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For as long as she can remember, Scarlet loved nothing more than punching bullies in the face. But when the biggest bully in the land—the second-born Prince Kyle—claims her as his fiancée, Scarlet is forced to set her desire for swift and bloody justice aside until further notice.

Further notice comes when the abusive Prince Kyle suddenly calls off their engagement. Scarlet is accused of multiple crimes against Kyle’s new fiancée, Terenezza. But before Kyle can pass judgment and brand her a villainess, Scarlet has one final request: to beat the ever-living filth out of Kyle and his flunkies!

Scarlet’s roaring rampage of revenge is far from over after she beats up every corrupt noble in sight. Several of the ignoble noblemen let slip their involvement in the kingdom’s illegal slave trade. The elder Prince Julius has been looking for such a lead for a long time, and Scarlet has been looking for an excuse to punch the daylights out of every predatory noble in the kingdom her whole life.

The two form an alliance to remove the rot from the upper class of the kingdom. But will it remain a strictly professional relationship? It certainly will if Julius keeps calling her an amusing “creature!”

Fantasy Reflects Reality

European-inspired fantasy has been the dominant genre in anime and manga for more than ten years. However, these modern titles are not straightforward homages to what came before. Instead, they are almost universally parodying, subverting, deconstructing or otherwise remixing the genre in various ways. While they will gesture to the likes of Dragon Quest and Record of Lodoss War to get the ball rolling, these titles inevitably take a sharp right turn somewhere along the line.

Often, these twists on the genre are influenced by the political and material reality of life in modern-day Japan, much of which mirrors our struggles here in the US. The rising cost of living, housing insecurity and the exploitation of labor have all influenced Japanese light novels, manga and anime. Slime 300, for example, features a protagonist who was reincarnated into a fantasy video game world after literally working herself to death.

Among the social issues influencing this wave of new fantasy is gender inequality. Much like in the US, the surge of support for the #MeToo movement in the late 2010s brought to light many injustices towards women in Japan. While feminist and protofeminist movements in Japan date as far back as the 1870s, the backlash against these movements has been fierce. But thanks to modern communication technologies, women can at least have these conversations about gender inequality out in the open.

Around this time, there was a noticeable rise in popular Japanese media critiquing gender inequality. One of the most famous examples is The Apothecary Diaries, which I previously praised for its grounded portrayal of women living in a patriarchal society. The manga we’re talking about today takes the polar opposite approach. We’re going to dive into some pure, unadulterated catharsis.

The Art of the Power Fantasy

Fiction can address our worries and anxieties in many ways. Often, the approach most praised is one characterized by subtlety and nuance. The conflict is complex, the antagonist is sympathetic and the heroes may not always be in the right.

This manga is not that.

The power fantasy is the classic scenario for what’s often described as “popcorn” media. A big, strong man beats up the bad guys. A woman’s patient love transforms the beast into a prince.

These kinds of stories are often considered low-brow and mindless, but there’s an art to power fantasies. If they were all the same, the likes of Conan the Barbarian or A Princess of Mars would not have outlasted their pulp fiction contemporaries. It might be an exotic setting or intriguing characters, but a good power fantasy still needs something to set it apart from the rest.

Power fantasies are exceedingly common among the type of modern fantasy May I Ask? is a part of. I could have written this post about any one of those titles, from Rising of the Shield Hero to Mushoku Tensei. What, then, is so special about May I Ask? that I just had to write about it?

It’s what our main character chooses to do with power.

A Spectacular Lead

Immediately after getting her personal revenge against Prince Kyle, Scarlet is laser-focused on bringing the local slave trade to heel. While Scarlet does soon obtain a personal stake in this conflict, she initially only takes on the task for the sheer joy of bringing evil to justice. Her next target is the corrupt church of Palmia, which harbors wicked secrets and oppresses the more popular religions among the people. Throughout the series, Scarlet’s bloodlust is firmly set on the most corrupt and most powerful scumbag in the kingdom.

Scarlet’s zealous pursuit of justice is her defining character trait. A “strong sense of justice” can be a shallow descriptor of a hero if the narrative doesn’t follow up on it. Sure, your hero stopped the bad guy, but does he care about injustices happening within the peace he protects?

Scarlet certainly does, to the point that she isn’t that interested in petty criminals. Instead, she has a “trickle down” approach to justice. She takes down the people with the most power, who are capable of doing the most harm. And given our present day, when the corruption of the upper class is more visible than ever, nothing is more cathartic than seeing a villain with more money than morals getting his teeth knocked out.

Outside of her love for punching out corrupt nobles, Scarlet is a highly elegant and feminine beauty. The iconic image of the show is Scarlet in a full ballroom gown, black studded gloves and crimson blood on her face. The contrast between elegance and brutality is simultaneously awesome and hilarious, with Scarlet herself often leaning into the contradictions of her own character. She’s funny and cool, and it’s difficult for me to talk about her any further without just gushing about how awesome I think she is.

The Enigmatic Love Interest

The flipside to having all the villains of the series be the elites of the kingdom is that having the Crown Prince of that kingdom as Scarlet’s love interest might seem like a questionable choice. And while he’s far more principled than his younger brother, Julius is not without sin.

Julius treats people, especially Scarlet, like amusing zoo animals. He keeps a bestiary of “peculiar creatures,” and Scarlet is the crown jewel of that collection. During their academic rivalry, Scarlet struggled to surpass Julius; in turn, the prince regarded her in a patronizing tone.

And yet, like many classic love interests before him, Julius is as charming as he is vexing. When Scarlet closed herself off emotionally while enduring Kyle’s abuse, Julius still saw her for the passionate soul she was. During their school days, Julius spent much of his time around Scarlet to frighten off his petulant little brother. His compliments sound sincere and thoughtful, until he inevitably ruins the moment by talking about Scarlet like she’s the subject of a wildlife documentary.

That last point is an occurrence that happens so often it’s hard to tell when it’s merely a quirk of his personality and when it’s planned. Does Julius simply have a peculiar way of expressing his love? Or is he keeping Scarlet at arm’s length for a reason? Julius is an intriguing enough character that I want to keep reading and find out the answer.

Supporting Roles

Scarlet and Julius are supported by a charming cast of characters. This supporting cast brings a great deal of humor to the story with their varied reactions to Scarlet’s violent sense of justice. Scarlet’s brother Leonardo worries about his sister’s chances of living a normal life, while her servant Nanaka is fiercely loyal but quietly terrified of his mistress.

Conversely, Prince Alflame from the neighboring empire adores Scarlet and her fighting prowess, an affection that is not shared. However, Alflame’s magically enhanced defenses make it difficult to permanently get rid of him. It does make it easy to hurl him back to his home kingdom and steal his pet dragon, though.

Evocative Art

The art from Sora Honoki is excellent. The clean line art makes details easy to read and minimizes visual clutter, creating a pleasant reading experience. Even more impressive is Honoki-sensei’s use of shadows and light to evoke emotions. In the early parts of the story, Scarlet doesn’t readily express herself, so Honoki-sensei uses shadows across her face to convey her boiling anger to the audience without making it obvious to the characters, save for Julius, who could always read Scarlet like a book. And when Scarlet does clearly wear her emotions on her face, Honoki-sensei’s expert shading just enhances those emotions that much more.

On top of the technical skill, the art is just plain gorgeous. I gushed about what complex and interesting characters Scarlet and Julius are, but I’m not going to pretend that part of my affection doesn’t come from how drop-dead gorgeous the two of them are.

Conclusion

May I Ask for One Final Thing? is a great power fantasy manga with fun humor and cathartic battles against sinister nobles. Scarlet is a delightful lead, and she’s supported by a varied cast of amusing characters.

This awesome manga has only been available digitally until now, but you can finally get your hands on a physical copy of the first volume from our shelves! If you want to get a sample of what the manga is like, the publisher offers a free preview of the first three chapters on their website. And keep an eye on our catalog for future volumes!

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