The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess

Episodes 1-6

Have you noticed anything…off about the way this story is unfolding? Like maybe there's something going on that's not being depicted on-screen? If so, you're right on the money, because The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess has made one very interesting choice in its move from the page to the screen: the original story is isekai.

Now, I promise not to spend these reviews talking about the differences between the webtoon and the anime, but indulge me for a moment, because this really is important. In the original comic, Athanasia awakens to find herself a baby in the world of a novel she once read, The Lovely Princess. She's the framed villainess of the piece, with the titular princess being Jeannette, and Athy's entire goal is to avoid the fate her character falls prey to in the novel. This not only explains how she's so adult in her thinking from day one, but also gives a more organic reason for her to be aware of her situation. Things like squirreling away precious gems and gold make sense when she has actual knowledge of what's supposed to happen to her.

But in what I can only think of as a bit of awareness of isekai's oversaturation, the adaptation takes a different approach: Athy is the eponymous lovely princess (you can see that from the book cover in the opening theme) and she's getting all of her information via dreams. From a strictly fantasy standpoint, that sort of works (although it fails to explain her level of awareness and intellect so young) and it also gives her late mother, Diana, more of a role to play. But in terms of how the entire piece and Athy's character come together, to say nothing of Lucas' comments about Athy changing the trajectory of the story and, in episode six, switching worlds, it feels awkward. I'm genuinely not sure what the thinking was, flippant remarks about isekai's ubiquity notwithstanding. As of these six (of a projected sixteen) episodes, it's a problem, albeit a small one.

Fortunately, almost everything else about this is delightful. Part of the “adored baby” subgenre of stories (wherein a precious and precocious child melts a tyrannical heart; see also Daughter of the Emperor), the central relationship right now is between Athy and her estranged father Claude. After her mother died shortly after Athy's birth, Claude abandoned his daughter, apparently trying to forget both his beloved wife and their child in an effort to cope with her loss. It's easy to see how Diana's death dragged Claude down into the depths of depression – he barely gets dressed, he's destroyed her portrait, and he's unable to even look at their child. When he does finally meet Athy as a toddler, he's not sure what to do with her or how to interact with a child. Watching poor Athy, who knows from her dreams that he'll banish her in favor of Jennette later on, trying to figure out why he carries her like a sack of potatoes and glares at her across a tea table full of pastry is one of the best done elements of this early part of the story.

Because Claude does care for her – he's just been emotionally closed off for so long that he's forgotten how to show it. By episode six, it's clear that he loves his daughter and is grateful for Lucas, who saves her, but the groundwork is laid in earlier episodes. Watching him let her have free run of the palace or scoop her up to sit on his lap while he's on the throne communicate his adoration, even if his face is a perpetual blank mask. Athy's still not sure about him, but everyone else has no doubt that he cares.

Although the political aspect is pretty mild at this point, it's still present. Duke Alpheus is constantly trying to get Athy and Claude to agree to let him send his son Ezekiel (manhwa spelling of the name; I'm sorry, I just can't write “Ijikiel” like in the subs. It hurts me.) and ward Jennette to be her study companions or playmates, and Athy foils him every time, understandably concerned about how they'll impact her attempts to escape her fate. Lucas, meanwhile, is clearly an incredibly powerful wizard hiding the fact (and his actual age) in order to monitor Athy for his own reasons, and the various servants in early episodes clearly intend to take advantage of Claude's disinterest. Athy herself is the focus, but it feels like these various political elements will be important going forward, and I appreciate the effort to seed them this early.

The Fated Magical Princess looks, for the most part, to be a faithful adaptation of both story and artwork, that one major difference aside. I love that all of Athy's dresses have been carried over in this new medium, and I've already found myself looking forward to this each week. I'm not sure that, with the current pace, sixteen episodes will be enough to fully cover the story, but I'm certainly excited to stick around and find out.

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The Fated Magical Princess: Who Made Me a Princess is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.