The Royal Tutor episode 1 is a fairly funny anime where its “pretty boy” art style and reliance on chibi humor promises a certain kind of harmless charm that should be appealing to an audience looking for light-hearted fare that’s easy on the eyes.
While some misinformed internet commenters have complained about the “BL artstyle,” it appears that this anime’s charm point will be in how Heine as a teacher manages to reach all four of his reluctant students, not in incestuous or pedotastic tangling between Heine and the princes. If the animators threw in some long hair and fluttery lashes to help prop up interest in their show, all the better. How many T&A fanservice shots and idiotic harem animes do I have to sit through per season again?
Anyway, The Royal Tutor episode 1 begins by explaining the title of “The Royal Tutor”: the best educator in the kingdom, chosen to bring the light of education to its royal family. Our protagonist, Heine Wittgenstein, receives a letter from the King of Granzreich asking that he take on this role for his four youngest sons, all of whom are still lacking in the proper graces of a royal.
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Heine is an ambitious sort, which is repeatedly and heavily juxtaposed with his petite stature and childlike appearance. The gags about his height and appearance are tired almost as soon as they start, but Heine establishes himself as a professional educator determined to acquit himself well, which wins him my sympathies.
When he finally meets the four young princes, a window blasts open with great intensity and drama, feathers twinkling down in a gentle wind as the royals pose. Even Heine is stunned by their beauty and regal bearing, which is immediately ruined the second one of them opens his mouth.
Mentally, Heine assigns them nicknames: “The Everest-Proud Prince,” “The Playboy Prince,” “The Browbeating Braniac Prince” and “The Glaring Prince.” Heine will have to overcome these difficult personality traits in order to accomplish the mission many Royal Tutors before him have been unable to do: educate these beautiful, yet graceless boys.
He announces that he will be interviewing all four of them and refuses to be intimidated by their terrible attitudes. At a dramatic angle (everything is dramatically lit and angled to much more humorous effect than all the chibi gags), he states that it is not his job to win them over but to teach them. Heine starts with Leonhard, “The Everest-Proud Prince,” and the scene moves to Leonhard’s quarters.
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The interview is not only to learn more about the princes’ temperament, but to do a basic competency test. Heine learns that Leonhard is very childish, loathes teachers and thinks they can’t be trusted, and hates studying so much that even the word “study” has him poised to make a run for it. When Heine reveals a pop quiz, Leonhard is in such a hurry to escape that he knocks his super-secret diary off the table.
Heine immediately picks up the diary, which is filled with Leonhard’s unexpectedly sensitive daily regrets, and proceeds to read from it every time Leonhard threatens to jump out the window until the prince sits down and takes his test. While this is super wrong of Heine to do if you think about it like a normal human being, I can’t help but cackle at the technique’s effectiveness. Once the test is done, Heine leaves without further ado, and Leonhard reflects that he’s surprised Heine didn’t laugh at his diary. Heine sends Leonhard a slice of the prince’s favorite cake with a note of thanks for his good work.
Next up is Bruno, “The Browbeating Braniac Prince,” who has no respect for Heine because Heine didn’t study at a university. How ever will Heine win this snobbish little chit over?
I quite liked The Royal Tutor. While all the chibi gags about how small Heine is did nothing for me, I’m a sucker for the ridiculous posing and prettiness that’s immediately punctured by the reality of how terrible each of the princes are in their own way. Heine is not the most sympathetic of characters, but his seriousness of purpose and dedication to his job make me root for him, and it seems like the kind of show where Heine will succeed in reforming these young princes into creatures worthy of their titles. The transformation promises to be entertaining to watch.
New episodes of The Royal Tutor air on Crunchyroll every Tuesday here. Will you be watching? Feel free to let us know in the comments section below.
