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There are quite a few manga and anime series in which we see a heroine disguising herself as a man then acting as a great warrior. We’d seen it in works as early as Osamu Tezuka’s Princess Knight and Riyoko Ikeda’s The Rose of Versailles. Even later works like Revolutionary Girl Utena feature similar sorts of themes. The Princess Groom, Square Enix’s manga adaptation of Asaki Asagiri’s light novel, follows in those same footsteps while also featuring the start of a sweet love story and pairing of an individual with a gifted, strategic mind with the extremely powerful princess.
Editor’s Note: There will be minor spoilers for the first volume of The Princess Groom manga below.
Lady Leticia Orlesian is a willful, strong, intelligent young woman from a family that’s inherited great power. Namely, she’s extremely proficient with ice magic, as well as quite physically strong and extremely intelligent. So much so that she uses a family heirloom known as the Ring of Inversion to fight in disguise as the mercenary Frost Dragon Emperor. (Really, it’s because her mom was driven to tears at the thought of her daughter fighting as-is, so her dad suggested it as a compromise.) She’s quickly established as someone who, despite getting a reputation as the Belle Poupee for her looks and polite noble mask in public, is an incredibly strong individual beloved by her family for who she is. (Even if her mom does threaten her to ensure she behaves herself at a big event.)
As the story begins, her family and the Imperial Rothman family arranged her engagement to the second prince Gilbert. However, he’s known for his red eyes and believed to be cursed. Due to this, he’s been abused, ignored, and shunned his whole life, and his immediate reaction to Leticia is to be curt and even suggest she isn’t her type. Since she is an intelligent individual, we learn that she actually looked into him and knows he’s none of the things he’s rumored to be. That, in truth, he’s extremely intelligent.
What follows is a story that looks at the two developing what amounts to not only an actual romantic relationship, but true partnership. Through the first volume, we see her get to spend some time with him before a scheme is revealed to assassinate him. She steps up and reveals herself as the Frost Dragon Emperor to him, also confirming her attraction and feelings for him in the process. As a result, he opens up to her in turn, presenting an opportunity to see his true self and reveal his own strengths.
I mean, in general it’s great and the first volume of The Princess Groom moves so quickly and establishes both characters as notable figures with unique talents and traits. But there’s more to it than just being a situation where we see two powerful figures get to be more than what people decide they are and should be.
First, the pacing is great in the first volume of The Princess Groom manga. There’s not a lot of hesitation with regard to the relationship. They’re newly engaged as the story begins. She’s quickly enamored with him. Once he realizes she doesn’t seem him as a curse or despise him, he’s equally infatuated with her. Especially when he sees she’s not just beautiful, but strong and intelligent as well. Things immediately pick up and get to the point, which makes it feel like the rest of the series can focus on the two of them as a couple dealing with political intrigue and the complications of nobility and their positions.
That also goes for the reveal. In some of these sorts of manga like Princess Knight and The Rose of Versailles, we see the mangaka dance around the fact that the heroine is really the amazing warrior in disguise, but Leticia immediately lets her fiance and future husband in on the secret in The Princess Groom. There are no situations where we need to cringe as characters can’t figure out the obvious. She’s open about it. Which also is good, since it means we don’t need to see Asagiri and Selen try to portray the clearly intelligent Gilbert.
The Princess Groom strikes me as a manga that is treading the same sort of path as Princess Knight and The Rose of Versailles. Leticia is strong, striking, and does what she thinks is right. She doesn’t shy away from supporting the people who matter to her and individuals. Gilbert is presented as someone who started as a tragic figure, but has his own strengths and now might get a chance to shine as a result of a developing relationship with someone who does understand and appreciate him. Now that the first volume established the two of them, it feels like there’s potential going forward to see how the two will complement each other.
The first volume of The Princess Groom manga is available now, and Square Enix will release the second one on January 5, 2027.
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