MeruPuri (short for Marchen Prince in the original Japanese release) is a shoujo manga series written by Matsuri Hino, serialized in the magazine LaLa from 2002 to 2004. The series spans four volumes and also has a drama CD. Viz Media has licensed it for an English release.
All high school freshman Airi Hoshina ever wanted was to someday live in a cozy home with a loving husband and find joy in the little things in life. As a result, she makes it her daily mission to get to school on time because school legend has it that the longer one's non-tardy streak is, the better boyfriend one will find. But just when her daily routine is working like clockwork, an occurrence of fairy-tale proportions threatens to disrupt her grand plan.
Meru Puri provides examples of:
- Adorably Precocious Child : Aram in spades. But don't tell him. Young child? Check! Almost always serious? Check! Responsible? Check! Worries a lot for the person he cares for? Double-check! Hates being called cute and treated like a child? CHECK! … And still adorable when he allows himself to be a kid.
- All Myths Are True: It seems our Fairy Tales really happened in the Magical Kingdom.
- Always Save the Girl: No matter what, Aram will always rescue Airi.
- Amnesiac Lover: Around vol. 3, Aram loses all of his memories of Airi, even though her presence still affects him...
- Badass Adorable : Kid!Aram can hold himself against mages way older and more experienced than him in magic. He keeps part of his adorableness when he grows up.
- Badass Bureaucrat : Lei won't lift a finger to help Airi, nor Aram. Unless he has no choice because of the job.
- Badass Normal: Airi. She willingly oppose Jeile and don't hesitate to slap him, twice, knowing that he is the guy who cursed Aram (and so that he could do it to her too). She doesn't wait for Aram to rescue her when she is kidnapped either. And it could have worked without Maruru. that is until her training from hell!
- Berserk Button : Aram has a few. Calling him cute or treating him like a child … And doing anything bad to Airi.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Jeile acts like a carefree ladykiller but don't be fooled.
- Big Damn Heroes: Aram saves Airi several times this way.
- Blue Blood: More than half of the cast is royalty or has a royal ancestor.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: When Jeile makes his first appearance, it happens to be at the end of a chapter. He wonders about what the name of the month is written under him, and Airi explains that since it's the end of the chapter, the month indicates the next slated release of the magazine.
- Costume Porn: Justified considering the settings of the story
- Cultured Warrior: Any male of one of the royal families is trained in and educated.
- Gentleman Wizard: Jeile, and probably Aram too after the time skip, and, as said above any male from royal families.
- Dysfunctional Family : Aram is actually safer and much happier with Airi, a teenage girl who lives alone in a world he barely knows. It means something.
- Dual Age Modes: Aram can change from his normal 12-year-old form to is 17-year-old form.
- Famous Ancestor : unfortunately for Airi her great great great grandmother isn't exactly appreciated in the Magical Kingdom.
- Gilded Cage: The castle for Aram.
- God Save Us from the Queen! : not really evil but definitely dangerous. And everybody is afraid of her.
- Hormone-Addled Teenager : more or less, but it is implied that Jeile curse does more than just make Aram grow up. The body fonctions also adapt to the body age. Aram states that when he is in his teenage body he has some sexual desire for Airi (which he doesn't really understand). At the end of the story, though, he IS really seventeen years old and totally at ease with it.
- Innocent Prodigy: Aram. He actively tries to be and act like a grown-up. So much that he can be himself in his teen mode and no one will find him particularly childish. But sometimes, when it comes to feelings and attraction for instance, he is still a child after all.
- It Amused Me: She ain't really bad, but the Queen definitely enjoys playing with people.
- Likes Older Women: Aram likes Airi, who is 5 years older than he is.
- Lonely Rich Kid : Aram (and probably Jeile too). His only « friend » before meeting Airi was Rei. And he is happy the first night Airi take him in her house because it is the first time he sleeps alongside someone else.
- May–December Romance: Simultaneously inverted for a Mayfly–December Romance with Aram's magical lifespan.
- Averted: the ending implies that Airi will also live a long long life
- Mouthy Kid: Aram is a proud royal brat after all.
- Muggle and Magical Love Triangle: Airi is conflicted between Aram (magical) and Nakaoji (muggle). Aram is conflicted between Airi (muggle) and the noble magical girl from his own magical world that his father wants him to marry.
- Parental Abandonment Airi parents have worked abroad for years. She is 15 at the beginning of the series ...
- Parental Neglect: The King and Queen of the Magical Kingdom don't seem to be very present for their sons.
- A few days after he was born Aram was took under Rei's care (who was still a kind).
- They don't seem to worry this much for the brothers well-being … So much that Aram doesn't believe Lei when he tells the prince is father is worried sick about him.
- And worst, Aram's mother was under many of the events that endangered Airi and so her son too. Including the brainwashing plot ...
- The Power of Love: You'd bet it would exist in a fairy tale-esque love story! A maiden's kiss/True Love's Kiss is even able to dispel the most powerful curses
- Shared Family Quirks : Airi takes after her great-great-great- grand mother Chrisnel.
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Aram and Jeile. One is a serious and somehow cold but polite person who swore to love/marry only one woman in his life, the other is an eccentric Handsome Lech with a devoted harem.
- Sugar-and-Ice Personality: Aram's attitude is VERY different when Airi is around. To the point she wonders if it's really him the first time she sees him in the Magic Kingdom. And he has to prove that he is himself to her. But when he realizes it he drops his snobbish attitude quickly anyway. On the other hand, people are also surprised to see how he is when Airi is around. Which doesn't help the girl in making friends there.
- Undressing the Unconscious: Subverted. Airi is abducted by Jeile and wakes up in a fancy Gothic dress with her hair in baby doll ringlets. She immediately panics at the thought of being undressed by him while she slept until his fairy Maruru explains that she was the one who dressed her with her magic.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Aram is very mature for his age. He understands perfectly how his world and family work and can use or defy it depending on the situation. He still has some childish sides though, like loving sweets and Pika rangers but he keeps it while growing up so it might just be a part of his personality
