Holiday Review #10: THE TOO-PERFECT SAINT: TOSSED ASIDE BY MY FIANCE AND SOLD TO ANOTHER KINGDOM

Of course, a lot of the romance manga these days comes in the form of light-novel adaptations, which are often just as much about the self-improvement of the heroine as it is about her getting dumped by a crappy prince only to pick up a better one on the rebound.

THE TOO-PERFECT SAINT: TOSSED ASIDE BY MY FIANCE AND SOLD TO ANOTHER KINGDOM (Kanpeki Sugite Kawaige ga Nai to Konyaku Haki Sareta Seijo wa Ringoku ni Urareru), based on the light novels by Fuyutsuki Koki and character designs by Masami, with art by Mago Ayakita.  First published in 2021 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

Philia is the finest saint Girtonia has ever known.  She's powerful enough to purge the land of monsters, summon rain, and develop new medicines all on her own, but she's seen as aloof and even arrogant because she never shows any outward emotion.  That includes her demanding, emotionally abusive parents and her bratty, deeply insecure fiancé Prince Julius.  He's so selfish and insecure that he sells her off to the neighboring kingdom of Parnacorta, exiling her overnight in the hope that he can marry her younger, sunnier sister Mia instead.

As Philia gets used to her friendlier new homeland, Mia takes it upon herself to find out what happened to her sister and to take down all the people responsible for her beloved sister's fate.

STORY:

Just because a light novel adaptation features a female protagonist doesn't meant that they can't get just as indulgent as their male-led counterparts.  Sure, they tend to not rely so heavily on fanservice and slavery (most of the time), but they are still very much a power fantasy for their readers.  It's a way for working women to fantasize about being rich and powerful enough to be respected, idle enough to pursue their passions, and surrounded by any number of equally hot, young, attractive young men to romance at their choosing.  There's definitely a bit of this indulgent power fantasy at play in The Too-Perfect Saint, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have anything of substance to offer alongside it.

It doesn't take too much effort to see Philia's plight as a metaphor for the problems many ambitious, talented, and/or well-organized woman faces in the workplace.  It's not just enough for her to be good at her job, but that she has to do so while projecting a public image of pleasant, unthreatening femininity because doing otherwise is seen as alienating and/or unwomanly.  Furthermore, she's expected to do all sort of seemingly impossible tasks all the time but not too well lest she undermine the egos of the men around her, be it at the workplace or in her personal life.  

Look, I never said it was a subtle metaphor, but I'll be damned if it isn't a relatable one.

Beyond that, Philia has been suffering from a lifetime of emotional abuse from her parents, who view her only as a tool to boost their social rank.  They demand perfection and effort from her at all times, but no amount of perfection is ever enough to make them stop comparing her to her more socially adept sister.  It's not just that she doesn't know how to smile - her entire emotional growth is stunted because she's been expected to perform like a trained dog without reward or acknowledgement.  She's funneled everything into perfecting her magical skills in the hope that someday it will be enough to make everyone around her happy, despite having no notion of what happiness even is.  Perhaps the greatest miracle Philia has managed is not becoming a complete emotional wreck in spite of it all.

The strongest thing The Too-Perfect Saint has to offer is the relationship between Philia and Mia.  In a lot of stories like this, the heroine's sibling is often just another schemer who covets everything her sister possesses.  This is not the case here, as Mia adores and respects her sister in a way that no one else does, and she's all too ready to take action upon discovering her sister's disappearance.  Alas, the strength of their relationship does come at the cost of the rest of the cast around them.  

Both Prince Julius and Philia's parents are comically one-note in their wickedness.  They're practically pantomime villains, there for the audience to boo and hiss.  Meanwhile, Philia's new entourage in Parnacorta are as bland as they are kind, particularly her new love interest Prince Osvalt.  Those that aren't there to exposit at the reader exist to pat Philia on the head, tell her she's good, and that it's OK for her to slow down and rediscover just who she is as a person.  If some of the effort put into Philia and Mia was put into the rest of the cast, I think The Too-Perfect Saint could have been something really special.

ART:

The art for this series plays things safe, no matter whether you're looking at Masami's original illustrations or Mago Ayakita's interpretation thereof.  The character designs are pleasant but unchallenging (unless they are trying to draw an old man's face).  The costumes fit with the Ye Vaguely Olden Times look I've come to expect with this sort of lady-friendly fantasy manga, although Philia's wardrobe gets a lot of pretty little details that help her to stand out on the page.  That said, the shading and the paneling are all very workman-like, as is all too typical of light-novel manga adaptations.

RATING:

The Too-Perfect Saint was close to getting that green light, but the shallow supporting cast and ho-hum art drags things down.  It's still one of the better light-novel manga adaptations I've read in recent years, but that's mostly due to what the original story brought to it and the low bar set by its peers than anything the mangaka did with it.

This manga is published by Seven Seas.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 7 volumes available.  4 volumes have been released and are currently in print.

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