By: Peggy Sue Wood | @pswediting

The anime adaptation of Who Made Me A Princess premiered this season, and after watching the first three episodes I find myself… underwhelmed.

As someone who loves the webtoon (writing about it several times on this blog), I have eagerly been awaiting the show to see how the story’s style and characters would translate into animation. Unfortunately, much of what made the webtoon so memorable feels muted here as they have already made several tweaks to the story that pull me away.

Starting as early as the opening theme, I was immediately confused by the otome game energy the animation presents with character card style visions and a tea table full of men with her one “sister.”

As I watched, I really couldn’t get over the way the series started to lean on “otome game” aesthetics and narrative choices.

Design-wise, I think what I began to dislike most was actually the hard to see “jewel”-like eyes of the main character and her father, which is at the center of their designs and this story. I struggle to see how they aren’t just blue most the time, which feels like a problem particularly when, in the first episode, a maid-thief/assassin(?) confuses the princess for a gardener’s daughter because she doesn’t see or recognize her jewel eyes. Eyes, by the way, that are the sole distinguishing feature of the royal family. See, for example, this screenshot taken from the trailer for the series where the princess seems to just have more sparkly eyes:

The narrative choices are also frustrating for me. For example, in the webtoon it was clear that Athanasia remembered her past life living in, assumably, our modern-day world. She learns as her primary caretaker, Lily, is reading to her that she is not just in a new world, but has reincarnated into a book she read in her past life as the abandoned princess who is destined to be executed in the future—thereby setting up high stakes for why she should (1) fear her father and (2) prepare money to escape.

However, in this version of the story, Athanasia sees a book that fills her head with visions of the future (and then she has the book in real life? It is a bit unclear to me here). This book appears to be created from a spell her mother casts as she is dying. This new inclusion of a book that she has ahold of is something I’ve seen in other transmigration works with semi-similar premises, reminding me more of There Is No Place for Fakes than of the Who Made Me a Princess webtoon. The visions feature her being locked in a tower instead of dying, which doesn’t necessarily add much tension for why she should fear her father and prepare money to escape when she is practically locked in a palace already as her current age of five and younger.

There are several other changes as well, some small, some kind of big if you know how the story works out in the end, so I am left asking, Why make this change? half of the watch time. I don’t get it and, low-key, I kind of hate it… but, in reflecting on these episodes, I realized that I need practice what I preach: an adaptation is its own work, and this series deserves to be judged on its own merits.

So, my assessment as a standalone anime is that, frankly, I felt like the story was fine.

It can be enjoyable but does feel a bit uninspired. The voice acting is competent, the background music is pleasant, and the story is easy enough to follow even if it does seem to be creating some plot holes. It feels like an otome-style story, from how the opening theme plays out to the animation choices. There’s little that demands attention or rewards for a closer look at the story or characters so far in the piece, so it does leave an impression of mediocrity.

If you’ve never read the webtoon, you may find the show to be a gentle and perhaps predictable fantasy romance. For longtime fans, though, it’s hard not to miss the things that set the original apart from other stories with a similar premise. Three episodes in, I’m left hoping future installments either recapture some of that magic or commit fully to a new vision because right now, it’s not bad but it’s certainly not memorable.

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Developmental edits by: Krow Smith | @coffeewithkrow

Copyedited by: Katherine Cañeba | @kcserinlee