YMMV / Ambition of the Red Princess

• Alternate Self Shipping: Fans of Ambition of the Red Princess jokingly ship this version of Malty with her canon self to see what Ambition!Malty has to say for Canon!Malty's Stupid Evil characteristics.
• Angst? What Angst?:
  • Zigzagged. Raphtalia's trauma from her village being destroyed and parents killed is still present well after it was neatly resolved in canon. Naofumi and Malty normally function just fine but are occasionally triggered by something that causes them to remember a traumatic moment from their travels.
  • At the deaths of Farkas and Kyubey, Naofumi and Mein don't seem to be heavily affected by their deaths in some reviews. Though Naofumi and Mein were heartbroken by their Heroic Sacrifices to ensure their safety, they quickly get through their mourning at the end of chapter 95. Whenever Kyubey and Farkas are mentioned by Mein or Naofumi, the deaths of the formers feel more like an aftermath, as the main characters' personality aren't affected very much.
• Archive Panic: Ambition of the Red Princess has 157 chapters total for its run time. For new readers wishing to read the story for Malty's expanded character, it may prove difficult having to keep up with several details, no matter how minor they may be in contributing the worldbuilding. The many characters introduced can also feel bloated in getting turned off to keep up with what roles they have for the story. On top of needing to understand several of the context to grasp on the full story, the fanfic itself is as of now still receives updates on its sequel, Ascension of the Red Princess, and it has a wider focus on political drama.
• Base-Breaking Character: Malty, a character known by Shield Hero's fans as the worst girl to exist, takes the concept of her origins and revamped characterization in Ambition of the Red Princess as negative criticism. If Malty's character has to undergo through drastic changes, then it would be more fitting in the eyes of haters to see her as an O.C. Stand-in or Original Character loosely based from her original counterpart. On the other side of the spectrum, Malty fans enjoy the new characterization on Ambition!Malty, as the fanfic takes its time to explore the untouched potential of her character, in which the source material of Shield Hero had wasted in favor of a Hate Sink to bully the main characters. Furthermore, because of fans enjoying Malty's depiction, her canon self had gone through Character Perception Evolution, because of Ambition of the Red Princess, and Canon!Malty looks to be an Unintentionally Sympathetic villainess that was given a Karmic Overkill.
• Broken Base:
  • The usage of characters that come from different works are either seen as a fun little Easter egg that appears in Ambition of the Red Princess to reference their original works or are disruptive of the world immersion of the story as noted by reviewers encountering them.
  • On the other hand, the characters borrowed from their respective works can be seen as a new interpretation of them on this fanfic or are unnecessary and could have instead been filled out by Original Characters.
  • At another perspective, the addition of having so many characters are seen as either a useful tool to expand the worldbuilding of the story, or there's just too many characters to keep up in remembering that may caused viewers to be Trapped by Mountain Lions.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • Siegmar Isaac Octavius Consevatie is a highly despicable noble of House Consevatie, causing lots of the times he is punished for his snobbish attitude to be quite satisfying for the viewers.
    • Arriving onto chapter 119, Consevatie finally gets a short Karma Houdini Warranty by Elhart smacking his face with a mallet in retribution to all the smug Evil Gloating Consevatie had been engaging himself to lord his superiority to everyone that had lost to him before then.
    • At a more proper Karma Houdini Warranty for Consevatie, he is put into a Humiliation Conga between chapter 132-133, where characters take their shots in attacking him all while he attempts to do his Evil Gloating. Even further to relieve the stress of both viewers and the main characters, Raphtalia and Firo are finally freed from the clutches of Consevatie, completing the reunion that had been missing for many chapters.
  • Mald after spending most of his time being a Jerkass towards his party members and everyone else in general, it can be a victorious moment for Rishia to finally stand up to him in chapter 92 and having him be pushed down for attempting to shut her from giving out crucial information about potions to Itsuki.
  • Cromwell having spent most of the time he has been on the screen, by actively antagonizing Naofumi and Malty as fugitives, and being a major cause that led the Three Heroes Church into disarray against many noble houses, Cromwell is temporarily put down on the ground and his threatened by Pope Balmus in chapter 121 to cease his ambitious control under the guise of faith.
• Continuity Lockout: Getting introduced to the story and diving deeper onto its lore, several characters that originated from different franchises are added either as an Easter Egg or to expand the worldbuilding. With the abundance of many characters, viewers may struggle to understand how their actions and roles in Ambition of the Red Princess are an allusion to the series they originated from.
• Creator Worship: By the fans of Ambition of the Red Princess, they offer lots of praise to Qinlongfei as the author for having turned Malty, a character once seen by the majority of audiences as one of the worst Hate Sinks to ever exist in media, to one of the most compelling characters to exist in the story.
• Dancing Bear: While the story has expanded the development of other characters from The Rising of the Shield Hero, and brought in lots of political plays for a better worldbuilding of the setting, the most frequently praised aspect for Ambition of the Red Princess is its reputation as one of the first fanfics to treat Malty as the main protagonist that extends her characterization beyond the canon series treating her as a Straw Loser Hate Sink.
• Fandom Rivalry: With Hope of the Shield Hero being a competitor alongside Ambition of the Red Princess as two of the most popular fanfictions related to The Rising of the Shield Hero, the two fanfics' fandoms have a rivalry on which of their favorite fanfiction is better. To Hope of the Shield Hero, fans prefer it for sticking to the canon of the story as a way to expand its worldbuilding and characters. While to fans of Ambition of the Red Princess, they enjoy the story for deviating from the canon to form a Fusion Fic of politics for Malty and the main characters to navigate through.
• Fandom-Specific Plot: By choosing to have Malty side with Naofumi under the guise of her adventurer name known as Mein of Samphor, other fanfic writers have taken inspiration from Ambition of the Red Princess to see how events of the Shield Hero story would play out if Malty never relied on her status as a princess, and instead remained as an adventurer working besides Naofumi.
• Fan Nickname: Ever since the reveal of Consevatie's origins as a reincarnate that was born into Medea thinking the world to be a video game and the inhabitants in it as NPC's, the author and some viewers have begun calling Consevatie by his allegory title, SIOC. By that term alone, Consevatie's purpose in the story is to deconstruct the arrogant Isekai protagonist thinking they are better than everyone with their modern knowledge, when really, Consevatie only made himself out to be one of the worst Hate Sinks viewers want punished for his senseless cruelty.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • The appearance of Iris Lana Amelia, Katarina Claes, and Bertia Noches in this story are a mirroring of Malty's role as the protagonist. The trio were once the main villainesses of their own story and were either viewed as despicable for their villainy or are trying to be genuinely villainous. At this story, Malty being the main protagonist has a meta-similarity to what her playmates used to be in their respective series.
  • The reveal the Chief God is Naofumi from the original web novel neatly explains all the shout outs: they come from his influence and memories of the original works, though if he did it on purpose or just by existing is unclear.
  • The reason Malty is an Adaptational Nice Girl? Because Medea Pideth Machina was erased from existence, meaning Malty is her own person not a fragment of an evil Goddess. Which leads into...
• Fridge Horror: The Sword Goddess WN!Raphtalia hates Malty S. Melromarc with a burning passion for the actions of Medea Pideth Machina even though they no longer exist. So just how many innocent and/or genuinely heroic versions of Malty has she killed, and not cared about all because of a name?
• I Knew It!:
  • In chapter 94, an unnamed goddess that has an eerily similar appearance to Raphtalia appears before everyone to face them off, and has a clear intention to go after Malty the Witch. Viewers, not knowing who the goddess is, they made guesses that the goddess is likely to be Web!Raphtalia. By chapter 95, Qinlongfei confirms the goddess to be Web!Raphtalia in his author notes on top.
  • Naofumi, thinking up of a plan comparable to Lelouch in chapter 128, a reviewer theorized the plan to be Naofumi creating an artificial landslide to kill most of House Consevatie and the Three Heroes Church's army. Coming into chapter 129, the reviewer was congratulated by Qinlongfei for correctly guessing the outline of Naofumi's plan.
  • Having Bed-Chan's roots be a convenient way to kill off most of the soldiers in Balafon in chapter 129, a reviewer noted that Bed-Chan would eventually get revealed to have a Fatal Flaw or a weakness to act as a balance to stop her from being a Invincible Hero. By chapter 130, Qinlongfei confirms the theory to be correct, as chapter 130 reveals Bed-Chan's drawbacks are her moral compass in Thou Shalt Not Kill.
• Informed Wrongness: Due to Firo's violent behavior, many characters have rooted the source of such behavior to Naofumi not giving Firo proper punishments and only delivering out empty threats. While Naofumi could be viewed as in the wrong for his overprotective parenting skills towards Firo's development into a vindictive person, the solution to solving Firo's behavior through corporal punishment isn't exactly a completely reliable method. In the end, the usage of the familiar seal could end up traumatizing Firo and whatever lessons learned will be based on fear.
• Jerkass Woobie: Malty S Melromarc, the main protagonist of the story has her shades of amoral actions and selfishness geared towards doing her best to become the next queen of her nation. Resorting to teaming up with Naofumi out of her own Pragmatic Villainy, being a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing to keep up with appearances, and a Schemer always ready to plot behind everyone's backs, by contrast has an increasingly sympathetic side behind her actions. Most of which start from her trauma of losing her filorial, Mein, as a young child, her Abusive Parent Queen Mirellia forcing her to mature into a princess ready for everything, and the many times her own life is put to danger by having to give up everything in her life to become Mein of Samphor.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "The Malty Effect". ^Explanation Described by Qinlongfei during a comment from another fanfic, the effect is a summarization as to what leads fanfic writers into utilizing Malty in a new interpretation, due to realizing that Canon!Malty's role had lots of wasted potential.
  • "Sir-who's-this-new-guy's personal life and family". ^Explanation The excessive cast of characters being introduced in so many chapters of the story has resulted on reviewers in the fanfic or commenters on reddit leaving out parodies of how new characters are randomly introduced.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • High Inquisitor Emon crosses this and cements himself as a villain that needed to be stopped at all cost by charging up his sword into attacking all the commoners in Lute Village in a misguided belief that they deserve death for following the Shield Hero.
  • Siegmar Isaac Octavius Consevatie was already an unlikable prick for engaging in his pointless Slut-Shaming during every interaction with Malty, being a dirty cheater against his duel with Jaune, and always stirring up conflicts by always finding someone to blame. What truly establishes him to be truly despicable is when he gets Kyubei killed in chapter 94 during a relentless chase to detain an innocent Naofumi and Mein, who Consevatie blames for the arrival of the goddess in the third wave.
• More Interesting as a Villain: Reintroducing Mirellia as an antagonistic force to Malty, and being the one that failed as a mother for Malty, viewers prefer Mirellia as a villain. Viewers have in their reviews in chapter 28, that despite Mirellia's benevolent portrayal as Naofumi's ally, most of Mirellia's actions were self-serving to political reasons or for ensuring Melromarc's protection. The way Mirellia was introduced in canon felt as though she was a Deus ex Machina for Naofumi to escape his troubles. Here, in Ambition of the Red Princess, Mirellia feels more realistic on how the plans she enacts have clear flaws and are short-sighted enough that she fits more as a villain than a Designated Hero.
• Nausea Fuel: Chapter 110's death of the child, Kazuya, can be quite disgusting to read, as he experiences a Cruel and Unusual Death from Ken slicing up his body to pieces. To make matters grosser, Malty's culminated pressure inside her body, pushes her into doing a Stress Vomit that accidentally desecrates Kazuya's mutilated corpse.
• One True Pairing: The numerous character interactions Malty and Naofumi had in their time together, the ship between the two characters is the most preferred in the fandom enjoying the Ambition of the Red Princess. Though Raphtalia X Naofumi was the most popular ship in The Rising of the Shield Hero, the Malty X Naofumi ship in Ambition of the Red Princess is seen as the more engaging for this fandom. With the reasons coming from the interactions of Naofumi and Malty leading to tensions where they improve upon their Character Development, and themselves being a Foil of each other.
• Padding:
  • A common criticism found in reviews for Ambition of the Red Princess are the excessive Infodump many chapters contain. The loads of exposition getting dumped results in the pacing being slowed down and character moments interrupted.
  • On the Zellus and Weiss fight, readers admit to not enjoying both fights, as the action being described in text looks like a transcript and lack the visual effects to make the fights more enjoyable. Furthermore, the fights are hard to follow and understand, resulting in the end as fluff that is dragging out the main plot of the story.
• Sacred Cow: Chapter 94 is hailed as a clean and perfect chapter by reviewers that have left their notes of praise. The chapter builds up the tension by introducing Web Novel Raphtalia onto the battle field, and the ever presence of her godly powers really raise the stakes for everyone's safety. In addition to the heightened seriousness, the lack of references and pointless exposition helped glued readers' attention to see the incoming events.
• Self-Fanservice: Malty. Even though she was given an Adaptational Modesty by dressing up in leather armor, coupled with a cloak that covered most of her body for the most optimal amount of protection, Malty fans prefer ignoring that most of her body is hidden in clothes, in exchange for a more revealing cloak and metal attire similar to her canon self. Despite her beauty being tainted by a cursed scar, Malty is still seen by fans to be always beautiful and the best character, no matter how much physical injuries she has to endure.
• Signature Scene: An important moment of the series that changed everything and made it iconic among the Shield Hero fanfic community is Malty's decision to side with Naofumi in his False Rape Accusation trial. Under usual circumstances, Malty would usually frame Naofumi, but by choosing to side with him, Ambition of the Red Princess is frequently associated by the plot point in chapter 4 and what events unfold afterwards.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Malty's mother wrote her off before she was even ten years old, deciding to engage her to King Faubley, despite knowing full well how sadistic the man is.
  • And then, the reason for her choice: to try and retrieve the cure for the Wailing Death, Aultclay all but invaded Faubley, and Malty is the price he demanded for not retaliating with the strongest military in the world against a country still in the middle of rebuilding after Siltvelt burned it to the ground.
• Trapped by Mountain Lions: In chapters where a huge load of characters are introduced or a major battle is happening where many characters receive their focus on how they fare, the scenes often have viewers be left confused or be struggling to comprehend what's happening to the situation.
• Unexpected Character:
  • Chapter 84 introduces the identity at one of the previous Spear Heroes as Son Goku and it has come as a surprise to find out that Goku is a part of this fanfic. With Fridge Brilliance applied, it somewhat makes sense why he would be an ancestor to the Claes Family, since both Katarina and Goku have descriptions as monkeys, are Idiot Heroes, and have a likable personality for people to enjoy being near their presence.
  • During the Third Wave none else than Raphtalia from the web novel shows up to try and murder "the Witch".
• Wangst: Naofumi watching his companions be in danger or having to dive down into troubling situations to save anyone as part of his Chronic Hero Syndrome is understandable for how he was characterized to be the best hero he can be, but all the times his Guilt Complex brings him into sulking at problems that were out of his reach can eventually get repetitive on viewers.
• Win Back the Crowd: Throughout the fan fiction, readers have been occasionally been getting Trapped by Mountain Lions over the bombardment of several referential characters, places, and events that leave the readers confused. With the arrival of chapter 94, however, reviewers admit to having regained their interest to continue reading the Ambition of the Red Princess for its focus on plot base elements and being a Wham Chapter that radically darkens the situation for the cast.