Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine

Oushitsu Kyoushi Heine borders somewhere between being good and just alright. It's a lighthearted character driven slice of life story, focused on self-improvement so each of the princes can become worthy candidates to the throne. The characters themselves are unfortunately fairly simple, but still have enough depth and charm so that I wouldn't describe them as being one-dimensional. All of the princes have easily memorable personalities and flaws due to this simplicity, so given the show is only 12 episodes long, being simple may be a necessary evil. The dialogue was kind of bland, I'm not sure what is was about it but it felt ... like what a character in a book would talk like rather than a real person. All of the plotlines themselves are also very straightforward and mostly predictable, but despite this it was all really wholesome, and didn't bother me all too much. To my surprise there's actually an underlying plot behind all of this, which was fairly enjoyable, although I would've preferred if there was a larger emphasis on world building as there seemed to be some potential.

The show's humor was decent; I don't think it tried too hard to be hilarious, just enough to keep you entertained. A lot of the verbal jokes were on a similar caliber to "look the tutor is short" and "that ostrich thinks you look like a girl," but I did actually enjoy a lot of the visual humor like when Heine turns into a pouty chibi.

On the technical side of things, if anyone actually cares:
The animation is good, although not impressive.
The art is nice, but the artstyle is fairly generic. There were maybe 2 or 3 character designs that made a good impression on me.
The music is fitting, but also fairly unnoticeable, and doesn't stand out as anything special.

Overall I say while it isn't a standout show in any regard, it's quite wholesome, and more or less enjoyable the entire way through (maybe with some minor cringe at parts). I don't recommend going out of your way to watch it, but if you think you'd enjoy a wholesome slice of life I wouldn't recommend against it either. 6.5/10

The Royal Tutor: Haine is an anime that has, so far, met my expectations. It is rather calm, slice-of-life anime that centers around the meticulous balance between teaching academics and teaching life lessons.

The only problem that I have with this show is that... I don't think it's going to be anything groundbreaking. The first three episodes have been rather formulaic from the standard world-building and "character development" that occurs at the beginning of any show. I put "" around character development because this show tries to convince the viewers that its characters are unique because of its use of "individual interviews" that give a ... more personalized understanding of each character. However, when you step away from that perspective, these characters becomes nothing more than cookie-cutter stereotypes floating around in anime. These somewhat cliche characters coupled with its rather slow narrative progression creates a rather average first impression.

Luckily, this show is held up by decent artwork contrasts between the chibi artwork and the serious 3D character models. They work well to speed up the pace of the show and make light-hearted interactions that hide this anime's, so far, weak plot. The sound is nothing extraordinary either. I do enjoy the light piano motifs throughout the show, and the VAs are not that bad either, I really enjoy Keisuke Ueda's performance as Heide. The rest of the cast does a solid job as well. I would not expect any breakout performances from this rather young group of VAs though.

Overall, the show has the potential to go somewhere. The plot has a solid foundation, and the characters have fit within their archetypes. It is all about the execution of its story that wrap this all together. At its best, this show would be around an 8/10, and at its worst it would be a 3/10. The show has room from growth, but not the ability to be fantastic because it is about as formulaic as a 5 paragraph essay. I hope that this show breaks out of its mold soon, or else, this show is going to be forgotten within this anime season. (6.5/10)

A halfway-interesting variation on the subgenre of CGDCT that has been popularized by Umaru and KareKano, wherein the characters spend a lot of time in a Super Deformed state. As far as the chibi goes, it's played well for the first few episodes before it becomes totally stale.
The art is probably the series' greatest strength, save for when they spam the SD style (to be fair, it is funny sometimes). The intro and outro are godawful for my Western sensibilities. The seiyuu for the tutor—Heine Wittgenstein—is often the sole redeemer of the sound.

The four princes are tropes you've seen a million times; it becomes ... more apparent once the show begins to focus on one prince per episode. If the show wants to be deep, it's very lazy about it—one of the episodes features characters named Dmitri and Smerdyakov, but it was clear that none of the creators had read "The Brothers Karamazov" and just wanted points for the reference. Similarly, when Wittgenstein first took out his riding crop, I thought they were going to make a joke about how Wittgenstein (in real-life) used to physically abuse children who gave wrong answers. [The irony is that he, unlike any of the show's characters, would make for a good anime.]

There's nothing new or enlightening about this series, but it's not a bad watch by any means.

When I was scoping out the Spring 2017 Anime line-up, The Royal Tutor didn’t really hit my radar. From the synopsis and the preview graphics that had been released, I honestly thought it was going to be a very cheesy show with some strong boy-love vibes. As a person who doesn’t usually go for the boy-love genre, I wasn’t interested in it at all. But something about it, and I have no fricking clue what, told me to at least watch the first episode so I could confirm my feelings. I’m really glad that I listened to that tiny, not-so-weird-at-all-little-voice-in-my-head because this series ended up ... being surprisingly decent.

When I began it I got a very strong Ouran High School Host Club aura from it. You’ve got four boys who very quickly get unique names via our Heine-sensei, and they each have a relatively tropey persona. Initially, this made me very hesitant in watching the second episode. No offence towards Ouran, but this trope is so fucking overdone that I didn’t want to deal with another show that revolved around it. Luckily, my fascination with the mysterious tutor outweighed my frustration and I continued onwards.

My expectations for the show started to grow, but didn’t really turn into anything fantastic as I watched. Mid-way through the season when we still hadn’t learned anything about the Royal Tutor’s past, I began to feel highly sceptical about the writing. I knew that we were running out of episodes and time for a good, fluid explanation of how a teacher could also be so skilled in combat as to equal a highly-seasoned warrior. There were some very vague hints, but not much else to go on. I also found there to be a slight imbalance on the attention given to each of the four boys, where a couple of them received a lot more screen time than the others. These two aspects actually filled me with a bit of anxiously negative anticipation. I’ve seen it many times before. A show starts off wonderfully, but then it overreaches and falls terribly short in its execution. Luckily, that didn’t really happen with The Royal Tutor.

While it’s far from being a glorious masterpiece, it has a decent number of facets that make it quite an enjoyable anime series. The first are the characters themselves. We get to learn about each one of the boys and why they are so vehemently against tutors and education. The reasons aren’t superficial. They are laced with insecurities and bad experiences. Occasionally a reason for one son will seem minor in comparison to another, but it just adds an empathetic dimension to their personas that makes you want to root for their success. I like that these boys aren’t perfect. Their flaws make them that much more engaging.

The tutor himself is someone who reminded me of Onizuka from the anime series GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka. He is a man who took the time to understand the underlying issues that kids have in order to better tackle them with a fitting solution. Heine and Onizuka knew that kids aren’t going to respond to a one-size-fits-all solution. Each kid is different with unique issues and problems. To help said kids, you really have to be willing to get to know them and distinguish them as individuals in a way most people don’t want to deal with.

Remember how I mentioned earlier I was worried about the imbalance of screen-time for the boys? It turns out that some of the boys needed the extra attention because their problems needed that extra support. It also played very well towards plot progression because the imbalance was created to fit the unique issues and insecurities that each of the sons were going through. For example, one of the kids is a very shy and timid person with a fearsome outwardly appearance. He wasn’t shown nearly as much as I had hoped (he became my favourite character because I could relate to him like you wouldn’t believe) because of this demeanour. It wouldn’t have made sense for him to be sprouting up all over the place, unlike the youngest brother who’s a social whore.

The themes in the show were also a bit comforting. Most of it had to deal with accepting yourself for who you are, even if other’s can’t accept you. It was dealt with in a positive way that doesn’t negatively portray awkward social skills, or fetishise issues involving a lower intelligence, etc. etc. I like that the changes that the boys make are gradual instead of just being an instant fix as soon as they comprehend the lessons they’re learning. There’s also a bit of focus on not judging anyone by their appearance or initial mannerisms because there’s a huge chance that you will be wrong about them, friendships come in all shapes and sizes, and soft things will always be cute.

All of these elements made for a pleasant watching experience, however, it does have its faults. The humour, while being kooky and a light-hearted means at softening tough topics, is really predictable at times and felt cheesy and out-dated. The story in its entirety is of average quality and can make you feel pretty indifferent about whether you’re having a good time or not. Although I do like the characters, nothing within the The Royal Tutor truly made me anticipate the next episode with impatient, passionate glee. I felt so apathetic about having to wait a week for new content, or when the content finally did arrive I’d watch everything else before really getting to this. The only thing that I was super fricking curious about was Heine’s past, which was a small bit of a let-down because the morsels of clues left in the wake of one episode to the next made it sound like Heine would have a really badass history. Instead the truth was disappointing and anticlimactic.

The animation itself is pretty much typical; nothing extraordinary or breath-taking. It’s clean and seemingly well-developed. I found the outdoors scenery to be more pleasant than the interiors. There are a lot more details that go into creating the environment and atmospheres amidst nature than within buildings. We see this with the mansion, or palace, as it just felt like an atypical reproduction of a European mansion that seems quite standard in anime with such structures. Within a local café in town, we get a similar situation. The café does look to be quite large and it is nicely presented, but it doesn’t encapsulate the same sort of attention to details that the natural atmospheres do.

Mid-way through the series, we do get a whisper of a small plot that’s being hatched to affect who will inherit the throne if and when the king passes on. This is something that felt extremely out of place to me for multiple reasons. Firstly, it randomly just pops up at the finale of an episode or two and then isn’t brought up again until a few episodes later. Secondly, when it is brought up, it’s only for a couple of minutes; not nearly enough to make any sort of impact. It makes one last appearance during the final episodes, and it honestly felt like the only reason it was tossed into the series to begin with was to add some tension and intrigue to the plot.

Overall, The Royal Tutor is a good, fun average anime to check out. The cast is engaging and you can’t help but feel for them in certain situations. The story is very chill and simple, as is the animation and music. But if you’re in the mood for something that’s going to blow your mind, or totally make your jaw drop, then this anime is not for you.

6 tortes outta 10!

This anime is about 4 prince's who are not very keen on learning, but our main character Heine changes it, of course. Who would guess that? This anime has very straightforward plot. We first get to know all of boys. And the plot is wandering about the same thing (one of our princes has a problem and Heine is there to help to him overcome it) in almost every episode. This got boring after second prince. The main "antagonist" was very weak and I don't even know if i can call him like that. Even though connection between Heine and ****** was obvious from the ... very beginning
it was something refreshing in this story. I liked the flashbacks. And for story that's it. Nothing amazing, but it wasn't too bad either.

I don't have much to say about animation. It's average. Chibis were cute. I didn't see any mistake in artwork.

It has nice opening to listen, the ending doesn't stand out either. I don't remember hearing any background music. It's just bland

In section of characters there isn't anything new. Heine is the new royal teacher in the palace. He isn't discouraged by behavior of boys.
His attitude reminds me a little of Koro-sensei, because he has different method of teaching for all of his students. His characteristic feature is the appearance, because he looks much younger than his real age and he's considered a child by people he is meeting. It was at least a few times part of joke. And it started to bore me after second time of mentioning it.
The least favorable character for me is Leonhard. He is 15 years old, but is acting like a child. He annoyed me a little. Next is Licht - I actually liked him, because he really cared about others and worked really hard. He wanted to be independent and didn't want to rely that much on others. Burno at start is arrogant and I didn't like fact that he judged people by fact if they went
to university or not. Of course he changes after he meets Heine. Kai is misunderstood by people at first, cause his communicating skills are very low, but he overcomes it later in series. His bond with sister and pet is really adorable and cute. The last one is Victor - his bond and friendship with Heine was really heartwarming. I probably like him the best. The characters are black and white. Their personalities are just like thousand of others. Even though they changed after meeting Heine it's just too predictable.

The Royal Tutor is a charming and entertaining anime with a good balance of humor and drama. The characters are vibrant and unique, each with their own personalities and quirks. The plot is engaging and keeps viewers on their toes with a good mix of suspense and intrigue. The humor is also well-placed and not overbearing. The animation and music are very good, and the overall show has a heartwarming and uplifting atmosphere. If you're looking for something that's entertaining, emotional, and relatable, The Royal Tutor is a solid choice.

I would definitely recommend The Royal Tutor to those looking for an heartwarming and emotional anime. ... The characters are relatable and relatable with a good amount of depth. The plot has a good mix of drama, romance, and humor. The animation and music are great as well. If you're looking for something that will make you feel good while still offering entertaining and engaging stories, The Royal Tutor is the one. Just don't expect any battles or intense action sequences, as this one is more focused on the characters and their relationships.