Ep. 01: Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter

This was one of four ‘wild card’ shows that filled in the two empty spots in my weekly schedule. Now that I’ve watched the first episode? I think I made a solid choice. Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter won me over with its cozy yet magical feeling trailer. And while I’m a bit skeptical about the harem element of this, given how much of an age gap there likely is between Allen and these girls, I haven’t seen anything actually scandalous or indecent, so I’m going to give that a pass for the time being.

It seems that Allen has been royally screwed over by his professors. He wanted to become a court sorcerer, but totally botched the exam. When I read about this in the synopsis, it made me question why anyone would want him for a tutor. But then, “those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach” and all that. But now, having watched the opening episode, I’ve changed my mind. He was totally set up. I wonder whether this will ultimately bite him on the butt or be a blessing in disguise?

As for Allen himself, he comes off as rather likeable. At least so far. He seems fairly easy going and doesn’t seem to be going out of his way to be a perv or an asshole. He just seems to have a habit of things–in this case young girls–falling into his lap. All things except positions as a court sorcerer, anyway.

In an amusing twist, the Butler of the house where Allen will be tutoring seems to be on to this. his aura when discussing it totally cracked me up. The fact that the show knows what it’s doing, and is willing to laugh at itself, bodes well. I liked that in Re:Monster–which was generally a lot more dark and gritty than this, but which also tended to poke fun at its harem in a good natured way. Hopefully this aspect of the story will remain lighthearted and fun as we go forward.

Next in our quickly growing cast, we have Tina–the girl Allen has been hired to teach–and her maid, Ellie, who will also be getting lessons. Something interesting that I noticed is that in this particular part of their country, there doesn’t seem like there’s as much separation between nobles and servants as one would expect. I wonder if this is a standard part of the world, or something more specific to this northern region? I hope that flirty nonsense over Allen doesn’t screw up the friendship these two seem to have.

Tina seems to be struggling with the trauma of continuing failure. When you try to do something again and again, and have it blow up in your face, that can be really frustrating. Accepting that you just can’t do something is hard. And as someone with various disabilities, that’s something I can definitely relate to. I wonder if there is a medical–or maybe magical–issue underlying Tina’s problems? The show went out of its way, from word go, to show it isn’t a lack of intelligence or hard work.

As for Ellie, she seems good natured but a bit hyper. She also seems to have a case of the clumsies. This isn’t a trope that bothers me, really, but I’m sure its something that either amuses people or doesn’t. She seems like an overall nice character so far, though. If this show decides not to go down the path of nobles vs. servants, and wants to tackle other things, that’s totally fine with me.

The one character we met, outside of the likely scheming professors, who rubbed me the wrong way is Allen’s friend, Lydia. We see her at the end of the episode, reading the letter he wrote her, and she swears that he will ‘regret’ not consulting her before making a decision. Maybe it’s just my personal burn-out with ‘girlboss’ type characters in fiction right now.

Likely, it stems from her being a character from a fire based society and artistic symbolism being used to convey that. But she just didn’t work for me. It’s possible I’ll change my mind later, but given that Allen referred to her as an ‘albatross’ during the episode, it doesn’t even seem that he likes her all that much. She could become a pain.

The last thing I want to touch on, before I wrap this up, is the occasional use of a totally adorable chibi art style. This put me in mind of some of the art from An Archdemon’s Dilemma, which some of you know I really loved. Again, the vibe of this show is very different than that one. But I’m always up for some cute chibi art here and there, if its in a fun and interesting story. And, provided this can hold up in the story department, it looks like we’ll be getting that here.

Overall, I’m very pleased with this first episode of Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter. This looks like it’s going to be a cute and heartwarming story of growth and exploration, with a side of comedy and some anime harem shenanigans. What is holding Tina back? What’s Lydia going to do to Allen? Will Allen succeed in helping his young pupils gain entrance to the Academy? I have so many questions!

So, are you planning to watch Private Tutor to the Duke’s Daughter? What did you think of episode one? I’d love to know, so feel free to leave a comment.