🍂🎐 Princess Siana (FL)

• got a clueless doe-eyes look, unbothered
• cruel. Morally grey
• mother died when young. Father re-married
• was abused by stepmother
• loves being a maid

🐇🩸⚔️ Crown Prince Rashid Lebijouan De Arden

• has a soft spot for cute, doe-eyes creatures
• has many small pets
• infamous on battlefield and for looks
• has been looking for mystery girl from childhood

🥀 (7th) Princess Alice

• brash, loves getting a reaction out of people
• mother was dancer. Father was emperor
• considered vicious. Avoided by all maids
• lives in decrepit palace

Prince Reysis

• non-verbal, autistic
• artistic
• son of empress consort Angelina
• never been seen by public
• raised in seclusion with mother’s family
• power-hungry father had abused him, thinking there was something wrong with him
• FL is tasked with teaching him

———

ASPECTS / TROPES 6a5l6e

• FL is princess of fallen country
• Nice art
• FL bullied by other maids
• Behind the scenes fight for the throne
• Internal palace drama
• Romance is not the main theme
• Emperor with multiple wives and children
• FL becomes nanny to Princess Alice
• Gets kind of dark as FL ‘helps’ Alice gain political power for revenge. Taking advantage of a grandmother’s grief, getting Alice to stand in for her dead daughter, satisfied when the grandmother whips the child that had bullied Alice

———

The Representation 1m1s67

While it is unprecedented that a manga include representation of an autistic character, personally, as an autistic person myself, I don’t agree that it was a good one.

**Things they did well: **

• autism is not some disease to be cured.

Things they did not do well:

• the autistic character isn’t treated like an actual living person but is used as a prop while the mother is trying to learn how to accept her son. They don’t focus on his feelings, what he thinks of the whole situation or anything. It’s just about the FL ‘teaching’ the mother (assuming she knows the cause and solution) instead of asking and communicating with the child themselves (non-verbal doesn’t mean they can’t communicate)

• they still treat being autistic as a condition that had to be ‘helped’ in some way. The ML even looks down on the autistic child, saying he couldn’t make eye , hold a conversation and screams. And all the FL does is say that his ‘condition’ is ‘improving’ like the whole aim of the practice isn’t to make him happy but to get him to act more like a neurotypical.

• they took a very cliche approach to representing autism: a young boy who likes stacking things in order, no eye , destructive meltdowns, etc. Not saying no autistic person has these traits, it’s just that it isn’t a very eye-opening, new lense view of autism. And they don’t take the time to even mention sensory overload, proprioception, hyper focus, executive differences, whether he is ok with touch (especially sudden touch).

• When he has a meltdown (autistic term), the FL just tells the mother to hug him really hard from behind. But they never asked whether he was ok touch or the type of touch he is ok with, or what actually helps him after a meltdown. For all they know, he could actually find touch overwhelming sensory-wise and finds it even worse when he’s overwhelmed.

———

CONTENT WARNINGS 4n1h5h

Domestic abuse (corporal punishment, verbal abuse, emotional absence), blood, murder (on-screen), workplace bullying (including body shaming), ableism,

This manga does an amazing job at portraying autism. It specifically states that autism is not a disease, that it cannot be cured, but that it can be managed. It realistically showed the best ways to help a child with autism. It also showed the amazing talents that they may have hidden within them. As I have a daughter with autism, I am well aware of the way that autism presents itself. This author deserves an award for their amazing work.

(date of writing: completed season 1, 32/32)
To begin with, so far it's not even a romance so it doesn't matter if the ml is a simp or not. Their dynamic is just the MC thinking he's very weird and eccentric and ml thinking she's cute, but in the way you find a bunny cute. It's pretty far from the focus at all right now.
Anyway.
Tone: Slice of life-ish Palace drama. Story telling is not too heavy but also has a fair share of intrigue to not be pure slice of life.
Setting: Nothing riveting but nice enough, no major plot hole I can think of.
Main Character: May be the reason why I gave such a high rating. The first season is too short to see how consistently she is written, but it's refreshing. She's sweet, kind and comionate, but she is also honestly ruthless and realistic. She knows how far to take her kindness without being naive or oblivious and clearly advise on the vicious nature of Palace life and how to survive it. A nice balance in-between a kind heart protagonist and a calculating one so far.
Art: A few scenes have a weird pacing, but very pretty otherwise
Misc: ... 5/10 on the way to treat autism. Author seemed to have good intentions but it's handled a bit cringe and clumsily.
In short: first season is nice enough for a bit of light reading.

The characters and art are cute. The story is pretty simple though.