Anime Review: Princess Principal

Common Name: Princess Principal

Score: 6/10, 2/5

Length: 12 Episodes

Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Shoujo, Political, Military

Summary: At the turn of the 20th Century, the Kingdom of Albion set itself to become the greatest world power since the Roman Empire. With the discovery of Cavorite, a material that allows vehicles to fly, the kingdom was able to seize dominance over the skies with their flying warships. In spite of these achievements, however, nothing could save the once great nation from a revolution that ended with the formation of two separate nations--with The Kingdom of Albion dominating the city of London and The Commonwealth of Albion which rules over the rest of the island nation--the two separated due to the Kingdom's military dominance and the great wall that serves as both demarcation and deterrent. Now, a group of Commonwealth spies has infiltrated the Kingdom in an effort to prevent the Imperial nation from growing stronger, to replace the country's princess with a doppelganger sympathetic to the Commonwealth, and to lay down the groundwork for an upheaval that will end the Kingdom's tyrannical reign. Of course, it's unlikely that such a complex plan will see fruition without a few surprises on the way, so it is the duty of every good spy to find a way to use such changes to their own advantage.

Review: It isn't exactly hard to see why spies, as a concept, are pretty darn cool. The way Hollywood presents them, a spy might as well be a kind of superhero. In many ways, they are the exemplars of human cunning, intellect, and adaptability, possessing all those desirable characteristics we know are attainable, yet remain just out of reach for the normal person. In other words, they're the most human superhumans popular culture has to offer. Of course, none of that stuff you see in the movies is real though. The truth of the matter is that characters like James Bond and Black Widow are little more than that--fictitious characters--beings meant to engage the audience with their cunning, beauty, and destructive tendencies. While I'm certainly no expert on the matter, I'm pretty sure being a spy would actually be a lonely and stressful occupation, rather than a harrowing one filled with explosions and sex. After all, one of the most important parts of being a spy is the ability to lie to anyone and everyone without giving away who you really are/what your ulterior motives are. I feel it almost goes without saying that a spy story like that wouldn't be nearly as interesting to watch. Granted, having a Hollywood brand spy in a story doesn't automatically make the story interesting. Princess Principal proves that point in almost every aspect of its being.

And I do mean every aspect.

Lacking everything from believable characters and a properly fleshed-out world to reasonable pacing and a compelling plot, I honestly don't know where to begin with this mess of a show. So, I guess the beginning is as good as anywhere else. Going into this show initially, I'll admit I was genuinely excited and interested in what this show seemed to be offering. I mean, what's not to like about a spy show set in stereotypically steampunk Victorian England, more specifically a steampunked-to-hell London, with some Cold War-era Berlin intrigue thrown in for good measure? How about a show centered on a group of cute, female spies working to thwart the evil machinations of a power-hungry lord bent of world domination? Sounds like an automatic home run, right? Well, so did Izetta, the Last Witch and I think we all know how I feel about that train wreck at this point. For the sake of brevity, as well as what little sanity I still possess, I'll try to hold back my frustration with this show. Instead, I'll try to be as succinct and reasonable as possible.

Just be aware going forward that I would love nothing more than to tear this waste of my time a new one.

To put things as simply as I can, the main complaint I have with this show is that it simply isn't a spy show. Rather, this is a show about a bunch of cute girls who are pretending to be spies. Following a fairly episodic structure, each episode of Princess Principal highlights one of the team's five members while they engage in generally spy-like activities. Little by little, we learn more about their pasts, desires, and personalities. With any other show, this kind of episodic storytelling would be a solid way to express growth in the long run and offer an easy way to grow attached to the cast of character but all this format does in Princess Principal's case is undermine the idea that these characters are spies. More than that, it directly conflicts with the spy-like attitudes that the girls try to put on. In the interest of concealing their pasts and feelings for each other, likely in an effort to protect the others if one of them got caught, the characters usually end up lying to one another and making unnecessarily cold comments during their conversations. Yet in spite of those lies and deceptions, the show still goes out of its way to make it clear that the characters do, in fact, like each other very much. More than that, they go out of their way to protect and save one another during the show's more serious moments--a distinctly un-spy-like decision. So, it seems to me that this show wanted to be both a cutesy girl show (i.e. like idol or school club shows) and a spy show, yet fails utterly at both goals since the two directly undermine each other.

To think I'd find a show that could have learned a thing or two from Joker Game.

While the conflicting tone and goals regarding what feelings these characters are meant to evoke are certainly problematic, the show's problem only gets worse when you consider the effect of those problems on the audience. With all the lies and subterfuge, it's simply just not easy to trust these characters or believe in what they're trying to accomplish. Worse yet, when those lies are undermined by the character's cutesy natures, it becomes apparent that none of the main cast members really have anything going for them. Our main character, Ange, ends up being little more than a tsundere that uses lies to conceal her feelings toward her teammates and Princess Charlotte. The princess, on the other hand, uses her regal demeanor in a similar manner, concealing how attached she is to Ange. Dorothy and Beatrice might as well be the same character, divided only by their age and feelings about being spies. Lastly, Chise is pretty much just a samurai in that the way she acts and feels is dictated solely by a stereotypical code of ethics and loyalty. So, in the end, we end up with a cast of characters that are either habitual liars who shouldn't be trusted or a group of two-dimensional nobodies whose feelings and actions are as idiotic and forced as the show's plot.

Seriously, by the show's end, the relationship between these two is so confused and nonsensical

that the show itself just throws its hands up and shouts, "Fuck it, I'm done!"

In the interest of not giving away what little plot this show has, I'll say this much: this story is both nonsensical and utterly pointless. While the show takes great steps to set up the villains and gives the audience some solid reasons to hate them, nothing ever comes of it. Both Gazelle (a name I feel might be a tad racist given that she is the show's only black character) and the Duke of Normandy never actually end up doing anything in the show, deciding instead to just sit back and let the show's final arc just kinda happen since it might benefit them. On top of that, any and all drama associated with the plot or episodic side stories never amount to anything either. There's nothing at stake when its clear that nothing will come of the characters since there'd be no show without them. Similarly, there's no reason to care about any of the show's side characters since the show featured a tendency to kill any or all of them off on a whim early on. So, like so many shows before this one, I'm forced to ask why the hell this exists in the first place.

Sure, this show has some cute characters, but I don't feel like cute characters alone are enough to warrant giving this show a pass; not when there are so many others out there that are cute on top of being a solid drama, comedy, or action title. Not even the show's pleasant art style, solid animations, and gorgeous opening song are enough to make this show particularly noteworthy. While I'll admit I might be going a little harsh on this one, due to my own biases and personal disappointment, the truth of the matter is that Princess Principle tried to do something interesting by blending some unique ideas and industry standards but failed to make a good product in the end. With that said, I obviously can't recommend this title, but I will say you should check out this show's Bond-esque opening. At least that investment will be worth your time.

#Review #Action #Drama #Mystery #Shoujo #Political #Military