Shinigamihime no Saikon

死神姫の再婚 Vol.1

Company: Frontierworks
Based on: Light novel
Released: 2009.11.26
Official Site: http://www.enterbrain.co.jp/bslog/bslogbunko/shinigamihime_cd/


Shinigamihime no Saikon is a drama CD based on the light novel series of the same name. The story is about the rather eccentric Alicia who is bought by the duke Kashuvan to be his wife. Alicia doesn't seem to mind however, as that is what saved her own family from bankruptcy.

*the names are once again my best guess. Why can't they think of names that are easier to decipher?

The story begins when Alicia (CV: Kobayashi Yuu)  arrives at Kashuvan (CV: Sugita Tomokazu) his castle. At that moment it is completely shrouded in mist, making her excited because she loves all kinds of ghost stories. She is completely aware that she was only 'bought' because of her family name, and doesn't seem to mind at all (She is actually happy about it). Thus suits Kashuvan, as she really is just a political tool to him.

As soon as Alicia arrives they are wed (or, well, they say their vows) but they are interrupted by Tiernald Reiden (CV: Fukuyama Jun) and his servant Yuuran (CV: Seki Toshihiko). Tiernald wants to stop Kashuvan from expanding his influence and calls him a tyrant, while Yuuran sort of tries to stop him. Being a servant of the church ("the prayer of the wings"), Yuuran tends to comment that things are not going according to the laws of the church.

Other characters that add to the rather colourful cast are Nora (CV: Koshimizu Ami), a maid who declared herself Kashuvan his lover. Treize (CV: Konishi Katsuyuki), who used to work as a butler at the castle but has quit when his sister died. And Ruark (CV: Kishio Daisuke), the assassin who killed Alicia her former husband and is now hired to kill Kashuvan.

Of course, nothing in this story goes they way you think it would. Alicia being an incredible airhead does help a lot, and of course Kashuvan isn't half as bad as people say he is. Yuuran secretly pulling a few strings here and there also helps.

With Alicia being free to go anywhere except for the rose garden, this story immediately reminded me of Bluebeard for some reason.. The story partly mirrors that, although luckily not entirely. And of course it adds a rather strange assassin and a semi-corrupt church to the mix. There is also a serious amount of double-and/or-triple backstabbing going on near the end (maybe a bit too much).

The free talk starts quite interesting, with Kobayashi Yuu introducing the theme ("strange hobbies") still in-character as Alicia, after that it switches to a normal cast talk.


Conclusion:
While there is actually a lot of drama going on, the humorous response the characters give makes this a fun story to listen to. While there are 14 novels (the last one was published just a few days ago on 2012.02.15) there is only one drama CD. Which is a bit of a pity but can't be helped.