Arite Hime

Title:Arite Hime
Princess Arete
アリーテ姫
Overall:Rent
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - Studio 4°C
KUWASHIMA Houko
Confined in the castle tower by her father, princess Arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. Sometimes she seeks out to watch the common people at work. The knights of the kingdom compete for the right to marry her and rule the land by competing to see who can find powerful magic objects made by a long dead race of sorcerers. Arete wants none of this. She longs to meet the common people and travel to exotic lands she has only seen in the books she keeps hidden under her bed. One day the sorcerer Boax arrives in a fantastic flying machine and offers to take Arete as his wife and transform her into a proper princess.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


Animated film premiered on July 21, 2001.
Animated by Studio 4C
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 7 7 6 7 Ggultra2764 [series:2646#1552]
Some online anime reviewers have compared the premise and lessons expressed in this movie to a Studio Ghibli film, which isn't too far from the truth. Focused on a princess confined to her castle quarters and desiring to interact with commoners, Princess Arete focuses on lessons of individualism, respect and diversity as shown through Arete's thoughts of wanting to be acknowledged as a person instead of a prize by suitors and the commoners within both her village and the town under the influence of the sorcerer Boax being acknowledged as their own people instead of objects to be used for the personal gain of their rulers. Arete being turned into a traditional princess by Boax's magic for a good part of the film plays up on the young girl being forced to conform into the ideal image that suitors and servants make out for her. Pretty much, this movie is a simple tale of Arete being the walking moral of the themes mentioned above and the movie actually does a decent job expressing them without getting too preachy and features a fresh premise of the traditional fairy tale theme with Arete not being your garden variety damsel in distress awaiting her prince as she does take matters in her own hands dealing with Boax once she gets her bearings back from the sorcerer's magic. This is a perfect film to show off to your kids, provided they can understand Japanese or the series ever gets licensed here in America.

Last updated Tuesday, November 13 2012. Created Tuesday, November 13 2012.

Community Anime Reviews

anime mikomi org