There are very few stories that can grab my attention right from the get go. Sword Princess Amaltea is an adventure story where the genders are flipped. The kingdoms are ruled by matriarchy and instead of the sons taking over and ruling the kingdom it is the princesses who inherit them.
Except in the case of the second born…
Princess Amaltea is the second born to Queen Galatea. Her sister Dorotea is the heiress to the kingdom and has always been faster and stronger than Amaltea.
The story starts with Amaltea having to fulfill her duty and go on a quest to save a prince and inherit his kingdom. Needless to say she pushes against the idea of conformity and only at her mothers insistence she begins her journey.
The adventure that she goes on is fast paced and it never gets boring. Watching Amaltea and Ossian Develop a kinship is one of the best parts of the story. You end up invested in the characters for who they are instead of watching to see how a romance develops which is very refreshing. There are not enough stories out there that truly focus on character development before jumping head first into romantic endeavors.
The artwork for the manga is beautiful. The shading and the imagery are great, never do the characters look wonky or off in any way, shape, or form. The character designs are gorgeous. And kind of neat because its almost like the author took from anime. I can picture her fighting for an Anthy type character only if Anthy was a boy in Revolutionary Girl Utena. I can also picture this as an alternate to Yona of the Dawn, except in this story Almaltea starts out strong and comes to terms with her own power whereas in Yona of the Dawn she is very much a weakling princess until she is cast out and learns to fight.
The only think I disliked was that it is only three volumes. I could read this honestly for a long run should the author ever decide to go back to it. Like I said before not many stories can draw me in so quickly and I wasn’t able to set these down until I finished, not knowing at the time that the third would be the last. I hope we get to see Amaltea and Ossian Set out on other journeys and I intend to follow Natalia Batista closely to see what else she creates.
You can pick up the manga here
5 out of 5
You will enjoy this story if you like Revolutionary Girl Utena, Sailor Moon, Snow White with the Red Hair, or Yona of the Dawn
