Princess Principal

Title:Princess Principal
プリンセス・プリンシパル
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , ,
Notables: FURUKI Nozomi
IMAMURA Ayaka
KAGEYAMA Akari
R1 License - Sentai Filmworks (ADV)
SEKINE Akira
TAICHI Yo
Five girls live in 19th century London, a city within the Albion Kingdom divided into east and west by a large wall. The girls serve as undercover spies enrolled as students at the prestigious Queen's Mayfair school. The girls make use of their individual abilities to remain active in the underground world of disguise, espionage, infiltration, and car chases.
(Summary Courtesy of Anime News Network)


Series premiered on July 9, 2017.
Animated by Studio 3Hz and Actas.
Licensed by Sentai Filmworks.
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 9 9 8 7 9 9 Ggultra2764 [series:3365#1552]
Princess Principal explores a series of cases that a group of female spies disguised as high school students take on while living in the early 20th century England-like Albion Kingdom and being caught in the middle of a heated conflict between the lower and ruling classes of the country. Many of the cases within this series actually serve to explore more about the show's world and to allow viewers to learn more about the girls making up the spy group. For a 12-episode TV anime, Princess Principal does a surprisingly great job at exploring both of these elements within its fairly short run time as the story it explores is quite the engaging one and the girls within the spy group are given enough fleshing out where you can care for them as characters and learn more of their hardships that come as a result of either being spies or the conflict within Albion, especially with the unique relationship between Ange and Princess Charlotte. The anime also incorporates steampunk technology into the exploration of its world that leads to some unique uses, notable of which being the Cavorite technology that produces anti-gravitational capabilities used in the creation of airships and C-Balls used by Ange to control her field of gravity while on missions. It also doesn't hurt that this is a nicely animated series as well with settings and clothing wore by characters designed as such to be accurate to the times of early 20th century England and sporting fluid movement throughout its run that are best highlighted in the show's various action scenes, vehicle chases, and use of the Cavorite technology. The only real issue I have with Princess Principal is its lack of a proper ending since the Albion conflict is still ongoing. Still, Princess Principal made for perhaps one of the best offerings I've seen for the year thus far to its engaging storytelling and engaging characters making up the group of spies. If steampunk and spy-action anime grab your interest, this one is certain to be a keeper.

Last updated Sunday, September 24 2017. Created Sunday, September 24 2017.
Unevaluated Stretch [series:3365#628]
(Part of one episode watched):

Has there ever been an anime with a plot that included magic and which had better than average plot, story, drama, etc? Maybe once upon a time, but I can't think of any examples recently. It seems to me that nowadays magic is seen by the people who create anime in the same way that they see fanservice: if you include it, a good number of people will watch the show whether it is good or not. These people are watching primarily for the magic, because nowadays so many are dissatisfied with their lives and magic is about the only thing that could conceivably turn their lives around. And if that's the case, why waste time and money recruiting talent for a show that will perform satisfactorily without it? Magic is seen as a fantastic shortcut by the anime industry, a cash cow that they will gladly milk until it runs dry. But I have never understood why it holds such an allure for so many. It has gotten to the point that for me the mention of magic in a new show is an immediate strike one against it. The impossible stunts, the magical substance 'Cavorite', the simple character designs (these are usually in pretty much direct proportion to how serious the plot will be), the twisting of history--everything about Princess Principal seemed to cry out that this would not be a realistic, believable tale. History is far more interesting when it steers clear of magic, in my opinion. Before long I said to myself "I don't want to watch this!" and switched it off.

In 2021 I stumbled across episode one of Princess Principal and, assuming it was a new show which I knew nothing about, I downloaded it. I watched the first scene, the chase through London, then went to bed. The next day I checked to see if there was any mention of it here at Mikomi--and found that not only did it have a page, but I had reviewed it as well! That's how memorable this show is to me.

Last updated Thursday, June 10 2021. Created Wednesday, July 26 2017.

Other Sites
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Official Japanese Series Web Site http://www.pripri-anime.jp/

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