Serafina de Lavillant is a knight from the Illdoren Kingdom. They're an empire-building country reminiscent of early 19th century England, with Jane Austen ballrooms, women in enormous hooped dresses who talk behind their fans and Dickensian extremes of poverty. They wage wars to subjugate any cultures they regard as inferior to themselves, i.e. all of them. The only element that's not 19th century is their military technology, which is very much medieval and has knights in full plate armour. (This is a fantasy world with dragons, elves, etc. although the Illdoren Kingdom tries to ignore all that.)

Veor of the Cornem barbarian tribe is relaxed about life... and about death. The life expectancy of his tribe's men might be about 30. They'll die in wars, or get eaten by monsters. They don't mind. It's one of those things. No problem. They don't worry about slaughter and indeed will admire a strong enemy (regardless of body count), which blows Serafina's mind. They live alongside nature, they're friendly to everyone and they like marrying defeated foes. The anime doesn't extrapolate from all that and doesn't even seem to have thought about it, but surely that means the Cornem must be into harems, free love and/or swinging both ways. They have an alarming gender imbalance, with lots of widows. Bringing extra wives into the tribe through marriage would exacerbate that, so it seems likely that the Cornem women are sharing their men around and/or seducing other women. Mind you, it's also possible that a lop-sided birth rate is delivering more male babies, due to fantasy biology, magic or deliberate selection through infanticide.

Incidentally, the show expects us to see the Illdorens as racist, narrow-minded imperialists with a stick up their arse, while the Cornem are "noble savage" archetypes with a sense of humour who are fun to hang out with. This is broadly true, but with undertones. The Illdorens have rigid social stratification and a society that suggests a bloodthirsty Jane Austen... but they let their women become knights and go to war with, it seems, equality on the battlefield. The Cornem, in contrast, think a wedding ring is a steel slave collar around a woman's neck, while their warrior wives seem to end up barefoot and pregnant. In fairness, Veor gives Serafina every freedom and lets her show off her martial prowess, including an action finale that puts the pair on equal badass parity. Nonetheless, there's still an interesting debate available here. Is the show reflecting the reactionary opinions of its creator(s)? (This is pure speculation.) Is it subtle pseudo-criticism of the Cornem, albeit so understated that many viewers will miss it? Or, perhaps, is the show aware of this potential tension and simply presenting its characters' choices? If you were faced with Illdoren and Cornem, where would you go?

But sod all that. It's a romance. I'm a softy for romances. Serafina is a warrior princess who sees her enemies as barbarians, so when captured she fears the worst. Will she be raped, tortured or murdered? Probably all three... or so she thinks. She can't process the idea that the Cornem are being nice to her. She's more shocked by kindness than she would have been by war crimes (which she's steeling herself to endure). This is funny. I liked her and her unfolding relationship with the jovial, easy-going Veor. Then, later, she finds herself torn by conflicting allegiances. Does her loyalty to her homeland mean she can never accept Veor's advances? Whose side is she on? Is she fraternising with the enemy? Later, she's embarrassed to meet someone who's basically a copy of herself, unreconstructed, from several episodes earlier.

There's fanservice. Nudity is common, although Serafina's no-nonsense military attitude means it's not sexy. Mind you, the free-and-easy Cornem culture means we see just as many muscular male bodies. Oh, and personally I think Hairy Veor looks way cooler than Handsome Veor.

This isn't a dark or challenging show. It's fun. The elves, dwarves, dryads, fairies, dragons, etc. are a small genre shift, especially the dwarves and their slightly silly tech level. (Is this far-future SF masquerading as fantasy?) Serafina and Veor are lovable and you'll want the best for them. The Cornems' enlightened egalitarianism might look too idealised to be believable, until you remember how young their men tend to die. I enjoyed this show and I'd like to see a second season. If nothing else, this season ends on a slight cliffhanger. Season 1 covered the first five volumes of a manga that's released 12 volumes so far and is still running. There's still plenty of story potential in the uptight Illdoren Kingdom and its narrow-minded ideas of morality and rescue. They're villains who think they're heroes. Might Serafina and Veor one day inspire political change? I'm cheering for them, anyway.