Positive female friendship and sisters who would die for each other make for a perfectly binge worthy series.
With multiple popular titles coming out this Spring 2025 season, the fantasy anime The Too-Perfect Saint: Tossed Aside by My Fiancé and Sold to Another Kingdom was definitely an underdog. However, as the weeks passed, it proved itself to be a strong contender, and one of the primary reasons for this is how it positively portrays female friendship and sisterhood.
Warning: Spoilers ahead!
The story of The Too-Perfect Saint centers around Philia, a Saint in the Ziltonia kingdom, in charge of the country’s safety. She is engaged to the kingdom’s second prince Julius, and the story begins when the pernicious prince sells her to the neighbouring kingdom of Parnacorta. But this basic premise gives birth to something special as the story progresses. The other central character of the series besides Philia is her younger sister Mia. Unlike Philia, who is stoic and often comes off as arrogant despite only being shy, Mia is easy-going, sweet, and friendly. Even though it’s Philia who works relentlessly to protect the kingdom, people are more enamoured with Mia. As a saint, Mia is also talented, although nowhere near her sister.
The dynamic between Mia and Philia is nothing like you’d expect
Just from reading the premise, you might be imagining Mia as a venomous evil character hiding behind a gentle facade. But you couldn’t be more wrong. In the past, Mia wasn’t very attached to Philia as their parents kept them apart. They doted on Mia while forcing Philia to work to her bones to become a Saint and take them up the social ladder. Mia didn’t find this fair as a child, but she never tried to get close to Philia either. However, things changed when the inexperienced young Saint Mia was saved by Philia.
Unlike spiteful younger sisters such as Kaya Saimori in My Happy Marriage and Mielle in the manhwa The Villainess Turns the Hourglass, Mia idolises Philia. Although they still don’t talk to each other a lot because of Philia’s reserved personality, Mia worships the ground Philia walks on, not only as an older sister but also as a Saint. Despite being treated horribly by her parents, her fiance Julius, and the rest of the Ziltonia kingdom, Philia treats her little sister kindly. At the beginning of the anime, she gives Mia a hairpin which the younger sister wears all the time. Even after being poisoned by everyone else, the two siblings share a loving bond untouched by malice.
The anime flips the Cinderella trope on its head
The Cinderella trope is very common in anime and manga, and a perfect example would be My Happy Marriage. Miyo Saimori is effectively abused and tortured by her father, stepmother, and half-sister Kaya. But things change when she is engaged to Kiyoka Kudou, a man known for his cold cruelty, yet one who turns out to be a kind person on the inside. One could say things were very similar for Philia, as she was constantly put down by her own parents and even fiance, and only received fair and warm treatment when she went to Pernacorta. There, she met the second prince Osvalt, her butler Leonardo, her maid Lena, and other characters who treated her kindly and with respect.
But the one major difference between the two shows are the sisters. Unlike Kaya, Mia is kind and idolises her older sister. When she is taken away unjustly, Mia enters a state of cunning politics to exact revenge on everyone who wronged Philia, including Julius and her own parents. She put a smile on her face and kept her gentle Saint act all throughout just to scheme behind their backs to take them down. Instead of using the ‘good on the outside, cunning on the inside’ trope on her sister, she uses it on those who wronged her sister. Kōki Fuyutsuki, the writer of the original novel series takes the ‘malicious younger sister’ cliché and gives us one of the greatest sibling bonds in recent anime history.
Why shows with positive female interactions are important
One of the main complaints with anime that people have had is its treatment of female characters. Women in mainstream anime are often treated as mere fanservice, or just a way to further the plot for the male protagonist (barring shows like Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura). But in recent years, we have seen a significant rise in women-led storylines. Shows like The Apothecary Diaries and Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End not only have a female lead, but also many other important women characters with their own storylines. This change is extremely important not only to make sure that more women get into anime, but also to ensure a younger female audience can relate to the characters on screen.
A show like The Too-Perfect Saint is a perfect example of this type of positive influence. In the show, Philia’s mother is a malicious woman who, along with her husband, abuses Philia and favours Mia. In this regard, the story still remains realistic with the inclusion of a malicious woman, while also being hopeful. However, neither Philia nor Mia carry the hate their parents put them through. They come out of that abusive situation with nothing but sisterly love and respect for one another. When Philia goes to Pernacorta, she meets her maid Lena, her ninja servant Himari, and her student Grace, all of whom treat her with utmost admiration and warmth. Together with Mia, these women, and Osvalt, Philia learns what love is for the first time. On the other hand, Mia gets ready to put her life on the line for her beloved sister, blaming herself for not understanding Philia’s struggles sooner.
The anime is very easy to follow in terms of story development and character. The only gripe I have with the story is its lack of action sequences, even though many opportunities of all-out battle appear in the last two episodes. That doesn’t make it any less entertaining. Philia learning to respect and love herself, Mia dedicating her entire being to avenge her sister, and the overarching plot of demonic doom hanging over their heads make it an extremely bingeworthy anime. This helps The Too-Perfect Saint emerge as a perfect starting point for those who want to see sisterly love and positive female side-characters in anime.
