Season aired: Spring 2025
Number of episodes: 13
Watched on: Crunchyroll
Translated by: ???
Genres: Fantasy, Drama, Romance
Thoughts: The Too Perfect Saint is one of the biggest surprises of this season. Despite a relatively slow start, the anime only continues to improve as the real heart of the story is slowly revealed to the audience. Philia and Mia are two saint sisters, but they could not be any more different. Where Mia is beloved, social, and flawed in her saintly powers, Philia is feared, introverted, and perfect with her abilities. This earns Philia the ire of her foolish fiancé, the second prince of their kingdom, who decides that in order to get engaged to Mia, he must sell Philia off to another kingdom. Thus, both sisters’ lives are drastically changed.
The anime’s slower beginning stems from its focus on Philia and the miserable life she has lived so far in her own kingdom. Her own parents incessantly abuse her despite showering endless love and affection to her younger sister, and the entire kingdom misunderstands her awkward and introverted self as a cold woman with no charisma. When Philia’s sold to another kingdom, she’s completely taken aback by how well they treat her, making her story one about healing from past trauma and realizing that she deserved so much better despite all her internalized self-criticism. Leading the charge for this better treatment is Prince Oswald. He saw how poorly Philia’s home kingdom was treating her and decided to dedicate himself to ensuring she remains happy, comfortable, and valued for her work. Needless to say, romantic feelings develop between them.
A story about healing is always nice, but in a fantasy setting, without some additional goal or plot, it can feel purposeless. For that reason, while the show is cute, it didn’t initially capture my interest.
Then entered Mia’s plotline.
The biggest surprise about Too Perfect Saint is that this isn’t some romantic love story about a good prince who rehabilitates an abused woman and teaches her the meaning of love. It is actually a story about the love shared between sisters. It’s about how Philia learns to recognize she was never truly dead inside but has always held lots of compassion and love for her people and sister, and how Mia learns that love blinded her from seeing the abuse her sister faced while she received the adoration of the kingdom and her parents. The two sisters’ journeys are perfect foils for each other, befitting how their lives start at the beginning of the anime, and it’s through these entwined plots that really perfect The Too Perfect Saint.
This makes the anime appealing to a wide audience. If you’re looking for a story about a girl seeking revenge through political and manipulative means against an absolutely despicable antagonist, you can find it through Mia. If you’re looking for a story about a girl learning to love herself, accept that others around her do love her, and learn to be selfish without fear, you can find it through Philia. Their plots might sound separate, but there’s an overarching demonic threat — related to the importance of saints in the world — that ties everything together, making this series a satisfying watch by the end.
I simply don’t believe this story would’ve worked as well without one or the other, so it was incredibly smart of the anime adaptation to have episodes constantly switching between the two girls rather than dedicating entire arcs to one only to switch to another after wrapping up one of the sisters’ arcs. It’s through their respective stories happening at the same time that you can really appreciate their individual stories and how they’re ultimately still destined to reunite as sisters, albeit as changed girls.
Too Perfect Saint is a character-driven story, so the anime had to nail the sisters’ complicated relationship, and they absolutely do. Even from the first episode, you can understand the sisters’ unspoken love for each other, though neither of them quite knows how to really address their feelings. Mia is aware that her loving parents are abusing Philia, but just like in real life, she chooses to turn her eyes away due to how much more complicated her life would become if she actually admitted what was happening. Philia loves Mia for being the only person in the entire kingdom who truly admires her and understands her when she’s feeling awkward or introverted, but can’t help coming off as detached and distant due to feeling inferior to a much more popular sister. These complicated feelings not only create great nuance to the main characters, but they’re also realistic. Best of all, the story never shies away from these complicated dynamics and faces them head on.
Yet, despite the heavy drama, this anime successfully integrates comedic scenes into the story that had me laughing out loud. There are incredibly cute chibi moments that are pretty meme-worthy, and it gives the story and its characters a lot of personality. Another unexpected hilarious element to this anime is the male characters’ designs. The character designer clearly put a lot of purposeful effort into ensuring the male love interests have enormous chests, and I knew how intentional it was when a rather normal scene of Prince Oswald talking to Philia had him cross his arms, only for his chest to be clearly animated squeezing tightly together from the action.
When it comes to the technical aspect, it has become commonplace to see those as weak spots today, especially with such a struggling industry. The Too Perfect Saint actually manages to get around several elements. First, the scenery of the fantasy world is pretty and looks like watercolor paintings, especially when Philia is exploring her new home. The colors are bright, and lighting is used effectively to convey scenes. At no point did the anime try to cover up poor animation by just dimming the scene and hoping the audience can’t see well enough to notice. Additionally, I found the music to be genuinely whimsical when Philia learns to enjoy life and powerful when Mia begins playing a mean game of politics.
Unfortunately, the animation is again passable. This doesn’t hurt the series too much, since most of the anime doesn’t have a lot of fighting, but when the characters come together in the end to face the final antagonist, that’s where you can feel the lessened impact because of the stiffness of the animation. Even sadder is that despite the fact that the animation wasn’t enough to really deliver that final battle, I still didn’t mind because it looks average to a lot of anime that comes out today, including anime that would’ve depended on action sequences a lot more than Too Perfect Saint.
Yui Ishikawa also does a fairly decent job as Philia, but Kaede Hondo actually stole the show for me as Mia. I’m not sure if it’s because Mia’s plot is heavier and thus Kaede Honda had more to work with or if I simply admire a girl who embraces her desire for revenge, but I fully believed all of Mia’s feelings and don’t think I would’ve rooted for her as deeply without Kaede Hondo.
From what I’ve seen, The Too Perfect Saint has mostly gone under the radar. There’s a small cult following from those in the shoujo fanspace, but the greater audience hasn’t really come to embrace this anime. I’m here to tell you not to let the first episode fool you. There’s action, romance, drama, revenge, and comedy all wrapped up in a story about two sisters whose love for each other transcends any dangers. It absolutely deserves your attention, and even if a little, I hope my review has enticed you to check it out.
Rating
Plot: 8 (Multiplier 3)
Characters: 8 (Multiplier 3)
Art/Animation: 6.5 (Multiplier 2)
Voice acting: 7
Soundtrack: 7
FINAL SCORE: 75
