#rekutopia

1. Shirayuki

As a victim of a crime Shirayuki is not portrayed as a weak, teary and helpless little girl. And as a strong-willed female character she is not portrayed as bossy or sexy or military. I think this is very refreshing (that, or I should watch more anime).

Despite not being my favourite character I love Shirayuki for her will and her braveness.

A prince wants her for her hair? Let’s leave everything behind and flee to another country! And while we’re at it, let’s be cheeky and leave the hair for the prince to have as well!

A stranger doesn’t want her to put salve on his wound because he fears it’s poisoned? Let’s just show him it’s not by smashing his sword to her own arm and then put the salve onto the wound! I remember thinking that Shirayuki would be a good mother/teacher when I saw that scene.

An assassin shoots an arrow at her, missing her by a hair? Let’s pluck the arrow from the wall and march regardless to the destination!

Oh yes, I didn’t have to wait until the jumping-off-the-tower episode to be convinced of that part of Shirayuki’s personal trait I like. Brave, smart, reckless.

2. ZenYuki

Though currently being a helpless ObiYuki fan, one of the first things I came to love about AnS was the relationship between Shirayuki and Zen. Not the romantic part, but the boosting each other part. It’s like when you meet someone who makes you want to give your all and who automatically turns you into be the best version of yourself.

Especially in the early phase of the story (which is the anime) Shirayuki and Zen drove and support each other to work hard and reach for the next higher star. It reminded me of so much of Studio Ghibli’s 「耳をすませば」, which is one of my all-time favourite anime.

3. Obi (obviously)

Just because I place him on the third place doesn’t mean I love him less! I could write one whole post just for why I love Obi but I think for me it boils down to his character development, which was greatly, though not only, influenced by Shirayuki.

From being self-confident about his assassin ability to being shocked and impressed by how his red-haired target react.

From being sassy to the new mistress to being respectful (albeit still sassy) with her.

From falling hard without warning with Shirayuki to supporting her unconditionally with her relationship with Zen.

From not caring (anymore) about having a place to belong to realising that he slowly belongs.

Though we haven’t get much of his background story, I think that compared to the other characters we get to see more sides of his personality. His charm, his sassiness, his kindness, his insecurity, his self-control. It never gets boring.

4. Character Maturity

It was probably because I had watched some typical rom-com anime with tsundere characters right before I watched AnS that I was happily blown away by the maturity of the characters. I mean okay, there’s Shirayuki’s inability of realising her own emotions or Zen’s angry outbursts here, but all-in-all it felt more josei than shoujo.

5. The story

Last but not least, the story. I started the anime (like any other type of stories) with no expectations. At first, it looked like a simple but at least interesting love story.

A prince and a foreign refugee, hmm, how would they overcome the differences?

Then another player came into the game and it was starting to look like a love-triangle but it is not really one, since the new player was not actually doing anything about his pining, out of respect, mind you.

Then the bad guy at the beginning of the story turn out to be very much likable, and you are forever guessing whether the blonde price is a devil or an angel in disguise.

And I’m only talking about the anime here. I didn’t know that science in combination with politics could be so interesting before i read AnS manga.

No, Uemura Naotaka is not Obi. Their personalities are completely different. It’s really only because of the way they are drawn. Uemura is high school Obi with longer eyebrows and dark eyes.

Probably one of your ordinary high school boys. Sporty, loud, and has a very cute love interest from another school, who works diligently at a soba shop. Though she’s cute, that’s not the main reason why he fell for her:

Isn’t it the best reason to fall for someone (*coughs*ZenYuki*coughs*)? One thing I really like about this manga is how the four boys can, well, more or less, openly speak to each other about heavy stuff like the future and the past and FEELINGS. Then cutely blush when it gets too much:

And so this is my absolute favourite page in the manga, especially the last panel:

In general Uemura is my favourite character because he’s so...normal. In real life my 18 year-old self would probably fall for a boy like him. I can’t believe not many readers like him (though I can also see why):

Hey Uemura, I’d be your #10 vote! In a nutshell, I love him because he can express his feelings openly, has an easy-going personality and is just not hard to read. He’s probably not the most interesting character in a story but still a very lovable character to me.