May I Ask For One Final Thing? opens with an intense confrontation between Scarlet El Vandimion and her fiancé Prince Kyle Von Pallistan. Like a closing chapter in a fairy tale, Prince Kyle exposes Scarlet’s villainy to the nobility in the banquet hall, embarrassing her while declaring the doe-eyed Terenezza Hopkins as his new wife-to-be.
The ramblings of Prince Kyle weren’t new to Scarlet. Having been betrothed to him since their childhood. In truth, Prince Kyle has no proof of Scarlet’s “villainous ways.” Truth be told, Scarlet is no villain.
Even as children, Scarlet was subjected to Prince Kyle’s every whim. And the only thing keeping her from snapping was the thought of potentially ruining their marriage.
But with that out of the table, Scarlet asks for “one final thing” (she said the thing!) – to beat the ever-living crap out of every annoying nobility in the room.
Cue one brilliant display of a brutal throwdown, featuring the kingdom’s most corrupt noblemen.
Is May I Ask For One Final Thing? somewhat of a feel-good, gratifying whack-fest of an anime? Certainly.
Is it any fun? Oh absolutely.
TRIGGER WARNING: The anime explores themes of slavery, bullying, and violence. A lot of the violence happens to the bad guys.
Adapted from the ongoing manga (which in itself is an adaptation of the original light novel) bearing the same name, May I Ask For One Final Thing? is an action romantic comedy series authored by Nana Otori and illustrated by Satsuki that strays away from the “typical” shojo romance and “high stakes” political drama.
It’s interesting because these are the genres its premise would generally fall towards.
This premise establishes at the onset that the story tries to blend the best of both worlds – resulting in a comedic, almost satirical, tale with just the right amount of giggly romance and whack-a-moles featuring corrupt noblemen.
It’s evident from the premise that May I Ask For One Final Thing? is a twist on the dash of innocence in shojo stories.
The first half of the premiere is spent with Scarlet somewhat reminiscing on the past – that she was betrothed to Prince Kyle at an early age, so she had to endure what whims came about to the spoiled prince lest her family’s reputation suffer.
She had been his errand boy throughout school, and was often bullied because of her status as his “personal slave.”
Although from the looks on Scarlet’s face from the teaser, it seems she’s more “tolerating” the bullying than “enduring” it.
In fact, instead of her begging to get out of the engagement, it’s her doting brother Leonardo begging her not to do anything brash towards the prince – to just put up with his antics.
And because Scarlet loved her brother so much, she did. What’s “brash,” you may ask?
Well, now that Prince Julius broke off the engagement, Scarlet can finally give a demonstration of why she’s been nicknamed the Mad Dog Princess as a child.
The clue? She just loves punching.
The premiere does not do justice to the sheer thrill of seeing Scarlet just go “eff-it-all” and deliver clean (chef’s kiss) punch after punch to the sorry faces of stuck-up nobles.
And with clean and crispy animations too – never has the sight of a corrupt politician take a fist to the face ever been so satisfying, especially when it’s a woman they looked down on doling said justice.
The delivery is just – to take the word out of Jollibee – so crispiliciously perfect.
Scarlet did try to de-escalate verbally, even asked Prince Kyle if he had any proof of his accusations. When Prince Kyle insisted there’s no way he’d continue their engagement, Scarlet clarified again – as though desperate (but not trying too hard) to remind him what breaking off their engagement would mean for him, much less for her.
So when Prince Kyle didn’t seem to want to relent, all Scarlet could do was to mentally shrug – it is what it is. Out came her punching gloves.
Episode 1 gives much-needed context to Scarlet’s background. For a character whose design is often reserved for a villain concept, she’s had to endure – tolerate – so much.
It’s revealed that because Prince Kyle is more doted on among the two princes, the nobility developed a second nature of sucking up to him and his every whim.
So when Prince Kyle accuses Scarlet of being a villain with no proof, they accept it with no problem.
And once Scarlet finally let loose (because her only reason for holding back was the engagement, which Prince Kyle himself broke off), the same politicians tried negotiating their way out of trouble – even offering their slaves, something the kingdom should’ve outlawed a long time ago.
The nobles still end up getting rektd, Prince Julius arrives to stop his younger brother’s stupidity, and Scarlet faints from overexertion.
But that small bit about slavery didn’t go overlooked, because Episode 2 explores more of the kingdom’s political scene. And it’s surprisingly a touch bit deeper than the staple fantasy-set shojo.
After Scarlet is almost assassinated by a kid posing as a maid, she frees him – Nanaka – from his seal of slavery and discovers he’s a beastkin (of the cute puppy variety). And there were more like him, and others, still being treated like “merchandise” in an underground slave trading ring.
Feeling the rush of having to deal justice to evildoers, Scarlet decides to investigate this for herself. And since this illegal slave trading is happening right under the kingdom’s noses, Prince Julius – as crown prince – offers to accompany her.
It’s established at the onset that the two have some sort of tension going on. For Prince Julius, it’s one part curiosity and one other part just the slightest hint of attraction. For Scarlet, this “tension” is more her holding back from just trying to smack Julius into the heavens – had he not been such a fellow tolerant soul.
They visit a town to find a lead about this slave trading ring, they encounter a few hooligans who accost them, Prince Julius tries to appeal to their reason.
And like in the premiere, the hooligans don’t listen, Prince Julius could only do a shruggie, and Scarlet is left to do her thang.
Scarlet El Vandimion herself is a subversion of an entire character archetype.
Introduced early on as the “Scorned Woman,” Scarlet was initially shown as a quiet, reserved woman who is not one for loud and public confrontations.
Even when enduring the embarrassment of Prince Kyle and Terenezza, Scarlet kept her calm – just like she has been doing since childhood.
One could say she’s demonstrating the tried and tested visual imagery of a quivering fist that she couldn’t raise, if not for the sake of her family’s reputation. Specifically for the people around Scarlet, asking her to endure is much less about her sake and more for the safety of others.
See, true to the hallmark of an OP Protagonist whose prowess isn’t to be questioned, Scarlet has top marks in almost all subjects in class – especially magecraft and swordsmanship.
In fact, her half-annoyance and half-tolerance to Prince Julius is due to the fact that they always seem to compete over the academy’s top spots.
And Prince Kyle’s fits of annoyance all seems to point towards insecurity – being more or less a talentless hack whose only purpose is to be the vehicle through which other members of nobility could air out favors, but never one to really have something to show for himself.
So what does he do whenever Scarlet seems to do something so effortlessly? He resorts to abuse and humiliation.
This patriarchal insecurity is something Scarlet has had to deal with since she was a kid, so this “physical release” has been both cathartic and somewhat of a feminist declaration.
Because Scarlet does indeed fit the bill of a “Scorned Woman,” but she won’t play by the “rules” of her society designed to suppress capable female figures. Scarlet’s perfect vengeance is the justified declaration of her self-worth.
Prince Kyle’s somewhat delusional declaration that Scarlet is a “Bully” and a “Villainess” stems from Scarlet’s childhood reputation of being a rather… wild child. Academically-speaking, she does have some of the highest marks in magecraft and swordsmanship… but her favorite thing to do is to just beat something up.
Her older brother Leonardo constantly begs her not to put herself in harm’s way… because other people will be harmed.
Hence, the “Mad Noblewoman.”
Being a watcher whose last exposure to such a similar figure is Mash Burnedead (whose claim to fame is to punch his way through Anime Hogwarts), Scarlet brings a familiar character concept to May I Ask For One Final Thing? – albeit with some twists of her own.
Why, just the visual imagery of the anime’s first few minutes makes it evident that it wants to try upending tropes surrounding fairytale-esque shojo stories.
The princely Prince Kyle holding the all-pink and innocent-looking Terenezza in his arms is the perfect visual counterpart to the imposing all red Scarlet, complete with ponytailed silver hair and a rather blank and serious expression.
For all intents and purposes, Scarlet is “meant” to look like the mature villain in a shojo story, with Terenezza the innocent protagonist.
So when it’s revealed that Terenezza and Prince Kyle are in kahoots in some sort of plan, Scarlet gladly throws all precedent out of the window.
If people look at her like “The Mad Noblewoman,” then so be it. In Scarlet’s eyes, people didn’t deserve to get beat up if they didn’t do anything stupid.
In these two episodes, Scarlet makes something clear – she’s perfectly capable of doing things on her own.
And she really doesn’t care if Prince Julius has an ulterior motive, and if her brother cares for both her safety and their family’s reputation. In Scarlet’s eyes, if there’s corruption somewhere, someone deserves a beating.
The good folks at Crunchyroll gave us the opportunity to see Episodes 3 and 4 before they air, and they give quite the expanded look at the rest of the world surrounding Scarlet and her peers.
These episodes go full blast into the story’s “Slave Auction” arc after its build-up throughout Episodes 1 and 2. And after witnessing Scarlet’s sheer fury towards injustice and stuck-up noblemen, you just know there’s going to be some more butt-kicking about.
It’s no-spoiler teasers like these that really unmask an anime like May I Ask For One Final Thing? down to its “OP Protagonist Sees Injustice, Proceeds To Kicks Ass” roots – but it doesn’t really hurt one’s perception of the anime in the slightest.
When one knows Scarlet’s about to throw down, it just makes the journey to such a moment all the more exciting. What’s going to trigger the kick-assery? Who’s the sorry soul who gets to meet the business end of her fists? What quip would Scarlet try to dismiss so hard it shows in her face?
We can’t spoil what happens in Episodes 3 and 4, but what we can say is that these events are equal parts hilarious and revealing of the cast’s more interesting dynamics.
May I Ask For One Final Thing? and its shojo roots add enough spice to subvert expectations on a story framework ordinarily reserved for shonen journeys. In a way, it’s a fresh take on overpowered protagonists in modern anime – especially when anyone in the OP Gang is often tasked by fate (and plot armor) to save the world in some capacity.
There’s none of that (-ish) in May I Ask For One Final Thing?, so Scarlet gives viewers the full range of her emotional growth… and the day-to-day of a noblewoman who wanted a normal life for a change.
And while she delights in beating up stuck-up nobles, there’s just enough giggly kilig to go around whenever she interacts with Prince Julius – his presence “disruptive” enough to unmask Scarlet’s reserved persona and reveal her vulnerabilities underneath.
It’s staple shojo at its finest (with the occasional beatdowns), but Scarlet retakes control with an equally strong personality and desire to do right with others.
Scarlet’s journey in May I Ask For One Final Thing? delights in its simplicity, which is something viewers just need after a busy day.
With no familial duty and a sheltered life holding her back, Scarlet delights with flashy displays of punches and kicks – all in the name of her sense of justice.
May I Ask For One Final Thing? episodes release on weekly on Crunchyroll
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