Note: This episode review was originally part of a blog post I wrote on MyAnimeList.
I went into The Royal Tutor with neutral expectations. The hook was certainly interesting; I can’t think of an anime about a tutor teaching spoiled princes besides this one. However, character designs looked kind of generic and I had reservations about Heine (Keisuke Ueda), the tutor himself, looking like a little boy.
What I thought would be weaknesses end up being part of why I liked the show’s premiere. Sure, the joke that Heine looks super young begins and ends there but it clashes amusingly with newcomer Keisuke Ueda’s deliberately deadpan delivery. Furthermore, I like how the tutor looks young but is smart while the princes look older but are as naive, spoiled, and/or stuck up as you’d expect.
Speaking of the princes, I think the homogeneity of their designs works rather well. They’re all pretty boys but the gradual revelation of their individual distaste for tutors and fears was interesting. We’re mostly just treated with the introduction of Prince Leonhard (Daisuke Hirose) this episode but treating each prince case by case seems like the smart way to do things, at least for the first half of the show.
The Royal Tutor is notably on the cheap side with all the principal characters being voiced by newcomers and the animation looking serviceable at best. But like I said with Alice & Zoroku, if the story can compensate, then I think this anime could be something to look forward to.
Watch The Royal Tutor on Crunchyroll & Funimation
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