Ah, Amit. Seeing you on the cover of Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts volume 6 brings me great joy…and many questions. Why do you look scared when Sariphi looks so happy? Or are you angry? Why doesn’t the cover fully capture your cute, maidenly self?
Sigh…
So the cover disappointed me a bit. But the inside did not disappoint me at all.
Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts volume 6 brings a big development in the story: Sariphi has been promoted to Acting Queen Consort. In other words, she’s the unofficial queen, and if she can perform her duties well until a certain day, she’ll be the official queen. The downside is that if she fails, she’ll be exiled from the kingdom forever. At first, she’s not sure if she wants to accept this task. A pep talk from her Holy Beast Bennu gives her the drive to risk it all to fulfill her and Leonhart’s wish to be together and formally recognized as rulers.
Her first mission sends her to a country under the protection of Ozmargo full of cat-like creatures. She’s to bless the newborn prince, but the queen is very overprotective of her son. Meanwhile, the king is scared since Ozmargo is so much more powerful than his nation. Although Leonhart, Sariphi, and Anubis all sense the queen’s displeasure, there’s only so much they can do without causing an incident, and this is still technically Sariphi’s challenge, even though Leonhart views these new trials as challenges for the both of them. Before the group sets off, Amit has her own story about finding away to support Sariphi and also about her feelings for Jorgamund.
So, yeah, this is an important volume — but it’s also a good one. Sariphi has finally acquired the confidence (or as she states, the selfishness) to be Leonhart’s official wife. She can’t keep viewing herself as a sacrifice who will accept whatever happens anymore. It feels like she got her spark back, the girl from the first volume who wasn’t going to be called a puny meal. With this new acknowledgement of Sariphi and Leonhart’s relationship, their level of intimacy may also be changing…
And if your mind is in the gutter…don’t worry, Amit thought the same thing. And yes, she’s still an amazing character, and I hope she finds happiness.
The journey to this protectorate is short, but this again gives Tomofuji a chance to draw more beastfolk. Sarbul is full of cat-like people, but there’s a range of feline inspirations in the designs. The story is a bit predictable regarding Sariphi trying to do the blessing successfully, but darn it, it’s moving. These chapters also finally give the manga a chance for someone besides Anubis to be antagonistic toward Sariphi, and it’s about time. While the main plot of the story is likely going to be the same, I’d rather see her prove herself to other kingdoms/provinces than Anubis again and again. And Sariphi may be the one who earns their respect, but Leonhart also gets to give a good verbal smack-down to this country’s king. I’m not exactly sure that Sariphi’s speech at the end is what you’d want to actually say in that sort of situation in the real world, but hey, it’s manga and it worked.
If you haven’t been following Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts for a while (or ever), volume 6 makes a good entry point. It’s the official start to the goal Sariphi has sort of been working toward, and the various relationships (romantic or otherwise) are explored as the couple tries to change Ozmargo’s customs. I don’t know how many meetings or duties Sariphi is going to have to do, but may they all be this enjoyable.