Baku to Nemurihime (“The Dream-Eating Tapir and the Sleeping Princess”) by Yuki Fujitsuka
This story is a mixture of romance and fantasy. And combined with right topic, what was left was a fairytale. And I absolutely loved it.
At the start we are introduced to scowling princess Mary. She is only 13 years old girl but she is already throwing around remarks that would shame critical mother-in-law (ok, maybe I’m exagerating… a lot). She has everyday foul mood that concerns her father – king and 7(!) brothers as well as servants. Though she is adorable by appearance, her behaviour is very much not so. But what caused Mary to be like this? Is that just her born trait honed by doting family? Nope. Princess is only sleep deprived. Every night she is hunted by nightmares.
Apparently, none could cure her insomnia. This challenge takes upon himself Lal – our dream-eating tapir. And once entering her dream he finds out whats the cause of this. And no. It´s not a curse, doing of some witch nor was she punished by spiteful stepmother for something that wasn’t her fault in the first place. Her nightmares are result of an unfortunate event that princess is blaming herself for. And the first being she lets know about her past, thoughts and worries is Lal. Lal also ease her self-blame and slowly brings peace into her world. After tha,t her mere praise sends touched chef into heaven 🙂
They are princess and a monster so, of course, in real world there are boundaries between them. However, dreams are princess’s. There she demolishes everything that sets them apart. Two years have passed and Mary obviously has a feeling for her tapir and tapir possibly too.
Since Mary was ‘cured’, role of tapir in castle was non existing anymore. Furthermore, princess was not the only one who lived in the past and anguish. What will Mary do to ensure her happiness and bring peace to the ones she loves?
Baku to Nemurihime is what I imagine to be the perfect fairytale. I felt extremely satisfied after reading it. The ending was just so sweet and cute and contenting and…. The whole oneshot was just a big adorableness.
I had a big smile on my face throughout the reading. I found the art extremely cute too, fitting the whole story (you can see it on the left). So if something like this is your cup of tea, definitely give it a try ^^
~~~ by Karra
Leave A Comment