One hundred years ago, a grave tradition was born in a land where demons live among people: a human must be sacrificed to the King of Beasts. But when Sariphi, the 99th sacrifice, is offered to the King, she isn’t afraid at all! Intrigued by her calm and cute nature, the King decides to spare her life with plans to make her his bride.
God, we fucking loved this anime. Even when it was funny, it felt like the opening went hard and set the mood for the overarching story.
I’m so happy I introduced Karen to the series. I never finished the manga (it was still being published when I fell out of step with it) and I now have the whole manga to read later, but we had time to watch the series since it’s part of our daily ritual.
Unlike the series we tried prior (Ogre’s Bride), Sariphi is a strong personality who believes strongly in her ideals. She grows and changes and she doesn’t rely on other people to do everything for her. She influences others to grow and change alongside her. She and the King chase after peace and equality in a time of strife and manage to alter the ways people view weakness and strength.
Weakness isn’t about being able to fight, and strength isn’t about beating an opponent. A weakness in the heart can fuck over a physically strong opponent, and a strength in the heart can change the lives of people everywhere.
The stakes get ramped up gradually (but it feels so quick!) and appropriately, and I’d say the only thing I am sad about it that I wish there was more of the series to watch. However… you can’t get any higher stakes than what we got at the end, so.
Also: I love when shoujo can meet or exceed a shoujo fight scene. Just fucking delightful. The Fenrir vs. King of Beasts was pretty great.
Aside from the main characters, we each have favorite side characters as well. Karen adored Jormagundr, the Captain of the King’s Guard. I liked Bennu, the holy beast who talked like a fuckin Yankee punk.
