- #1
This reminds me strongly of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, another favorite of mine. However, quite unlike Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, the story of the Tearmoon Empire is not an isekai, but a time-paradox tale in an alternate-world European history setting. For example, one of Princess Mia's key concerns in preventing her from mounting the steps of the guillotine again is to forestall a famine that was a key factor in firing up the revolution. In very many isekais (and even a mere fantasy like Maoyuu Maou Yuusha), the locals are regaled to the wonders of the potato, particularly steamed and topped with mayonnaise or butter (though the protagonist of Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear does say she likes potatoes steamed, in practice she only uses them for french fries, potato chips, and ingredients on pizza). However, Princess Mia doesn't consider or probably not even know about potatoes, because she doesn't have the cheat of the Bear or other isekaied characters of knowledge of another previous world. (To tell the truth, if Mia is supposed to be the espy of the historical Queen Antoinette of France, potatoes didn't work out for her in real life either. The Little Ice Age that set in around 1300 meant a permanent cycle of famines in Europe, because cereal grains were vulnerable to early and late frosts. Well, after Columbus discovered America, didn't Europe find potatoes, that people could raise families on potatoes and nothing else, if supplemented with dairy and occasional greens, and potatoes would be far less vulnerable to frosts, plus they wouldn't be trampled down by invading armies in the violent social upheavals caused by the famine-inducing cold climate? Yes, by the close of the 18th Century Europe was well aware of all of this on potatoes--except France, so the cycle of famines continued there. Heaven knows, it wasn't for the lack of royal effort, the French king tried and tried to get the stubborn farmers to try growing potatoes, but the peasants resisted any change, so the famines continued, and the French royal family ended up losing their heads--literally--because of the issue.) Mia doesn't even have that cheat of knowledge from another world--except Spoiler
she does know that her opponents in the revolution came up with their own cold-resistant wheat, and Mia will now work and scheme any means to ensure she gets her hands on it. Although Mia's yearning to have a book buddy eventually led to Chloe Forkroad, and eventually her father's merchant company's shipping routes, falling into Mia's lap as a means to ensure food imports even in famine, and the upcoming declaration Mia will make as a direct consequence of this election's outcome, will also have great impact (with Folkroad's help) on the upcoming famine.
[collapse]But as I compare this novel to Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, there's one massive difference between the two novels. I suspect Kumanano exaggerates when he (or she) says the direction of her story is often unplanned and lack of talent showing in the results (I personally think the author deserves much better credit than that because Chekov's Gun goes off far too often--Kumanano even openly admits that with one plot development!--for the story to be written as carelessly as everyone assumes). But yes, the theme of character development and a most unlikely choice by Providence to save the realm is nowhere nearly well crafted as here. As one reviewer of J.R.R. Tolkien's work commented on "Lord of the Rings" evidencing that the author clearly has his story under control--such is also the case here. Reincarnated Princess Wishes to Avoid Death repeatedly shows through foreshadowing and shifting of timelines that the author definitely knows how to do worldbuilding and characters, and has a definite destination in mind.Walter vi Britannia:SpoilerAll the people around her seem to take it as a given that those two are an item with their open flirting and whatnot so I fail to see how this can turn into a harem. If the other prince, Sion, ends up also gunning for her I might drop a star from my ratings. I like its dumb and silly romance without any drama. And I like its focus on other things most of all. If it suddenly becomes a full on romance novel instead of the romance being just a sub-plot...I just think its not something I'd want to read after reading all this fun stuff. But anyway, even Sion knows that these two are together as do probably the rest of their countries so I seriously doubt there is gonna appear a love rival.
Well, to tell the truth... the other prince, Sion, does end up also gunning for her as a love rival. But...
Well, the outcome of that turns out to be bittersweet. When Sion proposes to her, Mia actually has a melancholy pang for a moment when she realizes, yes, had circumstances turned out differently, she and Sion probably could have been happy together. However, I think you'll find this novel can be very good at times even when the characters are not acting dumb and silly. As this subplot advances, I think it becomes evident that the ordering of circumstances as to totally erase and reverse Mia and Sion becoming victims of each other as part of a general catastrophic destruction of an entire continent, was also intended to ultimately keep them apart--but not for the purpose of depriving them, but to withhold the good because something far better was in store for both of them.
And Mia's "best friend" will have a very key role in all of this. If you're wondering about the sarcastic quotes--well, there comes a day when that description will no longer be ironic; and when the Selfish Princess decides to work a little mischief with some annoying nobles, when Mia's "Pancake Speech" has greater impact than anyone would have believed in saving the whole continent, and an intended assassination attempt by the Snakes in Sunkland ultimately backfires; then the character reversal of Mia's friend will have her playing a role that will heavily impact the futures of both Mia and Sion, and on Sunkland and Tearmoon as well. Sorry, even under spoiler banner, I'm not giving away any more than that.
[collapse]losernoodle: Mia is no genius or saint, but she is also not a villain whether it is in the past or present. If there is one sin of Mia's, it is her selfishness. Everything she does is for herself (avoiding her death), but along the way Mia also becomes a better person. The comedy from this novel comes from the misunderstandings that ensue. Mia's acts of selfishness are misunderstood by others as acts of genius or kindness.Well, yes, on the surface level that is the case, and a lot of comedy comes from it. Yet there's other novels/manga/anime that has the same, and they don't seem to draw the love from readership that this one does. If it's no more than nice cut silly slice of life, why would that be?Frankly, I think it's because a lot of readers see themselves in Princess Mia. If being selfish is a besetting sin of Mia's--just how many people could say they're not the same? If Mia is clueless about the world outside the palace and the rising forces which will eventually destroy her, just how many people in real life truly have insight into themselves and other people, and the direction that their world is taking?However, in Mia's case, the constant habit of her misunderstanding others and they misunderstanding her in turn, could that the very thing I think the readers themselves are misunderstanding? Is there being a Wisdom of the Empire really nothing but a total delusion? Are the acts people are seeing not really acts of kindness or genius at all? Frankly, I think there really is a Wisdom of the Empire which is defeating the First Emperor and the Snakes with real kindness and thwarting them with real genius. The real misunderstanding people make is thinking that Princess Mia is the source of this.I believe that Princess Mia truly grasped what happened when she suddenly found herself not 20 years old or at the guillotine missing a head, but back in her bedroom 8 years before: "At first, I was confused, but I soon understand. God in all His Greatness has made me the Chosen One. I am definitely convinced that I have been given a mission. That is the great mission of saving the Empire. As the Chosen Saviour, in order to save all those countless peoples and soldiers, I began to think." Yes, it's clearly the words of a silly spoiled clueless girl--yet those words have to be true because humanly nothing else would explain Mia's bloody diary and memories of events yet to transpire again. The question is why? Why would God choose someone like that for this mission, when even Ludwig's mesmerization at initially believing the princess was seemingly showing senseless behavior, only to be shocked into reverence and awe at what he took for a goddess of wisdom, could still only conclude that no one would take Mia seriously because of her youth? Why Mia, of all people? Why does her decisions always turn out to be "lucky", having insight into many angles which Mia herself often never considers and can only be realized from retrospect?I believe part in the answer lies in a quality of Mia which has historically lifted heavily flawed and undistinguished young individuals into eventual greatness--Mia always learned from her mistakes. In retrospect, it seems Mia's stunned "why?" at wondering what led to her climbing those steps to the guillotine before vast mob hurling hatred and ab*se at her ultimately could be answered by the thought that unlike her condemners, Providence had permitted these things to happen to Mia not to punish her, but discipline her in order to turn that intended by the Snakes for evil into ultimate good. If Mia had not gone through her experiences, she would have not known the true value of her cook, of Anne and Ludwig, or of her royal guard. If she had not experienced mu*derous mobs or the deprivation of three years in a dungeon, the crown prince of Remno and New Moon district would not have lost their power to intimidate Mia. If Mia doesn't want to be a villain, it's because she experienced what it was like to lose the deference she took for granted, what it was like to be defamed and constantly ab*sed and tormented--so Mia not only doesn't want that to happen again, she doesn't want to do the same to anyone else. She wouldn't have known the threat to the empire from the blind arrogance of the nobility, the crazy contempt for agriculture, the danger of alienating neighbors which could cut off food and trade through ports, the upcoming disasters (financial collapse, plague, famine, a border mess that would earn the fatal emnity of foes within and without the empire, etc.), and more. Mia wouldn't have known that making and maintaining contacts could be a matter of life or death.But there's even a more crucial quality of Mia which can be easily missed. The princess talks constantly of giving people second chances, because she was never given a second chance (on her initial timeline, that is). But when divine miracle gives her a second chance, Mia makes the most of it because she always backs her words with action. Even on the previous timeline, Ludwig noticed it: "still foolish and unreliable... but she was trying." After forgetting the name of a school classmate caused a diplomatic disaster, Ludwig noticed the princess was always making an effort to memorize her classmates' names. He noticed that despite constantly complaining about Ludwig, Mia always listened to his advice. Despite her being cowardly, Mia was no coward, she remained in the empire and still tried to rebuild her country. Ludwig eventually came to the conclusion that Princess Mia seemed "to be a decent person to some extent."But in the new timeline, when Ludwig's mentor later asks a probing question of why he serves Mia, Ludwig gets a deeper revelation when he dreams of Mia in the previous timeline. He comes to the realization, "That person who was in that dream was unmistakably his master, Mia Luna Tearmoon... Although they were completely different on the surface, their core was the same..." As Mia struggled over the issue in the previous timeline of saving a strawberry for herself from a hypothetical cake, which in her heart she could never could have had to herself when she knew the starving state of the village, in the very same way in the current timeline (when Ludwig, Anne and her personal guard shirked back from entering a shantytown), it was Mia who ran forward to a collapsed dirty child to take care of it. Nobody thought the Pancake Declaration was anything but a trite hardly stirring piece of oratory, because it wasn't--but it impacted a whole continent because Mia walked the walk rather than talk the talk.At the conclusion of the initial timeline, Ludwig bitterly ruminates that Sion seemingly was a worthier master to serve in every way over that "s*upid princess", yet...""Do the right thing when you can" is the quality of a good ruler. If one has money at their disposal, how many people can use it for the right thing? Sion Sol Sunkland is definitely such a person who can use the money for the right thing. It is a testament to Sion's virtue... and also to his luck and fortune."There are times when the right thing simply could not be done. When the world backs one into a corner to the point that they are between a rock and a hard place. Even when one wishes to give food to the starving people, there might be no food to give. The desire to rule with integrity and enrich the people could be thwarted by the lack of resources or ability."This was the story of his mistress – a princess who struggled against her fate in the worst of times. When all the world seemed hellbent on bringing about her ruin, she gave her best effort no matter how desperate everything seemed..."... Effort and endeavour did not excuse the result. The cold truth was that many people died due to the incompetence of the royal family and the tyranny of the corrupt nobles. The wrath and pain of the bereaved family cannot be healed by any words."But still... in spite of it all, he felt a deep sorrow at the fact that everything she had done – all her hard work and earnest efforts – would be in vain, never to be recognized..."... Please, I hope that this foolish princess's hard work will be rewarded, even if just a little..."I think Someone took that hope as a prayer, and granted it. And in the process, began a new timeline in which many people whom Princess Mia crossed paths with who had seemingly lost hope and were bound helplessly in futile existences, heading toward miserable deaths and heading into eternity weighed down by guilt and regrets--but they also end up being given second chances. And I think at its heart, the story of Tearmoon Empire is not really the story of a saving of an empire, but the redemption of individuals, and I think that's what resounds so deeply with readers.And it may take a lifetime, but I think Princess Mia is being nudged bit by bit toward an eternity where finally the wisdom and kindness of Mia is no longer a delusion, but reality. You know...I've long had a sneaking suspicion that the sarcastic snarky narrator is giving hints on the alternative timelines and on the future is none other than... Empress Mia herself! With the perspective of looking back in old age, I think she wants to set the record straight, and while I don't know what the final chapter in this saga will be--I'd be very surprised if the final concluding thoughts of the narration don't prove to be very interesting indeed...