect the story in any way. He's portrayed as a capable businessman and count with one interest: his fiance.

The female MC, Marie, is the younger daughter of an incompetent baron. Her parents mistreat her because of an inherent physical characteristic. The specific characteristic does not matter, it could have easily been feet that are too large or oddly shaped elbows. The only people who seems to think of it as a negative trait are her parents. It does not affect how other characters treat her, although the show does try to portray the suffering she goes through as a result of her dysphoria.

The story boils down to "what if Disney's Cinderella kept going for another four hours". There is more to the story, as implied by the runtime, but none of it is particularly original. The story has two central points: the death of Marie's sister, Anastasia, and Marie's betrothal to the count as Anastasia's replacement. The first part of the story tries to deal with the latter, but the concept is swept under the rug in the first episode. The show instead attempt to portray Marie dealing with her sense of inadequacy. Unfortunately, the show dedicated too much screen time to this aspect of the story. The former is more or less ignored until it becomes relevant to the plot, which is also the first time Marie is portrayed grieving Anastasia's death in spite of her being one Marie's only friends.

While the medieval European setting isn't particularly creative, the environment designs are intricate and well made. The character designs are stellar. It's evident that a lot of effort was put into creating appropriate attire and hair styles for all the named characters. There isn't much action in this anime as such there is nothing in particular to say about the animation. It is serviceable.

The pacing is decent in spite of some parts of the story overstaying their welcome. I watched the episodes the week they aired and never felt like watching was a drag.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Marinate1016 - Sep 19, 2025	66 replies	by heli2moon »» Jan 12, 6:00 AM
	Poll: Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Sep 12, 2025	32 replies	by cooldogmom »» Dec 7, 2025 11:12 AM
	Poll: Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Sep 5, 2025	57 replies	by cooldogmom »» Dec 7, 2025 10:46 AM
	Poll: Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 29, 2025	22 replies	by cooldogmom »» Dec 7, 2025 9:55 AM
	Poll: Zutaboro Reijou wa Ane no Moto Konyakusha ni Dekiai sareru Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - Aug 22, 2025	28 replies	by 6AMDiary »» Oct 12, 2025 7:05 PM