Opening Songs
OP 1 - BEAUTIFUL WORLD (Joanna Koike)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Promise (Rena Maeda)
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Episodes: 12
Shoujo animes may not be on my preferred list of genres, but once in awhile, something great comes and snags me away into a world of lovey dovey moments. Such is "The World Is Still Beautiful". To put it simply, its a romance anime with a female lead. There are a good mix of characters here and there, but the focus on romance here can be a little bit overwhelming, whether in a good way or not, I'll leave it you to decide. For me, this was indeed, a beautiful experience. The character growth for our two main leads is excellent throughout, and there are plenty of emotional moments. What's starts off as a forced engagement soon becomes a special relationship between two, very different individuals. If you are a fan of love stories, this is a hard one to pass up.
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| The king and the queen. |
The opening song is "BEAUTIFUL WORLD" by Joanne Koike. Its a really energetic song which is befitting of an opening (though its not really my style), and it pretty much sums up the entire anime. Its energetic, its good fun, but at the same time, its lovely. The ending theme is "Promise" by Rena Maeda, the seiyuu of Nike. Its a pretty generic ending theme, though there is some decent emotional feel in there. I just don't like how the entire ending is just a shot of a sleeping Livius.
Rating: 8.0/10
I really enjoyed it, a lot more than I thought I would have, honestly. The characters are all really charming, our main leads grow a whole ton throughout the entire show, and the hardships that they face are all quite...real. There's a lot to like about the star couple here, and they both are so different from one another. Of course, them being different only adds on to other factors, especially comedy (the show is surprisingly funny). The story is surprisingly pretty captivating, with some pretty interesting arks. The pacing is fantastic, with each increasing ark becoming more and more important to Nike and Livi's relationship. The supporting cast is great, and while there isn't a lot of action going on, the constant sense of hardship only makes each character seem more important in each episode. Also, while Nike is pretty much a pretty dense princess (I guess are main characters are pretty dumb, even if they're girls), her romantic feelings toward Livi are pretty heartwarming.
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| Lay off, Luna. |
Princess Nike is not what you'd expect out of a princess at all. She hails from the principality of the rain, a continent far from where anyone has heard off...especially if you're from the sun kingdom. One day, the emperor of the sun kingdom, the tyrant that was known for uniting the world with his treacherous tactics, wants a princess from the principality of rain to be wed over to him. Out of despair and luck, Nike, the youngest of the 4 princesses, was chosen to be the sun kingdom's bride. After a long journey to the sun kingdom's palace, Nike meets the sun king, Livius I, who turns out to be a snotty young brat. After flat out defying him at first sight, she is sent to a dungeon, where she quickly escapes from with her powers to control the wind. She goes back to Livi, only to be sent back to the principality of rain. Unfortunately, when she leaves, Livi is attacked and his palace is set on fire. To save him, Nike sings the song of the rain and made it rain, putting out the fire and saving his life. Somewhat grateful, Livi decides to keep Nike as his bride...much to her disliking.
"The World Is Still Beautiful" shows us the beautiful side of an ugly coin. There's not much to a snotty little brat at first, but he develops into a pretty loving character, much like our amazing heroine. Shoujo romance anime once in awhile isn't that bad I guess, especially if they all involve emotional love stories like this one, I'm a sucker for good romance shows. The ending might not be the best thing ever, but at least it either baits us for a sequel...or ensures that the love between our protagonists still exist.
Peace.
