The Series (3/5)

    Nike is the Princess of the Rain Dukedom, Livius is the King of the Sun Kingdom. Before the series opens King Livius has managed to use his excellent skills at battle to conquer the kingdoms adjacent to the Sun Kingdom, now to secure a relationship with the Rain Dukedom he has been arranged to marry Nike. It should be mentioned before we go any further that Livius is 12 years old, and though her age is never mentioned she is obviously older than he. However, the two are literally fire and water when they meet.

     Upon that initial meeting Livius demands Nike produce rain using the magic she is known to possess. When she refuses (for logical reasons, that she is never allowed to explain), she is is thrown into prison.  She escapes, but rather than go back to the Rain Dukedom she confronts Livius, and explains that she must be shown the beauty and majesty of the Kingdom so she can pull together the elements of the land to make the rain. This conversation is the real beginning of their relationship, a relationship which is so important politically that there will be many attempts from outside sources to damage it, as the two struggle themselves to keep it together.

    The series is interesting in a lot of ways. It forces two people together that obviously have not much in the way of commonality including age, and have them find each other. It also is a coming of age tale, because even though Nike is older, she isn't an adult, so the viewer sort of feels that this is the first romance for both of them. There is also a lot of political dealings in the show, that add some additional layers of subtext and intrigue.  The series has a nice blend of dark moments, and lighter more fantastic ones. The animation is quite gorgeous, and is almost worth the price of admission on it's own.

Audio/Video (4/5)

    Sentai Filmworks presents The World is Still Beautiful in a wonderful 1:78:1 1080p AVC encoded transfer. The transfer offers excellent detail, and solid colors throughout. The audio is presented with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 track with optional subtitles.

Extras (1/5)

     The usual clean opening and closing. Also trailers.

Overall

     The World is Still Beautiful is not really my thing, I'm not too into romance films and series. That being said the added political elements made it interesting, and the animation was very well done. The Blu-ray looks and sounds fantastic. The extras were lacking, however for fans of romantic anime this is certainly RECOMMENDED.