Prince Charles / Prince Leonard of Cinderella Monogatari

Do you know that Cinderella's Prince Charming is a wanderlust and truant boy?

          He's so bored and unwilling to take his lessons with his tutor at home (which happens to be just a huge palace) that he would find ways to escape, disguising himself as a commoner by wearing civilian clothes. He is a fibber who weaves lies, one after another. Well, this is the rendition of a Japanese anime TV series by Mondo and Tatsunoko, Cinderella Monogatari  made on 1995.  

Originally, the prince in the series goes by the name Charles and so with the other translations. But back in 1997 (I was just seven years old then), ABS-CBN of my country, Philippines changed his name to Leonard (read as Lenard for those Pinoys who misspell his name).

          The story goes much the same as what we know of the fairy tale, except for a few changes. Well of course, we know that Cinderella came from a wealthy family. Only in this series, her father is particularly a Duke which was not told of in the famous tales. The Duke is also some sort of a businessman. In the first episode titled, I want to Become a Splendid Young Lady, Cinderella's father goes on a long voyage leaving her behind with her stepmom and stepsisters who banishes her to become the househelper and to live in the attic above the kitchen. Little does she know, Penelope (in tagalog, Paulette) her fairy godmother does some magic to her animal friends: Patch (Patchie, her dog pet), Chuchu and Bingo (friendly mice), and Pappy (little bird) by enabling them to talk to ease her sorrow and assist her in her works.  That's just about it, not so much for the introduction.

          Now here goes the exciting part. The second episode, The Flowers from my Dream tells of a sweet turning point in Cinderella's life. In the town, a Flower Queen Contest is to be held where her stepsisters, Catherine and Jean (In tagalog, Katrina and Jane) will join in. She's forbidden to attend the contest by her stepmom. Eager to see the event where she's hoping to be won by either of her stepsisters, she follows them. Now, a fine young man was walking with an apple he plays with his hand. Hurrying home by the end of the contest, Cinderella bumps into this man who well, just happens to be the prince in disguise! She utters her apology while running. The young man chases after her until he catches her up in the river. Apparently, he's just returning Cinderella's key which had fallen in their encounter. 

How the prince meet his princess:

Eating apple nonchalantly. And then...

It started with a loud whack at his back!

Kilig (heart-fluttering) moment: 
Cinderella: It's getting late, I really need to go.
Prince Charles: Will we meet again?
Cinderella (while running away): Yes, maybe!

The pictures shortly before for that kilig♡ moment:

Those puppy eyes! 

I would melt with such a dreamy stare in real life. 

To be given flowers is every girl's dream. 

          Cinderella and the young man (by that, I mean the prince) run into each other again in the town on the third episode, The Mysterious Boy. Initially, the young man tells her that he works in the palace as the prince's fencing partner and then later as the prince's best friend Alex. Jean overhears this (as she was also stalling behind Cinderella) and reports to her mom.

On the fourth episode, The Horse, Cinderella's stepmom asks her to bring the mysterious boy at home for interrogation, to inquire about the prince. Failing to meet the young man again, unknown to her, Penelope (the fairy godmother) brandishes the same young man out of a horse. Cinderella brings back home the mysterious boy (which is actually a horse) and funny things took place. The spell ends in an hour and the horse goes back to its true form in the kitchen. As everybody gets frightened by the sudden presence of the horse, the stepmom puts a carrot on a stick behind Cinderella and the horse chases her up to town. The young man sees her (again!) and saves her by taming the horse. 

Kilig moment: As if that moment when Cinderella hugged the prince isn't kilig enough, huh?

More episode 4 photos:

I know that this post is supposedly just a photo collection of Heartthrobs. And for this, that shall be Prince Charles  (and I much prefer, Leonard). But I can only do so much as describe our featured heartthrob here by telling his story. And thus, the spoilers for the first four episodes. For more actions, see the next pictures. 

Ok, ok... Here he is. And that's lots of him from episode 5:

(Please click the pictures for high resolution)

Ok, I'll be showing a number of holding hands from here.

This one is from The Sad Violinist episode:

And this is from the 22nd episode, Cinderella is in Danger:

The Invitation to the Ball (episode 24) pictures:

The series' poster:

Trivial Question: If you were Prince Leonard (I told you, I like Leonard better) and you came across a girl in one of your adventures who then became your best friend outside your monotonous life in the castle (So much for a prince, eh? And let's not forget Alex), because of your obligation to attend the Great Ball and you had a misunderstanding with this girl 2 days before the big day, what will you do? Will you make appease with this girl first and personally invite her to the ball or will you just say 'Come what may'? Now, if you  happened to find a really enchanting lady in the ball who could be your prospect princess, will you focus on this lady and just forget about your female best friend? What will you do? 


Pardon me for the long questions. Surely, Prince Charming was faced with this dilemma in the series. Lucky for him, the dreamy girl in the ball happened to be his bestfriend. 


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