After playing the mess that was My Sweet Bodyguard (which I will hopefully write on as well), I realized just how much I missed these types of stories!
This took me a few days to compile my thoughts and opinions, but I think this is as good as it’s going to get. I’ve decided to try an organized format for these T&R’s, so hopefully this helps me convey my thoughts and feelings better than my first try as well as keeping it short and brief so that I don’t go off on a tangent and try talking about every little thing in the route. So for now, I’ll just have sections on things I really want to talk about. If anyone has any other ideas on how I can better organize these, I’m all ears!
Two things I want to say before I begin, though:
- It is not necessary to have played the original Be My Princess before playing Be My Princess 2.
-
Some people have been experiencing bugs since the release and there were comments that continued to voice these bugs even as I was playing. I, myself, did not experience any bugs that restricted me from playing the game or anything of the sort. I have no idea if these bugs have been fixed since then, so please do keep that in mind if you would like to play the game without any concerns or inconveniences.
Anyways:
SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Beginning:
OK SO After I finished typing up the “summary” of the common route prologue and prepared to do the summary for Kuon’s prologue, I realized that it was just too long and wordy. So here’s the cut up Kuon-centered summary in a nutshell:
“I am here to escort you to your marriage interview. You have been selected as a potential bride for the prince.”
The story begins in Nobel Michel with our heroine, a pastry chef in training, working at Patisserie Brown when Yosef, the shop’s owner and head pastry chef, informs her that there has been a mix-up in the Nobel Michel palace’s order of flour and they never received it. The shop has been asked if they can spare some flour for the palace. At the palace, the heroine drives the truck to the delivery gate when a car pulls up. From it, Prince Kuon emerges with his butler, Kent. The heroine thinks that she’s in the way where she’s parked and begins moving the truck again, but a bag of flour falls off the back. When she makes an exclamation, she catches Prince Kuon’s attention. He walks over and helps her pick up the bag of flour. When she gives her thanks, he offers to carry the bag to the kitchen for her, but the heroine tries to respectfully decline. He says it would be his pleasure. Kent calls out to Prince Kuon and says that everyone is waiting for him, where is he going? Prince Kuon frowns and says to let them wait, he’s not going to ignore a lady in need. The heroine notices that the sides of his mouth are twitching up as if he’s enjoying himself. Kent tries to reason with the prince, but Prince Kuon tells him that he’ll be there soon, so Kent should go on ahead of him.
In the kitchen, the heroine thinks back how Prince Kuon helped carry the flour, but left as soon as they arrived in the kitchen. She meets with the head pastry chef who asks for her help. The flour incident has caused a mess in the kitchen. He asks if she can decorate a line of cakes that have been finished but still need decorating. Despite still thinking she’s only an apprentice, she tells him she will do her best! After being praised for her work on the cakes, she overhears some of the other staff talking about how the princes are here to look for brides.
After a run-in with Prince Aslan in the gardens on her way home, the head pastry chef catches up to her telling her that Prince Hayden wants to see her. In the banquet hall, Prince Hayden comes up to her and, after a few inquiries on her cake decorating, asks if she can write the instructions on how she did it so that his royal pastry chef can use it for a private ceremony. Prince Oliver makes his way to the two when Prince Hayden, holding the heroine’s hands, attracts attention. After hearing accusing remarks, Prince Oliver pulls the heroine away and out of the banquet hall, helping her escape from the menacing crowd.
On the heroine’s way out, the lights go off in the hall and spotlights are directed to a stage where the six princes are standing. Prince Hayden announces that they will be holding the Nobel Expo, an exhibition in a spirit of international cooperation and cultural understanding for the enjoyment of their peoples. As the heroine is asking a waiter what the Nobel Expo is, he is cut off by the host announcing the bouquet toss. Each prince will toss a bouquet, and the lady who catches it will get to dance with the prince who threw it. The heroine takes the chance to sneak out while all the attention is on the princes. Just as she turns to leave, something hits her on the head.
In an empty room, she thinks back on how instead of catching a bouquet, she had been beaned by one. Now, maids are dressing her up, and preparing her hair makeup. She thinks on how she can’t run away now, especially since a prince is waiting for her. As she enters the banquet hall again, she hears the crowd comment on her appearance.
“You’re the one who caught the bouquet, right?”
She turns around to the concerned voice and…
This is the end of the common prologue and the beginning of the individual prologues.
Just as she’s turning to look at the person speaking to her, Prince Kuon pulls her and they begin dancing. She thanks him for helping her out earlier, but he has no idea what she’s talking about. As soon as the music stops, he lets her go. Before he leaves, she reminds him that he helped her carry something to the kitchen earlier. When he questions her on this, she reminds him that he carried some flour into the kitchen, so she just wanted to say thank you. He leans in close to her face and, after a while, recognizes her as the flour girl. He says that she looks so different, he didn’t recognize her. She calls him a lifesaver since she didn’t know where the kitchen was, but he tells her that he just wanted to get away from everyone for a bit. After a brief chat, she apologizes that he had to dance with her, but he responds that it doesn’t matter who he dances with. She mentally notes that he’s hard to read and, in contrast to his kindness from earlier, it’s as if he’s brushing her off.
The topic changes to him asking that, if she doesn’t attend balls, where does she socialize? When she mentions “dives”, he asks what she means by it. When he says that she really is a regular person, she notices the corners of his mouth twitch. He then calls Zen III over and tells him to take the heroine home.
Back home, she thinks back on the events that took place and wonders if she should tell her friends. Thinking that they won’t believe her, she decides to keep the memory to herself. The next morning, her doorbell rings. When she opens her door, Zen III greets her. She asks if she forgot something or to pay for the flour. He tells her that he’s here to pick her up and escort her to her marriage interview. As she’s wondering if there’s been some kind of mistake, Zen III tells her that the prince was looking for potential brides last night at the party and, when he tossed the bouquet to her, he was choosing her as a potential bride. He shows her a box where a dress and accessories lay inside, and says that it is a small token from Prince Kuon. Prince Kuon selected the dress and accessories with her in mind. She doesn’t believe that this is really happening, even going as far as to pinch herself to wake herself up.
This ends Kuon’s prologue.
The Heroine:
OH SWEET PRECIOUS CHILD OF MY HEART
If there was one thing I loved about the original Be My Princess, it was the heroine, and the sequel did not disappoint.
Our heroine this time is a resident of Nobel Michel and an apprentice pastry chef. She doesn’t show any interest in the princes because, as far as she is concerned, there really is no reason to. She would rather put her focus and energy on making her dream to be a top pastry chef come true, though this does not mean that she dislikes the princes and wants nothing to do with them. Though we don’t see her with many friends, she is loved and cherished by those around her, as seen with May and Yosef. And really, what’s not to like? She’s kind and considerate, and more than respectful to others (even if they’ve done something to not deserve it from her). She always has other people’s best interests at heart, works hard when she puts her mind to something, and doesn’t take crap from others when it is unwarranted, all without being rude or condescending. (Kuon constantly complains about her lecturing him, but never sees it as a bad thing.) Overall, I’ve come to adore this heroine in the same way I’ve come to adore Be My Princess’s heroine despite only having played one route. I can’t wait to see what she does in the next routes, and I really hope they don’t disappoint!
Prince Kuon:
Prince Kuon is currently the next in line to the throne of Oriens Kingdom. While initially showing to be kind to the heroine, he reveals that he only used her as an excuse to get away from everyone. He is very cold to her and shows little interest in her except for the small amount of amusement he derives from her. He later sneaks into her room and tells her that he’s run away from Nobel Michel castle to get away from the succession ceremony business and blackmails her into letting him hide out at her place as he doesn’t know anyone else in Nobel Michel. He soon grows closer to her by bonding over things that “ordinary citizens” do in their daily lives and he comes to trust her enough to tell her his doubts and feelings about becoming king. I expected Kuon to be initially cold, but it was a definite surprise to see that he was moreso than I originally thought he would be. It wasn’t a bad thing, though. Throughout the route, you see him grow as a person and, moreover, you see him change. And not just any change, a change that is necessary for him to not only progress as a person, but as a prince and a future king. After playing My Sweet Bodyguard, I realized just how important the change the guy goes through is to me, and Kuon definitely filled the void that My Sweet Bodyguard left me with.
I absolutely loved his relationship with the other princes. He is childhood friends with Hayden, Oliver, and Sieg, so he is more relaxed around them than with others. Even though Ivan and Aslan are not part of the childhood group, and even though Ivan and Kuon look like they tend to have sparks flying between them, you can still see that the two still care for Kuon. There’s nothing I love more in otome games (or in general) than when the guys can actually get along with each other extremely well for reasons that are not work related, and having them as childhood friends makes their friendship all the more precious to me and a lot less forced when interacting with each other.
It makes it even more precious to know that the princes of the original countries in Be My Princess (Philip, Altaria, Oriens, and DresVan) have actually come close enough to let their princes grow up together. Back in Be My Princess, I always felt like the relationship between the princes was mostly work related, basically that they only got along with each other for the most part because it was part of their job. While they did get along with each other to an extent, I never really felt a closeness or a tight bond between them as people or as actual friends any more than I would see in people towards co-workers, so I am more than happy to see that the relationship between the countries has progressed enough that we get to see that the grandchildren grew up together and get a long so well.
And oh gosh, his relationship with Kent. Seriously, I was beginning to have Wilfred and Claude flashbacks between the two. The moment Kent said that Kuon puts up walls Kent can’t cross, I could hear my heart break. Unlike Claude, Kent is better at showing kindness and isn’t too strict when it comes to Kuon and his duties, and has even shown his thanks to the heroine for allowing Kuon to stay at her place. Kent is very caring towards Kuon despite how closed off Kuon is, even reaching out to the heroine to help mend the broken bond between Kuon and his grandfather. He is very supportive of Kuon’s relationship with the heroine even if he still has to make decisions as his butler in favor of Kuon’s duties. Nonetheless, you cannot deny that Kent cares very much for both Kuon and the heroine, and he has no trouble showing it even if Kuon isn’t as kind and caring in return.
King Glenn:
I really wasn’t sure if I wanted to put this here, but screw it. King Glenn is Kuon’s paternal grandfather. He has a very strained relationship with Kuon since the death of Kuon’s parents and is strict with him when it comes to his duties, though Glenn is still as kind as ever. Kent once makes a comment that the two can’t get along because they’re too alike, and boy he isn’t kidding. He also says that, when Kuon was younger, he would never disobey Glenn. However, as Kuon got older, he became more and more rebellious, so I think part of the fact that Kuon can’t get a long with Glenn is also that, more often than not, people begin to stray away from their guardians as they get older. That isn’t to say that Kuon is spoiled or uncaring, but the way he acts is very near close to the way a teenager acts towards their guardians when they can’t see them as anything but “annoying” (I am seeing it happen right now in my own family). The only difference is that Kuon, now 28, hasn’t been able to open up to Glenn because of the added fact that Kuon holds very negative feelings towards Glenn because Glenn treated the death of Kuon’s parents as an obstacle in Kuon’s road to becoming King. His parents were killed by the very people they worked so hard to protect, and the only parental figure he had left told him to just accept it. With everything that Kuon’s gone through, it’s no wonder he’s having a very hard time not only trusting and opening up to others, but trusting and opening up to those close to him like Glenn and Kent. It’s these very trust issues that are keeping him from moving on, and it’s heartbreaking to watch.
Having played Be My Princess, Kuon’s inability to get along with Glenn also breaks my heart because Kuon talks of Glenn as if he is cold and heartless, and I know very well that Glenn isn’t like that. However, Kuon doesn’t allow himself to even try speaking to Glenn so I’m left practically shaking my phone and pleading Kuon to talk to Glenn because, like the heroine tries to tell him, Glenn is a lot more caring and understanding than Kuon is giving him credit for, but the two are just too stubborn to have a decent conversation unless Kuon is able to open up and talk to Glenn about his feelings.
Music:
Wow. Oh wow oh wow. I can’t even begin to describe how amazing the music is! All the tracks are fitting when they need to be, and most are very relaxing. With double the tracks of Be My Princess, we have a better set-up for the different moods. To be quite honest, I would have loved to have this much of a variety in Be My Princess! My only complaint about the music, however, would have to be the “danger” track. I haven’t played Hayden’s route yet and I’m sure it becomes very fitting in other routes, but I couldn’t help but feel that it was too “exciting” for the situations that it was used for in Kuon’s route. Examples in particular would be in the park when the two are hiding from Kent, or when the heroine is confronted by the other princes. I honestly thought a knife would be pulled, at the very least! Either way, the music is very memorable. I could listen to them on repeat, and have even considered applying a few as notification tones on my phone~
Overall opinion:
So much for the R in T&R!
Let me just say this: Kuon’s route may have just given me as many feels as Glenn’s route in Be My Princess, and even very nearly brought me to tears. The parallels with Glenn’s route, as well as the return of old characters, was very heart-wrenching, and Kuon’s backstory doesn’t help in the emotional department. It was just one big emotional ride, and, while it’s not necessary to have played Be My Princess beforehand, those who have played Glenn’s route will definitely feel a lot more in Kuon’s route. Aside from all the emotional stuff, Kuon’s route definitely had me in fits of laughs and large smiles! The rocky start of a relationship between Kuon and the heroine pretty much guaranteed hilarity for me, and I was completely satisfied with the turn out.
Seriously, how is it that of all the games I never expected to be so emotionally invested in, it had to be Be My Princess? All in all, I honestly cannot put into words just how much I came to love everything about Kuon and his story. I just love the canon Be My Princess series, and I was anything but disappointed with Kuon’s route. Here’s to hoping that his sequel and the other routes and stories don’t disappoint!
