First impressions of ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

On January 8, 2024, the first episode of anime series adaptation of the manga ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess (Hime-sama, “Gōmon” no Jikan Desu) by Robinson Haruhara It is Hirakei.

The anime has animation from the studio Pine Jam (Gleipnir, Kageki Shoujo!!, Gamers!), directed by Yōko Kanemori (The Ancient Magus’ Bride, episode direction of Attack on Titan), the story is by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime, Dropkick on My Devil!, In the Land of Leadale) and character design is the responsibility of Toshiya Kono (Schwarzes Marken) and Satoshi Furuhashi (Comet Lucifer). The song was delivered to Masaru Yokoyama (Queen’s Blade: The Exiled Virgin, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans).

The anime’s original voice cast includes Haruka Shiraishi as Princess, Chikahiro Kobayashi as Ex, Shizuka Itou as Torture Tortura, Tesshō Genda as Hell-Lord, Anna Nagase as Yōki, Honoka Inoue as Inki, Aya Yamane as Krall, Ai Kayano as Giant , Rina Hidaka as Mao Mao, Mai Nakahara as Lulune, Sayaka Senbongi as Gilga, Miyu Tomita as Vanilla Peschutz, Jun Fukushima as Kanage and Houchu Ohtsuka as Jimochi.

Synopsis for ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess

A princess held captive, subjected to merciless torture by the Infernal Horde!

Animes with nonsense comedy are the type of work that I really enjoy watching. However, there is one thing that could also end up turning me away from this type of work: the repetition of the same joke.

The first episode of ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess (Hime-sama, “Gōmon” no Jikan Desu) was a huge repetition of the same joke. The character Torture Tortura goes to Princess’s cell in search of information, hears from the sword Ex that Princess won’t say anything, tortures Princess by eating some delicious food, which she can’t resist and reveals everything in exchange for the food. The problem is that this joke occurs three times throughout the 24-minute episode.

Even with well-produced animation and very colorful visuals, I don’t see how this series will be able to hold the audience by using the same joke throughout the entire episode. Looking from the outside, if the episodes of this series were just a few minutes long, perhaps the joke wouldn’t wear off so quickly in the first episode.

If the “story” was not very encouraging, the studio’s animation production Pine Jam (Gleipnir, Kageki Shoujo!!, Gamers!) was incredibly well produced. The small action scene at the beginning of the episode was very fluid and the moments with Princess’s “tortures” are very dynamic in the editing. The colorful look of the episode is also very interesting, especially in the moments where Princess’s food and feelings are shown. Another highlight is the voice cast of this episode, which manages to go from serious to cute in a surprising way.

Overall, even though the first episode of ‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess (Hime-sama, “Gōmon” no Jikan Desu) has a colorful look, well-produced animation and dynamic editing, its repetition of jokes for every situation in this episode (and perhaps the series) can turn many people off right away.