Kaibutsu Oujo

Welcome to another example of a show that could have been great, should have been great and would have been great if not only for the fact that 95% of the stuff this show is made of completely ruins it.

Usually I leave the writing of reviews to others, but for some reason I really felt it as my personal duty to share my experience with Princess Resurrection; the story of a naive anime watcher that was lured in, saw his hopes scattered everywhere, and now stands guard to prevent other people from going through the same.

[Story 4/10]
The plot used in this series isn't something ... very unique or impressive, but it would have been bearable. Well, that is if the producers actually would have used it instead of recycling the 'Who is this monster? It is ....' formula for 23 out of the 25 episodes this show has. The plot is there in the background at the start of the series but isn't really used until the pre-final episode where the ultimate evil guy is introduced and defeated easily. Hopes scattered.

[Art 5/10]
The art wasn't really that great, but it was bearable. I have seen anime series that looked like they had backgrounds as if they were done in MSPaint. But art is a vital component of any anime. Of course, art takes up a bigger role when rewatching a series or when seriously paying attention to it compared to the first time where you get used to it. When I look back now I don't think I can rewatch this again without getting some serious disturbance from it.

[Sound 5/10]
The soundtrack maybe had one or two tunes that were fitting the show, or rather how the overall atmosphere of the show should have been. The 'spooky' or 'mystery' music (dunno the exact name, also plays when Dracul summons those lower-class vampires at his castle) really was a jewel in the rough there. But the rest wasn't really noticeable. If a soundtrack is noticeable it means it's either really good or really bad. I know that the soundtrack isn't usually one of the main reasons why you start on an anime, but its still one of those details that can either make it great or break it. The soundtrack in Princess Resurrection did neither of the two, so I guess it's somewhere in between them.

[Character 3/10]
One thing that -really- killed this show for me were the characters. The main guys are not interesting to watch at all; they have no significant treats and are rather annoying. The evil guys are all one-day flies; they appear once and disappear afterwards or fill in some cheap fodder role for a few minutes.

The male protagonist...I don't think I have ever watched a character that took the meaning of the word 'annoying' to such an extent. The only thing he can do is throw himself in front of his princess and die, try to fend off enemies with a broom or just yell and be afraid. Except for Hime all other characters is a total waste. No hard feelings, but if a show can make me facepalm, rage and skip over parts of an episode this much something has to be wrong.

[Enjoyment 4/10]
Hime, episode 13 and one tune of the soundtrack were the only things that were decent in this series. And that isn't enough for a show that had the potential to be much, much and much better. I don't really know what the producers had in mind when they made Princess Resurrection...it couldn't be entertainment. The show only has three things that belong under that category. Money making? I highly doubt if they made much from this show if anything at all. Maybe a mix of both. If you as producer don't feel like giving a series the best you have got then why bother publishing it? You only waste your own time, the time of the viewers, cause frustration and provide enough reasons to storm your house.

[Overall 4/10]
I started on this show with normal expectations. After 25 episodes, I'll be frank and say it has greatly disappointed me. Except for the three things stated above this anime has failed me greatly. I have been around in the world of anime long enough to tell when a show is good, and I can assure you that the overall show is Poor at its best. There are numerous shows out there that are better than this one, so do your daily schedule, eyes and me a favor: watch something else.

If anything good came from me watching the 26 episodes of Princess Resurrection, it’s only that I can write this review in good conscience in order to try and prevent other people from wasting their time. In all honesty, there isn’t really any good reason for anyone to spend their time on this show, so don’t! However, I don’t make such statements without reason, so if you’d like to know why I feel that way, continue reading.

Story: There’s a story here, but you’d barely know that. Our main character Hiro is killed 5 minutes into the show when some steel beams ... randomly fall from nowhere, and he pushes Hime out of the way, thus saving her. In return, she grants him half-immortality and makes him one of her servants, as apparently here entire family is trying to kill each other over some right of succession. Not that you’d ever know that though, as you effectively see 4 of the siblings in the show, and there is only a single 2-part arc where any of them seriously fight. So, the show revolves around a war between siblings, that isn’t in the show! Outside of that, it’s truly a random monster of the week format, where they introduce some new monster during each episode that our hero’s have to defeat, and half the time, said monsters are sent as assassins by the siblings that you never see, but are supposedly out there trying to kill Hime. This show never, ever, EVER goes anywhere! There’s no more conclusion to the whole sibling war at the end of the show, than there was at the beginning of the show. Actually, you don’t even know how many siblings there are! There could be a thousand, or five, you never know, but by about a third of the way through, you simply won’t care.

Characters: This show’s one claim to fame is that it sports literally the single most useless character in the history of the world! Hiro, Hime’s first servant in the anime, is your average teenage boy, no powers, no martial skills. For some shows, that’s perfectly fine, but in a show where supernatural monsters are trying to kill your boss, normal teenage boys aren’t particularly useful. The only thing he ever really does effectively is throw himself in front of attacks, and DIE! I actually lost track of how many times he dies, and after a short bit, you simply kinda wait for his inevitable death and resurrection. It’s not like any of the other characters are all that useful either though. Riza, the half-werewolf has about two or three episodes where she’s actually useful, most of the rest of the time, she sucks almost as bad as Hiro. There’s the vampire Reiri, but she’s got a reason not to fight almost every time. And then there’s Hime (who goes by that since she’s a Princess and apparently hates her name) who for the life of me, I can’t understand how she’s survived. She’s got no real powers other than granting half-immortality to others, and the first one she goes and does that for, leads her enemies straight back to her half the time. The robots….ugghhhh…if I hear “Huga” one more freaking time! The bottom line, these characters suck! They don’t progress, there’s no depth to any of them. They each boil down to being a single thought regurgitated throughout the entire series. There’s about a half an ounce of personality between ALL of the characters combined, they aren’t likable, and by the end of the show, I was actually rooting for them to die.

Presentation: The music isn’t good, but it won’t make your ears bleed, so I guess that’s a bonus. There really isn’t much else to say about the sound, it’s passable if you aren’t looking to remember it five seconds after it’s passed. The art is not good, but not terrible. The characters are plain and boring, with the princess being the only character that’s remotely interesting, and only because of her eyes. The backgrounds are flat and uninspired, and the colors are pretty much a complete wash. In the end, I suppose it’s all done with competence, and if this show were put together by college students, it’d be alright. There’s very little to keep you interested from an artistic view point. Also, I think this a good place to point out that I did actually buy these from Sentai Filmworks. If these DVD’s are indicative of their work, I’ll never buy their products again, and I will actually highly suggest people simply get fansubs. If you’re only putting out a subtitled product, then your subtitles had better be good. But these aren’t even ACURATE! Characters names are misspelled, there are mistakes and missing letters in the subtitles, and worst of all, the subtitles aren’t even on by default!! It’s a sub only DVD, and you actually have to turn ON the subtitles. Thinking about this makes my head hurt, so I’m moving on.

Enjoyment: There’s none to be had, at all!!

In the end, this is a show that doesn’t quite veer into my depths of truly god-awful, but it’s certainly bad on almost every level. There’s really nothing to keep you interested in watching this show, as the 20th episode is exactly the same as say the 5th, and that’s not a good thing. The characters are dull and boring, if not downright offensive (Hiro’s naturally huge breasted sister borders on mentally handicapped). Even if you were just looking for mindless fan-service, this show wouldn’t deliver. There’s no real story, no character development, sub-par art and music, and no mind-less fun to be had. There’s really nothing redeeming about this show, so simply avoid it, trust me, you’ll be better off for it.

This anime felt like something that could truly be good, if it had a sensible direction to focus on. Kaibutsu oujo is trying to be a slice of life, with dramatic and comedic moments. However, it fails at all of these points. The gag "comedy" barely even registers as something to laugh at, and the dramatic moments have 0 influence on characters, plot or environment. Also it's kind of hard to be very invested in either comedic or dramatic moments because the characters are one dimensional morons.

"comedy": gags revolving around the character one trait, the main guy is a useless wimp, the princess a ... goth kuudere, her sidekick an airhead, the sister borderline braindead and the wolf very angry. The never develop beyond that Because in a world of mystery and murder, the idiots are who come out on top, through the power of plot armor and deus ex.

"tragedy": Throughout the story many things happen which could easily fill 2 other anime; death, abandonment, betrayal, you name it. Sadly there is never any effect on anyone on anything, someone could get raped and they'd forget after 5 minutes. The main character never tries to better himself for the safety of others, even though he'd fit the bill of such archetype. The hothead never tries and strategize, even though it just turns the situation worse most of the time. Although it may look like there's some development at times, it never carries over to any later point.

The painful part is that the entire story is pointless, even though it was designed otherwise. This anime had pretty good ideas for sideplots and a good sense of style, in comparison to most other anime. Sadly they just don't care about what happens, the setup is there, the payoff never comes.

Princess Resurrection is one those shows that is a complete waste of time. An episodic monster-of-the-week show that goes nowhere, with no sense of progression after each episode. Just some random shit that happens in an episode, and forgotten in the next, never to be mentioned again. At least with JoJo Part 3 and onwards, even with a monster-of-the-week format, it's still building up to something with each episode, but Princess Resurrection isn't building up to something, so there's no real plot until the last couple of episodes.

It has comedy, but it's not really trying to be funny most of the time, and you can ... tell that it's that type of show where comedy is not its main focus. There are no interesting characters and they don't develop. The first episode made the show look promising, and I've been waiting for the plot to kick in ever since, but it never did, eventually realising that it's one of those episodic shows that is a downgrade compared to the ones with an overarching plot that we are so used to when watching anime. So there's no urge to watch the next episode, since the episodes will never end on a cliffhanger. The only good things I can say about this show is Liliane's design is cool with her gothic clothing and the OP is decent. Otherwise, you're better off just watching the first 2 or 3 episodes of the show, then skipping to the last 2 episodes of the show. Trust me, you won't miss anything important. But seriously, don't waste your time with an anime with no deep plot or storytelling to get invested in. Watch something else.