Review: Ingoku no Sumeragi Hime Dietlinde

Another Taira Hajime work and another one where I of course was overjoyed to read. His works have rarely let me down which is an achievement considering the amount of works he has done but can another really set itself apart from his back catalogue to stand on its own?

A minister of the elf princess Dietlinde has a problem and plans to use her to relieve his stress. He discovers a secret creature locked away in the castle that he feels is optimal to his plans. He uses it first on the princesses subordinate and after seeing it’s resounding success begins his plan to enslave the princess and reap the benefits.

The setup is fairly simple in nature but as I have found with Taira Hajimes work they do exactly what they needed to do. The minister has motivations for it and his sleazy yet clever mind finds the ideal response to it. Calculated and cunning they set out do what they want however many obstacles (and there will be) may come. They adapt and find new ways.

Characters are traditional affair fantasy fare, the innocent elf princess, her servants who would do anything for her and those with darker motives who will do what needs must to keep themselves safe. I will never tire of seeing a princess being broken and humiliated so it gets two thumbs up from me but all characters had something to them and hooked me in one way or another.

The foundation for sordid acts is the aforementioned worm. Parasitic in nature and releasing an aphrodisiac like effect on the body it takes the place of the usual potion. In her body this affects her feelings of pleasure, ramping them up and making her lust after something, anything to relieve it. This naturally leads to all sorts of depraved, degrading, erotic and humiliating acts. As you could guess from that last line this is not a series for fans of vanilla.

We have Dietlinde walking around with her dress open and clamps attached to her exposed pussy, being tied up in the library with sex toys in her, walking around with a chastity belt and dildo in her pussy, exhibitionist plays, sex with orcs, slave admissions and more. There is a plethora of perverted goodness here.

A few scenes really stood out to me such as the hole in the wall scenario is one I have rarely seen done badly. Dietlinde is shown it in the beginning as a sign of what is to come and when she does eventually reach this it is joyous. In the hole with her entire lower half naked and exposed to the public. Random people come and have their way with her, toying with her as she endures but ultimately succumbs to the pleasure whilst on the other side they love seeing her reactions to commoners fucking a princess who now has no shame and proceed to humiliate further by pissing on and tormenting her.

Another scene comes towards the end when she is in a hotel in the outer skirts. She goes to the toilet and a visitor comes in who starts having his way with her, she cannot help but fall to the pleasure but he asks her to lick the urinal while he fucks her, she reluctantly accepts but finds even this pleasurable and she falls fully into the sexual abyss. It is incredibly arousing and delves into the most degrading of acts that I adore.

These are just two of many in the diverse range of sordid acts here with so much more to offer. With so many different scenes it can be hard to fit it all in but here it is paced to perfection. It never lingers on one kink / fetish for too long, it gives just enough time before moving onto something even more perverse.

It also feels natural in the way it includes all of these kinks. It doesn’t add them just to increase the tally, each one feels like a normal progression with more and more happening to Dietlinde to help humiliate and break her.

Is there a generic feel to it? Yes, the art, whilst lovely does match, almost identically, to other works by Taira Hajime. Some plot devices such as punishing and enslaving the princess feel overused and some of the acts are a staple of the genre.

What sets it apart is the mastery of the execution by taking all the good bits. Sure I could have liked more scenes of certain elements such as the exhibitionism and degrading acts by commoners but there is more than enough to offset it.

The art is as consistent as ever with Taira Hajimes work with the refinement on show. The princess is an elf so that is the one change you could use to differentiate with his other works but apart from that the idealised long legs, slim bodies and sizeable breasts are here with limited variation. I am a big fan so it poses no issue to me but be aware if you want something different.

Taira Hajime does it again and crafts and immensely enjoyable ero work that has fantastic re-readability and an abundance of degrading material that is sure to satisfy any reader. At this point he has refined his works so much that he never fails to disappoint even if the content has been done before. A recommendation for fans of the genre and newcomers alike.

Mangaka: Taira Hajime

Release: 2016

Length: 9 chapters, 1 volume

Availability: Mandarake, J-List

9/10