Review of The World is Still Beautiful
This is not a good fantasy anime. I don't think it's a good romance anime as well, since the plot runs pretty much on rails, which is made worse by the fact that the rails are those of a tropeish romance. But maybe you like trope-ridden romance, so let me focus on the fantasy aspects. Fantasy has certain expectations, like having a setting that is fantastic without endangering the suspension of disbelief. For an instance, if the capital has access to water despite the eternal drought, why does the emperor needs a rainmaker? Why would the author make a city with no rain if that hasno effect on the city or on the people? It's like the author thought it would be nice thematically, but never gave any thinking to the possible consequences (also, there is no way that extremely green palace exists in a place without rain and let's not talk about the amount of crops needed to feed a conquering army.). I'll not mention the royal protocol problems, because anime enjoys the hell out of not adhering to protocols (mainly because their lovely princes would have to sentence people to death, since you have to remember people the royals are untouchable), but I'll have to say there is a visible lack of nobility. Those guys that wanted to oust the king/emperor, did they actually have a plan or they intended to drown the world in a succession war? I'd call it a plot hole, but there isn't much plot to speak of, since the story is mostly about the romance and any other part of the plot just goes away. I mean, the opposing nobles just gave up on their conspiracy after a minor setback.
Which leads me to the characters, which are generally stereotyped and mostly devoid of motivations, so that they feel like plot-puppets. Even the main characters just act the way plot expects them to, without consideration or planning. Livius is technically a tyrant, but he's a cute little tyrant that everyone likes, so that's ok, even if he tortures people or threatens to destroy your country for any reason. The dark part doesn't matter, because it's there just as window dressing: he's a dark prince, that's all. And Nike is the innocent/joyful princess that never heard of diplomacy, even though she was raised/groomed by the queen mother, possibly to succeed her, and should be at least aware of politics. But why would she, if it's cuter and more tropeish to be an innocent flower, right? All the enforced stereotypes make for a disappointing story, is what I'm saying.
And don't get me started on Rain All The Time country and it's pointless royalty.
In general, bad fantasy, author Did Not Do Research.
As for the rest, well, there is nothing incredible about the sound, animation or technical aspects. The character designs look a bit dated (the series is few years old) and the clothes make absolutely no sense, unless you'd care to explain why do the people from eternal summer country choose to cover head to toe (even their religion is sun-centered. You'd expect hiding from the sun to be anathema to that).
Overall I do not recommend to anyone but the most dedicated shoujo fans.