3ET: Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii

Make it rain, Nike. Just do it.

Studio: Studio Pierrot

Director: Kamegaki Hajime (Fushigi Yuugi, Ayashi no Ceres)

Writer: Fujita Shinzou (Several Kids Shows)

Main Cast:

Maeda Rena as Nike Lemercier

Shimizaki Nobunaga as Livius Issei

Character Design: UnoIchirou

Music: Yamashita Kousuke (Chihayafuru, Shion no Ou)

As someone with a cold rock where my heart should be, I find shows that are just about romance to be incredibly dull. Therefore, Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii needs to have something more than a storyline about a princess from a far off land and a bratty boy-king falling in love. Or, at the very least, I need to care about the characters because I like them as people.  Or just make the journey to the inevitable romantic conclusion interesting. And while having the princess, Nike, be able to call down rain in a country where it's always sunny is an interesting idea; this show will need more than that to keep me watching.

The good news is that there is a sideplot that doesn't involve the romance. Livius may be a child, but he is an extremely competent king. He does this by working hard, to the point that he has time for literally nothing else. He currently rules over most of the known world, and as one would expect, he has enemies who are after his throne. I think there is good drama to be mined here, and there have been a couple of assassination attempts on the young king's life. More of this would make a good dramatic backdrop for Livius and Nike's relationship to develop.

Here we see the wild female stalking her prey. He knows she's there, but it's too late.

The characters themselves are a mixed bag. On top of Livius' strong work ethic to the point of ignoring his own heatlh, he has a sad past. He lost his mother around the time he ascended to the throne, so his hard work is being used to distract from his heartbreak. This makes him a sympathetic character even with his bratty personality. As for Nike, she is naive in her dealings with the Sun Kingdom, starting from her arrival in a port city where she gets her luggage stolen to how she wishes Livius would delegate his kingly work. And for most of the first three episodes, Livius was much more likely to change his personality instead of Nike, like when he agrees to visit a castle garden with her because she likes flowers. I appreciate this sort of character development, but without Nike doing the same, I would have been annoyed. The reason is that Nike expecting Livius in order to win her love is just reinforcing the same idiotic wish fullfillment storylines that crop up in this genre far too often. Thankfully, she does acquiesce to his request that she call down rain for a party he is holding. It's a sign there could be some give and take in this relationship, and that would be good for both of them.

Still, Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii is right on the line for me. The comedy misses more often than it hits. There are some pretty bad animation moments. And the soundtrack feels a bit overdone at points, especially the song Nike sings to call down the rain. However, if it's on the line, it's a pass. I want to believe that a romance show can do something interesting, and of the ones I've seen in the past few years, this one seems the most likely one to pull that off.