The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess

Episodes 1-3

(*Note: The review of the first episode is copy-pasted from when I reviewed it for The Winter 2023 Preview Guide—which also includes four additional reviews of this episode from other ANN reviewers. The episode 2 and 3 reviews are completely new.)

Episode 1:

As you may know, I love villainess stories—and this one is no exception. The creative twist in The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady is that the reincarnator is not the villainess but rather her sister-in-law-to-be, the kingdom's princess. But more than just the setup, this first episode is about introducing us to our three main characters.

The first is Anisphia, a girl from our world reincarnated as a princess in a fantasy land of knights and magic. The problem is that despite her being obsessed with magic, she has no talent. This has driven her to become obsessed with using her real-world knowledge to create magic-based technology. It also makes her an oddity within the nobility—a princess who doesn't act like one but has revolutionary ideas that can't be ignored.

The second character is Euphyllia. The stereotypical “otome game villainess,” she is serious, extremely talented, highly motivated, and has spent all her life preparing to be the next queen. Of course, as these stories go, Prince Algard (Anisphia's younger brother) has been neglecting her in favor of a talented, kind, former commoner girl at the academy they attend—and is frankly no longer interested in being Euphyllia's fiancé. This, expectedly, brings Euphyllia's world crashing down.

Our final main character is Prince Algard himself. He has a severe inferiority complex when it comes to his sister. He tries to act as a prince should, but his eccentric sister breaks all the rules and continuously steals the spotlight—even when he studies, works hard, and goes through the motions to court a girl he doesn't love (or even respect). Is it any wonder he also rebels by exposing his “evil” fiancé and choosing the love he truly wants instead of the one forced upon him?

Simply put, the implications of what Algard has done reach far beyond the school and its ballroom—as do a myriad of unintended consequences. In his eyes, all he has done is break off his relationship with a bully that's unworthy of being his queen. However, what he's actually done is dramatically weaken the throne's power—the very throne he is set to inherit.

In a monarchy, the relationship between the king and the noble houses is a complex battlefield. The best way to gain allies is through marriage—to merge families and make a united front. By rejecting Euphyllia publicly, Algard has broken that front—creating a weak point between the royal family and their closest allies that rival nobles can (and will) attack. And worse still, Algard is also implying with his actions that the kingdom under his rule will not follow through on its agreements with noble families if they get on Algard's bad side.

This is why King Orfans is far angrier at Algard for breaking off the engagement than Anis for “kidnapping” Euphyllia. Algard's plan to denounce Euphyllia was premeditated. He had all the time in the world to think about what his actions would mean on the political stage—and he never did. Meanwhile, Anis, for all her eccentricities, took one look at the situation and not only stopped further damage from occurring by removing Euphyllia from the situation but came up with a plan to repair Euphyllia's reputation by replacing the royal marriage with something equally as valuable: fame and renown on an unprecedented scale as the creator of Thaumaturgy. Or, to put it another way, Algard thought like a man whose girlfriend was being bullied, while Anis thought like a king.

On the more personal side, episode two is about the relationship between fathers and daughters. King Orfans shows his true feelings around Anis—throwing away any hint of royal decorum. While his daughter exasperates him, they can at least communicate. The same cannot be said for Euphyllia and her father.

From a young age, Prime Minster Grantz instilled in his daughter a sense of duty rather than the feeling of being loved. This transformed Euphyllia into a girl who not only felt she had to carry her family's honor but spent every waking moment working to become the perfect queen—only then would she get the love she craved from her father in the form of respect. It's only when his daughter feels she failed at her life's goal that he realizes what he has done to her—how he's failed her as a father.

On the one hand, this marks a potential start to a real loving relationship between this father/daughter pair. On the other, it throws Euphyllia's world even further into chaos. Not only did she spend years working to become the perfect queen only to fail just before the finish line, but now she has also discovered that she never actually needed to work so hard for it—that she could have gotten her father's love differently. It's no surprise that she's now in a full-blown existential crisis. What is the meaning of her life going forward? Is it really okay to claim Anis' achievements as her own? And can she trust the crazy princess who has all the freedom in life that she has been denied?

All in all, this takes a common otome game cliché—the “denouncement of the villainess”—and spends its runtime exploring the aftereffects such a scene would have on both a national and interpersonal level. At the same time, it looks at the archetypal “villainess fiancé” role and explores the psychological pressure put upon any woman in that position—be they evil or not. From top to bottom, this episode is fantastic. I wouldn't change a thing.

Euphyllia has always had a purpose as far as she can remember. She was going to be the next queen. Yet, while someone lazier or more spoiled might have taken this for granted, Euphyllia felt the responsibility of her future role and strove to meet it. She studied magic and sword fighting along with her general education. She even took lessons on how to be both a proper bride and queen. From her point of view, she gave it her all—and still failed. Now, all that time and effort seem meaningless. And worse still, she feels that it's her fault for not living up to the expectations placed upon her.

But even that is only the start. Just as her past has lost all meaning, her future also has. Euphyllia is now a “damaged woman” in the eyes of the kingdom's nobles. Yet, as the King said last episode, she's too talented and powerful to marry off to another kingdom. So, there's nothing for her to do—no purpose to her existence. Sure, Anis has offered her the job as her assistant, but just one look at Anis' lab is enough to make Euphyllia think she isn't needed—after all, look at all the fantastic things Anis has created on her own. It all feels like pity to Euphyllia —and no one wants to be pitied.

The King, Euphyllia's father, and Anis try to get her to look on the bright side but fail spectacularly. Objectively, they see that the flipside of having no purpose or responsibilities is the freedom to do anything you want—to find your own path. They want to allow Euphyllia the time to rest, think, and heal—to figure out what she wants to do next.

But here's what they universally don't understand about Euphyllia: being groomed to be queen wasn't easy, but it wasn't a burden either. It was not just what she was chosen to be but what she wanted to be. She didn't reluctantly accept the fate she had been dealt; she was determined to rise to meet it.

And that's what she wants to do now—rise to meet these new challenges. She doesn't want to be coddled or lounge about. She wants to do real, meaningful work—preferably work only she can do. This is why Anis succeeds in breaking down Euphyllia's emotional walls a bit. The sword Anis gave her was made for her and her alone. No one else can bring out the potential of this sword besides her—because no one else has both the sword skills and the multi-elemental magic that she does.

Simply put, swinging the sword with waves of fire, water, and air proves that her past and studies had meaning after all. Without her hard work, she wouldn't be able to wield the blade to its full potential. And it's Anis who allowed Euphyllia to find this tiny but essential bit of self-affirmation when she needed it the most. There's no doubt Euphyllia's emotional wounds are far from being healed, but at least the healing has begun.

Episode 1 Rating:

Episode 2 Rating:

Episode 3 Rating:

Random Thoughts:

• It's unfortunate when you think about it, but Anis might be Euphyllia's first and only friend.

• It's telling that Euphyllia seems to see even further than her father or the king regarding Thaumaturgy. She sees that nobles are nobles because of their magic powers. If every commoner can use magic—or something of equal power—that will upset the power balance between nobles and commoners in a potentially ruinous way.

• Anis has invented a hair drier.

• It's great that Anis is self-aware and honest enough to admit her motives are multilayered and nuanced. Does she want Euphyllia as her assistant to re-stabilize her father's rule and restore Euphyllia's tarnished reputation? Yes. Does she want to get her hands on Euphyllia's magic power for her experiments? Yes. And does she want to get it on with Euphyllia? Also, yes.

• If you think about it, in a medieval setting without advanced science, you've got to figure that dying in childbirth is quite common. I'm on team Anis. I wouldn't want to get pregnant, either!

• Right away, Euphyllia sees both the practical uses and implications of Anis' magic lightsaber.

• Reenacting the whole taking off the training wheels cliché but with a magic broom was great. How exactly did Euphyllia expect Anis to still be beside her once she went 50 feet into the air? It got a laugh out of me.

• Crazy face Anis is best Anis.

• Anis allows her mania to run wild to an unhealthy degree. Not sleeping while building complex magic tools (that often fail anyway) seems more than a little dangerous—especially to her new test subject.

• Algard seems to be publicly allying with the children of rival factions—i.e., further weakening his father's position.

• Euphyllia is right. The scariest thing about her “villainess condemnation” is that all those who tarnished her reputation did so with no malice. They honestly thought they were doing the right thing.

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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