In the kingdom of Tanbarun lives Shirayuki, a lovely girl with gorgeous red hair. The prince wants her for a concubine. She has other plans.
This was an enjoyable fantasy adventure that my roommate and I used as our weekly Friday Night Dinner Entertainment over the course of several months. It worked well for this, since a single in-show event might take up a couple episodes.
Shirayuki, born with rare and eye-catching red hair, wants to be left alone, free to help people with her knowledge as an herbalist. But when the prince decides her rare beauty should belong to him as a concubine, Shirayuki is able to escape with the help of friendly travelers...who happen to the nobility from the neighboring kingdom. As a way out, she accompanies them back home, and aims to take the court herbalist exam, to eventually practice freely and legally in safety.
Things happen to Shirayuki a lot, in-universe not because she’s the protagonist, but because of her eye-catching hair (desirable in itself, as we see with the prince in the first episode, and it also makes her stand out and catch the eye), and because of her friendship with her new home’s second prince (not heir to the throne, but still a prince).
Their friendship naturally attracts attention from multiple corners: from other court folks who assume Shirayuki is scheming, to people who want to hurt the prince or obtain something from him, seeing Shirayuki as a bargaining tool or pawn.
The characters were enjoyable—I particularly enjoyed Obi, a spy who quickly pledges loyalty to Prince Zen and works as an all-around aide: using his skills for sneaking, quick movement and fighting to alternatively guard and deliver messages.
Zen and Shirayuki are good and endearing characters, the show wouldn’t work otherwise! Shirayuki in particular, being a character to whom many things happen (but not necessarily having control over those things happening), is a good mix of firm and pragmatic.
Zen’s penchant for trying to avoid or bend royal protocol is also more understandable when you remember he’s not the heir to the throne and has, presumably, a little more leeway than would be expected of the crown prince. But at the same time, Zen has responsibilities, and doesn’t throw them all away, making any relationship between him and Shirayuki difficult to balance.
The art is good, with bright and lush backgrounds and settings. It’s set in a generally Europeanish, medievalish fantasy land (although some architecture and outfits are probably closer to the 18th century), lacking guns, and also Obi is essentially a ninja, as you can see him throwing kunai in the gif up there.
Verdict
English Dub? Yes. All were good voices; I particularly enjoyed Obi the spy's voice: it was light and somewhat detached, which fits his character extremely well.
Visuals: Fine, with bright colors and character designs. It’s a modern show (2015) and while it won’t blow you away with dazzling animation, what it has is perfectly good for the story, particularly one that has so many backdrops, fight scenes, and changes of clothing.
Worth Watching? Yes. This isn’t a total action show—there’s plenty of action (fighting! plots! kidnapping!), but there are also plenty of episodes that take things slower, as Shirayuki studies plants, or characters have lessons on something. It’s enjoyable, and the original manga is still ongoing so the anime wraps up its storyline nicely, but with Shirayuki and Zen still clearly having the potential for more adventures.