The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King ‒ Episodes 11-12

The ending to this series is no surprise. I'm not necessarily talking about Sera deciding that she'll marry Veor; that was a foregone conclusion. No, the lack of surprise I'm talking about is the way various Ildorran citizens view the “barbaric” East. Sera, having lived among them and learned about their way of life, wants to return to her homeland to tell them that there's no need to fight. The king, and Sera's brother, think that the only good Easterner is a dead one, because that's what they've been fed. It certainly doesn't help that they've both lost sisters to this war, albeit not in the way they think. I'd bet money that neither king nor marquess would consider “alive, but married to a barbarian” any better than “dead;” in fact, they may consider it to be worse. So despite a happy conclusion to the romantic plotline, I can't say that this ends on a positive note.

It's also unsurprising that it does so with its usual lack of subtlety. Episode twelve's encounter with the dragon is emblematic of the issues that have plagued this show almost from the start. When Veor and Sera learn that dragons can speak and think just like real people, it's symbolic of the way the humans have been treating each other. Both East and West have viewed the others as somehow less-than. While the West has absolutely been worse about this, both sides are firmly entrenched in the idea that their way is the better one and are willing to fight each other to prove it. Granted, the “barbarians” have a bit more of a leg to stand on, since they're not the aggressors, but I feel a little weird about their unspoken strategy of capturing female knights/clerics and wooing them, either romantically or otherwise, to even the playing field. But in any event, Veor's absolute horror when he realizes that killing dragons may not be any better than killing humans because they're just big humans with scales and fangs is the series' theme writ large: killing others is not a good solution.

Since the entire journey to the dwarves' mountain was based on repairing Sera's tools of war, Veor's realization calls all of it into question... well, sort of. I'm not convinced that the point of this entire expedition wasn't to give Sera a headband with bunny ears that move with her emotions, excuse me, willpower, and can turn into a helmet when she's ready to fight. Surely she could have been given a new helmet that didn't rely on animal ears? (Or a hair ribbon; it could be read that way as well, to the point where Sera calls it out as being strictly ornamental.) It's just another sign of how this show really isn't sure how to treat women, rather like Cersei's abrupt descent into sobbing when Veor is fighting the dragon. Yes, it's a fraught moment, but surely she's witnessed him fighting dragons before? I think we even saw that happen twice. So why this reaction now? Is Malcius rubbing off on her?

Despite this, episode twelve is the stronger of the two, largely because it's actively moving the plot forward. There are some interesting pieces of episode eleven, like the fact that the dwarves have ancient, possibly sentient mecha and the cultural nugget that in their society, it's the act of undressing that's considered sexy not being naked, but it drags a little bit. Both episodes are also heavy on the shrieking from both Malcius and Sera, never something I'm a fan of (although I did chuckle at Sera's comment about how often Malcius faints).

On the whole, I can't say I enjoyed this series. It doesn't treat its women well, its plot meanders at times, and visually it has some serious issues, mostly of perspective and posture. (And ugly dragons.) Its overall lack of subtlety drags the plot down. While it has its moments and I enjoyed the opening song, it ends up feeling like wasted potential. Maybe the manga really is better – that happens a fair amount. But after watching Sera fluster and fumble her way through the story, I'm not keen to read it to find out.

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Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.