Bibliophile Princess

Episodes 10-11

To be perfectly fair, I didn't love this part of the novels either. But what the source material for Bibliophile Princess has that its anime adaptation is lacking is a better understanding of who Elianna is as a person. I've mentioned before that the novels are written in her first-person voice, and while I would hesitate to call them brilliant works of literature, they still do a better job of giving Eli the personality and motivation she needs. For storylines like that, which make up episodes ten and eleven, we need a better grasp of who she is for it to work. Here the story suffers from a lack of information about Elianna—we don't really know where her insecurity stems. Was she the subject of bullying? Is she simply a shy and anxious person? We don't have an answer, which doesn't do her any favors here.

If we approach Eli's meltdown with the assumption that she is so riddled with anxiety that she cannot see her worth, the entire thing feels more excusable. Your self-esteem has to be in the garbage if a precocious ten-year-old can do the damage that she does in episode ten, and if we add to that the fact that Elianna has had many more interactions with the printed word than with flesh and blood humans, her actions do make a little bit more sense. Remember, this is a woman who was unable to take Prince Christopher at his word when he flat out told her that he wanted to marry her because he loved her four years ago; even with his repeated assurances, in the timeline of the story, she is hearing many more negatives (or what she interprets as negatives) from a multitude of people around her than she hears positives from Chris. While we can say that his voice should be the only one she listens to, it's not that easy. Annoying as her actions are, there is an argument to be made for them being in character.

Watching episodes ten and eleven back-to-back may make the former a little less irritating. That's because we see Eli stand her ground in episode eleven; when she confronts Lady Matilda in her rooms, she can mount an excellent verbal defense against the other woman. It is interesting and absolutely worth noting that Eli is better at defending others than she is at defending herself. She is most secure when using her book knowledge rather than her emotional intelligence. She trusts what she's read far more than she trusts what she feels, and it is in defending Sara to Lady Matilda that she can make her position known. Will this be a detriment to her as queen? Probably, and that may be why Chris' mother is being so harsh with her. But the fact is that no one knows how to reach Eli and make her feel comfortable besides Chris and Alfred, and that's both sad and a little concerning when it comes to her future as queen of the realm.

When this adaptation was announced, I didn't think about the fact that the anime might need help replicating Eli's interiority from the books. These two episodes show that not only is that an issue, but it's also a significant detriment to the storytelling. Eli feels alternately like a blank slate and a doormat, which is not doing her justice. At this point, it seems clear that little Lady Sharon is building castles with no foundations and making up a story she wants to see rather than truths about her older sister Mireille. That this doesn't appear to occur to Elianna and that she can't even muster the wherewithal to refute the little girl's interpretation of a particular fairy tale underlines the problems with this adaptation in red ink. I hesitate to call this terrible, but these two episodes come very close to making me reconsider that.

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Bibliophile Princess is currently streaming on HIDIVE.