Niehime to Kemono no Ou
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts

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TL:DR
Great romance, good drama. Some world building. A bit of violence and blood. Very cute, a wonderful read. Definitely recommend.

Story: 9/10
Look, this is a rehash of beauty and the beast with plenty of clichés to boot. However, what it lacks in originality it makes up in execution. I like the trials the main characters are put through, helping them grow. There is some drama due to Sariphi being a human. We see Sariphi gain more allies and open up people to the idea of peace with humans however there are other issues to ensure it doesn't get repetitive. However it feels like problems are ... solved too quickly and/or easily sometimes.

Art: 7/10
Good character art, with lots of cool beast designs. I really like the design of the king as well, it's quite regal. Plenty of shoujo sparkles too. Not much to say here, just has good art.

Character: 10/10
As I said, no one here is something you've never seen before or super interesting character concept but they're simply so endearing and well written that it makes up for all of that. Sariphi is a simple character, naïve but compassionate, while the King is more complicated. He has to grapple with what it means to be king as well as coming to terms with his secret.

Overall: 10/10
An adorable classic shoujo romance. Delightful read, this story has been done many times before but I enjoyed every page of this manga. As I said, there is something to be said for an old idea done well. This manga has my unreserved recommendation for anyone who enjoys shoujo romance manga, this is one of the best of its genre.

Good
• Wholesome, heart-warming, this manga just feels good
• It avoids the trap of similar stories by having showing the good and bad sides of humans and beasts
• Fun bonus chapters lampooning the original story
• Avoids the inherent creepiness in the premise of a sacrifice falling for the person they were going to be sacrificed too

Bad
• Sariphi is canonically 15 years old. Why? She doesn't even act like a child, just make her an adult, why are you like this japan?

Shoujo isn’t exactly my favourite genre. Still, once in a while I give it a try, and once in a whole there is a title that surprises. Sacrificial Princess is one of those.

What’s interesting is that usually when a shoujo manga is good, it’s because it’s closer to other demographics and is shoujo more on a technicality. In this case though, it’s really a pure shoujo manga, simply with actually good writing. And by that I don’t mean that the author added sex and violence to make it appear more mature (I’m looking at you Nana). No, the characters and the themes are the main ... strengths of this story.

Sacrificial Princess has a non-toxic romantic couple, something that is unfortunately quite rare around these parts. What’s even more unexpected, in the good way, is the positive portrayal of feminine and masculine traits of the couple, which complements each other as the pair bring each other up, rather than the usual forced drama clashes of man’s vs woman’s view. Indeed, here we have both soft feminine approach to problem solving and strong masculine approach working in tandem in a beautiful painting of a power couple relationship.

This all work even better within the framework of the story of court politics and fantasy discrimination. This is not just a nice way to spice up the story into something beyond just an ordinal romance, but also a great opportunity to explore the side characters and give them as much character development as possible. In fact, one of the main themes of the story is how people can change, and it lead to some actually touching moments exploring love and sense of belonging.

Story-wise I also appreciate that it doesn’t leave plot elements unsolved. This is a story-driven manga and it both aims and achieves tying up plot threads both main and side.

Art-wise I have no complaints, the character design is fitting and the arstyle can portray both serious action moments and cute wholesome moments.

Overall this is a great read that I believe can interest most readers of all demographics.

I liked it at first.
I found the story interesting, as it reminded me of Beauty and the Beast. the protagonist is determined, which is a good thing.
The features are nice too.
But... the story progressed and I got bored.
I left the manga after the kiss scene. I thought the author was going to wait for the beast to become human, but no. That moment reminded me of my dog licking the floor, depressing and disgusting.
I'm leaving this review in case you, like me, don't want to waste your time reading this manga.
It may remind you of Beauty and the Beast ... at first, but there's not a shred of magic or beauty in the plot.
As Scruton says, the arts no longer have the beauty they once did