Marriage Royale is a series of illustrated Japanese fictional short stories written by Shingo Hifumi and illustrated by Aoi Nishimata and Hiro Suzuhira; both illustrators are from Navel. The short stories ran as part of a reader-participation game in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine, published by ASCII Media Works, between the January 2006 and May 2011 issues. A manga titled Marriage Royale based on the short stories, illustrated by Koko Natsuki from Lime, was serialized between the April 2007 and January 2011 issues of Dengeki G's Magazine. A second manga titled Marriage Royale: Prism Story illustrated by Junka Morozumi started serialization in Dengeki G's Festival! Comic on October 26, 2009.
Plot
Marriage Royale's story revolves around the male protagonist, a high school student named Tsukasa Hinomoto, who is told one day by his parents that he was adopted. Furthermore, they tell him that his real father is a manager of a large company, meaning he is very rich and holds a lot of power. Tsukasa's real father wants his son to marry a good woman, so he sets up an event known as Marriage Royale where beautiful girls from all over Japan will come together at a school built especially for the event and vie to become Tsukasa's fiancée. The school is located on an isolated island near Japan, and Tsukasa himself is taken there to live in a mansion in the care of two twin maids: Miku, the elder sister, and Miu, the younger sister.
Marriage Royale began as a reader-participation game in the January 2006 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine, where the profiles of two girls, Minato Daiba and Minami Umeda, were supplied for the reader. After reading the profiles, the reader could illustrate what they wanted the girls to look like, and send it in; out of all the entries, two were chosen for each girl, and the attributes of both were combined to create a single character design illustrated by either Aoi Nishimata, or Hiro Suzuhira. Both illustrators are from Navel, which is also known for producing the visual novelsShuffle!, and Soul Link. Every three months, two new profiles were published, and this pattern continued until the fourth round with eight girls at the time. The second round introduced Komachi Akita, and Otoha Shinjo; the third round brought in Miyako Asakura, and Yamuko Hidaka; and the fourth round had Sera Saeki, and Asahi Sanjo. In the September 2007 issue, four more profiles were published, with the same rules applying as with the previous rounds; the fifth round covered Ena Tenryū, Iyo Uwajima, Ebino Hamayū, and Uruma Nago. Aoi Nishimata has provided illustrations for Miku, Minami, Komachi, Yakumo, Sera, Iyo, and Ebino; Hiro Suzuhira drew Miu, Minato, Otoha, Miyako, Asahi, Ena, and Uruma. The short stories themselves, written by Shingo Hifumi, are more or less vignettes where each one gives a very brief glimpse of a scene between the protagonist, and the given heroine he is with in the story. The stories are accompanied by illustrations of the given heroine, and are drawn by either Aoi Nishimata, or Hiro Suzuhira depending on which artist originally drew which girl. The first batch of stories, serialized between the May 2006 and March 2007 issues, was under the collective title Girl's Heart, and contained eight chapters, one for each of the first eight heroines. A second batch under the general title Dearest Stories was serialized between the October 2007 and October 2008 issues and contained 13 chapters. The project ended in the May 2011 issue. Two light novels titled Marriage Royale written by Shingo Hifumi were published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Bunkoimprint between March 10 and September 10, 2010.
Manga
The Marriage Royale manga, illustrated by Koko Natsuki of Lime, was serialized between the April 2007 and January 2011 issues of Dengeki G's Magazine, published by ASCII Media Works. Seven tankōbon volumes were released between October 27, 2007 and January 27, 2011 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint. A second manga titled Marriage Royale: Prism Story illustrated by Junka Morozumi started serialization in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Festival! Comic on October 26, 2009. The first volume of Prism Story was released on January 27, 2011.
