The Insipid Prince’s Furtive Grab for The Throne – Episode 1

What’s it about? Arnold is the seventh prince of the Adrasia Empire who’s known for being “dull”. He purposefully lets that be known about him because he doesn’t want to become emperor and would much rather live a quiet and peaceful life. In order to achieve his goals he’s willing to do politicking behind the scenes by creating a fake identity as an adventurer named Silver so that he can help build a stronger faction for the sake of his younger brother’s claim to the throne.  

Despite the heavy emphasis on the politics of this world, I found myself being distracted by how bland the animation looked. It’s not horrendously bad, but it doesn’t look great either. The pacing of this premiere also felt extremely rushed and since it’s based on a light novel, I think the anime is trying to condense as much material as possible for the sake of moving the plot forward. That’s always a detriment when adapting a light novel because so much description and internal monologues must now be told through a visual medium. Unfortunately, that means some important characterization is completely lost, which can affect how the viewers see major characters like Arnold.  

I’m normally a fan of characters like Arnold who hide their true nature in order to deceive their enemies.  There’s just something nice about people underestimating their enemies only for them to realize they were wrong. But it’s hard to get attached to Arnold because of how quickly the episode wanted to establish how cunning and competent he is. The other characters aren’t truly given a chance to shine and the narrative hopes that the viewers will just care about them without any build up. I hate to say this, but maybe this show would’ve benefited from a two episode premiere so that every major player in this political drama could’ve been properly introduced.  

The fact that Arnold is also secretly overpowered just adds to the fact that he almost seems perfect with no redeeming flaws. If Arnold had at least a quarter of the charisma of Lelouch from Code Geass then I think that alone would’ve garnered some interest out of me. Also, the design for his secret identity as Silver looked incredibly lame and feels like something that came out of Sword Art Online. In terms of his eventual love interest, she’s mostly mentioned for her renowned beauty and nothing else. Thankfully, she’s not subjected to any fan service, which is a low bar, but at least it’s a strong indicator that the production team seems to have some faith in the anime adaptation. Overall, it’s a decent premiere and if our readers are fans of political drama then this is the perfect show to check out this season.  

I wish I could follow along just to see if it gets better in the upcoming weeks, but my anime backlog this season takes precedent. Please let us know in the comment section how this one shapes up in the end.