Who Made Me a Princess Volume 1 Review
Athanasia, or Athy to her friends, thinks she’s going to grow up and enjoy her life as a pampered princess since she wakes up in the body of a newborn in a fantasy world where magic also seems to be present. However, her plan goes down the drain when she hears her full name for the first time—Athanasia De Alger Obelia. The same name as the princess in a book she read in her previous life, The Lovely Princess. Athy can’t believe she’s been reincarnated in the novel. She just took some pills to help her sleep and when she woke up, she was here, in this new world. And now she knows her father will kill her if everything goes according to the book plot!? No way!
Athy has never met the emperor, Claude De Alger Obelia, and she has no intention of following the events of the book. By the time she’s five years old, she’s stashing away gold and jewels found in her palace in a building not too far away where she hopes there aren’t prying eyes. Too bad the hiding place she found seems to be in the emperor’s palace. She can’t be unluckier, especially when he shows up in front of her. Athy doesn’t want to die, so she does the only thing that might give her a chance of survival. The emperor in the book didn’t love Athanasia but opened his heart to his other daughter thanks to her sunny and outgoing personality. A daughter that he didn’t know he had until she was in her teens. So now, Athy needs to make the emperor falls for her charm while she still hides away gold for when she can escape. It will be an arduous challenge, considering that the emperor doesn’t even care when his only known daughter (for the moment) is about to drown in a lake situated in the palace’s gardens.
We don’t know who Athy was in her previous life in what appears to be our world. Or even if she has died and reincarnated. We only know her as Princess Athanasia—a baby with memories of her past life. Volume 1 covers the time period until Athy is five years old, and in this timespan we see how she comes to terms with her new situation and makes plans on how to survive. She’s going to make sure to avoid every doom flag that appeared in the novel, and that means staying clear of the emperor and saving enough money to be able to escape when she’s older. She has a nanny, Lily who seems to be the only one who cares for her.
Claude, the emperor, is described as a hero by his people, and Athy can’t understand why. He conquered other kingdoms and caused a lot of bloodshed—he even killed his older brother to take the throne! He doesn’t care about people, nor has he any feelings. However, his first encounter with Athy brings him to ask to learn more about her. Is he really a tsundere? Well, I guess we’ll find out in the next volumes.
Who Made Me a Princess is a typical isekai manhwa that for me resembles more Japanese manga with their laughable and funny storylines such as My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! and Reborn as A Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon than Korean manhwa, as the ones I’m used to reading have a slightly more mature and serious tone such as Villains Are Destined to Die and Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion. This manhwa definitely has a comical tone thanks to Athy being reborn in the novel’s world. It breaks the monotony and the reverence that all other characters seem to have for the emperor. I’ve been seeing this manhwa style becoming quite popular where the heroine behaves in a childish and sometime extravagant way to get what she wants, such as in Daughter of the Emperor and the newly acquired title from Ize Press, Not-Sew-Wicked Stepmom.
The illustrations (in full colour) go for a kawaii style, with bright and light colours. The fashion sense of the characters though is split between an English Victorian-era style for everyone but the emperor who goes for a style resembling the robe worn by Romans. I’m not sure if the author is doing it to make it stand out because he’s the emperor or because he’s good-looking.
Who Made Me a Princess by Plutus with art by Spoon is released in the print edition by Seven Seas Entertainment. It was originally a webcomic published on Tapas, chapter by chapter. Volume 2 is slated for release in September 2023.
