A 12-year-old princess learning to smile through state dinners becomes the lens for watching a kingdom burn. The show moves between her innocent routines and the soldiers dying to protect them, never letting you unsee what those smiles actually cost. By the end, you understand why the title isn't ironic, it's the most honest thing a war story can say about survival.

On a planet far from Earth lies a kingdom full of smiling faces. Twelve-year-old Princess Yuuki lives happily in the royal palace, on the edge of adolescence, with her loyal retainers: her tutor Reira, Izana, who helps with affairs of state, Harold, head of the knights, and her childhood friend and aide Joshua, who insists that spirit and guts can accomplish anything. Her idealism and innocence may suit her poorly, though, as the Empire threatens the realm. On the other side of the conflict is Stella Shining, a capable and reserved seventeen-year-old imperial soldier who is always smiling, because for her smiling is essential to living. That smile is a mask, and if it cracks she could lose everything. The two girls come from distant planets, and when their paths cross, the fate of nations follows. The show is an original drama with fantasy and mecha elements, made for Tatsunoko Production's 55th anniversary.