English Dub Review: Tales of Wedding Rings “Episode 1”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Satou, an ordinary male student, was unable to confess his love to his childhood friend, Hime, but one day, she suddenly announces she’s moving far away. Satou chases after Hime and follows her through a gate of light into another world known as Arnulus!

Our Take:
Love can make you do plenty of crazy things. If one of them includes following someone to another world and becoming their protector, then it’s truly meant to be. All it takes is a powerful wedding ring to betroth the two lovers. We have ourselves another anime involving an ordinary protagonist becoming a hero in an isekai-like fantasy world. However, the only difference is that they didn’t die and reincarnate into another world. Instead, they traveled there via a portal left by their future lover.
The person brave enough to do that is Satou, who has been in love with his childhood friend Hime since she arrived in Japan from another world a decade ago. However, he’s nervous to do so because Hime has a wedding ring for her future husband, later revealed as Imperial Prince Marmarugius. That didn’t stop Satou from following Hime, or Princess Krystal, to the new world, Arnulus, and interrupting her wedding. This results in Satou becoming Hime’s new husband as she gives him the Ring of Light (and a kiss) to defeat the invading Abyss Demon. However, he also becomes the Hero of Light, destined to protect the Light Kingdom and Hime from the invading nefarious demons.
In short, this is another isekai anime involving an ordinary person becoming a hero of another world. It does seem derivative at first glance, but as usual, I always judge it by its execution and interest. While it does have the typical elements from other isekai shows (minus the reincarnation), the first episode has enough moments to kick off the anime wedding of 2024. That includes its decent first half showcasing Satou and Hime’s time in the human world instead of immediately placing them in Arnulus right from the start, as the other isekai anime did. I’m guessing this series won’t be a groundbreaking approach to the genre, and based on its opening and ending themes, I have a feeling I may be right. But if it continues to provide entertaining moments in its characters and world-building in later episodes, I should be fine seeing more of this wedding-esque “fairy tale”.