Sacrificial Princess & the King of Beasts

Episode 24

It may sound a little corny, but in the end, it all comes down to love in this show. Set's troubles were born out of his mother's love for him and his need to feel loved, while Leonhart's issues in the beginning were because he felt a lack of love growing up. Both of them – and Sariphi – had the very human desire to feel wanted and cherished, and in the end, Set's downfall was because of his mother's wish to be special. She told him, and came to believe in, the fiction that he was the king's son because that elevated her, but also possibly because she wanted to think that she was more than just a concubine who had an outside affair. The story that Set was a prince made her look better when really, all her child wanted was to matter to his parents. That's a wish Leonhart shared – the queen died before he could know her, and the king wasn't much of a father figure, so he grew up essentially parentless. He tried to fill the hole by befriending Sirius, but the boy who would become Anubis was fed his own sense of consequence by his father, making him struggle to accept the young prince's friendship. Ultimately, that comes down to three children whose lives could have been better if someone had only loved them simply for themselves.

That's what makes the ending of this series so lovely. I wasn't sure we'd get to see Richard animated, so I'm glad we did – he's adorable, yes, but he's also the true sign that things are changing for the better. Even if we discount Lante's “cool uncle” vibe, Richard is so secure in his world that he morphs back and forth between human and beast forms with zero thought, and his request to Professor Anubis (Uncle Sirius?) is to learn about his parents before he was born. This child knows he's loved and is proud of where he came from because of it. Jor remarks to Amit that Leonhart could never have had that sort of childhood, where he was just allowed to be a kid, and that Richard's parents are giving it to him is important. So, too, is his name, the name Leonhart's mother intended to give to him. It's full circle in many ways – Leonhart reclaims his parents' love and happiness and gifts them to his own son, while he and Sari both make sure their child knows he's precious to them, not as a prince and heir, but as a person.

The ending makes up for any rushed feeling we get towards the middle of the episode. Set's destruction happens quickly for someone who turned the entire kingdom on its ear, and I don't feel we get enough to fully make us understand the depth of his need for power. It comes across as being just about power when I'd say it's more about birthright and needing to feel special. It also would have been nice to get a little more recognition of Sari from the assembled crowd. The little frog boy recognizes her, and we see the little bat child as well, but given how quickly everyone freaked out at Leonhart's heritage, it feels a little too easy. Having people actively stand up for her would have been a good mirror of how she's always stood up for them.

But overall? This was a lovely finale to what has been both a faithful adaptation of the source manga and a very good series in its own right. What you are matters less than who you are, which Sari and Leonhart fully understood through their interactions. A good ruler must also be a person first, which most of the characters here made progress towards. It's less “and they lived happily ever after” and more “and they continued to live and be happy” because their story ends in the present tense. It's hopeful, and that's even better than blandly happy.

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Sacrificial Princess & the King of Beasts is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.