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 Plot In three short years after ascending the throne, the new ruler of the Sun Kingdom conquered nearly the entire world. One day, the Sun King sends the small unconquered Rain Dukedom an ultimatum: offer one of its four princesses to wed the Sun King, in exchange for their continuing autonomy. After losing a fateful game of rock-paper-scissors to her older sisters, Princess Nike finds herself in an unfamiliar land to marry an unfamiliar man. To her dismay, she discovers the man is only a young boy. Even though frustrated and annoyed with her situation, Nike cannot help but find herself captivated and saddened by the young conqueror's cold eyes. Staff Director - Hajime Kamegaki(Fushigi Yugi, Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple) Series Comp - Shinzo Fujita(worked on Berserk, and Master Keaton) Music - Kousuke Yamashita(Chihayafuru) Animation Production - Studio Pierrot(Bleach, Naruto, Yu Yu Hakusho, and a bazillion other things) Characters  Nike Remercier - CV: Rena Maeda(Machi in Hunter x Hunter(2011) Fourth Princess of the Rain Dukedom. A spirited and kindhearted young girl with the power to control the weather.  King Livius - CV: Nobunaga Shimazaki(Haruka in Free!) The current ruler of the Sun Kingdom. Conquered most of the world despite his young age.  Neil - CV: Tomokazu Sugita(Kyon in The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) The faithful secretary and primary retainer of the Sun King. PVs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-PSBeIOMzY Streaming The World is Still Beautiful is streaming on Crunchyroll for the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Central and South America, and the Caribbeans.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:00
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| # ? Apr 23, 2024 12:05 |
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I'd say the second episode was a a letdown actually. Firstly, the king is a really annoying character and his development arc is obvious already. Secondly, the pacing was pretty wonky because there was A LOT thrown into just this one episode. Thirdly, the song was dumb as hell; I was looking forward to it too. It would have been great if it was a neat little folk rhythm like the one in Beast Player Erin, but instead it was some gaudy, generic tripe that felt completely out of place for the world and was dumb in itself. But Nike remains an awesome person, so I hope the next episode doesn't suck.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:25
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The lack of decent(or really any) period fantasy anime has got me to the point where I'll overlook trod-over storylines(I debated making the thread title a King and I reference instead) and bad pacing(though I don't think the pacing in this episode was really that bad). If nothing else, Nike is totally going to carry the entire show. The scene where she busts herself out of prison and immediately goes to beat up the king was pretty great. Also, I thought the song was fine, because I'm a huge loving sap I guess. I think this show is still on the top end of the season.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:36
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The song was fine on a musical level, but I thought the mixed japanese/english felt out of place for what was supposed to be some sort of magic ritual.
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Apr 13, 2014 03:42
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The extra fun of this series is pronouncing the character's name like the shoe.
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Apr 13, 2014 18:15
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A fantasy show that isn't set in fantasy high school? This is most irregular. It's impossible to tell whether this will stay fun or run out of ideas, but Nike and the Lelouch mini-me are enjoyable to watch.
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Apr 13, 2014 23:51
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AnacondaHL posted:The extra fun of this series is pronouncing the character's name like the shoe. What, you mean 'nee-kay', like the goddess of victory the shoes are named after? Or do they actually pronounce it 'nighk' in their own marketing material?
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Apr 14, 2014 07:33
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The_White_Crane posted:What, you mean 'nee-kay', like the goddess of victory the shoes are named after? At the very least they're content to let people pronounce it that way in their marketing. It might also be influenced a bit by the founder's last name.
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Apr 14, 2014 07:59
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Man, this show is shoujo as gently caress. I'm kinda disappointed they didn't move forward at all with the assassination subplot, but Nike and the King definitely have enough rapport to carry the episode by themselves. Their relationship is pretty interesting. With the King's desire to protect Nike as a clear proxy for his dead mother who he feels he failed to protect, and Nike's maternal acquiescence to that in her desire to see him have a proper childhood. The King in particular got a lot of good character development this episode, though the whole tortured workaholic child genius thing still strains my willing suspension of disbelief just a bit. I still really like this show. It's got good character-writing, and some pretty funny gags. Even if they are eye-rollingly trod-over shoujo clichés
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Apr 19, 2014 21:22
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I believe calling this show Shojo as gently caress is understating things somewhat. I agree though, for all the dumb tropes and Shoto fanservice and stupid exposition butler the show manages to be consistently entertaining. Nike is still a very likeable protagonist and Sun King...is getting better.
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Apr 20, 2014 00:56
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So this is pretty much a Disney film turned anime series.
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Apr 20, 2014 06:32
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The king is still annoying and the song is still feels out of place, but he's improving and Nike still owns.
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Apr 21, 2014 19:59
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Everyone is saying true things about this show. I like it.
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Apr 21, 2014 22:29
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Somehow I wasn't expecting this show to be as shoujo as it is, but I don't mind it at all! As long as Nike continues to be an awesome protagonist I'll continue enjoying it.
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Apr 21, 2014 23:03
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Stall_19 posted:So this is pretty much a Disney film turned anime series. I was hoping the story would go interesting places, but it honestly seems to have gone as bad as it could. I didn't think it would devolve purely into romantic comedy hijinks in fantasy land, due to the age of the king. I cringed my way through pretty much the entirety of episode 3 because everything felt incredibly forced just to create a romance that satisfies the author's fetishes.
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Apr 22, 2014 18:39
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Mercrom posted:That's definitely what I thought at first. Yeah this is what I was having some issues with. I looked up their ages because it was really creeping me out (somewhere I'd gotten the idea the king was 11) and he is apparently 15 or something? Not that it makes a that much difference, considering how young he's drawn and the creepy end sequence. I am dropping it.
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Apr 23, 2014 06:22
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The stated age of the king doesn't really matter since Nike is written to act as a simultaneous mother figure and lover. I get the feeling the author wants to have their cake and eat it with a powerful dominant authority figure who is simultaneously a vulnerable boy without a mom, which would be bad enough even if the quality of the writing didn't suffer heavily because of it. I guess the idiot is me since at first I was hoping for a more political story about the moral dilemma of a benevolent but imperialistic dictatorship.
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Apr 23, 2014 07:11
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New ep. Nike still owns and the king's growing on me.
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Apr 26, 2014 23:43
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What happened at the end of this episode. Well, I was just waiting for it to happen. Pretty obvious. I'm thinking that she's a full grown 14-year old girl and he's maybe a young 13-ish year old boy who hasn't hit his growth spurt yet. Also, if it never rains, how do they even survive? It should look like the Sahara and not this verdant land that it appears to be.
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Apr 27, 2014 01:14
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The explanation was extensive irrigation systems, but that only makes so much sense. This isn't the smartest of shows.
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Apr 27, 2014 01:43
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We also have a teenaged boy king who managed to conquer the entire world in a handful of years. let's not examine the premise too closely here
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Apr 27, 2014 01:53
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Pretty much. I'm not sure why the concept of a desert city being supported by aqueducts is stretching anyone's suspension of disbelief when our main character can control wind and cause rain out of nowhere by singing.
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Apr 27, 2014 01:56
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That was quite a bit of anime racism.
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Apr 27, 2014 04:35
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Dan7el posted:What happened at the end of this episode. Well, I was just waiting for it to happen. Pretty obvious. She's 15 and he's 12. quote:Also, if it never rains, how do they even survive? It should look like the Sahara and not this verdant land that it appears to be. Irrigation can do wonders. Mesopotamia and Egypt have never been rainy places, but the earliest human societies flourished there.
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Apr 27, 2014 04:35
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Oh boy, Big Evil Corrupt Churches and political machination, this is what I signed up for! Seriously though, this is the soapiest drat thing, and it's great 
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Apr 27, 2014 07:48
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Mostly liking this show; good art, Nike is fun, etc. I only hope they don't have her do a rain summoning with "Tender Rain" as the climax of every single episode 'cause that's already wearing thin.MagicalDuck posted:She's 15 and he's 12. Do you have a source? I had also heard that he was closer to 15 like that other poster stated. (either way at least it's better than a lot of series)
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Apr 27, 2014 17:21
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XboxPants posted:Mostly liking this show; good art, Nike is fun, etc. I only hope they don't have her do a rain summoning with "Tender Rain" as the climax of every single episode 'cause that's already wearing thin. My source on him being 15 was Wikipedia btw and I couldn't find anything else that contradicted it but didn't look terribly hard. It didn't list Nike's age but a comment on mangaupdates from someone who was reading it stated the age gap was about 4 years which would make her 19-ish. I think this is going to be another one of those shows where I quit watching but keep reading the thread just to see what ends up happening. edit: to me it doesn't really make that much difference as far as the creepiness. Either he's 11 and she's 15 and an 11 year old boy is being sexualized, or he's 15 and she's 19 and he's still way underage and styled to look even younger. The numbers are less important IMO than all the characters talking about how the king is a CHILD (there was a whole scene with Nike and the butler where they had a conversation about that). He is drawn to look like a child regardless of age. I think it's also frustrating because there's really no reason (outside of gross ones) for him to be either a literal pre-teen or drawn like one. All of his "youngest king to conquer the world ever" accomplishments would still be impressive at say 16 or 17 and there could still even be an age gap angle with Nike being 20+ -- and opens up all sorts of doors for "hilarious" old maid jokes because that's so ancient  more edit: That's not to say that I think the show is stellar with it's treatment of Nike either. What with the references to her breast size and the repeated remarks implying that she's fat and/or unattractive (on top of the really out of place 4th wall breaking scene where they pretty much said "welp we better rape this girl since that's what the audience is here to see" that's already been well hashed to pieces) the show is, to me, trying to pander in the worst directions instead of just being content to be a fun fantasy romp with a lively main character and that's what soured me on trying to watch past the bad to find the good. Everything Burrito fucked around with this message at 21:56 on Apr 27, 2014 |
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Apr 27, 2014 18:20
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Everything Burrito posted:My source on him being 15 was Wikipedia btw and I couldn't find anything else that contradicted it but didn't look terribly hard. It didn't list Nike's age but a comment on mangaupdates from someone who was reading it stated the age gap was about 4 years which would make her 19-ish. Japanese Wikipedia says he's 11 so him being 15 will be based on the English language translation/censorship of the official manga release. If there was an official release. Otherwise I'd surmise it'd be a mistake.
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Apr 27, 2014 20:14
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Retro Access posted:Japanese Wikipedia says he's 11 so him being 15 will be based on the English language translation/censorship of the official manga release.
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Apr 27, 2014 20:20
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I'm not a big fan of being told something instead of being shown, which I felt they did with the whole "Oh yeah he's totally different now! Because of you! What do you mean there hasn't been any other indication of this? Nike is still cool so I'm going to keep watching.
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Apr 27, 2014 20:23
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The question of Livi's age doesn't really bother me all that much given the nature of the setting and the general thrust of the story. Arranged political marriages to minors were fairly common for the culture/time-period the show is emulating. Which isn't to say the story wouldn't be better with him as an adult, or at least the same age as Nike, but I feel like it's less egregious and transparent here than the typical "S/He's secretly a 700-year-old vampire/robot/alien!"
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Apr 27, 2014 20:30
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No episode of this this week I guess? Crunchy says the next episode is 6 days away.
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May 17, 2014 22:24
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I'm seriously considering dropping this show. I'm getting the impression that they ran out of actual conflict at the end of episode 5.
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May 17, 2014 23:17
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Silver2195 posted:I'm seriously considering dropping this show. I'm getting the impression that they ran out of actual conflict at the end of episode 5. Which is a strange thing to say about a show with a setup that most manga authors could milk for years, but yeah lately I'm not really feeling it either. It all feels very rushed, like the author didn't really have any good ideas for political conflict and just wanted to hit fast forward on the central relationship. I might keep watching this show a while longer just because I don't particularly dislike it and I'm down to like four shows as it is, but it's definitely become my least favorite of the shows I'm still watching.
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May 18, 2014 00:56
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I probably won't drop it at this point, but the whole thing has sorta been in a tailspin since episode 3 or 4. I don't know if it's just mishandled production, or bad source material. Considering the strength of episode 1, I'm inclined to lean towards the latter. But yeah, the whacky romcom bits and super-rushed romance don't really gel. And the weird meta-humor just doesn't work at all. This has pretty much ended up as one of those "I really wish these characters were in a better story" shows.
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May 18, 2014 01:43
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Well, that was really not a good episode. And the way it ended was even worse. Come on, guys, you can do better than this. It looked like it was finally going to turn around when Nike shot down Bard, but nope, we have a total about face on Livi and let's throw all the development between then into the garbage to generate some eye-rolling tension. Basically, they blew threw all the legitimate conflicts in just a few episodes and now they're just gonna scrape the bottom of the barrel to fill time until the finale. And this episode is basically just a flip of the previous episode. Great Rumbler fucked around with this message at 19:47 on May 25, 2014 |
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May 25, 2014 19:37
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Spending the whole episode with Livi acting spoiled and childish then ending with him essentially throwing a big tantrum, contrasting how he and Nike deal with romantic rivals, feels like it should work better than it did. That seems like a perfectly serviceable framework for drama, but the show just doesn't know how to handle it. I just can't really put my finger on why it doesn't work. It's honestly a little baffling.
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May 25, 2014 21:43
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Probably because calmly talking someone down and ripping someone's hair out and imprisoning them are extremely different in terms of scale.
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May 25, 2014 22:18
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I feel like with this episode, the writers realized they didn't have a story, so they had to make something hugely dramatic happen. And how. So, they did. I'm finding I don't really care, though.
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May 25, 2014 23:08
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I stalled out on this show around episode four; is it worth my while to come back to it? Overall, I loved where it was the first few episodes, but folks' reactions to more recent episodes are decidedly negative.
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May 26, 2014 06:55
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