The Spring 2024 Manga Guide

The Kept Man of the Princess Knight

What's It About? 

The labyrinth calls, and is answered by adventurers, profiteers, and anyone looking to make a quick buck. And in this town inhabited by the dregs of society live a man, and the woman who owns him. Arwen, the Princess knight with lofty dreams of restoring her homeland―and Matthew, the town drunk. As Arwen challenges the labyrinth, Matthew spends his days in taverns and brothels living off the money he gets from her. But the town laughingstock has a side that no one knows about. In service of Arwen, Matthew would do anything―no matter how dirty he might get.

The Kept Man of the Princess Knight is a manga by Keyyang adapted from a light novel series written by Toru Shirogane with characters designed by Saki Mashima. Published by Yen Press. (May 21, 2024)

Is It Worth Reading?

Oh, I get what you're trying to do here, The Kept Man of the Princess Knight. This manga starts by showing us all the worst parts of Matthew first. He has a very punchable face that's always twisted into a smirk. He is a kept man, but he uses his woman's money to sleep around at brothels! While the Princess Knight sacrifices herself for the kingdom exploring dungeons, he lazes around! But after following Matthew around for a bit, we realize that first impressions aren't exactly true: he's strong! He gives money to the needy! He fights crime like some kind of avenger!

“Don't you feel bad for assuming Matthew is a cad?” the manga seems to sneer at the reader. Well, no! Sure, he has some good points that weren't obvious at first. But also… the infidelity hasn't gone away. He's still cheating on his partner with seemingly zero remorse! He could rescue a whole orphanage, but I'd still feel bad for the Princess Knight. It does not matter to me that Matthew is heroically strong (but cursed for Reasons so he can no longer explore dungeons) or that he protects the city while the Princess Knight is away. It doesn't cancel out the other stuff he's doing behind her back.

Getting past Matthew's scumminess, this is a perfectly acceptable fantasy story that sometimes tips over the line into engaging. Matthew spends most of this volume tracking down the mastermind of a plot to kill him (as it turns out, he has many more enemies than mere judgemental readers). Later, he helps a female friend at the guild deal with her scummy boyfriend since ladies having poor taste in men seems to be a chronic problem in this story. Our kept man is ruthless as he kills opponents without mercy, and I can't say he's wrong here since they are also trying to kill him. However, he does everything with that stupid smirk on his face, and I want to slap it off. I am not the intended audience for this male power fantasy about a kept man who gets to slack off and earn allowance simply for being irresistible to the stunning Princess Knight. He's not an edgy antihero to me; he's just a garbage man.

I can appreciate The Kept Man of the Princess Knight leading with a title designed to invoke a "Whom amongst us…?" from anyone reading it. Our main man, Matthew, is introduced libido-first, being taken care of by the titular knight, who is also a princess, while also banging around brothels on the side. It's an auspicious intro that underscores what will likely be the central issue with this manga: Matthew is something of a tough sell as a protagonist. There's no shortage of main characters with questionable traits, to be sure. And there are plenty of other scumbags worse than Matthew. Still, he's abrasive and unpleasant in ways that don't become redemptive until later.

This creates a key issue in the plot of this first volume. It's based around Matthew attempting to prevent and solve an attempt on his life without any point of investment or care for the guy at the center of it, which doesn't make for an exceptionally compelling story. A lot of it tracks back to the readers going, "Yeah, I can understand why someone would want to kill you," and waiting around to see what happens. The payoff is the surprising revelation of Matthew being… strong, beating his opponents into submission while bleating about his backstory, and then going home to dissonant domestic bliss with his princess pal for a few pages.

If you can get past all that, I think The Kept Man of the Princess Knight does have something. Matthew's circumstances and the others he interacts with highlight a unique focus on the seedier backstage of a fantasy adventure setting. These are people who, for whatever reason, can't make their living fighting monsters and finding treasure in the dungeon, so they must pursue other, less scrupulous means. If you're tired of retreading dungeons in these sorts of stories, that can be a godsend. Matthew's street smarts and the others in his circle with whom he interacts build a distinct flavor for the book's dark fantasy thriller plotlines. Matthew even works up to being a more demonstrably good man of these people by this first volume's second story arc. But it's frustrating because the good stuff seems shoved to the side—Princess Knight Arwin seems pretty interesting, and I'm curious about the full story behind her and Matthew's relationship. Unfortunately, she barely shows up in this volume. It's a cursory curiosity that hasn't come into its own in this first volume.