'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess (Japanese: 姫様"拷問"の時間です, Hepburn: Hime-sama "Gōmon" no Jikan desu) is a Japanese manga series written by Robinson Haruhara and illustrated by Hirakei. It was serialized on the Shōnen Jump+ manga website from April 2019 to August 2025. It has been published in nineteen tankōbon volumes as of January 2026. An anime television series adaptation produced by Pine Jam aired from January to March 2024. A second season aired from January to March 2026.
Contents
Premise
In an ongoing battle between the humanity's Imperial Army and the demonic Hell-hordes, the princess from the army has been captured along with her holy sword Ex. Since regular torture is prohibited by the prisoner of war treaty between the two parties, the grand inquisitor, Torture Tortura, employs unusual "torture" (in air quotes) techniques, usually in the form of tempting foods and snacks from Japanese culture. The princess relents, but gives information that is usually trivial in nature, and the few times she does give useful information, the Hell-Lord does not take advantage of it.
Characters
Main characters
Princess (姫様, Hime-sama)
Voiced by: Haruka Shiraishi
The commander of the Third Order of the Imperial Army, and the princess of the Human World's kingdom. She is a formidable fighter but a food lover, thus is highly susceptible to the "torture" tactics employed by Tortura.
Excalibur (エクスカリバー, Ekusukaribā)
Voiced by: Chikahiro Kobayashi
Nicknamed "Ex", is the legendary holy sword that belongs to the Princess, who acts as a straight man. He often tries to advise the Princess not to submit to the Hellhorde's tortures to avoid her from sharing the imperial secrets, but just as often his attempts fails as Princess ends up giving in anyway.
Torture Tortura (トーチャー・トルチュール, Tōchā Toruchūru)
Voiced by: Shizuka Itō
The Hellhorde's Grand Inquisitor (the highest-ranking chief interrogator), and the Princess' main torturer. She specializes in food type "torture", utilizing the appetizing, irresistible aspects of foods and snacks to entice her interrogation target into spilling their secrets.
Torturers
Datama (ダターマ, Datāma)
The primary assistant of Torture Tortura who is depicted with a hand-painted star on his face and an intimidating stature. He usually helps with the cooking and presentation aspects of her food-based "torture".
Youki (陽鬼, Yōki) and Inki (陰鬼, Inki)
Voiced by: Anna Nagase (Youki), Honoka Inoue (Inki)
Two-horned Youki and one-horned Inki are the Oni sisters (actually cousins) that hold the rank of "Lieutorments" (the intermediate-level torturers). They are good in friendship-bonding activity "torture", and seems to be genuinely interested in making friends with the Princess.
Krall (クロル, Kuroru)
Voiced by: Aya Yamane
Top combatant and senior torturer, Beast Tamer Krall specializes in zoo-type "torture", employing many ferocious beasts and cute animals in her possession as her interrogation methods.
Giant (ジャイアント, Jaianto)
Voiced by: Ai Kayano
A gentle giantess, who the Princess calls "Master Mama". She seems more interested in relaxing activities and moderate leisure rather than tortures.
Mao-Mao (マオマオちゃん, Maomao-chan)
Voiced by: Rina Hidaka
The Hell-Lord's cute and pure young daughter, who employs innocent and childish "torture" methods to tempt the Princess into sharing her secrets. Her "torture" is not effective enough to break the Princess into talking; however, Mao-Mao's sheer cuteness makes the Princess unable to resist revealing secrets to her anyway.
Hell-Hordes
Hell-Lord (魔王, Maō)
Voiced by: Tesshō Genda
The king of the Hell-hordes. A demon conqueror who wishes to subjugate the human world, he employs various torturers to interrogate the Princess and gain secrets of the Human World's kingdom for his army's invasion. However, oftentimes he ended up not using it due to his selfish excuses. He is also a family man, and he enjoys Japanese culture as well.
Lulune (ルルン, Rurun)
Voiced by: Mai Nakahara
The Hell-Lord's wife, and the queen of the Hell-Hordes. Even though she holds the position of the queen in the Hellholm, she lives a modest life alongside the Hell-Lord and her daughter, Maomao. She is mature, smart and beautiful.
Canadge (カナッジ, Kanajji)
Voiced by: Jun Fukushima
A dwarf humanoid pig who acts as the Hell-Lord's assistant.
Humans
Louch Brittan (ルーシュ・ブリタン, Rūshu Buritan)
A Holy White Knight employed by the imperial army to save Princess from the Hellhorde's captivity, he is a powerful combatant but is quite unattractive.
Jimochi (ジモチ)
Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka
The imperial's honored former knight turned Princess' imperial butler who always appeared in her flashbacks. He was a strict supervisor of the Princess' training regimens, but he secretly treated her with the commoner's cheap snacks and Chinese restaurant foods after her trainings.
Media
Manga
Written by Robinson Haruhara and illustrated by Hirakei, 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess was serialized on the Shōnen Jump+ manga website from April 4, 2019, to August 19, 2025. The first tankōbon volume was released on September 4, 2019. As of January 2026, nineteen volumes have been released.
In October 2019, Manga Plus announced they would start publishing the series on their app and website.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced on June 27, 2023. It is produced by Pine Jam and directed by Yōko Kanemori, with scripts written by Kazuyuki Fudeyasu, character designs handled by Toshiya Kōno and Satoshi Furuhashi, and music composed by Masaru Yokoyama. The series aired from January 9 to March 26, 2024, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The opening theme song is "Massakasa Magic!" (まっさかさマジック！), performed by Shallm, while the ending theme song is "Ashita wa Ashita no Kaze ga Fuku" (明日は明日の風が吹く) performed by Leevelles. Crunchyroll streamed the series outside of East Asia. Medialink licensed the series in South and Southeast Asia for streaming on Ani-One Asia's YouTube channel.
After the airing of the final episode, a second season was announced, which premiered on January 12, 2026. The opening theme song is "Sunday Morning", performed by Illit, while the ending theme song is "Ohime-sama ni wa Narenai" (お姫様にはなれない; 'I Can't Become a Princess'), performed by Yuika.
Other media
The Princess is featured as one of the playable characters in the video game Captain Velvet Meteor: The Jump+ Dimensions that was released on the Nintendo Switch on July 28, 2022.
Reception
In 2020, the series ranked second in the Next Manga Award in the web manga category. Makoto Yukimura, author of Vinland Saga, recommended the series, calling it his "favorite manga these days".
In a review for the anime adaptation, Kevin Cormack of Anime News Network was slightly more critical of the series. He considered the show's central premise to be too repetitive despite some attempts to shake up the formula and compared the Princess to the protagonist of Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle, finding the former a significantly less interesting lead. However, he found the other characters, such as Tortura and the Hell-Lord, to be more varied and was more positive of some "wholesome" moments in the show.