In a land with eight countries, the middle kingdom is sending out seven knights — all brothers, by the way — as ambassadors to its surrounding neighbors. It’s fantasy, but it’s not your typical generic anime fantasy. This is closer to historical fiction even though the countries are all made up. We’ll presumably come to learn the various cultures of the land, if there can truly be everlasting peace, and maybe some (if not all) of the brothers will fall in love. After all, their mother makes sure to remind them of their purpose: “To heroically rescue a princess someday!”
(What if one of the brothers prefers princes?)
Chilly need not go far, though. Yes, his name is Chilly. The brothers all have odd names like Insomniac or Fraternity. It’s just as well, because this makes it easier to remember who they are. In fact, the brothers oddly resemble their names. Guess what Hungry likes to do? Did you say “eat?” That’s right, he’s always eating! And Chilly feels cold even in spring! I’m guessing Insomniac, the oldest brother, never sleeps because he has to look after his siblings. But I digress.
I was saying something about Chilly’s love life. Ah yes, he has a chance encounter with Princess Brunhild, who needs a knight to accompany her into the woods. Y’know, for protection. But for some reason, she disguises herself as Bruno. I’m not sure why. Maybe princesses can’t be fraternizing with knights or whatever. There’s a sense that Brunhild isn’t as demure as a princess should be. Well, her identity doesn’t stay a secret for very long, because Chilly was expecting more when he gave Bruno a ride on his shoulders. Let this be a lesson, girls: if you’re going to cross-dress, you gotta stuff your pants with a sock or whatever!
(If Brunhild really wants to protect her identity, I guess she could also just say that her alter ego Bruno has a really small dick.)
Other than that, I don’t really know what to make of this show, because a single 23-minute episode isn’t enough to paint a clear picture. Even in Marronnier, we only get to see what life is like within or around the castle. But what about everywhere else? How are the peasants doing? How are the villages closer to the borders doing? For all we know, the royals could be living it up while the poor suffer. You can’t get a good temperature of what a country is like unless you are at the ground level. I’m also just dubious of kings and queens in general. There’s a reason why we moved away from monarchies as a primary form of government. Anime can wax poetic about the good ol’ days all it wants, but it’ll never convince me that bending the knee is a respectable action.
Overall, the anime seems very chill… maybe too chill. The thing is, medieval-ish countries were never chill. Tensions were always fraught back then. If anything, war was the default state. There was literally a conflict called “The Hundred Years’ War.” We have our share of problems now, but relatively speaking, this is actually a rather peaceful era of human existence. Sure enough, the brothers even talk about how two of their neighbors — the countries of Cold and Might, to be specific — might want to conquer them. But will that happen? Will conflict truly arise? I dunno. Like I said, the chill tone of the show throws me off. It could suddenly change once the brothers depart on their missions, but we’ll see.
Also, that’s a big ass squirrel.
