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(The) Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (TV).




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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Tue Jan 11, 2022 8:38 am Reply with quote


(The) Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (TV)

Genres: comedy, fantasy
Themes:

Plot Summary: The prince of this small and weak kingdom strives for only one thing: selling out his country and living a quiet life in leisure. Sadly, the greatest obstacle he will ever face is his own genius. As he achieves ever greater accomplishments, he earns more and more favor with the people of his kingdom, which makes fulfilling his own dreams all the harder.

Jan. 11, 2022 (Tuesdays; FUNimation)
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EmbraceMe



Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Posts: 2017
Location: Growing old and jaded.
PostPosted: Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:09 pm Reply with quote
Just started watching this as I am currently reading the manga and it feels particularly rushed... It skips over an entire arc in the beginning about the Empire and how Wein maintains relations with them. There was a super short summary of it but skipping over that really screws over Wein's characterization and his relationship with Ninym (and her race's role). The Marden conflict is also expanded further in the manga, too. As far as episode 1 goes, it gives a basic showing of the main characters but it really looks like they're going at Mach 3 by cutting out stuff and I don't feel particularly hopeful about it.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 24171
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 10:38 am Reply with quote
I've watched the first three eppies and I'm on the cusp of dropping. Just not vibing with the characters and story. I'll give it one more chance, I guess.
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Animegomaniac



Joined: 16 Feb 2012
Posts: 4159
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 3:28 pm Reply with quote
I'm loving this series, from top to bottom. I love a series where I can flex both my tactical mind and political prowess just to keep up with the cast. I love Wein's reaction to how Ninym gets treated... plus in episode 3 we learn she also fought for her own honor which negates the whole possibility of White Knighting... "If Wein were to marry me, I'd have to slit my own throat" OK, that's dark but I wonder where the objection comes in? That is, whose position does Wein have to take in order to marry Ninym? He tried going to commoner route, together with Ninym but that failed so... only place to go is up.

Step one, taking the Eastern Empire. Lowa and her three brothers make up the empire which would lead to a schism in the Empire when it comes down to who gets the throne but then Antgatal, the other separate country of the east... one just south of Natra... one who was making advances towards Lowa... Oh, they'd make a great proxy nation for Wein, especially if their leadership is as bad as the clever ones say...

So is Wein going to use Lowa first or will Lowa use Wein first? Funny enough, I think it's going to be the same trick, using Antgatal's reputation against the three brothers.
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3672
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:52 pm Reply with quote
One of the problems I have with shows like this is the extent it tries to present the characters' self-serving motivations as triumphant and positive. Here we have people throwing their people into chaos and death for selfish, personal reasons. Princess Whatsername isn't starting a war because misogyny is bad, she happens to find misogyny slightly inconvenient for her pretty unrelatable goals ("I don't want to merely be incredibly wealthy, comfortable, and powerful, my family doesn't respect me because I'm a woman!") and now tons of people are going to die. I don't fully know the reason for our main character's attitude towards leadership, but I'm sure it'll be something equally unimportant. I remember thinking something similar with Grancrest Senki. The moment you acknowledge the soldiers fighting and dying as people with moral worth, our main characters turn into complete monsters.
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Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 6:52 pm Reply with quote
@ Yttrbio - I could be wrong, but I don't think the Princess is going to start a war. I mean, I know that's what we're supposed to assume, but I don't think it will come to that. Now if she and Prince Weiner take on the brothers, I guess the justification is that having her lead the Empire will result in less bloodshed than if they just let the chuckle-heads go at it.
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3672
PostPosted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 7:10 pm Reply with quote
Oh, there always is a justification. What's so weird about these shows is they downplay a sensible justification and put a personal, irrelevant justification forward. It would be like talking about the U.S.'s entry into WWII in terms of FDR seeing it as a way to satisfy a promise he made to a girl when he was 6, with Pearl Harbor just being a convenient triggering event.
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Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:15 am Reply with quote
But... but... he saved her from a barking dog/picked up an eraser that fell from her desk and they promised to get married but she moved away and years later he forgot the promise! Wink
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Yttrbio



Joined: 09 Jun 2011
Posts: 3672
PostPosted: Tue Mar 08, 2022 12:32 pm Reply with quote
Hmm... maybe I'm not in the mood right now for a story of how a people is unjustly besieged and has to leave their home presented in heroic, cartoonish simplicity. But maybe that's just me
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15576
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Mar 30, 2022 1:05 am Reply with quote
Episode 12 (finale)

That looks like a season finale. Wein managed to bluff his way into convincing the guy that his own kingdom would fall via the collapse of Wein's. He also managed to convince him that he is a monster. Wein then manages to use the superior numbers to catch the big guy, and has him released so that things will work better. He also requested an explanation of what Wein's actual goal and desire, and Wein's answer that we did not hear but looked serious, was apparently enough to convince as something very interesting.

I think that the implication is there that Wein's reasoning of trying to do it for money and the easy life, is probably a lie that that he tells Ninym to hide his other ambitions from her.

Anyway, my thoughts on the series as a whole. I liked it enough, but not as much as a series that I might have described as more fun. And although I have said that I like a more detailed fantasy series, whatever that is I don't think was quite what I got out of this show. Maybe it comes down a bit to the hero, where one from another series might be too bland, Wein was a little difficult to understand or empathise with what his goals with, which might really be a me problem. For a character who is meant to be a super genius, but also kind of lazy and selfish, but also kind of not because he will do some things. Perhaps that point of actually starting to figure out what his real character is was part of the journey, but it also feels a bit like Schrodinger's relatable character. Do you like a selfish or selfless character? Well you are going to like him at some point.

Ninym was probably the most interesting character in how her ethnicity apparently has her face racism, while also being a badass with more selfless desires as a stable character. But might also feel a teensy bit like she is a bit of a object to Wein's story, since I think that the evidence might be there that she is actually his real motivation of what he might want to achieve, if his actions around her are somewhat a façade. But also if the fact he is hiding it is because he knows she would not approve of that side.

My rating will be Decent (6/10), I didn't lose my time.
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Cam0



Joined: 13 Dec 2009
Posts: 4928
PostPosted: Thu Mar 31, 2022 1:06 pm Reply with quote
A kind of goofy dude paired with a white-haired girl who is discriminated on the basis of her appearance and is voiced by Rie Takahashi. Something about it sounds familiar..

Anyway, it was a decently fun show. The main issue it had was the poor pacing. Just clearly too much story crammed into 12 episodes. I liked the main character and his goofy personality. He had an interesting relationship with Ninym. I think the story was going for a sort thing where out of left field things happen which forces Wein to find a way to get out of trouble when he'd rather just laze off at home. Some of the memorable moments in the show were that sort of stuff. Like when that drunken dude dueled Wein and then fell off a balcony and died. Though not all of the show's attempts at such twists were as effective.

Rated it decent.
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