Akagami no Shirayuki-hime: ANIME REVIEW

Good evening my dear anime folk,

Maybe you remember from my previous post Fact and Stuff Anime Head Should Know the hair color symbolism in anime-the hair color describes the personality. BLACK, for instance, stands for an independent, mysterious, powerful character while BLUE means that a character is mature, wise, talented, introverted etc. The color that interests us for now is RED-passionate, enthusiastic, adventurous, dynamic and opinionated which are exactly the characteristics of our main character. Back in Summer 2015, this anime was quite popular but it was the red color that caught my attention a couple of days ago. One side-fact, I love red-haired-characters. So, I gave it a try, and now the review on : "Akagami no Shirayuki-hime" aka. "Snow White with the Red Hair". Enjoy!

-Plot and Story Line-

To begin with some extra info: ranked #621 Akagami no Shirayuki-hime has a rating of 7.93 on MyAnimeList, which is just the right rating in my opinion. Akagami no Shirayuki-hime is a drama, fantasy and romance anime, with a little bit of adventure and action here and there. I would add adventure to the genre list on MAL, but okay... Now let's see what's it about.

Our main protagonist is Shirayuki which actually means Snow White, but as said in the beginning, she has red hair and everyone knows her for that. Her red hair is well known in the country of Tanbarun where she works as an apothecary in her own herb  shop. Even the prince of Tanbarun, Raji, hears about her beautiful hair and decides to make her his concubine. Not wanting to even thing about such a fate, she cuts her hair and flees in the neighboring country-Clarines to start a new life there. Accidentally, she meets the 2nd Crown Prince of Clarines, Zen and his two comrades.  Soon they become very close friends and start a journey full of adventures, common enemies and much more. Zen and Shirayuki support each other in achieving their goals; Hers-to become a court herbalist and his-to become a prince worthy of his title. 

For a twelve episode long anime, the story line is pretty solid and even tough you get the feeling that the plot is a little bit forced and rushed it actually fits pretty good. I loved the fact that they did not only concentrate on the relationship between Zen and Shirayuki although it is the main story line. There were a couple of side stories, a couple of background stories and some little extra story lines that supported the main one.

Most important thing for me, there were no plot holes and the story is pretty interesting too. I also had to laugh hard a couple of times. This anime is awesome if you just want to relax and forget your problems for a couple of hours. It makes your heart melt a couple of times but it doesn't cause any stress and that kind of stuff. My recommendation, watch it over the weekend after a hard week and you'll feel much better right after. 

One thing that'll made me remember this anime is definitely the, let's say, character trend in anime. The thing that Sakura did in Naruto or Yona in Yona of the Dawn is actually better known in some cartoons as Mulan and The legend of Korra. The main character cuts her long hair to show that she is a new person now and that she is taking another, stronger and more independent path than before. I personally loved that move, because I love independent and strong female characters, but seeing it a couple of times now, it got a bit boring. I don't thing it will fascinate me in another anime again,  but we shall see. 

True the anime is cute but I don't think I could watch the second season. At least not now. There is too much cliche romance in it and I found that a bit annoying. But, I am not a great romance fan, meaning it is actually my subjective way of thinking. If you like romance, you'll love Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. 

Still, the anime is not perfect which is why I rated it as a 8 on MAl. One reason is the lack in background information about Shirayuki's life. Where are her parents? What did she do all her life? Where does she come from if her hair was so unusual? Not sure if the second season tells us more, but the first one left a huge question mark in my head. 

In the end I gotta say, I wouldn't have mind if there were a couple of episodes more between the beginning and the highlight of the first season. The show was cute, nice to watch and interesting. Thumbs up!

-Characters- 

The characters are the second reason I rated this anime with an 8. They are too perfect to be good cahracters. I always say, characters with flaws are better because they have sth to work on when it comes to their personality. That's what makes them interesting. In this review I'll say a few things about the main two:

SHIRAYUKI is as said in the beginning, when I explained the color symbolism, extremely enthusiastic, adventurous, dynamic and opinionated. She has the ability to cheer up everyone and always takes care about "doing the right thing", honesty and such things, which can be annoying sometimes. She also ends up being the heroine every time a problem pops out. As I said before, her personality is overly perfect, thus I am not extremely found of her character. But she could represent a good idol for 5-year-olds.

ZEN WISTALIA CLARINES is the most adorable character I've seen in a long time. Even tough his personality is also too perfect and without a single flaw, I could not not like him. Living in the shadow of his older brother, Zen is working hard and trying to become a real prince. He is a little bit naive and a very good person,  but when it comes to important matters or conflicts in his country he  solves them as a real prince without considering his subjective opinion or feelings. He is literary the dream prince every little girl wants to marry when she gets older.

-Animation and Style-

If there is one segment of this anime that deserves a higher note than 10/10 then it is the animation. It is really awesome and beautiful. I can't remember any anime that had such a good animation. Truly amazing. Bright and colorful settings, detailed characters and backgrounds and amazing details.  When it comes to the style of Akagami no Shirayuki-hime, there is nothing much to say. Just like the animation, it is flawless. I loved it and will definitely from now on use this anime as an example of amazing animation. One more thing. While watching the first episode I actually thought of quitting because I found it a little bit stupid in the beginning, but I continued because of the animation. I couldn't miss such a great animation work being someone that hates and usually skips anime with bad animation.  

-Conclusion-

If you had a really thug week and you need an anime just to relax and forget about the world for a day, watch Akagami no Shirayuki-hime. It will take you on a little journey, to a different universe where everything is nice, cute and perfect. It will melt your heart in a couple of scenes but you will survive it. I liked the anime even though it was annoying in some moments but you can get over it. The animation and the character and background looks will please your eyes like no anime before. Give it a try and if you decide to watch the second season too, tell me how it was. 

Your AnimeGirl <3 

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