One of Yen Press’s newest releases “The Royal Tutor” presents action, drama and comedy through its small but menacing protagonist Professor Heine Wittgenstein.

Higasa Akai focus her manga around the noble family of the Granzreich kingdom which is a blessed one with a large family. As custom, the first son is the declared heir of the throne but the king recruits Professor Heine to educate the younger one in case something happens to the eldest. As if judgement and challenges due to his small stature is enough trouble to the teacher, he discovers that many other tutors quit their job after working with the four princes for a short time. The professor finds out that each of the princes have strikingly different traits that complicated Heine’s predecessors’ work. Even with all the teens’ disapproval, it seems that the little tutor is set on sticking with completing his work. When there are unusual students to deal with, unconventional teaching techniques are necessary.

When taking Akai’s manga at face value, one might think of a non-magical version of Ken Akamatsu’s “Magical Teacher Negima!” with a mostly male cast. Unlike the child prodigy Negi Springfield, Heine is an adult with many years of experience and strong focus on work. He shows that there is more than academics that needs to be developed in people. Some of the prince’s personalities hit the nail on the head with their corresponding trope, but Akai gradually shows their other sides through Heine. Her art is like a simpler version of Jun Mochizuki’s art though she spare no detail when it comes to some of the background scenes. Yen Press includes the inner cover illustrations of the Japanese version which some translated manga exclude.

“The Royal Tutor” is part of the the Spring 2017 anime series and Crunchyroll has its episodes available on its site. For more information on the manga including ways of reading the latest translated chapters, visit Yen Press.