The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt (2022)

[天才王子の赤字国家再生術]

Director: Makoto Tamagawa
Studio: Yokohama Animation Laboratory
Starring: Soma Saito, Rie Takahashi, Sayaka Senbongi
Episodes: 12

Synopsis:
The Prince Regent of an impoverished backwater kingdom looks to raise the value of his domain so that he can pawn it off and retire in comfort, only to discover he has an uncanny talent for failing upward.

Impressions:
When I saw the PV for this series with the main character throwing one of his little tantrums, I thought, "This is going to be annoying. I think I'll pass." Then I saw said main character's right-hand woman. "Who's this snarky, white-haired, red-eyed waifu voiced by Rie Takahashi? Well, maybe, maybe I can give the show a chance." There's some similarity than the premise of this series and How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom, whose second season was airing at the same time. Unlike that series, the focus on logistics isn't as strong and I'm reminded a bit of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor with the way the main character manages to keep on raising his stock when he supposedly only wants to sham. Wein's habit of throwing tantrums in private is as annoying as I anticipated, but fortunately the rest of the time he's fairly enjoyable to watch, both when he's scheming and when things get serious. Ninym, the aforementioned waifu, does well as Wein's confidant and one of the few people who can properly stand toe-to-toe with him. The politics of the world are fairly interesting and while I get that jobber opponents serve to make the main character look better, it's a shame we have to wait so long for a proper rival to present itself. If you're looking for a lot of depth, you're going to come up short, but if a decent watch is all you're after, this will do the job just fine.

Rating:
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