is a Japanese light novel series written by Piero Karasu and illustrated by Yuri Kisaragi. The series follows Anisphia, a princess who uses her memories of a past life to pursue her theory of "magicology", and Euphyllia, a talented magic user left disgraced after the kingdom's prince breaks off their engagement.
The series was first serialized on the user-generated novel publishing website Shōsetsuka ni Narō between February 2019 and August 2021. It was later acquired by Fujimi Shobo, which published the series in print between January 2020 and February 2026 under its Fujimi Fantasia Bunko imprint. From July 2020 to March 2026, a manga adaptation with art by Harutsugu Nadaka was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh. An anime television series adaptation produced by Diomedéa aired from January to March 2023.
Karasu wrote the original story with the intent to break from conventions found in isekai, a genre of fiction involving travel or reincarnation into different worlds. Accordingly, he wrote Anisphia to only recall a few memories after her reincarnation rather than her full past life and personality. Furthermore, although Karasu did not originally intend to write about yuri, a genre featuring intimate relationships between female characters, he decided to focus more on the main characters' romantic relationship as serialization progressed. For the subsequent adaptions into different mediums, several adjustments were made, including the changing of character designs from the light novels and the addition of original scenes for the anime adaptation.
By December 2023, the light novels had over 1 million copies in circulation. The light novels and manga adaptation have been well received by critics for the story's premise and characters, though its pacing has been met with more mixed reactions. The anime adaptation was similarly well received, with particular praise for its production value, and was named by several critics as being among the best of the year.
Plot In a fantastical kingdom named Palettia, nobles are distinguished from commoners due to their ability to use magic. However, the kingdom's princess, Anisphia, lacks this ability despite her royal ancestry. As a child, she regains memories of her previous life in a modern civilization, and uses these memories to become an inventor of magical gadgets. During a mishap with her flying broomstick, she stumbles upon her brother, Crown Prince Algard, breaking off his engagement to his fiancée, Euphyllia. To shield Euphyllia from further scandal, Anisphia invites her to become a live-in research assistant. The pair work together to defeat a dragon, which yields Anisphia a crystal that lets her indirectly wield the dragon's magic. Shortly after, she discovers that Lainie, a commoner-turned-noble rumored to be Algard's love interest, is a vampire. Lainie moves to Anisphia's residence to bring her vampiric powers under control, but is attacked by Algard, who becomes a vampire himself by seizing Lainie's magical crystal. His plan to exploit his powers to rule as a tyrant is quickly foiled by Anisphia; he ultimately admits to her that he feels unfit to rule.
The king disinherits and exiles Algard, leaving Anisphia as the sole remaining heir. Realizing that Anisphia would have to give up on her dream of researching magic as the future queen, Euphyllia learns that she can inherit the throne in Anisphia's place by making a covenant with a great spirit. Anisphia is initially against her plan and duels her for the throne, but Euphyllia completes the covenant and wins the duel. She confesses her love to Anisphia and kisses her. Euphyllia becomes the queen of Palettia after the reigning monarchs adopt her and abdicate.
Characters
Main
The main protagonist and the first princess of the Kingdom of Palettia. She has always loved magic yet, being reincarnated from Earth, cannot use it herself. To compensate, she turns to science and uses her previous life's knowledge to make magical gadgets that can be used by anyone. She is also an open lesbian. While her eccentricities cause others to see her as a problem child who forced her responsibilities onto her younger brother, Algard, she initially ceded the throne out of her own belief that she would not be a good ruler. Following a fight with a dragon, she gets afflicted with a curse that begins slowly turning her into a dragon herself. Algard's exile briefly makes her the kingdom's sole heir, but Euphyllia takes her place by becoming queen instead. /
A high-ranking noble and the ex-fiancée of Anisphia's younger brother, Algard. She became Anisphia's research assistant after Algard broke off their engagement for allegedly bullying Lainie. While talented in magic and politics, Euphyllia initially keeps others away with her perfectionist attitude but slowly opens up after being taken in by Anisphia and begins to develop romantic feelings toward her. She is later adopted into the royal family after completing a Spirit Covenant and becomes eligible for the throne, so it would not be forced onto Anisphia after Algard is disowned. However, the Covenant has also turned her into a spirit reliant on magical energy to survive, which she takes from Anisphia through kisses.
Main supporting
Anisphia's maid, with whom she shares a close, sister-like relationship.
A commoner-turned-noble rumored to be Algard's love interest. She is eventually revealed to be a vampire who unwittingly generates a charm, making people infatuated with her, and was born to a noble father and vampire mother. Following this revelation, she is taken in by Anisphia as a maid while learning to control her abilities. However, awakening to her true nature caused her to begin craving blood, which Ilia helps alleviate by letting her suck hers. Lainie goes on to develop romantic feelings for Ilia.
A noblewoman and Anisphia's longtime alchemist friend. Though born with powerful magic, her body cannot handle it, causing her pain and violent outbursts whenever she uses it. Ostracized by her family, she lives alone in a villa and is treated for her condition by Anisphia. Her past has led her to become obsessed with incurable conditions, which she calls "curses", and she often supports Anisphia in her research by developing drugs.
Secondary supporting
Anisphia's father and the king of the Kingdom of Palettia. While he truly cares for his children, his royal responsibilities force him to put his country first. The stress of ruling—and Anisphia's antics—has negatively impacted his health, making him look older than he actually is.
Anisphia's mother and the queen of the Kingdom of Palettia. Though youthful in appearance, when she was young she was a fearsome warrior who raised her children in her spartan ways, making her the only person Anisphia fears. However, she cares greatly for her children and later becomes calmer following Algard's failed coup, believing that she had failed as a mother.
Euphyllia's father and the prime minister of the Kingdom of Palettia. While he initially had a somewhat strained relationship with his daughter, after her engagement is canceled he realizes that he had impossible expectations of her and apologizes, causing their bond to improve considerably. However, he is later forced to cut her off after she is adopted into the royal family to inherit the throne in Anisphia's place.
The ancestor of the royal family of the Kingdom of Palettia. While seemingly around the same age as Anisphia, she is actually a human-turned-spirit who is close to a thousand years old, having completed a covenant with a great spirit that granted her immortality.
Antagonists
Anisphia's younger brother and the crown prince of the Kingdom of Palettia, as his sister gave up her right to the throne. He is also Euphyllia's ex-fiancé, after he broke off their engagement for allegedly bullying Lainie, his apparent love interest. It is eventually revealed that he has always admired his sister, which drove him to plot a revolution to purge the country's corrupt nobles who treated her as second-class due to their culture and religion of magical elitism. He steals Lainie's vampiric abilities to enact his plan to brainwash nobles and rule as an autocrat. In the end, while he reconciles with Anisphia, he is disinherited and exiled for his attempted coup d'etat.
The minister of magic who opposes any changes that might endanger the nobles' authority, like Anisphia's inventions. Intending to exploit Lainie's magical powers, he played an active role in abetting the prince's attempted revolution. In the end, he is executed for treason after the plot is exposed.
Count Chartreuse's son and Algard's friend who supports him in breaking off his engagement with Euphyllia. It is later revealed that he was the only one in Algard's inner circle who was not under Lainie's charm and played an active role in the prince's attempted revolution, causing him to be arrested after the plot is exposed.
Production
The series began as a self-published web novel by Piero Karasu on the website Shōsetsuka ni Narō, under a different title: . From the story's outset, Karasu wanted to break from genre conventions that were present in other isekai web novels. The isekai genre, characterized by a person travelling or reincarnating into another world, often entails a main character treating their new life as a do-over of their mundane previous life. However, Karasu limited the continuity between Anisphia's past and new life to only a few retained memories. Lainie was also designed as a subversion of the villainess archetype; despite her antagonistic position at the start of the story, she was written to be more sympathetic by being unaware of her role in Algard and Euphyllia's broken engagement.
Karasu was inspired by the anime series Neon Genesis Evangelion and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, as well as tabletop role-playing games that he had played in the past. Nanoha was a particular influence on Anisphia and Euphyllia's relationship, as it featured a similarly close bond between two female protagonists. Karasu stated that his story incorporates elements of yuri, a genre of fiction that features intimacy between female characters. While he did not originally intend to write a yuri work, the romantic relationship between the two female leads gradually became central to the story as he serialized it online. After the release of the anime adaptation, head writer Wataru Watari stated that Anisphia and Euphyllia's onscreen kiss was not given special consideration during production, describing it as "just another scene we worked on out of many."
The series went through considerable revisions before it was published as a light novel, but the plot structure of the original was retained throughout. Anisphia and Euphyllia's character designs were tweaked; per Karasu, the two were relatives in the web novel and were both blonde, but Euphyllia's hair was changed to silver in the light novel to differentiate her from Anisphia. Likewise, the first episode of the anime adaptation also diverged from the light novel and manga. While the previous adaptations began the story with Algard breaking his engagement to Euphyllia, the anime included original scenes to introduce the main characters before Algard breaks his engagement. The anime's character designs, created by Naomi Ide, were based on illustrations in the light novels instead of the manga; director Shingo Tamaki believed that the light novel illustrations were a closer match to Ide's art style.
Media Light novels