Time for a catnap.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Kagiji Kumanomata
Translation: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
Adaptation: Annette Roman
What They Say
Winter has come, and Princess Syalis will do anything to stay warm, including creating a DIY magical device (known as a “Ko-tatsu”), knitting woolen underwear and trying to convince the castle blacksmith to make her a window to keep out the drafts. When she accidentally dies yet again—along with Stamper Cat—curious resurrection complications ensue. Then it’s Christmas and New Year’s! Who will the Demon King designate as naughty or nice? And will all of the other demons let poor Syalis join in any demon games…? And now the Demon King has insomnia!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Winter is coming… oh wait, it’s already arrived in this volume of Sleepy Princess.
Continuing on the quest for the perfect night of sleep, the princess heads into winter with a new quest to stay warm. When that problem is finally taken care of the holidays are upon the demon castle and gifts are the new problem to tackle.
The standout chapter of this volume is certainly the one where Sya Lis, or Alis as her parents apparently call her, is accidentally brought back to life as a cat. It’s almost too perfect and existence for the pampered princess, as she basically is a cat in human form.
This isn’t Alis’s only comeuppance for being a complete nuisance to her captors in this volume. She also puts on a great deal of holiday weight much to her horror, and Santa is quick to deny her a gift during Christmas. (Christmas exists in this universe? Ok…) Plus she can’t even manage to execute her plan to win the ultimate prize of a sleeping pod. As likable as the troublemaker is, it’s nice to watch the spoiled princess lose a few times.
Overall, the demons appear to come out ahead in this volume. (Except for maybe the Demon Cleric, who takes the brunt of the punishment in dealing with Alis.) The demon prince even manages to have Alis cure him of his insomnia and the magical item search team have a nice trip out to the frozen wastes thanks to Alis’s company. Sure, Alis is still causing havoc but it’s starting to feel like the rest are getting a firm grasp on how to deal with her better.
I do have to wonder what the end game of this series will be though. At some point, Alis will have prepared for all occasions and seasons. Maybe she won’t want to go home at the end of all this? It’s hard to say. Even when thinking back on her family in this volume she didn’t seem particularly homesick. I wonder if her mother is worried about her.
My one main complaint about the production of this series is that the back of the book blurb blocks a large portion of the illustration. The manga includes a guide to point out who’s who on the front and back cover and often the text is covering up portions of the illustration!
In Summary
This volume of Sleepy Princess progresses in exactly the same way as the first two volumes, so if the bite-sized sitcom style of story isn’t your cup of sleepy-time tea than this volume won’t change your opinion. However, it’s still building on the mythos of the weird world that the author has created for the RPG analog fantasy. Alis still continues to torment and sometimes her captors and get into trouble, and yet cooperation of a sort is slowly growing. A weird, uneasy truce in building in the cold winter this volume is set in. A few standout chapters show that maybe someday in the future maybe the demons and humans could reach a better understanding… but then again maybe Alis will just get them all killed.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: A –
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: Teen
Released By: Viz Media
Release Date: October 9th, 2018
MSRP: $9.99 US / $12.99 CN / £6.99 UK
