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silverthunder) wrote2010-03-19 09:29 am
silverthunder) wrote2010-03-19 09:29 am
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Petite Princess Yucie
So, I polished off Petite Princess Yucie (only nearly a year after buying the box set) yesterday.
This series is so typically magical girl that I almost don't need to say anything about it. The main character is a kind-hearted but spunky young girl who is trying to fulfil her dream of becoming a magical princess type and get a wish granted. She gets enlisted in a little elite magical girl squad and makes friends with the other girls who are her rivals in the whole princess thing. Through the powers of love and friendship and compassion, they conquer all in their path and save the world.
That's the short description. The long of it is, Yucie and her friends are all under a curse that keeps them from growing older physically after they reached 10 years of age (if this wasn't a shoujo anime, I'd say this was a setup for a loli series) and so they're mainly after the Eternal Tiara, given only to the Platinum Princess, which will grant the owner one wish before disappearing. There are five girls, representing the five worlds that interconnect in this fantasy universe: the Spirit World, Demon World, Fairy World, Heaven, and of course the Human World. The other four are princesses of their respective worlds; Yucie is an orphan raised by a former hero who picked her up abandoned in a forest.
I have this theory that this exception was made because the heir to the throne of the Human World is a prince and his man-bits disqualify him (or it could be because he's Yucie's love interest and she'll be a princess once she grows up and marries him), but anyway, moving on.
So the five girls are picked as Princess Candidates, and we see them compete and interact and become close friends. They each have stewards, who are mainly played off as comic relief, and there's a different magical-girl stereotype embodied in each girl. Glenda is the loudmouthed rival-type. Cocolo is the sweet, shy girl. Elmina is the cool, rational perfectionist. Beth is the lone-wolf with the angsty secret. And then as the love interest, we've got Arc, or Prince Arrow, the childhood crush who manages to clash with Yucie as a teenager, which is the anime translation of romantic tension.
I liked the animation of this series, which was smooth and pretty and flowed really well, but the music was pretty dull in my opinion. There were a couple of moments where it seemed like they were getting it right, but most of the time it was pretty forgettable and didn't assist the show in any way, shape, or form.
As far as plot goes, it flowed quite well. There were a bunch of filler episodes, but for the most part they managed to flesh out the characters' personalities and motivations. There were no real surprises and the characters weren't overly developed, but it wasn't awful. Nothing felt rushed or out of place, and there were no awkward jumps in how the mood was supposed to be.
I actually did like the story and characters, and this series was fun to watch, but it didn't grab me the way some others did. I don't think it was a weak premise; I've seen successful series with less of a basis to go on, and even though it was predictable, I liked the idea of the different worlds. It just didn't do anything particularly special that would have made it stick out in my mind. It certainly had its moments, but never rose to any soaring heights of anime awesome-ness.
So... yeah. Good for a one-time watch if you're bored and want something cute to add to your list of series. I wouldn't give it a second watch, though.
This series is so typically magical girl that I almost don't need to say anything about it. The main character is a kind-hearted but spunky young girl who is trying to fulfil her dream of becoming a magical princess type and get a wish granted. She gets enlisted in a little elite magical girl squad and makes friends with the other girls who are her rivals in the whole princess thing. Through the powers of love and friendship and compassion, they conquer all in their path and save the world.
That's the short description. The long of it is, Yucie and her friends are all under a curse that keeps them from growing older physically after they reached 10 years of age (if this wasn't a shoujo anime, I'd say this was a setup for a loli series) and so they're mainly after the Eternal Tiara, given only to the Platinum Princess, which will grant the owner one wish before disappearing. There are five girls, representing the five worlds that interconnect in this fantasy universe: the Spirit World, Demon World, Fairy World, Heaven, and of course the Human World. The other four are princesses of their respective worlds; Yucie is an orphan raised by a former hero who picked her up abandoned in a forest.
I have this theory that this exception was made because the heir to the throne of the Human World is a prince and his man-bits disqualify him (or it could be because he's Yucie's love interest and she'll be a princess once she grows up and marries him), but anyway, moving on.
So the five girls are picked as Princess Candidates, and we see them compete and interact and become close friends. They each have stewards, who are mainly played off as comic relief, and there's a different magical-girl stereotype embodied in each girl. Glenda is the loudmouthed rival-type. Cocolo is the sweet, shy girl. Elmina is the cool, rational perfectionist. Beth is the lone-wolf with the angsty secret. And then as the love interest, we've got Arc, or Prince Arrow, the childhood crush who manages to clash with Yucie as a teenager, which is the anime translation of romantic tension.
I liked the animation of this series, which was smooth and pretty and flowed really well, but the music was pretty dull in my opinion. There were a couple of moments where it seemed like they were getting it right, but most of the time it was pretty forgettable and didn't assist the show in any way, shape, or form.
As far as plot goes, it flowed quite well. There were a bunch of filler episodes, but for the most part they managed to flesh out the characters' personalities and motivations. There were no real surprises and the characters weren't overly developed, but it wasn't awful. Nothing felt rushed or out of place, and there were no awkward jumps in how the mood was supposed to be.
I actually did like the story and characters, and this series was fun to watch, but it didn't grab me the way some others did. I don't think it was a weak premise; I've seen successful series with less of a basis to go on, and even though it was predictable, I liked the idea of the different worlds. It just didn't do anything particularly special that would have made it stick out in my mind. It certainly had its moments, but never rose to any soaring heights of anime awesome-ness.
So... yeah. Good for a one-time watch if you're bored and want something cute to add to your list of series. I wouldn't give it a second watch, though.