English Dub Review: Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts: “The Archpriest and the Truth About the King; A Queen and the Future of the Kingdom”

A decent finale for the Sariphi and Leo with quality narrative elements that shine through the more simplistic ones. 

Overview: Sariphi (Emi Lo) and the gang come to Leonhart’s (Ray Hurd) rescue with them making their final stand against Set. (Sean Letourneau)

Our Take: The nature of Leo’s birth is unveiled by a conveniently imprisoned exposition seal. Leon’s bloodline is smartly explained in the resemblance and bloodline to the king without directly being his son. His confrontation and crucifixion is melodramatic, as per usual for the show. Unfortunately, the same also goes for Sariphi’s spiel towards Set when she saves him. 

However, Sariphi’s confession of how Leo’s bloodline affects her feelings is very much the opposite though. It’s impactful in how much both sides of him are crucial to how she sees him. Not to mention, her honesty is pivotal in convincing Anubis of her true intent. 

Friends that Sariphi has made throughout her trials also make for nice cameos contributing to a sweet, albeit unsurprising climax. Set’s emotional instability is handled incredibly well with it meaningfully tackling his pain and insecurity with his bloodline, mirroring Leon and Sariphi. 

Unfortunately, the interspecies conflict is resolved in the most trivial manner, though. There’s no complexity in how the citizens of Ozmargo handle equality and it is accepted rather easily. Nonetheless, there is a comfort in Sariphi and Leo reverence as royal leaders and a couple. That’s cemented with palace’s personnel being so accepting of both Richard’s human and beast form. 

There is a lot that is crammed into Sacrificial Princess’ final two episodes. For that very reason, the balancing of those story elements is rocky with all of them not being thoroughly developed. However, there are enough emotional moments to maintain a steady course and end.