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
