Score: A

Pride is back and as great as ever! And this show’s title is as much a paragraph as ever! What a good return as well. There of course even more love interests ready to enter the picture and Leon looks set to create yet another small crisis for Pride to overcome. And it’s one that is going to create quite a bit of drama since her getting engaged to anyone is a major issue for those around her!

Truck-kun is a menace!

It really feels like a new season with the immediate time skip to Pride’s 16th birthday. She’s one step closer to the version of herself that was killed in the game. There of course is hardly any concerns for her safety since she’s got a rock solid group around her. But every day that passes is one closer to the end of the mental roadmap and visions of the future. Pride will eventually surpass the evil version and find a brighter future for herself. And it’s kind of interesting that she’s closing in on the age she was when dying on Earth. Once she hits 19 she’ll really be in completely new territory.

That whole setting truly lucked in thanks to truck-kun. The Earth version of herself really seems to have completely replaced Pride. It’s not like she just gained memories of a past life (despite how she describes it). If that was the case Pride would still be pretty monstrous. She might even be worse since she’d know the threat her sister poses. That kind of Pride would be a last boss who could simply not fail. The good news in this episode is that Pride is using her knowledge in a positive way and doesn’t seem as unnaturally terrified of Evil Pride. She’s just using what she knows to make the lives around her better.

I can see why this would piss them off

Of course the current episode left those around her in less than high spirits! Which I totally get. Arthur, Stale, and even Tiara look rather depressed in this episode. None of them are keen on having Pride engaged to Leon. I presume Tiara is also just upset for the sake of those guys since she’s rooting for them. Either way they just don’t like this at all. Stale did seem eventually won over, but he was clearly frustrated at the start. He’s trying to be a good “sibling” and fulfill his role, while also clearly loving Pride and wanting her for himself. It’s a tough spot for Stale really.

Arthur on the other hand started off more neutral and got increasingly angry as the episode went on. He couldn’t stand the fake smiles from both Leon and Pride. Both have their own thoughts and agendas, neither of them being open and smiling from the bottom of their hearts. It was confusing why Pride was doing it, but either way it just drove Arthur nuts. It’d hurt anyways for Pride to end up with someone besides himself. But I’m sure Arthur hates even more the idea of Pride marrying someone she doesn’t love just for the sake of doing her duty.

Val knows how to charm them

Val had a fantastic return in this episode honestly. He’s really come a long way from the mercenary he used to be. I wouldn’t have blamed Pride for going along with his invitation. The guy was being rather dashing really. And while he doesn’t know it, the idea of getting away would be tantalizing for Pride. If only to avoid her doing any harm by simply not being there at all. Beyond that though she is the type that I could see enjoying a life on the road. She’s a badass in a fight and would be freed from so many concerns. I think it’d be a fun twist to actually have her accept the offer. But she wants to do right by her kingdom and help those that would’ve been hurt by the Evil Pride. So it’s not going to happen.

Curious about her future

Tiara is in an interesting position in the story even now. In a sense all the growth and difficulties she faced as the protagonist in the game have been utterly removed. That’s good in a sense since she doesn’t have to watch her sister terrorize and ruin lives. But it also means she hasn’t been forced to grow up either. She just idolizes her sister and isn’t in any position to rise to the throne at least of this kingdom. Pride still sees the other guys as Tiara’s love interests. But that’s obviously not the case. Which also means that she doesn’t really have a love interest of her own yet. In a sense that might be a tough thing to manage since she’s very much in Pride’s hugely successful shadow. Be interesting to see what if anything is done with her this season.

Pride was a professional at creating trauma

Leon being this womanizer with a bad reputation is rather interesting. There’s potential there to make him someone who actually gets worse because Pride is a good person here. I don’t think they’ll do that, but it could’ve been interesting. They could have also actually had him be as bad as Pride and make them some evil power couple. But instead he was yet another love interest for Tiara and thus another of Pride’s victims. No shock that someone like Pride would even make her own fiance a prisoner and utterly terrified of her. In a sense her incredible levels of evil would keep him from messing around. All the more so with Pride threatening to make the girl be the only one to pay for his actions. Makes me wonder if he did mess around just once and found out the hard way what kind of girl Pride is!

All hail Pride!

This was a great return really. The cast are all a bit older and that makes the emotional drama even more intense. The guys are obsessing over Pride, while Pride is obsessing over saving Leon from any number of things going on with him. And all of that coming while Pride shows her incredible lack of self-awareness. She truly has no idea how loved she is and how crazy the guys around her are over her! She has such options for romance if she actually wanted to engage in that. But she’s just not able to see it.