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Al's Anime Reviews - Always a Catch!
2 days ago
General
Maria "Mimi" Annovazzi grew up believing she would one day inherit her father's dukedom. Accordingly, she focused her attentions on honing her martial arts prowess, while thoughts of marriage fell by the wayside. But the arrival of a baby brother in her family means she's losing her role as heir. Now that she's decided it's time to marry after all, she's arrived a little late to the game. Upon going to study abroad in a neighbouring country, she's bewildered when the crown prince there declares that his engagement to her has been called off, an engagement she didn't even know existed. Apparently he's mistaken her for the wrong girl. But once that's all cleared up and he catches sight of her knocking out a whole pack of bandits, it turns out that this prince may have a thing for ass-kicking young ladies after all.
The premiere of Always a Catch! is one of those excellent first impressions that remind us how execution can be more important than originality. On the surface, this is another of those cliche romances about a Cinderella-type heroine who's cruelly abandoned by a sneering royal fiance before the whole of high society. The colours, designs and overall presentation of the show in these opening minutes also smack of the same old routine of being perfectly pretty to look at with little else going on beneath the surface. It isn't long before Always a Catch! starts to win us over though, and through the simplest of strategies: It's just a really good and entertaining show.
Our protagonist, Maria (or Mimi, as she also goes by), is very easy to root for once we spend more time learning about everything that brought her to that most overdone of fateful moments with Prince Renato. Already a tomboy by nature and the oldest in a line of heiresses, Maria has spent most of her life training to inherit her father's duties as the next Dutchess Annovazzi, which means she's more comfortable studying martial arts than the arts of fine dining and high courtship. She's a spunky and eminently likeable leading lady who you can't help but feel bad for when the arrival of a baby brother forces her out of her inheritance and into an entirely unexpected quest to get married and preserve the traditional norms she worked to break. The writing is breezy and engaging, and the animators do a great job of making Maria's movements just bouncy and stretchy enough to add even more life to the character.
I even ended up enjoying the way the episode worked up to getting Maria to that big moment of rejection, since the full context of the scene is much more complex and interesting than a plain old inciting incident for trifling melodrama. Prince Renato is less of a scenery-chewing cad and more of a well-meaning idiot who's too intent on calling out what he perceives as unjust behaviour to notice that the woman he's berating in front of so many people isn't Aida Amethis. For her part, Maria's less concerned about whatever embarrassment she ought to feel than she is about how to best tell off the idiot who's screaming at her for no reason. I get the sense that her comment about Renato needing glasses wasn't just a one-off joke, and the poor boy really does come across as a crank because he's nearsighted. That or maybe he legitimately has a disorder that makes it difficult for him to remember people's faces.
Honestly, my favourite bit of comedy in the show comes from Maria's signature hair ornament, which symbolizes who she is as a character. It's a highly decorated pair of brass knuckles, which speaks to her being of high nobility and also ready for a fight. However, it also serves double duty as a locket that contains a painting of her family inside, showing what's most important to her.
I do have one major complaint with Always a Catch!: Maria does NOT have the figure of a woman who's been training in martial arts her whole life. She doesn't have to look like Noi from Dorohedoro or something, but even if she has a naturally petite frame, she should have at least SOME muscle definition--give us a princess with some biceps to flex, cowards!
This episode is clearly setting things up for what's to come; Prince Renato's genre-defining declaration doesn't come until the final minutes, after all. With this in mind, it's unclear whether or not it'll really set itself apart, especially when another series with such a similar premise already aired just two seasons ago. I do know, however, that I wouldn't mind spending more time with these characters. It's never been easier to feel cynical about the anime industry's penchant for blatantly recycled tropes and lazy pandering, but that also means it's never been a better time for a premiere to surprise you with its depth and charm. I'm looking forward to seeing even more of Maria's adventures in the coming weeks, and I have high hopes for this show.
The premiere of Always a Catch! is one of those excellent first impressions that remind us how execution can be more important than originality. On the surface, this is another of those cliche romances about a Cinderella-type heroine who's cruelly abandoned by a sneering royal fiance before the whole of high society. The colours, designs and overall presentation of the show in these opening minutes also smack of the same old routine of being perfectly pretty to look at with little else going on beneath the surface. It isn't long before Always a Catch! starts to win us over though, and through the simplest of strategies: It's just a really good and entertaining show.
Our protagonist, Maria (or Mimi, as she also goes by), is very easy to root for once we spend more time learning about everything that brought her to that most overdone of fateful moments with Prince Renato. Already a tomboy by nature and the oldest in a line of heiresses, Maria has spent most of her life training to inherit her father's duties as the next Dutchess Annovazzi, which means she's more comfortable studying martial arts than the arts of fine dining and high courtship. She's a spunky and eminently likeable leading lady who you can't help but feel bad for when the arrival of a baby brother forces her out of her inheritance and into an entirely unexpected quest to get married and preserve the traditional norms she worked to break. The writing is breezy and engaging, and the animators do a great job of making Maria's movements just bouncy and stretchy enough to add even more life to the character.
I even ended up enjoying the way the episode worked up to getting Maria to that big moment of rejection, since the full context of the scene is much more complex and interesting than a plain old inciting incident for trifling melodrama. Prince Renato is less of a scenery-chewing cad and more of a well-meaning idiot who's too intent on calling out what he perceives as unjust behaviour to notice that the woman he's berating in front of so many people isn't Aida Amethis. For her part, Maria's less concerned about whatever embarrassment she ought to feel than she is about how to best tell off the idiot who's screaming at her for no reason. I get the sense that her comment about Renato needing glasses wasn't just a one-off joke, and the poor boy really does come across as a crank because he's nearsighted. That or maybe he legitimately has a disorder that makes it difficult for him to remember people's faces.
Honestly, my favourite bit of comedy in the show comes from Maria's signature hair ornament, which symbolizes who she is as a character. It's a highly decorated pair of brass knuckles, which speaks to her being of high nobility and also ready for a fight. However, it also serves double duty as a locket that contains a painting of her family inside, showing what's most important to her.
I do have one major complaint with Always a Catch!: Maria does NOT have the figure of a woman who's been training in martial arts her whole life. She doesn't have to look like Noi from Dorohedoro or something, but even if she has a naturally petite frame, she should have at least SOME muscle definition--give us a princess with some biceps to flex, cowards!
This episode is clearly setting things up for what's to come; Prince Renato's genre-defining declaration doesn't come until the final minutes, after all. With this in mind, it's unclear whether or not it'll really set itself apart, especially when another series with such a similar premise already aired just two seasons ago. I do know, however, that I wouldn't mind spending more time with these characters. It's never been easier to feel cynical about the anime industry's penchant for blatantly recycled tropes and lazy pandering, but that also means it's never been a better time for a premiere to surprise you with its depth and charm. I'm looking forward to seeing even more of Maria's adventures in the coming weeks, and I have high hopes for this show.
If it turns out Renato is nearsighted, that would be funny
