The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess

Episode 10

As a person who hates when anime end right after the action climax, I love the idea of not just an epilogue episode but an epilogue arc where our heroes are forced to deal with all the fallout from their hard-fought victory. The insurrection has been stopped, the guilty punished, and all our heroes have lived to tell the tale. It's a happy ending all around—or is it?

While Algard's vampire mind control plan has been handily shattered, he's not the one who has to pick up the pieces. He has a long, peaceful life in exile to look forward to. Meanwhile, Anis finds herself forced to take up a role she has long since discarded: that of crown princess.

Over the course of the series, it has been clear that Anis would make a fantastic queen. She has knowledge of the modern world and the morals to match. She would rule wisely and fairly, never discriminating based on class, gender, or sexuality. She's already a princess of the people, and while the nobles may look down on her lack of magic, having Euphie in her corner makes it look like Anis would be able to navigate the kingdom into a new age of prosperity. There's just one problem: Anis doesn't want to be queen.

Sure, she is willing to step up and take the role, knowing that she never would have been able to spend her second life as she has without her position as princess. Without Algard, her family and her kingdom both need her. She'll never be able to spend her days studying magic if the kingdom goes through a succession crisis, and it's not like she would allow the country to be thrown into a bloody civil war for her own selfish wants either. To the keep the peace, Anis is willing to give up her dreams, her goals, and even her sexuality. It's heartbreaking to watch, both to us and to her friends in the fictional world. I can't help but feel that she is taking up the role as crown princess partially as a form of guilt-driven self-punishment. She was the one who pushed this very same role onto young Algard—which in turn started him down the road to madness.

Euphie, on the other hand, is dealing with her own problem. She has fallen back into old habits without truly realizing it. From childhood, she was trained to be the partner of the next ruler of the kingdom. She was aimless when Algard cast her aside and found a new role as Anis' research assistant. However, now that Anis is the crown princess, all the years of training have taken over once more. It is her job to support Anis as her loyal subject—just as her father has done for Anis' father over his time as king. Personal feelings don't even factor into it, to the point that even she doesn't realize she has them.

Lainie and Tilty's reaction of disbelief to Euphie's unbothered acceptance of Anis' new personality is some great character-driven storytelling. Euphie has been taught only to look at the bigger picture to an extreme degree—and from that viewpoint, Anis becoming queen is the correct choice. After all, how could one person's happiness matter more than the peace and prosperity of an entire kingdom?

Luckily, Euphie is not who she once was. She is now surrounded by friends who have no problem pointing out to her what she can't see about herself and her feelings. And most importantly, she has grown to the point where she is able to listen to them even when it contradicts a lifetime of indoctrination. I like that what is finally able to hammer the point home for Euhpie is when she sees that the workshop has been completely cleared out. Confronting her father is a major step in her continued growth. And, as we see, he once faced the same choice as Euphie. However, in the end, he chose the kingdom over his friend—a choice that some part of him clearly regrets.

Now it is up to Euphie to decide what to do: take the crown for herself and set Anis free or follow her father's example. And while Euphie is clearly leaning towards the former option, it seems taking the throne herself has some negative consequences that might make it easier said than done. It's a bit of deus ex machina that a magical spirit shows up to offer Euphie a way to take the throne legally herself just when that's exactly what she wants to do—but the show has built enough goodwill that I'm willing to see where this goes.

Rating:

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Richard is an anime and video game journalist with over a decade of experience living and working in Japan. For more of his writings, check out his Twitter and blog.

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