My Dear Prince is a cute yuri romance VN through and through. Sweet and cliched, it will rarely surprise you with anything major and features rather typical anime comedic tropes – exaggerated, quirky characters fumbling their way to a happy ending, with the conclusion being pretty much obvious from the first act. There’s a lot of solid writing in it and wholesome moments, but this kind of story is not necessarily where ebi-hime’s craftsmanship shines the most – the comedy she writes relies very much on caricature and central characters behaving in outlandish ways (if someone remembers the parent characters from Strawberry Vinegar, they’ll know what I mean). It’s not bad, but not necessarily subtle and the opening chapters relentlessly bombard the reader with such content, which for some is likely to feel a bit overbearing.

Personally, I liked My Dear Prince the most when it took a step back and focused on the feelings and serious struggles of the protagonist, Momoka, or moved to build up romantic tension. This made the second half of the game, where the focus shifted heavily from gags to a proper love story, a lot more enjoyable – and honestly, a lot more compelling, as the scenes of Momoka being picked on by everyone around her for her clumsiness started being more uncomfortable than cute, and I was relieved when the story moved past them. I'm even tempted to say that the main "antagonist" characters, the spoiled rich girl Saya (who positions herself as a rival for Aoi's affection) and Momoka's younger sister Mikan (who teases her relentlessly throughout the game), could've had a much smaller presence within the story without much of value being lost – they both have their "redemption arcs", but none of it is really earned or very convincing. However, the interactions between Momoka and Aoi (the tomboy love interest, who just oozes charisma and kind of overshadows everyone else), or even between the secondary couple whose story inspires Momoka to pursue her feelings... I could easily take more of that. Especially because by the end the writing became really good and touching, despite all the romance cliches involved.

The art and soundtrack I won't write much about, as they're just... OK. There are some lazy visual elements, like the pattern on Momoka's dress being a flat fill-in, but for the most part everything is nice to look at and pleasantly stylized. Music is nice and cheery, but not particularly memorable. As a subjective nitpick, the theme of bunnies was kind of... Half-present? It was a part of the overall aesthetic, but I honestly would like a game like this to go overboard with it, with rabbit-centered CGs and them being ever-present in the outdoors scenes. But there's a chance I just like rabbits too much and normal people would find that kind of oversaturation obnoxious. :p

In the end, I feel the sole negative Steam review of this VN isn't completely wrong. The setup and the cliched comedy will make it hard for some people to get into the story while its best moments, those of Momoka and Aoi seriously bonding and influencing each other's worldviews, are all pushed to the latter half of the experience. That's where ebi's skills as a writer really come into play and make the experience ultimately worthwhile and meaningful. Whether it is worth pushing through those weaker, early chapters, especially if the game's selection of silly anime tropes is not your thing... That's a question probably only you can answer. For me, it was very much worth it.

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[i]My Dear Prince[/i] is a cute yuri romance VN through and through. Sweet and cliched, it will rarely surprise you with anything major and features rather typical anime comedic tropes – exaggerated, quirky characters fumbling their way to a happy ending, with the conclusion being pretty much obvious from the first act. There’s a lot of solid writing in it and wholesome moments, but this kind of story is not necessarily where ebi-hime’s craftsmanship shines the most – the comedy she writes relies very much on caricature and central characters behaving in outlandish ways (if someone remembers the parent characters from [i]Strawberry Vinegar[/i], they’ll know what I mean). It’s not bad, but not necessarily subtle and the opening chapters relentlessly bombard the reader with such content, which for some is likely to feel a bit overbearing. Personally, I liked [i]My Dear Prince[/i] the most when it took a step back and focused on the feelings and serious struggles of the protagonist, Momoka, or moved to build up romantic tension. This made the second half of the game, where the focus shifted heavily from gags to a proper love story, a lot more enjoyable – and honestly, a lot more compelling, as the scenes of Momoka being picked on by everyone around her for her clumsiness started being more uncomfortable than cute, and I was relieved when the story moved past them. I'm even tempted to say that the main "antagonist" characters, the spoiled rich girl Saya (who positions herself as a rival for Aoi's affection) and Momoka's younger sister Mikan (who teases her relentlessly throughout the game), could've had a much smaller presence within the story without much of value being lost – they both have their "redemption arcs", but none of it is really earned or very convincing. However, the interactions between Momoka and Aoi (the tomboy love interest, who just oozes charisma and kind of overshadows everyone else), or even between the secondary couple whose story inspires Momoka to pursue her feelings... I could easily take more of that. Especially because by the end the writing became really good and touching, despite all the romance cliches involved. The art and soundtrack I won't write much about, as they're just... OK. There are some lazy visual elements, like the pattern on Momoka's dress being a flat fill-in, but for the most part everything is nice to look at and pleasantly stylized. Music is nice and cheery, but not particularly memorable. As a subjective nitpick, the theme of bunnies was kind of... Half-present? It was a part of the overall aesthetic, but I honestly would like a game like this to go overboard with it, with rabbit-centered CGs and them being ever-present in the outdoors scenes. But there's a chance I just like rabbits too much and normal people would find that kind of oversaturation obnoxious. :p In the end, I feel the sole negative Steam review of this VN isn't completely wrong. The setup and the cliched comedy will make it hard for some people to get into the story while its best moments, those of Momoka and Aoi seriously bonding and influencing each other's worldviews, are all pushed to the latter half of the experience. That's where ebi's skills as a writer really come into play and make the experience ultimately worthwhile and meaningful. Whether it is worth pushing through those weaker, early chapters, especially if the game's selection of silly anime tropes is not your thing... That's a question probably only you can answer. For me, it was very much worth it. ---------------- PS If you're interested in quality visual novels, check out [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32980295/]my curator page[/url]