Scrapped Princess

Title:Scrapped Princess
スクラップド・プリンセス
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - BONES
HANBA Tomoe
KAWASUMI Ayako
KONDO Takashi
MIKI Shinichirou
MIZUHASHI Kaori
NOZAWA Yukari
OHARA Sayaka
ORIKASA Fumiko
R1 License - Bandai (Defunct)

The 15 year old Pacifica Casull flees under the protection of her two adopted older siblings from a verdict of death. When the twin heirs of the royalty were born, it was prophesized the girl child would be cause of the death of the world on her sixteenth birthday. Having survived being thrown over a cliff as a child, Pacifica now travels under the protection of her older brother, a swordsman, and her older sister, a dark mage, on an adventure of survival. Together they escape and elude the priests and followers of the older techno-gods who are committed to seeing the 'trashed princess' dead. But Pacifica's siblings are stern in their love for their younger sister, quick to her protection, and strong in their belief that Pacifica will survive long enough to overcome an uncertain destiny as spoken by a long dead prophet.

[24 TV episodes adapted from the series of novels by the same title. The manga was also adapted from those novels. The novels are being written by SAKAKI Ichiro-sensei and are still produced a/o March 2006.]

Winner of 2003 Anime-Reactor Award-Best Adventure/Fantasy Anime.


1:45min English Language Trailer - ANN Video
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Rent 8 8 8 7 7 7 Ggultra2764 [series:648#1552]
Never thought I would see another series effectively mix together elements of fantasy and science fiction since seeing Escaflowne which is what Scrapped Princess manages to pull off. What starts off as a medieval fantasy series focused around Pacifica and her adoptive siblings dealing with a kingdom's attempts to kill her off because of being supposedly cursed eventually introduces elements of science fiction to the mix when details concerning the so-called "angels" are revealed and Pacifica's role in the whole mess. The series fleshes out enough with its plot and characters to give you enough sense of the realities surrounding the medieval world that Pacifica and others live in, as well as providing background on the mentalities and hardships faced by major characters throughout the series and how they are effected by the whole Scrapped Princess dilemma. It especially does well enough at fleshing out the bond between Pacifica and her two elder foster siblings, Shannon and Raquel, as their chemistry and focus are enough where you can believe that they care for one another throughout this whole mess.

What I found to be the show's biggest issue though is that it doesn't really get too in-depth with explaining its sci-fi elements. As AstroNerdBoy noted, the show only tosses around enough details on elements like the purpose of the Peacemakers and the Genesis War to advance the plot yet not dig any deeper on the events that led to humanity's present predicament. The easy resolution to the increasingly chaotic situation faced by the characters also felt like a bit of a cop-out with the lack of heavy casualties among major characters, the rising tensions that developed and additional information dumped that was not fully addressed.

As it is, Scrapped Princess is a decent mix of sci-fi and fantasy with enough twists in its plot developments to keep you hooked on the series yet the history surrounding the "how" of the world of the series is quite underdeveloped and has a subpar ending, making me have to rate this series with a Rent rating.

Last updated Thursday, June 30 2011. Created Thursday, June 30 2011.
Buy 8 8 8 7 8 8 Dreamer [series:648#2279]
Since I have a soft spot for "medieval" types of anime, I figured this one to be a pretty good one. It turned out as I expected.

Art, Animation and Character Design
The art and animation was on par with many other anime in that, it was average. Nothing special really. Character designs were cute... namely Pacifica.... such an odd name.

Music
The OP almost sounded country-ish... a japanese country song, or sorta like a folk song. It wasn't sorta catchy but not of my tastes. It was bearable nevertheless. The ED was actually interesting as well. Sorta like a jazz-ish / folk-ish style.

Series and Episode Story
The plot was really good. There's plenty of characters that come and go, most that don't get a developed background. In fact, if I recall Pacifica's older sister Raquel isn't explored much. And I thought she was an interesting character. The mix of medieval and sci-fi settings were well done and interesting.

Overall, it's a good series to get into. In my opinion, it doesn't come close to Slayers... although some people might beg to differ, but to each his own I suppose.

Last updated Sunday, February 22 2009. Created Sunday, February 22 2009.
Buy 7 10 7 5 9 10 aoneish [series:648#1615]
my, my, this series sure has a lot of interesting characters. i wouldn't have minded this to be a 60+ episode series just to get deeper into those characters. or i'd just love for them to get their own series. the Obstinate Arrow group, man, they took the time and effort to distinguish each and every one of those members and we learn nearly nothing about them. the beast princess, the bard assassin, fulle, omg fulle! i curse episode 18! and can we please have an anime on the Genesis War? that would be something i'd love to see. i can just imagine the dragoon and peacemaker and alien battles and the angst. *squee. i felt the sister raquel was woefully underveloped for being such a "main" character but i guess she just wasn't central to the plot.

anyway, the entire series is a bit simplistic in style, but there is a whole lotta complex things that we can only glimpse at, much like the characters that are never fully delved into. but that's because the focus really *is on the scrapped princess and her view of this world and the machinations that she is vital to and so that limits how much we the viewer can know i guess. it's a pretty great series all on its own as it is, but man, it could have been epic.

Last updated Monday, May 14 2007. Created Monday, May 14 2007.
Buy Forbin [series:648#1573]
Anime Type
DramaMedMostly Faceless People Die
ComedyMedDrama and Funny Mixed together
ActionMedThe Dragon Battles are the best
SciFiHighUmm didn't I just mention DRAGONS!
EcchiLow/MedNo Outright Nudity and Pacifica's outfit is the only revealing one.
If you liked this, also see:
The SlayersMore Comedy, Less Drama
Louie the Rune SoldierSame kind of setting, though no one has to die.

I'm a sucker for Swords and Sorcery Type shows and this certainly fills the ticket. More Personality than Slayers and it has a bit of a scifi twist too. It's good.

I am a bit disappointed by the ending. It left a bunch of questions open. It was good but damn I wish they did a longer explanation of the ending. It seemed too rushed.

Last updated Sunday, January 08 2006. Created Monday, August 15 2005.
Buy 9 9 9 9 10 10 Anonymous #1969 [series:648#1969]
This series gets very high marks from me. Other reviewers have already said all I would have said so I like to briefly mentions things I suspect not many people in the world may realize, choice of using medieval western European music as basis of the music in this series. I like to confirm, as someone who has seriously studied Music history and theory, that melodic, harmonic, and counterpunctal elements of music is inspired by 13th to 14th century Western European music. This is somewhat evident in choice of guitar for the interlude and somewhat in the opening song, which contains some jagged translation from one motive to another. It is the Ending song which caught my ear for using the style reminiscent of multi-text polyphonic motets of late 13th century. Harmonically, it was definitely modern popular style, but care was taken to give the main melody a medieval feeling as well. I wish that the producers let the composer make some more pieces for this series. Only disappointment was that they have not tried to adequately explain why the magic exist, seemingly amplified by technology for the Dragons and Peacekeepers, but this show is mainly about values of person and society, so it is not something imporatant.

Last updated Thursday, May 26 2005. Created Thursday, May 26 2005.
Buy 9 9 9 8 8 9 AstroNerdBoy [series:648#436]

Having seen as many anime titles as I have to date, I can now see the similarities in many of the titles were certain elements might be taken from an earlier title and turned into something new. In many ways, that is what Scrapped Princess is with elements of Escaflowne, El Hazard, and more, yet still unique in its own way.

Scrapped Princess combines the worlds of sci-fi and fantasy and does a pretty good job of it. The writers begin the series with a fantasy setting, yet one senses things are not purely in the fantasy realm, especially after they meet the bard assassin. Once the sci-fi world is fully engaged, the main characters from the fantasy world react as they should to a sci-fi world. They may know and accept magic, but having doors open up on their own is not something they are used to. So the writers get credit there.

Further, the writers do a good job at creating interesting characters from Pacifica and her adopted older brother and sister (who are also her protectors) Shannon (fighter) and Raquel (mage). Pacifica can be the annoying brat character at times, but then a sweet and caring character at other times. I loved the combination of Raquel and Shannon for fighting. Raquel is my kind of mage, powerful, yet not quick to give into hysterics. When her brother is attacked by a powerful fighter mage, she simply allows him to fight knowing he'll win.

The supporting cast of characters are interesting, but because the supporting cast is so large, there's not a lot of time to really explore them. Chris's elite group of assassins are very interesting, but we know so little about them. We know a little more about the "Beast Princess" of Giat (sp) because she and her resistance group hold the ancient technology that helps advance the story. Since knowing the background of the others doesn't advance the story, they are dropped. Still, the bard does have a link to the ancient technology, but he isn't explored much either. That was kind of a shame.

Other things had to be dropped like a full explaination of the Genesis War from the ancient past. We get some information, but not enough. I understood the creation of the Peacekeepers (Apostles of God as they are also called) and the Dragons. I don't understand why a warring species would suddenly become concerned about the extinction of their enemy. At this point I guess I'll never know.

Still, Scrapped Princess is a VERY enjoyable ride, whether in the fantasy realm or the sci-fi realm. And while I noticed elements pulled from other anime titles, I still appreciated these elements as seen in Scrapped Princess. Having seen the last episode, I'm kind of sad that I won't learn what happened to these people I'd come to love as they continued down life's road.

Bottom line: nice mix of sci-fi and fantacy with nice music, beautiful art and animation, and a good story. Certainly worthy of a spot in my DVD collection.

Last updated Saturday, May 28 2005. Created Wednesday, January 26 2005.

Buy 9 10 10 8 10 8 HunterD [series:648#606]
Episode count - 24
Episodes viewed - 24
Viewed in Japanese Language (Not available in english anyways)
To story in a nutshell is the main character Pacifica Casull was profised to bring upon the end of the world when she turned 16.
We started off the show with Pacifica with her brother Shannon and her sister Raquell traveling the countryside when they are suddenly attacked by bandits. We soon learn that pacifica's sister can controll magic and her brother is an excellent swordsman. Early in the story they meet a person named Leon who is an aspiring knight well he trys to help pacifica when they are being attacked again but we find out he isnt very glib with his actions and ends up going down a hill straight into a house with his horse. The story starts picking up when we meet the first peacemaker who seems to be a very powerful individual. Im not gonna say anymore about the story as i'll ruin many things about it, just that it takes many twists and turns and ends up in a way that you wouldent think it would.
The animation in the show was some of the best i've seen the battle scenes are nicely done.
I really liked the character design in this show the design on Pacifica was excellent.
The music was decent it wasent a big thing but it wasent bad.
If you're a fan of light comedy some romance and action thrown in with a strong plot this will definitly be for you. I loved it!

Last updated Monday, November 10 2003. Created Monday, November 10 2003.
Buy 9 7 9 8 8 Jan-Chan [series:648#967]
I happen to be a sucker for a good swords and sorcery adventure, but after about episode 12, the story took a SCIFI twist when the older techo gods appeared.

With a good plot, clear focus and engaging characters, Scrapped Princess offers a good adventure story with enough twists and turns to keep even the most jaded anime fan entertained.

Last updated Wednesday, April 29 2009. Created Thursday, October 02 2003.

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