A series I ended up enjoying much more than I thought I would, even with the four-year age gap between our main characters. Our main character Nike has that Orihime/Usagi design, looking mature beyond her surprisingly tender years. She was only 16 when her father negotiated the hands of one of his daughters (Which ended up being hers naturally) to the Sun king of the world.
You could be forgiven for mistaking her for a 23-year-old young woman. The Sun King, her significant other, on the other hand, resembles his actual age of about 12. No older than Naruto from part 1. It can be unsettling, at first, but the more you watch, the more you become entranced in their fun dynamics and that discomforting feeling of a 12-year-old and 16-year-old being engaged is washed away.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
(Oh, and for those wondering, despite Nike's name being spelt the same as the famous Nike brand, it's pronounced Nickkay)
The synopsis - We have our heroine, who ended up moving to a foreign land to help her poor country. The series showcases one of its strengths as Nike and her sisters end up hilariously deciding who should be the king’s bride with a game of rock, paper, scissors. As soon as I saw that scene, I knew I was in for a treat. There is a small, rather predictable bit of subversion here where the sisters fed Nike ridiculous ideas about the king being some big, hair-horned demon and if you’ve seen enough anime, you probably already knew that wasn’t going to be the case.
Thankfully, the predictable subversion of an ugly prince turned dashing is only the tip of the iceberg.
The series fulfils the feat many a show has failed before it in showing without telling. When Nike arrives in this new, foreign land, we see her attempting to buy food with what little money she has. A stand owner offers her what he considers a generous offer, but because she’s from a secluded country, it still looked very pricey to her.
We then get a hilarious scene of the store clerk shooing her away because he doesn't wanna catch her “poorness”. Heh.
Continuing this theme of showing and not telling, Nike’s naivety is depicted well when she believed the feigned kindness of a couple of thieves when she tried looking for a place to rest for the night for the long journey to the king's palace the next day. The thieves take her bag and dash off into the night and due to her emptied stomach, she wasn’t able to use her power to retrieve her belongings.
Thankfully, for our heroine, two kind sisters offer her hospitality. Naturally, neither believe her at first that she’s a princess who was sent to their country to marry the king considering there’s only one king who rules the entire world. Her country’s borders were already closed long before the Sun King conquered the rest of the world. Think One Piece, for example. The World Government controls most of the world outside of Wano because Wano’s borders were closed off, thus the World Government couldn't take control of it.
I had no issue with The World is Still Beautiful using the concept of a secluded country to bypass the Sun King's dominance.
Nike’s wholesome interactions with the two sisters served its purpose well to lighten the tone after Nike’s rather miserable experience up to that point. She even gets back at the thugs who stole her bag when they mistook the older of the two sisters for her and made off with her for a hefty ransom. We get to see a small demonstration of Nike’s powers when she effortlessly manhandled the fodders, blowing them back with the wind before forcing them to chaperone her to the palace as punishment where she meets her fiancée, the Sun King, Orvinus Ifrikia Livius I, or just Livi for short.
Nike has a hilarious off-screen scruffle with Livi’s guards, much to the young king’s amusement.
The series’ biggest strength lies in Livi’s and Nike’s dynamics. The author pulled off all the stops in their arsenal making their relationship so dynamic, pleasant and just all-around fun and engaging, and for good reason. Livi and Nike aren’t the most unique characters, with Nike being your typical rambunctious, fish-out-of-water tomboy keen to explore the world and Livi being a tortured soul hiding his insecurity behind a cold, black-hearted façade. Alone, they’re serviceable at best, but together, their chemistry sparkles to create something magical.
Livi is even revealed to be delightful and flirty once he discovers Nike is someone with who he can let down his barriers around and just be himself. The sneaky little guy even steals a kiss from her which just made my heart swoon with emotion. They really excelled one another to new heights, and better yet, never overshadowed the other. I never got the impression Livi was overshadowing Nike or vice versa. Nike was strong-willed and more than capable of standing on her own two feet.
This leads me nicely onto another good point the series did exceptionally well, and that’s It didn’t fall into the pit hole of mistaking strong-willed for bitchy.
This is a common error popular series like Dragonball, Ranma One Half, and Naruto has already made, turning what should be determined girls into obnoxious bitches. It ultimately makes their interactions with the main characters so unpleasant and painful to sit through, particularly in the case of Ranma and Akane. It’s just not pleasant to see a toxic relationship.
Thankfully, Nike and Livi never fall into this trap. They support one another, banter and genuinely act like a couple. They don’t pussyfoot around like other anime couples either. The trials and tribulations they go through only serve to heighten their relationship and bring them closer together.
The antagonists never overstay their welcome.
Episode 6 is the best example of this and ends up becoming my favourite of the bunch. It introduces Nike’s rival character for Livi’s affections; a childhood friend of the latter, and rather than drag out the inevitable for episodes upon episodes, she simply questions Nike’s love for Livi, challenges her to a race for them and respectfully steps down when she loses. I absolutely love this! We didn’t get any elongated drama with the childhood friend coming between our heroes. Instead, she’s used in a single episode to strengthen their relationship.
Even the misunderstanding between Nike and Livi’s uncle who attempted to make moves on Nike is resolved beautifully. Nike even uses her rain power to trap the two, Livi and his uncle, inside the grass house from the beautiful rain shower she was unleashing upon them so they would hash out their differences.
Saving the best for last; the rain. It’s depicted beautifully, lending the series a Disney-esque magical feel, and as someone who grew up on stuff like Beauty and the Beast and The Swan Princess among many others, this was highly appreciated. The power to make it rain is a feat that’s been passed down among Nike’s people for generations and serves as Livi’s main incentive for wanting to marry one of the king’s (of that small secluded, island) daughters. Livi and Nike initially butted heads over this because Nike felt he was devaluing the rain ritual.
Specific conditions have to be met pertaining to Nike’s emotions in order for her to unleash the dazzling rain shower upon the land with a beautiful melody echoing across the landscape. Making the rain ritual a difficult thing to pull off was a great choice. It lent the series so much emotional weight and gave the scenes so much soul and heart.
This was a touching and heart-warming ride that I can’t recommend enough. I'm highly surprised this is the first review of the series considering how good it is, in my opinion.
Characters – 10/10
Score – 8/10
Animation – 8.5/10
Artstyle – 7/10
Story – 8.2/10
Overall – 9.2/10
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