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© めいびい/SQUARE ENIX・ 「結婚指輪物語」製作委員会
Tales of Wedding Ring is an interesting show that has a lot of potential despite its rather simple and banal premise. It’s an isekai story about a high school boy who gets transported to another world. Many years ago, when the main character Satou was a boy, he came across a mysterious light that summoned an old man and a young girl named Hime. For whatever reason, Satou would consider them as trustworthy neighbors for the next ten years of his life. He even developed feelings for Hime when she grew into a young woman. He is also ready to confess his feelings to her. Unlike many other films, it is clear that the two main characters have clear feelings and history with each other.
When Hime was forced to return to her world to perform some ritual to save her people, you’I believe why Satou followed her for her own good. That’s a lot of emotional real estate for a first episode. It makes no sense that the show, after establishing that the main characters love each other, has to dance around using specific wording that could be interpreted as trying to make the two’s feelings seem platonic. pure. This may be an attempt to add more drama but I’m curious how this relationship will play out in future episodes.
And simply put, the dynamic between the two main characters is much more interesting than the world-building. It’s a pity because this world is very lively. The animation looks stunning with a very gentle art style emphasized by the direct use of lighting. Everything looks like it’s glowing or baking in the sunlight, and that helps emphasize the “warrior of light” theme the show is going for. Even though Tales of Wedding Rings doesn’t have a score of 100, 80 is still a good score. I’m curious to see how these elements will be expanded upon when the drama airs in January.
© 2023 硝音あや/KADOKAWA/百千さん家のあやかし王子製作委員会
Momochi’s demon prince has less interesting things to say than Tales of Wedding Rings, which occasionally brings something new to an otherwise conventional setup. In many ways, it’s like a discount Fruit Basket. An orphaned teenage girl with an extremely naive personality is drawn to a traditional Japanese-style house in the mountains, which happens to be run by three beautiful-looking anime men with connections. associated with a supernatural context. Maybe that’s unfair since Fruits Basket ended up being one of my favorite anime of all time but even without that comparison, there’s still a lot about this first episode that feels like a clumsy arrangement.
The main character Himari seems quite likable but I think this episode proves that she’s just setting herself up for failure. I don’t know much about Japanese customs but I’ve never heard of an orphan inheriting an entire house from his parents at the age of 16. The show even proves that the will could be fake and that she has no reason to be as emotionally attached to this house as she is. However, she is so desperate to have any connection with her parents that she is willing to stay in a haunted house filled with spirits capable of killing her. There is no indication of an ultimate goal being established. She just feels a sense of ownership over the house while also admitting that the whole situation seems sketchy.
Three men have occupied the house, each checking a box in the typical reverse harem series. We have people with soft voices, people with dry or sarcastic voices, and people with hot tempers. There are a lot of terms used to describe spirits and their different types that weren’t explained in this episode, which I found strange. There will probably be an important plot point related to that aspect. There are moments where the characters describe the different classes of creatures that inhabit the house, leaving the audience confused. The episode left me dumbfounded, but the episode’s charming style and humor were surprisingly strong. I’ll keep an eye on this to see if it gets better in the future!