Krystallina: The threat of seeing people right in front of her eyes die awakens the Edvard in our fake prince, but the manga still has narrative issues.
Freya has followed one of her guards, Mikal, as he’s been kidnapped, but they’re both in danger. Of course, that puts the others in a panic as they try to track them down ASAP. But even after Julius, Alek, and Yngvi manage to find Freya, they’re not out of the woods yet.
Freya has tapped into Edvard’s personality a couple of times, and she does so again here. But for most of the kidnapping arc, her own personality comes out strong in not wanting anyone to die. While this causes Mikal to appreciate the new side of his liege, it greatly upsets Julius. Can’t really blame him; protecting everyone sounds naïve in a time of war. Still, Freya recognizes that Julius is probably carrying his own burdens and sorrow. Maybe not about Aaron though, although we’ll have to see if Julius truly hated him or if their relationship was more complicated than that.
As the group tries to rest and figure out the enemy’s next course of action, they stay with the pro-Sigurd minister Lars. A maid ends up accused of a crime, and Freya decides to challenge the lord to prove the maid’s innocence…in a duel.
Now, I like Prince Freya so far overall, but there are an awful lot of moments that made me turn my head to the side and go, “Huh…?” Like, I could understand Freya wanting to investigate or putting her strongest knight (Julius) against someone of Lars’ choosing. But nope — Freya explains that she thought a little bit of aggression suited a prince, and she can buy time for her guard to figure out what’s going on. Yes, she has some athletic ability thanks to her superjumps, but considering she didn’t even pick a good sword for herself right before that, it seems odd to go right to challenging a former warrior.
A couple more examples include when a maid accidentally thinks a girl is using the deluxe bathing area. Freya is outside the bath, exposed as she gasps, so the maid had plenty of time to see her nude. Yet she apologizes for her mistake in thinking Freya is female? It would be one thing if Freya had spent the whole scene underwater, but she’s clearly on the tile area and even tries hiding her chest from Alek/Julius when they barge in. Also, Freya “sees” Edvard, but was it a hallucination? His ghost? Who knows.
But the war continues to threaten Tyr, and the ending though may have truly set ablaze a fire inside Freya. I doubt things will remain as dire as they seem, but I hope to see more of the overall world than worrying about one (albeit kind) maid. The Jeanne d’Arc vibes are getting stronger, and Ishihara does a good job of showing the danger Freya will have to overcome. I also liked the scene between Alek and Julius. After saying he hates his brother, I thought Alek would seethe with anger. Instead, Alek begs Julius for a chance to be stronger than Aaron.
If Ishihara could only do a better job with some of the scene/story transitions and character introductions, I would wholeheartedly recommend this volume.
Krystallina’s rating: 3 out of 5
Helen: Freya only knew Prince Edvard for his final, dying breaths so it’s no wonder that she’s not great at impersonating him and carrying on his legacy yet. However, it does feel strange that Freya consistently acts (accidentally) contrary to Edvard’s previous actions and that his close, personal retainers are surprisingly non-plussed about this unwarranted personality shift.
I really wish Keiko Ishihara was handling this (rather important) detail differently, either by putting in scenes of Freya being drilled in Edvard’s thoughts and mannerisms by the two retainers who are aware of the switch or, going in the other direction, by writing scenes showing a growing unease in the ranks of Edvard’s men about the sudden change in their commander and figurehead. Freya is already facing a thorny, external political situation and adding in this more internal conflict would be an interesting, additional twist that would also really bring out Freya’s own, natural personality and thinking beyond “is nice, climbs really well.” Right now it seems like Ishihara likes the idea of “this could turn out to be bad for Freya” but doesn’t want to go through with it yet and that’s really preventing all of the characters to develop more deeply.
There are some other details in the story so far that also feel like they aren’t being fully considered and developed, like the series’ melodramatic approach to character deaths and events that feel like they’re being artificially constrained to fit within a single volume. Ishihara mentions in an author’s note at the end of the volume that the turnaround between ending her previous series and starting this new one was very short, so she essentially didn’t take a break at all. I think that shows in some ways. I’m certainly curious, perhaps concerned, about what this means about the behind-the-scenes at Lala DX, the magazine Prince Freya is serialized in, since it doesn’t seem like the staff Ishihara works with are fully invested in her (and by extension, the series she is creating for them with the hope of making Hakusensha oodles of money) with that kind of work situation.
Prince Freya isn’t a bad work, but so far it’s also not nearly as exciting a work that it has the potential to be. If the cracks in the storytelling are already showing this early on in the story then I’m a bit concerned how it’ll continue to hold up going forward.
Helen’s rating: 2.5 out of 5