I decided to watch episode 1 of this on a whim the other day. Here is what I think of it.
The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King bears an ideology that is so nakedly reactionary that it feels like a sermon written by tradcaths. Beneath a bunch of typically generic fantasy slop of swords, monsters, and poorly written political intrigue lies a relentless message: being an independent woman is wrong, ambitious women will become unhappy, and a strong woman will ultimately fail and be conquered for her own good. That sounded like AI but I promise I'm just a shit writer.
The episode begins with the strong warrior princess in chains and captivity before a cliche flashback to how she got here.
Immediately losing a battle with her entire army vs "barbarians" (the neighbouring territory). Upon losing the leader determines she is hot and therefore he will take her as his wife.
She is treated nicely by this "barbarian" in captivity for the rest of the episode, but is ultimately set to become his wife. We're also treated to several flashbacks of her time at a dinner party at the kingdom where dozens of people both men and women alike told her she should just know her place as a woman and shouldn't risk her life fighting.
The episode is clearly a setup to her falling for the barbarian and learning "her place" over time. That essentially everyone around her was correct all along but they were mean about it.
1/10, strongest right wing ideology I've ever seen in an episode 1, the clear message being "girl boss bad" and "must learn her place at hands of a real man". Beats Shield Hero for me.
Hate this shit. I will not watch anything else to determine where it goes but I'm basically certain that she will slowly fall for this big manly barbarian and learn her place as a woman.
EDIT: Oh yeah this shit is on Crunchyroll too so millions of kids are probably being filled with this shit.
I havent read the manga or anything but as of ep 7 the vibes are very much an ol' switcheroo. At episode 1 you don't know any more about the "barbarians" than she does. Idk if you'll be happy, but it's not what you think.
If the barbarians turn out to be nice (kind of obvious from episode 1) it changes very little about the ideology which is still ultimately "girl boss who don't need a man just really needed to meet the RIGHT man to tame her".
Ultimately that's what it is, animal training, the woman is an animal to be tamed through a process of carrot and stick, mostly carrot because the stick in her homeland didn't work.
I think it's more complicated than that when the carrot is basically acknowledging her as an actual person rather than a political game piece at home but honestly I don't think it's worth debating over. Regardless, you probably won't like it. It has plenty of fan service too. Lol
That's exactly what right wing conservatism presents trad women as though. Finding their place as an actual happy wholesome woman in at home. That is the picture in their heads when they sell traditional women's gender roles in patriarchy. It's not even close to reality, but it is the fantasy they hold in their mind. They believe in this.
This is just the fantasy version of a girlboss being pulled out of her girlbossing, exposed to the wonders of the rural countryside and gradually shedding her girlbossing as she actualises herself in this idyllic rural village-like lifestyle. With dragons and monsters.
And so far, I don't think that's what this is selling.
spoiler
The warriors of the village line up to get their asses kicked by her. She is acknowledged as being the strongest amongst them. The romance is interwoven with her continuing to be a girl boss and fretting over how to help her people when all she knows of the barbarian lands is lies.watching the first few episodes though it isn't "finding her place in the home" it's "finding her place in a society that respects her strength and views her not just as a person but actually really super cool because of it"
like all the warriors she thinks want to kill her for revenge are actually just "No we're good, we think you're really cool actually. could we fight some time in a platonic sort of way??"
like yeah i guess her being a guest of this prince/noble/whatever (only watched a couple episodes) affects how people treat her but also not really