Winter 2019 First Impressions – The Price of Smiles

On a planet far from Earth, there is a kingdom full of smiling faces. Princess Yūki is 12 years old, and about to enter a sensitive age in a person’s life. Everyday, she cries, laughs, and sometimes, her heart throbs with excitement. All the while, she lives merrily in the royal palace. Filling her days with color are her loyal vassals: her tutor Reira, Izana who assists in political affairs, the leader of the chivalry Harold and then, there is her childhood friend and aide Joshua. Stella is 17 years old and a capable, reserved soldier. However, she is always smiling for smiling is essential to living. – ANN

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Princess Yuki, at the age of 12, has come of age and can now take a more active role in running her country in the place of her late parents. She’s a kind-hearted person and the new, expanded workload is taxing, but she seems to have a knack for decision-making that relies on her kindness and fondness for the people around her. One day she’s challenged by a member of the military order named Yuni. Though the questioning turns out to be a set-up and Princess Yuki impresses with her answer, her aide and childhood friend Joshua steps in and asks Yuni for a duel.

The duel takes place within a VR simulation, so nothing tangible is at stake; still, Joshua and Yuki prove that their close relationship is worth more than the number of soldiers on their side. After this, Joshua and company leave on a diplomatic mission to the border with Yuki’s message of friendship. But what Yuki doesn’t realize (and what the delegation hopes to keep from her) is that there’s a violent conflict raging. Can the delegation protect the Princess’s precious smile?

Impressions: While we’re told not to judge a book by its cover, it can often be just as much of a mistake to judge a story by its title. “The Price of Smiles” sounds like an awkwardly-phrased but very cutesy fairy tale, probably with some kind of low-stakes conflict and a fun atmosphere. In reality (though I gather we haven’t seen the whole truth about this anime’s story just yet) my perception of this particular series is that the single word “price” will become very important because the stakes here may be much higher than just a cute princess’ good graces.

This first episode has a narrow tightrope to walk, primarily because its main character is extremely young. There’s a need to ensure that she seems responsible enough not to run her kingdom into the ground, but also youthful enough that her age doesn’t seem just like an arbitrary number written down to make her look more impressive. I think this balance is successful. Yuki is very likeable, and while she has her moé girl foibles as one would expect, she’s also realistically good-natured, bright, and down-to-earth, ensuring that her aristocratic nature doesn’t spell doom for her inherent kindness. The other characters seem relatively benign or undeveloped thus far, save for Joshua; he seems kind but also has a hot-headed devotion to his princess, which reads as a little bit cliche so far.

There’s also Yuni, who I can’t get a read on yet. She makes a show of challenging Princess Yuki’s decision to offer to share her own birthday gifts as a form of diplomacy, but seems to suggest that she was put up to the task by others, ostensibly to ensure the quality of Yuki’s character. She doesn’t read as a traitor, and it’s admittedly within reason to question the need for a monarch when it appears as though there are more robust representative parts of the modern government in place. This could certainly be foreshadowing, assuming the story travels in some more serious directions.

What shouldn’t come as any surprise is that the happiness exhibited by Princess Yuki, as well as the bustling utopia she represents, is only a small part of the story. There are little clues sprinkled throughout the episode that the characters we’re meeting exist in sort of a “pocket of peace” – they mention having emigrated from Earth long ago, suggesting there was some sort of initial schism, and the video feed at the end of the episode shows active combat in the zone to which the characters are traveling. There seems to be an active campaign to hide this from Yuki, under the guise of “protecting her smile,” but I think this could also mean “keeping Yuki ignorant and allowing her to act as a figurehead.” Figurehead royalty can act as a source of inspiration, but they can also serve as convenient scapegoats if things turn sour. That might be a cynical interpretation of the direction the series might go, but I do think it’s kind of an interesting one.

The production values of this episode are a little bit uneven. As a 55th(!) anniversary project for studio Tatsunoko, there’s an expectation that they’d pour a lot of time and resources into demonstrating the things that make their studio one for the ages. In a sense, I suppose they do, because there’s a very clear “hierarchy of coolness” that reveals itself in the episode’s visuals. The segment that takes place in the VR world is probably the most visually interesting, because it involves complicated, beautifully colored, and well-designed CG mecha suits that are pretty fun to watch in the midst of combat. In contrast, the character animation often suffers, especially in wider shots. It’s not a deal-breaker, but the mutated, off-model faces did catch me off guard a couple of times.

Meandering back around to the series’ title again, I think that, rather than an awkward English translation of a simple phrase representing a simple anime, the title might actually be a good way to point viewers in the right thematic direction. Princess Yuki is a likable character, as well as a fairly innocent one – the characters want to maintain her happy demeanor for as long as they can by shielding from the world’s harsh realities. But that naivete comes at a price, and whatever that price is may turn out to be a compelling source of drama.

Pros: The main character is likable and seems fit enough for her position despite her young age. The CG mecha suits are cool. There’s already a bit of intrigue.

Cons: The character animation is inconsistent. Joshua’s motivations are a little cliche.

Grade: B-