Should I watch Princess Principal?
Note: Im LA
Espionage has always been an intriguing look into people who essentially needs to hide everything about themselves and still get information out of people. Some do this in boring fashion like Joker Game, Princess Principal on the other hand does this in spades AND makes it interesting!.
The first thing LA would like to address is that the cute girls doing things, well in Princess Principal's case is that at first looks like this but very quickly you will realize that Princess Principal is more focused on it's clandestine missions that links to prior missions and dialogue that's clever and always keeps you on your toes is all the more important in this anime.
Princess Principal may look like the daily lives of spies in a steampunk alternative 19th century London, however it has deeper meaning when it comes to our two main characters of this anime Ange voiced by Ayaka Imamura and Princess voiced by Akira Sekine. The rest of the Princess Spy Team consisting of Dorothy voiced by You Taichi the leader, Chise voiced by Nozomi Furuki an exchange student from Japan and a literal ninja spy tasked in observing the main cast and Beatrice voiced by Akari Kageyama, the Princess' aide and close friend. Dorothy gets a bit of character development during one of the missions that involves her father and it's "tragic" to say the least but nonetheless she becomes a better character from it and what kind of upbringing she came from. Her character development also helps Beatrice as at first she was a really clingy character to Princess and was very pushy but her opening up to Dorothy as well as having similar upbringings did help her case. Chise on the other hand gets the most development outside of Ange and Princess, from her getting used to London to her own personal mission the first time we see her brought alot out of her. Ange is LA's favourite character without a doubt, from her badassness in how she deals with missions to her entire backstory with the Princess that however leads into spoilers, but you see her plight either way. Nonetheless Ange was probably the best thing about this anime and is truly a great counterintelligence spy and a great liar no matter what way you look at her.
Princess Principal's plot format has an anachronic order of missions that presents itself, such as the very first episode being case 13, not 1 and etc etc. This does help shake up things in the long run as it gives us context to certain missions that occurred before or after certain other missions meaning that by majority the missions are linked in certain situations of the anime through cameos or certain characters showing up who were villains previously or afterwards. Yes Princess Principal did the entire Haruhi Suzumiya route for anachronic storytelling but you know what?, they still did it to great effect. The only problem LA saw from this was that Princess Principal case goes up to 24 yet there is only 12 episodes in total for this anime. What LA wanted to see was ALL 24 episodes shown but LA could say that even managing this anime to go on for 24 episodes would have been difficult from a storytelling stand point but LA would wanted to see all 24 cases nonetheless.
The animation done by Actas and Studio 3Hz was amazing right down to the aesthetics of the anime's atmosphere of a steampunk 19th century alternative London espionage anime. It's gritty yet elegantly steampunk all at the same time and Actas and Studio 3Hz has done amazing with this. The fights scenes were fluid and amazingly bombastic at times and even the standoffs the Princess team faces off with gets gripping. The character designs are amazing if anything having the sense and aesthetics of where they are as well, with props going to Chise and Ange, though the entire cast goes through this.
The voice acting, well there are two voice actors LA really needs to talk about Ayaka Imamura and Akira Sekine as Ange and Princess respectively, Ayaka Imamura for showing off her various differing vocal ranges from moe, to deadpan to delinquent and even more from that. Akira Sekine also gets it merely due to the dramatic turn her character goes through and Akira's acting chops were up to snuff for it and LA commends this. The rest of the voice cast from You Taichi and Nozomi Furuki were great additions as well though Beatrice's Akari Kageyama got a bit of time to get used to, her being a semi-squeaker at the start of the anime and all and Beatrice's personality not helping her character's case.
Princess Principal's finale however is one LA was skeptical about to say the least, as it felt slightly rushed and everything that occurred in the finale was "washed away" rather quickly. Because of this, LA did think Princess Principal had to be 24 episodes long so that all the pieces could have been done better and given us a more bombastic climax than what we have gotten. LA was expecting more from this ending is the best way to say it and as much the final arc is projected itself rather easily, LA was just expecting more really. On speaking of flaws, as much as it's anachronic order was a great idea to Princess Principal, LA also wanted to rest of the cases that were missing in the anachronic order to be shown to us, you know, like the audience able to find all the pieces to see them fit, instead we have a jigsaw puzzle that's half complete. LA thinks the only flaw LA WILL defend about Princess Principal is their backstory, as yeah they are spies, thus they really shouldn't have much backstory about them and even then Princess Principal manages to subtly give backstory and character development to the Princess Team through the missions they go through and heck even the member's mannerism and behavior towards each other reflect many of the characters in question as well, Ange being an exception at times because we could never get a hold of what's she's thinking right now which is ALSO a plus to the plot progression of Princess Principal.
Princess Principal is by all means for LA, a great espionage anime, sure it has cute girls doing spy things but it's cute girls doing spy things done right especially when it concerns spying and the like. Princess Principal is a very solid show from it's aesthetics pulling you into the world of Princess Principal, plot progression even in it's anachronic order, intriguing characters and dialogue through deception and always wanting to know what these characters are thinking at ALL times, it's fluid yet amazing fight choreography, world building through the missions Princess team goes through and although LA is skeptical about the ending, it was a still an amazing show to watch, if anything it's LA's second favourite anime of Summer 2017.
If only Princess Principal could show the rest of the missing 12 cases...C'est la vie, C'est la vie.
Note: Im LA
Espionage has always been an intriguing look into people who essentially needs to hide everything about themselves and still get information out of people. Some do this in boring fashion like Joker Game, Princess Principal on the other hand does this in spades AND makes it interesting!.
The first thing LA would like to address is that the cute girls doing things, well in Princess Principal's case is that at first looks like this but very quickly you will realize that Princess Principal is more focused on it's clandestine missions that links to prior missions and dialogue that's clever and always keeps you on your toes is all the more important in this anime.
Princess Principal may look like the daily lives of spies in a steampunk alternative 19th century London, however it has deeper meaning when it comes to our two main characters of this anime Ange voiced by Ayaka Imamura and Princess voiced by Akira Sekine. The rest of the Princess Spy Team consisting of Dorothy voiced by You Taichi the leader, Chise voiced by Nozomi Furuki an exchange student from Japan and a literal ninja spy tasked in observing the main cast and Beatrice voiced by Akari Kageyama, the Princess' aide and close friend. Dorothy gets a bit of character development during one of the missions that involves her father and it's "tragic" to say the least but nonetheless she becomes a better character from it and what kind of upbringing she came from. Her character development also helps Beatrice as at first she was a really clingy character to Princess and was very pushy but her opening up to Dorothy as well as having similar upbringings did help her case. Chise on the other hand gets the most development outside of Ange and Princess, from her getting used to London to her own personal mission the first time we see her brought alot out of her. Ange is LA's favourite character without a doubt, from her badassness in how she deals with missions to her entire backstory with the Princess that however leads into spoilers, but you see her plight either way. Nonetheless Ange was probably the best thing about this anime and is truly a great counterintelligence spy and a great liar no matter what way you look at her.
Princess Principal's plot format has an anachronic order of missions that presents itself, such as the very first episode being case 13, not 1 and etc etc. This does help shake up things in the long run as it gives us context to certain missions that occurred before or after certain other missions meaning that by majority the missions are linked in certain situations of the anime through cameos or certain characters showing up who were villains previously or afterwards. Yes Princess Principal did the entire Haruhi Suzumiya route for anachronic storytelling but you know what?, they still did it to great effect. The only problem LA saw from this was that Princess Principal case goes up to 24 yet there is only 12 episodes in total for this anime. What LA wanted to see was ALL 24 episodes shown but LA could say that even managing this anime to go on for 24 episodes would have been difficult from a storytelling stand point but LA would wanted to see all 24 cases nonetheless.
The animation done by Actas and Studio 3Hz was amazing right down to the aesthetics of the anime's atmosphere of a steampunk 19th century alternative London espionage anime. It's gritty yet elegantly steampunk all at the same time and Actas and Studio 3Hz has done amazing with this. The fights scenes were fluid and amazingly bombastic at times and even the standoffs the Princess team faces off with gets gripping. The character designs are amazing if anything having the sense and aesthetics of where they are as well, with props going to Chise and Ange, though the entire cast goes through this.
The voice acting, well there are two voice actors LA really needs to talk about Ayaka Imamura and Akira Sekine as Ange and Princess respectively, Ayaka Imamura for showing off her various differing vocal ranges from moe, to deadpan to delinquent and even more from that. Akira Sekine also gets it merely due to the dramatic turn her character goes through and Akira's acting chops were up to snuff for it and LA commends this. The rest of the voice cast from You Taichi and Nozomi Furuki were great additions as well though Beatrice's Akari Kageyama got a bit of time to get used to, her being a semi-squeaker at the start of the anime and all and Beatrice's personality not helping her character's case.
Princess Principal's finale however is one LA was skeptical about to say the least, as it felt slightly rushed and everything that occurred in the finale was "washed away" rather quickly. Because of this, LA did think Princess Principal had to be 24 episodes long so that all the pieces could have been done better and given us a more bombastic climax than what we have gotten. LA was expecting more from this ending is the best way to say it and as much the final arc is projected itself rather easily, LA was just expecting more really. On speaking of flaws, as much as it's anachronic order was a great idea to Princess Principal, LA also wanted to rest of the cases that were missing in the anachronic order to be shown to us, you know, like the audience able to find all the pieces to see them fit, instead we have a jigsaw puzzle that's half complete. LA thinks the only flaw LA WILL defend about Princess Principal is their backstory, as yeah they are spies, thus they really shouldn't have much backstory about them and even then Princess Principal manages to subtly give backstory and character development to the Princess Team through the missions they go through and heck even the member's mannerism and behavior towards each other reflect many of the characters in question as well, Ange being an exception at times because we could never get a hold of what's she's thinking right now which is ALSO a plus to the plot progression of Princess Principal.
Princess Principal is by all means for LA, a great espionage anime, sure it has cute girls doing spy things but it's cute girls doing spy things done right especially when it concerns spying and the like. Princess Principal is a very solid show from it's aesthetics pulling you into the world of Princess Principal, plot progression even in it's anachronic order, intriguing characters and dialogue through deception and always wanting to know what these characters are thinking at ALL times, it's fluid yet amazing fight choreography, world building through the missions Princess team goes through and although LA is skeptical about the ending, it was a still an amazing show to watch, if anything it's LA's second favourite anime of Summer 2017.
If only Princess Principal could show the rest of the missing 12 cases...C'est la vie, C'est la vie.
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