I don’t get the hype. At all.
Sometimes, even if I don’t like an anime, I can see why other people like it: It’s just not my taste. I don’t click with the characters. I’m not particularly fond of the art style. Etc etc. But I honestly just can’t understand why this show rated so well. In my opinion, there’s barely anything good about it.
I love fantasy anime. I especially love fantasy anime set up in a kingdom setting. Love shoujo and romance, so this should have been right up my alley. But it’s not.
This may contain the slightest bit of spoilers, but only because I can’t criticize what is wrong with it, without mentioning plot points. I will keep them as vague as possible.
Everything is so pseudo-melodramatic it’s irritating. The “problems” the main character faces are presented as super dramatic, even life threatening, blah blah blah, but then get resolved so easily it’s laughable. They try to make Shirayuki “different” from the typical damsel in distress in that she tries to solve problems on her own, but ultimately in the end, the prince always shows up at the last minute to save her.
Everyone is in awe of Shirayuki because of her red hair and because of her character, but all she does is act like a typical, normal person. She doesn’t do anything extraordinary. Everyone else acts weird and super stereotypical towards the archetype they’re created as, so her utterly normal actions get glorified like they’re wondrous/amazing/so odd and quirky and charming, when they’re just normal, human responses to problems. So many of the side characters and minor characters are irritating, judgmental insufferable idiots, so of course, Shirayuki, who is just a plain, nice person, is a hundred times better than they are. Anyone set up against those types of people will shine.
Seriously, it’s not an exaggeration. Skip this one paragraph if you want to avoid spoilers completely, because it will contain a slight minor scenario spoiler (but doesn’t affect anything about the story). In episode 4, a sick patient comes to get medicine. Yet, instead of being grateful to the herbalist he insults them horribly to Shirayuki. Like… how believable is it that a patient will show up to the doctor, then directly insult the doctor to one of the staff, instead of just getting the medicine they need. Like I said, side characters and even minor characters are set up to be so unbelievably stupid and rude so as to contrast with Shirayuki’s not-so-amazing character to make it seem amazing. And of course Shirayuki won’t stand for the insults and insinuations against her senior (as any plain, normal person wouldn’t) so she’s seen as super amazing and different and shocking when she takes offense towards the incredibly offensive comments.
So of course, since a normal, nice person is apparently the rarest of the rare in this world, the prince (and everyone else) end up being so utterly charmed and surprised by Shirayuki [insert massive eyeroll here]. It's really not amazing when someone doesn't want to be insulted or treated poorly, nor is it amazing when someone doesn't like it when their friends are insulted/treated poorly, but apparently, in Shirayuki, it's utterly amazing and unique and seemingly in this world, Shirayuki is the only person in history/existence to ever feel that way, so everyone is in complete awe of this aspect of her character episode after episode after episode. -_________-
Because of this, the story is lacking. It revolves around Shirayuki doing these “amazing” things, that really aren’t so amazing, so there’s nothing to build off of. We don’t learn much about the characters besides the prince. We don’t have a solid plot to follow. It’s just Shirayuki getting into predicaments, then she struggles with solving them, solves them a bit but then gets stuck again, then gets rescued by the prince. Then she encounters more new people. Some of these new people cause her problems, which then repeats the cycle. To mix it up a bit, they throw in problems that are ALWAYS plant/medical related, so unsurprisingly, Shirayuki as a herbalist, is always able to easily solve them.
They try to develop some side plots revolving around the prince and related royal conflicts, but they’re so shallow and laughably simple and barely concentrated on (and of course, following the pattern of this anime, easily resolved) it’s just an annoyance.
You never even have the slightest bit of worry that problems won’t resolve themselves because they’re so incredibly simple. It's marketed as a drama anime, but there's nothing dramatic about the story, just that things are presented in an overtly dramatic fashion.
Meh.
The best thing by far in this anime is the artwork and the setting/world building. Stylistically, it’s not the best or the highest grade of artwork, but it’s richly detailed and the details of the kingdom setting are nicely developed and pleasing to see. However, nice artwork can't save a show that is lacking in every other aspect.
So yeah, I don’t like it. Plot is lacking and undeveloped, and what is developed is always predictable. Problems follow the same repeat pattern over a over. Problems also lack any depth or complexity. Characters follow their stereotypes, so it's easy to "get to know" them, but that leaves them incredibly one dimensional and predictable.
I guess though, I could recommend it to people to watch if they’re in a really bad mood/having a bad day/week and want to watch something that is incredibly easy to follow and doesn't require thinking if you're exhausted, and everything predictably always works out so your day won't get worse than it already is. Like how adults watch simple kids cartoons sometimes when they're feeling bad, because it's simple and easy and you know you don't have to think or feel or see anything that might disappoint/hurt your heart/worry you, about the characters or story.
