Always a Catch! How I Punched My Way Into Marrying a Prince Volume 1 Review

With a new year beginning, what better time to think about starting some new manga? Square Enix has begun debuting several fresh series in various genres in the hopes of catching your eye and today I’m here to talk about their new fantasy romance title: Always a Catch! How I Punched My Way into Marrying a Prince. Will it prove heartwarming? Let’s find out!

Our story follows Maria, the daughter of Duke Annovazzi who has spent her whole life preparing to inherit her father’s dukedom in the kingdom of Muro. Despite being the youngest of five daughters, Maria was chosen as the heir thanks to her excellent skills. However, when her parents finally give birth to a son, Maria is cast aside as heir and told to go and get married instead.

Unfortunately for Maria, there are no decent eligible bachelors left in Muro so she casts her net further afield and enrolls at the Royal Academy in the neighbouring kingdom of Rubini. When the story begins, two months have passed since she enrolled and we find Maria attending a ball with her distant cousin Aida Ametis whom she’s been staying with. Aida is already engaged to the eldest prince Renato, so she’s been helping Maria search for a perfect match while they attend social events together.

It’s at this latest ball that Maria finds herself embroiled in drama when Prince Renato mistakes Maria for Aida and very publicly calls off their engagement due to bullying another woman that he’s supposedly in love with. Maria is livid that not only would Renato mistake her for Aida, but that he’d dare to do such a thing to her beloved family.

Later Maria is called to the castle where Renato apologises and explains that the whole stunt was to uncover the misdeeds of a baron’s family and that Aida and Renato’s youngest brother Placido have been in love since they were children. So Renato was hoping this plot would allow those two to get together instead, which it ultimately does but poor Maria has now found herself disgraced and the source of many rumours in high society, a problem that’s not easily solved.

Well, things look up for Maria later when she finds herself kidnapped by a bunch of bandits that she dramatically beats up. It turns out that the Annovazzi family are known for their martial arts and Maria’s talent for it is why she was picked as the heir before the birth of a boy. The nobles in Rubini are less familiar with the family, so Maria has been keeping her skills a secret but unfortunately for her, Prince Renato sees everything when he and his knights come to rescue her from the bandits and now he’s head over heels in love with her! But at least that might solve her marriage woes?

As you may suspect from the long title, Always a Catch! is based on a light novel by author Mayo Momoya but this manga adaptation by Kaki Nagato is certainly plenty charming in its own right. Although the set-up of a broken engagement is a popular trope right now (largely in villainess stories), I appreciated the twists here that kept the premise fresh. And it’s refreshing to find that neither Aida nor Maria are left to suffer due to the mix-up, Adia has her wish granted in that she can now be with Placido and Maria has her newfound relationship with Renato.

It helps that the characters are likeable in their own right. Maria is by no means the slightly dim-witted heroine we’re used to seeing in these situations, although she tends to say everything that’s on her mind out loud. And Renato might be royalty but he really can’t be bothered with being next in line and would rather see Placido would take his place, so he’s not the stuck-up princely archetype you’d expect. They’re both kind of dorky and a lot of fun to watch over. And they’re brought to life wonderfully by Nagato whose art is well suited to the more comedic nature of these relationships.

My only real question now is where the story goes from here as by halfway through Volume 1 it feels like Maria’s problems are more or less over. Sure, she’s not yet married and only engaged, so I’m sure she’ll face opposition but that can only take us so far and there’s six more volumes of this (and counting). The light novels have also run for five volumes so far, so we’re not short on material. I’m not opposed to simply spending more time with these characters for now, but we’re certainly going to need a deeper storyline of some description to keep readers on the hook.

As mentioned Always a Catch! comes to the West thanks to Square Enix Manga and has been translated by Nova Skipper with lettering by Dietrich Premier. The release reads well and includes a colour page at the beginning and a short story by original author Mayo Momoyo.

The series is ongoing in Japan with seven volumes currently available. Here in English, there’s a Manga Up! release that’s currently at 26 chapters (this release includes Chapters 1-3 for reference), and Square Enix has Volume 2 scheduled for release in March with #3 following in June.

Overall, Always a Catch! How I Punched My Way Into Marrying a Prince Volume 1 proves an entertaining read that sidesteps several tropes to present something more original. While I worry about the longevity of the series, so far I can say this is a first volume that’s well worth your time.

A free preview can be read on the publisher’s website here.

Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).