Princess Principal

Princess Principal a title that could mislead any viewer. First, you could think that the show is about a school and girls. Then you could start considering any slice of life plot and girls related storytelling and few moments about spying. I must say, it is wrong.

Story: 8/10
Princess Principal has a very creative plot with an impressive storytelling that could surprise a lot of spectators. The story deals with espionage in a divided nation, nothing to do with a slice of life plot. The spies are young girls that use their student status as a cover. During the day, they are typical students and ... when the duty calls they transform into dangerous and very skilled spies with particular abilities.

One of the possible issues found in the forums and some reviews is the lack of a plot sequence that changes between some episodes. I want to say that the storytelling focuses on "file cases" so each episode is a different mission and the principal idea (espionage) remains. This method helps with the pacing because the story is always advancing and changing. Also, the show doesn't need a sequence to connect the story. Furthermore, each episode keeps adding information to the main arc, and the characters background. I consider that constant additions a plus.


Art: 9/10
The art is "steampunk." It is stunning and formidable that goes well with the color palette, the mechanical design, and the character's concept. You can notice that some areas don't have the standard lighting because they like to create a dark ambient. Also, the art helps a lot with the storytelling, timeline, and the possible fantastic ideas such us the use of the mineral "Cavorite." For experience, someone could find the steampunk art weird or not attractive. However, it isn't a reason to drop the anime.

Sound: 8/10
The sound is great. They elaborated a complex sound mix with a delightful soundtrack. The sound of each action sequence adds emotion to the plot and is played at the right time. The songs are good. For me, the OP is excellent, and the ED isn't bad.

Character: 8/10
We have five main characters. I decided to give them nicknames. Dorothy "The face," Agne "The liar," Beatrice "The voice," Chise "The stranger," and Princess "The usurper." With that original nickname, you can start guessing about their background.

In more detail, Dorothy is the leader of the group but is the one that enjoys the freedom; she is more the "sempai" of all them.

Agne. We don't know when she is lying or telling the truth but is a character that will give up everything for someone or the mission. She has some hidden secrets.

Chise has high values for her tradition and displays her unsatisfaction when she isn't considered as a useful part of the group.

Beatrice is the most insecure member of the team, but her skills are convenient on every mission.

Finally the Princess, she is more an actress but with a defined goal.

For me, each character is different and not generic. These girls have their problems, a painful past, they have secrets, and they take their own decisions to complete an objective. In other words, the characters have a spy profile that works with the plot.

Something I enjoyed is the extra background information given. On each episode, we could have more details about each character. I know that some of the outcomes could be predictable but not all them. Additionally, the characters emotions evolve during the story, and we could see unexpected decisions that indicate a proper background build.

Enjoyment: 9/10
In summary, I have few negative aspects about this anime and are insignificant for this review. Each episode left me a good sensation and entertained a lot. I enjoyed this animation. The pacing, the storytelling, the art, the sound blended well and created a show that deserves to be watched and repeated in the future.

Overall: 9/10
Finally, the character design is stunning. We can't find this art quality (steampunk) in the recent original animations. The sound mix complements each episode. The story isn't weird and doesn't need a complicated plot to capture our attention. I consider this anime very attractive and unique. For example, the character backgrounds and the file cases weren't repetitive, and the extra additions to background keep the viewers hooked all the time. You should give the first episode a try. You won't be disappointed. Actas and Studio 3Hz did a splendid job.

From James Bond to the Bourne Identity and John Wick, there is always a point in one's life when we've been intrigued by the mysterious, meticulous, and romantic nature of the cinematic spy. However, anime writers always have a way of answering the questions that nobody ever asks---

“What if spies, like James Bond, were replaced with… lolis?”

"Thrilling."

In an unusual twist, they created this interesting anime, where a wide array of political spying and assassinating ends up being left in the hands of a group of young schoolgirls (most of whom, actually have legitimate spy training.) If you were expecting a kiddy girl slice of ... life drama, you will not find that here. This is a rather well-thought-out spy series that happens to have young girls as the protagonists.

Story: 7/10
One of the great things about this story is how unusual it is for the anime genre. Princess Principal take you on a journey with unusual young girls as they conduct espionage, all types of spy work, and even engage in assassinations. Under the guise of being students, these young spies are given orders by their superiors that must be completed at all costs, including one’s own life. It features a wide array of character personalities, most of whom are unique. The political climate is unique at this point of the story, as it is a sci-fi enhanced version of 19th-century England. In this setting, steam and coal often powered various mechanical devices. The queen of the nation, who is also a loli and a friend of the spies, is more of a figurehead than a person with actual power and various factions are in the process of deciding whether to either help or dispose of her.

How will the girls carry out these difficult missions?
What, if anything, will happen to the queen?
Which factions will align themselves with who?
What would happen if they are given an order that they can’t or don’t want to complete?

Find out by watching the show~

The story initially presents itself as episodic, as most anime spy shows do. The pacing is pretty good, but there is nothing that really felt profound about this series. The storytelling is very good, but it is still relatively bland and lacking profound qualities. Overall I think the story is pretty good and deserves a 7/10.

Characters: 7/10
Overall, the characters are unique, but not too unique. They loosely fit some of the popular archetypes in anime. Their background stories were relatively interesting but they weren’t characters that were extremely memorable for any particular reason. I feel if the series had another 12 episodes, they may have been able to create a more memorable series through the characters.

The most interesting character in this series is undoubtedly Ange, and she is the character that the anime mainly follows. She’s a weird girl who talks in a monotone but likes to tell jokes and lies. For example, her most told joke/lie is “I’m from the Black Lizard Planet”. She’s a very skilled spy and performs amazing feats.

Chise is a girl skilled at various ways of fighting and swordsmanship. Her personality is very samurai-like.

The Queen is a typical queen. She knows many things and is skilled at being nobility, but she also has quite the daring side to her as well.

There is also the young adult, who uses her charms to seduce men and the queen’s assistant.

Art: 8/10
The art fits and enhanced the setting very well. The characters were designed well, the animation was fluid, special effects were great as well. I think they did a pretty good job overall and have no complaints in this category. The backgrounds aren’t as detailed as some more ridiculously detailed series, but they are still great backgrounds overall. There is also nothing particularly unique about the art.

Sound: 8/10
The background OSTs come from the legendary Yuki Kajiura, my favorite composer. She’s known in the anime community for her works on the music of SAO, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, .hack, Tsubasa Reservoir and many other popular titles. I’ve never heard her do Jazz before, but the music is really good. Voice acting is great, special effects are all great.

Entertainment: 7.5/10
I was very entertained by the uniqueness of the series and the fact that there were young girls doing espionage and spy work LOL. I’ve never seen anything like this and it was a worthwhile experience. I can’t say that I was very excited for each additional episode, but it was pretty interesting.

Overall: 7.5/10
This series was definitely something that I could see myself recommending to some people. The good art and story kept my interest the entire series. There wasn’t anything that particularly stood out to me or was extremely memorable, but it was still something that I don’t regret watching.

Should you watch it?
If you’re interested in young girls being spies, like action, young girls, spies, 19th-century London, I would give it a shot.

If you’re looking for a slice of life or yuri series, you’re in the wrong place.

Hope this helps you make your decision, let me know if you agree by clicking “helpful~” thanks~

“This just isn’t a cover anymore, we’re real friends now...”

The spy. An archetype explored an incalculable amount of times, spanning across all forms of media. Whether it’s the dark and methodical approach of a John la Carre’ novel, or the more mainstream and charismatic James Bond film, each entity produces something that ensnares the senses and transports you into the action. I’ve always been a fan of secret agents and spies in cinema, so it’s no question that this affinity would translate into other mediums such as anime. The 2016 release of Joker Game helped affirm this assumption by offering a unique mix of action, ... stealth and wit. Now, almost exactly one year later I was introduced to Princess Principal by a dear friend, an original anime directed by Masaki Tachibana (Barakamon, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0)... naturally I was intrigued. Through 12 episodes, PP dazzles with copious amounts of combat, deceit and supernatural elements. It may occasionally come across as muddled and has its fair share of negatives, but it doesn’t disappoint and may go down as one of the most overlooked anime of the year. Spoilers ahead.

From the beginning, PP may end up losing much of its target audience from the cast itself. Understandably I had trouble conceptualizing the idea of teenage moe girls acting as spies in 1800’s London (speaking Japanese no doubt), as it’s just not something I would list as believable. It's similar to the feeling I got from watching the dubbed version of Monster, as Tenma is a Japanese man living in Germany that just so happens to speak fluent English. What a total mindfuck. Aside from the acquired taste of the character models, the setting is quite immersive. The anime takes place in an alternative steampunk London, where weapons are rusty and mechanized, and airships rule the skies. In this parallel universe, a wall exists dividing the Albion Kingdom between the lavish capital and the dilapidated, unruly Commonwealth. This in itself pays homage to the Berlin wall, as in PP it can be difficult to discern which side is morally correct. Through the ensuing 12 episodes we follow the story of five female spies, from their relationships, to their loyalty to duty and underlying secrets.

One important point to note is that Princess Principal’s timeline can render the casual viewer confused. It’s not readily apparent that the anime’s story is told out of order. The writers seem to pen the script in a way that can come across as disjointed because of very minor details here or there that are easily missed. To better explain this, I’ve comprised a chronological ordering of each episode (stolen from MAL forums):

Episode 2 -> Case 1
Episode 3 -> Case 2
Episode 5 -> Case 7
Episode 4 -> Case 9
Episode 9 -> Case 11
Episode 1 -> Case 13
Episode 7 -> Case 16
Episode 6 -> Case 18
Episode 8 -> Case 20
Episode 10 -> Case 22
Episode 11 -> Case 23
Episode 12 -> Case 24 and beyond

When done right (which I wouldn’t necessarily say is the case here), non-linear narratives can be effective at showcasing certain qualities of a character or details to enhance the main story. Such is the case in Kurt Vonnegut’s Salughterhouse-Five or the cult classic Memento, one of my favorite films of all time. The main problem in PP is that the characters aren’t developed far enough to extract much from this method. What results is a plot that appears to jump around simply just to do so. I will say the aspect that benefitted the most from this was the relationship of Ange and the Princess, which for obvious spoiler reasons I won’t divulge any further on. Ideally, this method can also be used to better illustrate interactions between the main characters, and I believe that was the intent here. It just didn’t capitalize as well as it could have. An assumption by the writers is also made with regard to the gravity-altering Cavorite material used primarily by Ange throughout the anime. The only reason I even knew what it was, is because of an H.G. Wells novel (The First Men in the Moon) I read some years back. To someone unfamiliar with this sci-fi homage, the supernatural substance can appear as a gaping plot hole that’s never really filled.

Another point I feel necessary to address is the dramatic change of tone throughout the anime, both with the overall atmosphere and with the characters. From the first episode, I was captivated by the “cloak and dagger” approach the writers utilized with the spies. Ange as a main protagonist was ruthless and cold, sporting a succinct knack for taking out her foes. She also came across as a compulsive liar, assumingly normal for the trope of a spy. However, at certain points in the story her personality can shift from scene to scene and catch viewers off guard. It’s not extremely off-putting, but it’s there. While mostly well paced and envisioned, there are times where the writers spend an entire episode divulging a character’s backstory, and others only a few seconds of a flashback. Some episodes are actioned packed, like the first episode or the train episode while others serve to be endearing and relationship building like the laundromat anecdote. I think this change of tone, juxtaposed with the jumping timeline can make PP seem less cohesive than it really is. Overall it’s a smart show, and often has you sympathizing with the jobs these girls have to take.

The characters are the absolute best part of the anime. The squad’s unsung leader Ange is relentlessly devoted to duty, and relishes in the secrecy and importance of each mission. She is incredibly diverse with her emotions depending on who she’s addressing. Her relationship with the Princess is undoubtedly the focal point of the entire series, and her backstory is full of heartache and depression. She often quotes herself as being a former member of the fictitious “Black Lizard Planet”, in order to explain the reason for her peculiar behavior. Ange is an expert of her craft, and is the strongest and most consistent member of the group. The Princess has her fair share of secrets, and often plays the role of messenger or spokesperson for the group. In retrospect, I do wish more time had been given to fully expound upon her past, given the fact it plays such an important role in the show.

Dorothy, my favorite character of the entire series, is the oldest of the group and she’s often reminded of that fact. She also probably receives the most backstory, with the writers devoting almost an entire episode to her relationship with her father. She occasionally gets drunk or uses her body to help advance the situation (boobs=imperative to success as a spy), but also internalizes and many of the missions the girls partake in. She's like the mom of the group. Chise, the token Japanese ninja, is actually my least favorite character, though probably for selfish reasons . She undergoes a supreme transformation over the course of the anime and begins to learn the Western culture and the importance of friendship. Last but not least is Beatrice, the meek and often soft spoken friend of the Princess. Her demeanor is jittery, but her backstory (though short) is incredibly sad. Out of the entire main cast, I was impressed by the level of depth and detail put in place for each character.

If you told me that the same director as Barakamon and Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 also led Princess Principal, I’d be hard pressed to call you a liar. I guess this a concrete indicator of Tachibana’s ability as an anime director, and certainly one that deserves more work. The somber, ominous environment PP exudes, coupled with the uplifting comradery of the main cast crafts a definingly unique atmosphere all around. The art is well visioned, and although the female characters are younger, they are evenly proportioned and attractive. I can’t recall any slip ups with framing during the action heavy scenes and even the still, dialogue heavy moments never seemed to come across as stale. While it may not technically be the best animation, its consistency is something to applaud in today’s anime world, where series are being pumped out left and right. The cinematography is some of the best I've seen in a long time, despite focusing less on atmosphere than other equivalent specimens. The way some of the scenes are constructed, either through POV animation or still impact shots. It also has the benefit of omitting the “unfaithful to the source material” argument so many disgruntled manga fans hurl around with each new adaptation. It’s a refreshing artsyle, contradictory to most of the bright and colorful anime in today’s world.

If I can make one recommendation, it would be to watch Princess Principal with headphones on. The sound is purely exceptional. The balance of sound effects and their position through the speakers is perfect, and helps add to the realism during some of the missions undergone by the girls. The background music is also fitting of the time period, as nothing is saturated with electronic tones and no chipper techno beats flood your ears. The OP (despite that fugly logo) is one that grew on me, but now exists as one of my favorites for the season. The strong female vocals in conjunction with the smooth animation sequences is pleasing to the eye, and it’s one I don’t think I ended up skipping once. The ending is a strong contrast from the OP, but helps remind the viewers of the minor points of maturity these female characters lack. It’s playful and fun. There aren’t any stand out seiyuu performances in the anime, but certainly nothing hitting below the mark.

Overall, I would suggest not judging a book by its cover and jump into Princess Principal with no preconceived notions. It's certainly not what I expected, and although makes some mistakes it is a worthwhile watch. Compared to most of the shows out nowadays, the script is actually given some thought and the characters are developed substantially for their short screen time. I think the show would have benefited significantly if it was doubled in length or had a second season. This would give ample time to fix the timeline issue and also fully explore Ange and Princess’ relationship. The series is plenty exciting, whether with raw action sequences or suspenseful moments of stealth. This is an easy anime to recommend, so if you're looking for something new and exciting, or we're a fan of series like Joker Game I would give it a try. It certainly surprised me and many others, and I look forward to more developments from Tachibana in the future. As always, thanks for reading and be sure to check out some of my other reviews from the season!

Story-5
Art-6.5
Sound-8
Character-8
Enjoyment-7
Overall-6.85

Originally 4eps in (Ep5 updates) - no spoilers - tl;dr at bottom.

Based on the poster, synopsis, studios involved, it being an original, and so forth, you may be inclined to think this show would be nothing more than a meh "cute girls doing (violently) cute things" kinda ordeal - I know I did. Boy, was I wrong. 

One look at the staff roster and I went, "Huh... Wait, for real?!" So I gave it a chance. I now think this is en route to join the “elite” for the year, and that it’s currently criminally underrated. Oh, and “interesting cute girls doing seriously kickass things ... (with amazing writing)” may be more accurate.

Story 8/10 ***update after Ep5: 9/10
-Though Ep1 had me impressed, I was initially concerned this would be more episodic in nature (which I'm usually not particularly fond of), and was dreading another Joker Game, but Ep2-4 put me at ease. This is serious storytelling that knows what it wants, is carefully planned out, and delivers. A captivating tale of unlikely spies, but one which isn’t grounded in reality (or the expectations that come with it) - this is an alternative world and, as such, world-building is key. Think steampunk-esque Victorian era with a dash of magic-like scientific element. On top of that, the show is extremely character-driven (more on this later), even though we’re in the middle of something much bigger - not the easiest thing to pull off properly, considering this is not a “heros saving the world” kind of story.
-They understand the concept of SHOW instead of TELL. There are a few short narrated explanation moments in the beginning, but there's no painfully forced exposition and characters talking to each other as if they're utter idiots for the benefit of the viewer. The world-building is phenomenal because you are given just enough in context to make sense of it all and start putting it together yourself… and then you want to know more. Pacing has also been on point for the most part, but the “in between” Ep3 to Ep4 leaves a bit to be desired (-1 here because this can set a precedent for future episodes)
***Ep5 update: in context, I retract the previous criticism - the show is playing with chronology of events and very intentional time leaps in both directions, to extremely interesting characterization effects***.
-There are a couple of plot points that seem far-fetched, even for this world (e.g. the ballroom sequence in Ep2) - a stricter viewer may see some substantial fault in those when thinking objectively/realistically. These certainly didn’t pass me by unnoticed, but the series is doing so much more than that, and using these moments in such an interesting way, that I feel compelled to excuse them as a “poetic license” (nevertheless, -1 here). Of course, as an original, this can go anywhere, but with Ichiro Okouchi (Code Geass, etc) on Script and Series Composition, I do think we're in good hands. 

Art 9/10
Tying in directly with that last point, you can tell a lot of care went into designs and attention to detail. This is what makes the world-building work particularly well. The art really draws you into this world (no pun intended). The choice of color palettes in each scene, the contrast, the attention given to setting… it's all beautifully done in a way that adds to the storytelling in every instance. Then there are some truly gorgeous moments. And the animation is fluid. An occasional wonkiness here and there, but nothing too serious. Major props to art direction - then again, it's Nobutaka Ike (Paprika, Kara no Kyoukai).

Sound 10/10 
Alright, I barely have anything to say here other than singing it praises (again, no pun intended… tabun). Yoshikazu Iwanami as Sound Director, and Yuki Kajiura as Composer (both have way too many exceptional credits to list)... what more do you want? Music does a great job in immersing you into this world, so does the sound editing. VAs are solid. Sound mix is top notch. OP is awesome, ED not bad at all. Next!

Character 9/10
We still have a long way to go, but the potential is there. The first episode threw a fair amount of characters at us without even naming many of them. That's actually not a bad thing - they understand that you'd simply not remember everyone anyway, so they focused on what you needed right now for the story - unusually straightforward and intelligent decision. The following episodes are now taking care of the rest in beautiful fashion, with brilliantly paced character (re-)introduction and development - well, for the most part… not sure I agree with what we have in Ep4, but we’ll only know the effectiveness of certain creative decisions when we place it in context after future episodes come out. I’m just hoping those decisions didn’t come about due to time/budget concerns. ***Ep5 update: as stated above, Ep5 addresses this piece of criticism***. Regardless, I have high hopes for this cast. Ange seems to remain somewhat of a focal point even among the MCs - she already has remarkable depth to her character, while still being enshrouded in mystery, inviting us to be curious and want to know everything about her, as well as Princess. Fortunately, the other characters are not just left to the sidelines either!

Enjoyment 9/10
In one word: engaging. This is not your mindless entertainment, but not the kind that requires constant deep thinking either. All of the elements are of such high caliber and come together so effortlessly, that I’ll go as far as saying part of the enjoyment comes from the appreciation of what they’re doing both separately and together. In other words, this is a show where my enjoyment is directly proportional to all the previously made observations. Most importantly, I eagerly look forward to it every week.

Overall 9/10
I expect this can be one of the best shows of the Summer, but I also recognize there's a lot here that can go wrong. So far, this is extremely high level of storytelling and holds tremendous potential. An overall grade of 9 may be pushing at this point, but that is what I believe the show CAN earn upon its conclusion, from what I've seen so far. 

tl;dr
A roster of industry heavy-hitters on staff gives us an original with serious potential, boasting impressive technical and artistic elements, but that can still go anywhere at this point. Extremely immersive world-building with promising characters that can drive the story and are being handled well so far. Let's hope they're allowed to develop and that we have a carefully formulated and interesting plot ahead of us - everything is pointing in that direction, but there are still some causes for concern. Still, this can certainly be one of the best shows of the season, and join the “elite” for the whole year.

As a child, I’ve always held a fascination with spies. This is most likely due to the fact that I grew up in a family that exposed me to James Bond at a young age. Cool, suave, and sophisticated, capable of carrying off any mission or any feat, James Bond was the type of guy I always wanted to be as a kid, and, as I grew older and into adolescence, Bond’s luck with women only enhanced this idea. Of course, much to the dismay of my eight-year-old self, I grew up to be anything but sophisticated and cool and instead decides to write reviews ... on anime. So, when I had learned of the content surrounding the recently aired Princess Principal, visions of my childhood flashed in my mind, and I was genuinely excited for the show, as it seemed to be essentially James Bond, but with all the characters being replaced by lolis. Yes, a dumb idea, but anime has frequently surprised me in the past with its use of strange narratives and concepts to make genuinely good shows. However, PeePee (yes, it’s immature to refer to the show as such, but I’m going to be doing it from here on out) is perhaps the biggest disappointment I’ve had all year with anime. I really wanted to love this show, I really did, especially since it has so much going for it in regards to what appeals to me personally from a visual standpoint. The great character designs, wonderful setting, and world as well as the smooth soundtrack. Unfortunately, PeePee is bogged down by an ultimately weak cast of characters, an aimless narrative, and, for the most part, a lot of wasted potentials.

PeePee’s narrative is set in a fictional 19th-century steampunk London in which the West and the East are separated by a massive wall (insert overused Donald Trump joke here), in which five young girls from a prestigious academy are actually spies! The series follows these girls on various spy missions in an episodic narrative structure, as we learn more about their pasts and their relationships with each other, and that’s pretty much it as a whole. On paper, this mode of storytelling doesn’t sound bad, but the main problem I have with PeePee’s narrative is just how aimless it is. The story feels as if it doesn’t really know what it wants to do in regards to its story and characters, and instead just relies on ultimately inconsequential episodic spy missions that feel more like they exist solely for padding out the run time of the series. It proves frustrating to watch since I constantly kept expecting the story to do something, or to go somewhere, and I would be more forgiving of the show if its episodic nature actually had any bearing on the world as a whole, or if they were more engaging. This is made worse since the narrative is nonlinear and it often undercuts its own episodes by carving out any semblance of pacing.

Nowhere is this idea more evident than in episodes nine and seven of the show, in which we don’t learn anything about any of the characters or the world we’re presented with. Episode seven is essentially an episode in which the girls join laundry cleaners, as they have to find a specific uniform to identify someone in the army who has been using mustard gas. As they work in this place, they eventually transform and rebuild the work system, so everyone can work more efficiently and earn more money, and eventually apprehend the villain of the episode; that’s it. While there is some commentary about the working class of the people living in the Victorian era in London during the 1800s, it’s an ultimately pointless episode and even has many jarring moments that simply make no sense or just feel...odd. Like when all the men happily throw off their clothes to give to some cute underage girls for them to clean, or a scene where one of the spies, whom is fighting off against the villain of the episode, defeats him, and drops a knife to the floor, whereupon another lady who notices it, and walks away, which, I’m guessing, is in shame…? Or maybe she is scared? Does she want to turn her back in respect for the privacy of the spy girl? I don’t know! The anime doesn’t make it clear and the lady’s actions doesn’t make any sense and feels more so jarring than anything else, resulting in one of the many examples in the show where the in-the-moment logic is shoehorned in to create forced and unneeded drama in situations where it doesn’t make any sense. When the lady walks away it clearly hurts little miss loli spy, and it feels unnatural that the woman would do so, considering that the loli spy has just apprehended a man with a knife, whom could have killed one of your workers! This may seem like a redundant thing to talk about, but little things like this that drag me out of the narrative and prove to be distracting, and there are plenty of examples of this.

The other pointless episode, even more so than the one I just described, is episode nine, in which we see Chise, a Japanese girl trying to adapt to British society, as she recaps her time spent as a spy and basically tells us her relationships and thoughts of the other girls. This is pointless as we already understand at this point the dynamics between each of our characters and repeating it so, is redundant. Not only that, but the episode is also a good case study into another problem with the show and that is that each villain, or any person who belongs to any higher social class, is a complete asshole, one dimensional prick! In this case, we have a rich guy who kills a butterfly, just because he is so EVIL! This forced dynamic between the higher upper-class as being horrible people, while the lower-class is presented as being kind and considerate, having to work hard to prosper in life is representative of the context of the society in which the show is based on, sure, but people are not this black and white, and it feels silly to present this as such. It doesn’t help either when the show takes to victimisation in a cheap and pathetic attempt to make us feel bad for the characters, with each adult, again, being represented as one dimensional pricks, beating down on our cute and innocent little girls. It’s the same problem I had with Elfen Lied, which also used similar cheap writing to evoke this emotion from us through manipulation, and while PeePee is nowhere near as bad as that show, it still feels lazy. While I do appreciate that the show does attempt to show us the character’s backstories, which does add some more depth onto them, it’s not something you haven’t seen before, nor is it really that effective since the characters are rather dry and boring. It’s hard to care for them on any emotional level and are more akin to cardboard cutouts.

There is an attempt here at introducing a plot twist into the narrative, but I feel as if it is introduced far too late to do anything substantial with this idea, and not only that, it also felt incredibly predictable too boot. The show constantly hints at greater things in the narrative, but then utilizes the most bare-bones and predictable storytelling to deliver upon these hints, making the entire show feel incredibly uninspired. There are a few attempts at theme exploration, and politics, all of which is never given enough time to breath or develop, and feels more so as afterthought, rather than an intrical part of the story and world. Every theme presented feels like a child’s interpretation of a morally gray world. The show also utilises exposition as well in order to communicate to the audience the state of the world, such as in the first episode where the narrator essentially just tells us everything instead of letting the audience be immersed into the world and setting ourselves, especially since the information we do learn, regarding a wall that divides the East and West, is not really explored all too much in the show, aside from the finale, but, even then, it’s nothing too remarkable. While on the topic of the finale, while I would say it is more engaging than the rest of the show, since things of actual significance and consequence are occurring, it ultimately feels rather anti-climatic and just ends abruptly!

To be perfectly fair, there was a couple of things in the show’s narrative that I kind of liked. For starters, there is a variety of different missions, which helps to break up the monotony of the story, and various locations and settings which helped to expand the world and make it feel grander. I also liked some of the spy training stuff too, and helped add on this layer of realism to the setting and the world, from seeing the girls learning how to unpick locks, or them performing practices involving tailing someone without their presence being known. Some of the technology used in the show too was pretty fun to see as well, such as a ball that allows the holder to fly, which allowed for more creative scenarios to ensue. In addition, there was a few episodes that could actually be fun, or somewhat emotional in a few places. The best example of this is an episode devoted to Dorothy, and her backstory, and while it too does utilise victimisation too, the episode is fairly emotional, mainly because Dorothy was the only character I found to be somewhat likeable, being that she was easily the most relatable, and her world outlook on life just seemed to be the most admirable amongst the cast. The one thing that ruins the episode however, is that Dorothy’s father, whom after learning does actually care for his daughter, is killed off and is never mentioned ever again! Not even a single passing remark or comment!

As for the rest of the cast, they’re pretty mediocre character archetypes. Chise’s involvement in the narrative is pretty minimal, and while we do understand her reason for coming to London, all the way from Japan, in a fight between her and her father which carried some narrative weight and emotion, she doesn’t really change or grow much throughout the narrative and her relationships that form between her and the other girls just feels superficial, as if the only reason they exist was because the script dictated it so. She had some charming scenes however, most notably her lack of knowledge surrounding western customs, although some moments felt rather trite, especially the one with the lady in the laundry house I mentioned before. Beatrice also doesn’t have much involvement in the plot either and serves little purpose as a whole. I’m guessing her role is the straight man, in the sense that she is the most normal of the group, having been trained very little in the art of spies, so I guess we’re supposed to latch onto her, but I found her more so annoying than anything else. Undoubtedly the crux of the show, and what most of the emotional weight depends on, is the relationship between Ange, a spy who has essentially cut off all her emotions for her job, and the Princess. Their relationship does actually feel genuine and sweet at times, especially since Ange actually exhibits emotions around her, giving her character some more depth and personality than what we were lead to believe at first, suggesting some personal history and connection between the two. While this relationship is still nothing remarkable, and is as cookie-cutter as they come, the scenes in which they fight, actually have some emotional weight behind it. While I won’t get too much into the plot twist between their relationship (even though it is obvious that even Stevie Wonder could see this coming!) the struggles behind the Princess's life was actually kind of interesting, and one of the few moments I cared for any of these characters.

Now, one positive thing I can say about the characters is that they all have good chemistry between them, and their back-and-fourths as they complete missions can actually be pretty funny and charming sometimes too, especially the scenes in which they are driving in their car, as Beatrice freaks out and screams hysterically, Ange turns off her voice changer (which was installed onto her by her evil father because every adult in this is a one dimmensional ass-hat) and is a clever way of adding some comedy into the show. While the character interactions are good in many regards, it is not enough to salvage the show unfortunately.

In regards to animation and music, PeePee, handles this the best. The opening is fantastic, and I can’t get enough of it! It captures the spirit the show is aiming for perfectly, and the same thing can be said for the design of the world and the character designs too. The city is mechanic, lifeless, and bleak, and each character design is pretty good, albeit it can be kind of silly looking at times. The soundtrack is also comprised of smooth jazz, adding some suave to the show, and the animation, for the most part, is pretty consistent with some cool looking action sequences. However, CGI is used in some parts of the show, with a jarring use of it in the second episode, where a group of people are dancing with the same posture and fluidity of two robots trying to emulate human movement; it feels really jarring, and many of the backgrounds in the show are comprised of CG models that never fail to look awful and drag me out of the scene.

In conclusion, PeePee was just a mediocre show with no remarkable attributes and it felt like the writers were holding back and, as I said, kept playing it safe with predictable and tireing stories that have been done a thousands times before to much better effect. It’s a show that is more interested in cinematography and action then it is in having actual characters the audience can feel for, and the strange pacing, as well as the narrative structure makes the show frustrating to watch since it feels as if it is going nowhere and just remaining stagnant. On some level, yes, I did enjoy myself during some moments of the show, but much of that was overpowered by a strong, unyielding feeling of boredom which makes it incredibly hard to recommend as there are so many other shows that are actually worth your time. Don’t bother with this show. Like someone you passed on the street today, you’ll forget the memory of them as soon as you take your eyes away...

I'm really REALLY grateful that I didn't drop this anime at the first episode, there was something on it that made me want to dig more into it, and the show hooked me in so hard, so let's see what does this anime has to offer

Warning: if you dislike by any means something like Girls doing sexual harassment for example (in order to fulfill their objective), or Spy Lolis having some action, stop reading, this is not an anime for you.

Story 7/10:

We are on some sort of Victorian setting for this story, there is a group of girls which job is to spy royal ... interactions with the princess, such as conspirators against the princess or any other stuff related to her.

What I could consider as the most interesting part of the story is the relation of the MC with the princess, there is something fishy going around those two and the weird technology the spies posses, such as the weird ball that gives the MC some interesting gravity alteration power (I don't really know how to explain that)

Art 8/10:

The Victorian style of this anime, really gives the vibes, the animation overall is good looking so there is no complains on this area.

Sound 7/10:

I'm not that attached yet to the soundtrack of this anime, but that doesn't means that is bad, is okay overall, the background music does a well job with certain scenes

Character 7/10:

My only complaint here is one of the characters: Beatrice, AKA the princess Annoying loli servant, she served no purpose on the first 3 episodes but to yell for whatever reason (at least she became helpful after that) yet the other characters holds their secrets, such as the relation between Ange and the Princess. Remember the "Sexual Harassment" I talked Earlier? that's one of the best girls here that serves a good purpose in distraction, not distracting the viewer, but those that needs to be distracted in order to fulfill their missions. it is pretty good and serves well for the Spying job. I expect some interesting info dump between Ange and the princess, that is what keeps me hooked in to unfold the secrets between this anime.

Enjoyment 9/10:

Good enough, after how worthless was the first episode, I felt more hooked to the next ones, so I'm really glad that I decided to give this the 4 episodes law instead of dropping it in the first episode. It promises some interesting revelations and some action, so I'll keep watching it

Overall 7,6/10:

Good so far, I would really recommend this one, but as I said in the beginning, there might be some stuff that others dislikes, but that is not a reason to avoid it, at least, give it a try

There’s something just really dangerously exciting about Princess Principal. Mixing genres of mystery thriller with some bits of science fiction and steampunk, this is a show that proves original anime can still work well with the right talent and creativity.

Original anime these days tend to be risky to make despite not falling under adaptation pitfalls. Princess Principal has its risks when it assembles a cast of cute high school girls together in a spy thriller. I have to admit, this show got my adrenaline pumping a bit from the first few episodes. My first impression of this anime started with the setting. It’s innovative ... and takes place in a time era of the 19th century in England. A major conflict in the story is about the civil war that separates the Kingdom of Albion into two nations: The Commonwealth and the Kingdom. The female characters consists of high school students working The Commonwealth as undercover spies. In essence, this show is be easily recognizable as a spy thriller fiction.

Accepting the principle cast didn’t take me long but it wasn’t easy to understand them. Remember, they are spies so not everything about them is honest. Not to mention, we don’t get background stories about them in the beginning. However, the show does make time to amplify their personalities. The idea of spies in this show combines elements of espionage, deception, trickery, and even some femme fatale. To be clear, it really brings out what the characters can do as we see how they function as spies. For me personally, I think this anime does a neat job at characterizing the characters’ skill set. The most noticeable spy is Ange with her ability to manipulate others while hiding her true intentions. She’s also adept at changing her personality depending on the situation and highly unpredictable. To be quite honest, she’s pretty much the mastermind of spycraft in this show. Her leadership skills play important roles on missions and I must say, this anime really brings out the most of those abilities.

The other main characters shouldn’t be underestimated. Dorothy has the feminine charms, firearm skills, and driving talent to carry out her missions. She’s the symbol of the femme fatale and brings out her seductive skills the most. Princess Charlotte serves as the brain of the cast as she is smart and easy to get along with others. Her close friend is Beatrice has the skill to mimic other people’s voices so she should definitely not be underestimated. Finally, Chise serves as the show’s primary fighter with her swordsmanship skills and melee combat abilities. A show with these diverse characters will take the viewers some times to accept as many will find some more likable than others. However, I think the character cast stands out not just by their personalities but also their character relationships. For instance, Ange and Charlotte has a unique relationship that is explored throughout the series. Beatrice’s relationship with the other spies evolves as each episode progresses. By the end of the show, I actually felt like she became a likeable character despite my initial annoyance at her presence. Chise’s relationship is less straightforward with others as she often finds having difficulty expressing herself to others. Despite that, I think the show does a neat job at bringing her character to life by having her work as a spy with Dorothy and Ange. On the other hand, the show’s antagonist roster could really do for some improvement. Hardly any of those are memorable and it feels like the main female grossly overshadow them.

Crafting a show about intelligence activity is no easy task as episode needs to be carefully organized for the story to flow. The show doesn’t take long to get into the mood as it’s eerie and suspenseful. It cleverly tells its background stories for some characters and believe me, they possess a lot of human emotions; some more tragic than others. However, I do have some problems with the pacing on occasions and story structure. It feels out of order at times and some resolutions doesn’t feel as impactful as others. There’s even one episode that I personally thought didn’t develop the story at all around the mid-show. Also, while I like the surprises this anime throws at the audience, it still falls under pitfalls with some generic mystery elements at times. Still, if you toss those drawbacks aside, Princess Principal really stands out as a show that dazzles with what it establishes.

On the cover, it seems this anime may be misrepresented by the character designs. They look like cute girls so one might wonder how an anime like this can make it into a convincing spy thriller. Make no mistake, this show’s risks pays off with the character designs it works with. From Chise’s assassin style characteristics to the seductive femme fatale of Dorothy, it really does make these characters stand out. It even capitalizes on the characters facial expressions and body language as those are important skill assets for spies. My only problem is with Beatrice as her character look like an immature kid compared to the others. As a spy thriller, also do expect violence to break out although it’s never farfetched to rely shock value to attract the audience. The action has smooth camera angles to showcase what spies can really accomplish. Fan service is minimal with some occasional bath scenes, Dorothy’s feminine charms, and the girls dressing up as spies. Honestly, it’s not distracting. The biggest payoff of the show’s visuals lies with its setting. The steampunk setting of an alternative history really shows creativity from the architectures, vehicles, and innovations.

Anyone who is familiar with Yuki Kajiura will easily recognize her talent in this show with its killer soundtrack. It’s entrancing and hard to ignore by the ears with its every beat. The theme songs has attitude that’s tough and catchy with eerie choreography. The OST relies on its jazz-style and smooth choreography. Finally, I can confess that the main characters’ voice performance is exceptional. Spies are perhaps some of the most difficult characters to portray yet the voice acting all sounds convincing. The ability to change voice tone from one moment instantly to another really bedazzled me.

Princess Principal ended up as an anime that I surprisingly grew fond of. It took me a little time to accept what it is but it didn’t take long to really get engaged to what it had to offer. Directed by Kazuya Nomura (having previously worked on another spy thriller known as Joker Games), it’s really a show that got me invested time into with its stylish storytelling and psychology. While I admit that not everything flowed perfectly, it didn’t make mistakes that would cause the show to collapse. I can’t say this anime is recommendable for anyone because of what it is. However, it’s definitely an anime to give a chance as it can end up being irresistible.

“When you create a web of lies, you'll inevitably trap yourself and become everyone's meal instead”- someone, somewhere, sometime

Princess Principal is an unorthodox title to be sure. Steampunk, non-linear storytelling, and rule of cool. Sounds like it should've been a winner, but it was a case doomed to fail as soon as it set out, exposing itself rather quickly as a fraud and a disaster. It's stupid, it's uncool, and most of all, it's insulting. It tried desperately to confuse you and come off as smart and then it tries to patronize you.

Princess Principal is the condescending and obnoxious dreck from the same team ... that gave us one of last year’s most crushing disappointments, Izetta the Last Witch. As blasphemous as this sounds, that show was still better than this one in every single way. Keep in mind, Izetta was sort of a train wreck and plenty were hurt by its unkept promises despite the setting and premise. However, it's like this show decided to do it one worse yet still be seen as better. Let the truth be heard, let this series be exposed for its lies, and let it be cannibalized and demonized for ruining my hopes and dreams of having a better Izetta, just like with Youjo Senki only half a year prior! Let me, the man it deceived the cruelest, have my vengeance, for the lies end here!

Case ST 2

When a narrative starts out on such an awful foot as to have narrator exposition of the past as the opening scene and then have a bunch of asspull revelations and stupid moments (few of which ever come to make sense later), then your narrative needs to do a lot to make a recovery. It never does. In fact, those asspull revelations are occasionally present, like the ballerina revelation in episode 1. It tries to play itself as smart by creating information (that it claims that we missed) out of thin air; that obviously not smart. It does this a few times and it's annoying every time. The technology doesn't make any sense either and is poorly explained. Apparently, there is this C-ball that the main character has and at one point they try to steal the prototype that was just finished, except they already have the original so that officially makes no sense. Lastly, the factions are insanely difficult to keep up with thanks to how the executed their non-linear storytelling, and we don't even k is which side between the commonwealth and the royals is the east or west side.

As stated earlier, this show treats you like an idiot. The asspull revelations that never add up aren't the only example of this. Hell, they're not even the most egregious. What’s more egregious is the fact that this show constantly beats you over the head. Every single episode, the show constantly drives home the fact that spies lie and that they're not good people, as well as that everyone always lies. More than 5% of the total dialogue is centered around these three things. The dialogue is so condescending and terrible overall, and with all this thrown in the pot, it's just an especially big insult to the audience's intelligence. “Did you know that spies are liars?” Gee, I sure did, hell, so did everyone watching. You don't have to remind us constantly. Anywhere between 3 and 25 times an episode, especially in the early episodes. Not everyone knows when they're being mocked or patronized but when you realize that it's happening to you, it's aggravating, so a show shouldn't ever do that to the viewer, who is maybe trying to use this as an escape from reality. Instead, Princess Principal, how about you instead focus on telling a coherent story and SHUT THE FUCK U-

Lying is bad

That being said, there are times where you can see a glimmer of hope in the narrative. As predictable as episode 6 is, the finale and tragic irony of the song to the situation at hand is brilliant, almost reminiscent of some of the other works this writer has worked on, specifically the final scene of the 23rd episode of Code Geass, a personal favorite. This series, especially in the second half, starts actually trying to elicit emotion, but it's not always effective at it. Sure there are good moments like episode 7 which was the only really solid episode of the show barring some of 6, but then we get episode 8 which while that did provide context to some scenes from earlier, it actually reveals another problem and missed opportunity in episode 2, one of the worst of the series; this isn't even speaking of the embarrassingly bad and mind-numbingly stereotypical episode 9 which feels like it would normally be a sappy kids show episode that also patronizes the audience. In a way, it's almost trying to be the reverse Izetta where instead of starting off decently and turning to complete shit later on, it starts off horrendously and gets better later, except it stumbles as that hallways through the second half anyway and ends up back where it started. Too little too late comes to mind. Besides, the finale is a sequel bait disaster anyway and anytime the show takes a step forward, it takes a stab back as well.

Case C 2

With the exception of Ange and Charlotte, none of the characters have any semblance of chemistry. Hell, none of the are memorable. Their personalities are beyond basic and not-fleshed out or progressed at all. There is no one worth giving a damn about, for they are so lifeless and static. If this show I supposed to be a rule of cool series, why does only one character try for this angle (the girl with the tits), and why isn't it one of the more prominent characters? They're so plain and tired, and one of them, names Beatrice, starts out especially bad and hypocritical. She’s the typical “princess loli bodyguard” trope except more annoying, and then she becomes a mod benign version of this exact same trope with little to no progression. Hell, all of these people are little more than tropes! The two “best” characters are Ange and Dorothy. Dorothy because she tries at rule of cool and she’s hot (and she actually has an explored past), and Ange because she has this weird thing about the Black Lizard Planet she keeps lying about nonchalantly. Oh, and she and this princess kinda sorta love each other...I suppose. Reasonings loosely related to it are dumb though. Regardless fact that such straws need to be grasped just to say something interesting about these characters is proof of their failure as a cast. This isn't even speaking of the other characters that come later, since they're not worth mentioning and they exacerbate this issue.

Case A 4

The show’s visuals do not fare much better. Studios Actas and 3Hz did a joint effort for this project, and if nothing else, they were consistent...ly bad.The Light Novel default artstyle aggravates and does not look appealing in the slightest, and the designs range from mediocre to abysmal, with the worst being Chise’s design. The rest of the art looks decent and occasionally pretty detailed, like with the C-ball, and that's the only praise I'll give the visuals. The animation is ok at best, though the fights are pretty badly choreographed. The CGI ranges from mediocre (for the cars) to abysmal (for the people) and there is even a moment with a CGI room for the foreground and background and it causes a long 7 seconds of bad slowdown (what is it with anime that have CGI and slowdown and why are all of them always shitty anime?). When we see rads backgrounds in situations of motion, or any time for that matter, they look terrible, and so does the photorealistic backgrounds of the school garden, which you will see from time to time. Shame since the steampunk-esque setting is an interesting one in terms of potential visuals yet these don't warrant much merit.

Case SO 6

One of the most renowned composers in the industry, Yuki Kajiura did the music for this anime. This is honestly one of the weaker OSTs I've experinced from her to date. The songs are mostly pretty reserved and thus aren't very memorable, and the few that are more blaring and interesting aren't nearly of the same quality of some of the best tracks of her other works, like the SAO and Fate/Zero OSTs. The tracks are repeated quite often too to make matters worse. The OP, "The Other Side of the Wall" by Void_Chords feat.MARU, is easily one of the best of the season. It emphasizes rule of cool and is filled with the frantic energy that makes you pumped to watch each episode of the show, as awful as this show is; it is the only real good thing I could find in this show, which is unfortunate. The ED, "A Page of My Story" by Ange (Ayaka Imamura), Princess (Akira Sekine), Dorothy (You Taichi), Beatrice (Akari Kageyama), Chise (Nozomi Furuki), fares nowhere near as well, as contrarian as this apparently sounds. It is an ok enough track on its own but intro in particular gives me major mood whiplash every time I finish an episode. Overall, it was a decent enough repertoire of music but little was special and it was honestly underwhelming on the whole.

Case E 3

This show was very difficult to enjoy. The action wasn't even that competent, the characters were unbelievably dull and bad, the plot was wrecked beyond belief, and the show treats the audience like a dunce. The most enjoyment I got out of it was listening to the OP theme by you can do that as well as engage in the full version without having to see the show anyway. Not to say that the experience was heinous but it was continually frustrating and I am left bitter for it.

Case O 3

With that, the case is closed. Princess Principal is hereby found guilty of lying about being a good show, treating its audience like an imbecile, being caught so far up a web of lies and lack of proper establishing that everything is convoluted, and all around being a massive disappointment. For a rule of cool show, this didn't even try that hard in any aspect, even visually or musically, and for a show of emotion, it shot itself in the foot almost every time it tried. It's off to the cellar, Princess Principal; good riddance.

I remember looking at the summer 17 seasonal charts searching for anime to add on my watch list and the summer 17 seasons itself had a lot of worthwhile anime such as Made in Abyss, Welcome To the Ballroom, Magical Circle Guruguru, Tsurezure Children and Princess Principal.

Being a fan of spy genre thanks to the lacks of James Bond, Jason Bourne and other spy anime like Read or Die and of me decided to check out Princess Principal and while I did like the series on my first watch I thought the series wasn't all that special outside of the fight scenes. However, when Sentai ... Filmworks decided to dub this show a year later I decided to re-watch Princess Principal twice dubbed. One of the re-watches being the chronological order and after re-watching, the show I went from liking the series to loving it to a point where looking back at the summer 17 seasons for anime Princess Principal was my favourite anime of that season.

With the discovery of a mysterious substance called "Cavorite", Albion was able to construct a fleet of airships that made Albion the dominant power in the world. However, after the London Revolution, the country was split between the Kingdom and Commonwealth of Albion. The story of Princess Principal follows five girls (Ange, Beatrice, Chise Charlotte and Dorothy) 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 working for the Commonwealth who are 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.

I found the story of Princess Principal to be very fascinating for the most part.
For starters, the show goes a great job presenting its episodic structure where the first 8 episodes each of the girls would take on cases where either had to defeat set group or steal an important item from set organisation/group. I found all of the case adventures to be all intrusting because not only the series is very intelligent of how the girls deal with the cases but they are all extremely well paced and addicting to watch.
I also really liked how the series was not afraid to into dark territory because some of the cases do not have a happy ending for everyone.

The one thing that Princess Principal does compare to most modern anime is it has a non-chronological narrative, and the execution was let's just say it was a double-edged sword. While almost all of the problems of Princess Principal get negatived if you watch the show in chronological which I did when watching the dub but if you watched the show when it was airing like most seasonal anime watchers you will start to see the sadly inconsistent directing of the series. One of the many problems that you will encounter when watching the show is episode transitioning where one episode would be balls off the wall action while the next episode it's a full-on slice of life.

This doesn't there many story elements in Princess Principal as a result ended up being very confusing as the show doesn't do a great job at connecting certain scenes of the series that were very important to the narrative. This is not to say the non-chronological order is all bad though as there's a lot of mystery that plays along with the show narrative and it does pretty nicely for the most part, however, if you're like me who wants to see a consistent narrative I would go with the chronological order. Yes, the non-chronological order may be a fun watch the first time around but it should not be your definitive watch of the series.

For anyone who is interested in watching the chronological order here's the order in case order.
Episode 2 > Case 1
Episode 3 > Case 2
Episode 5 > Case 7
Episode 4 > Case 9
Episode 9 > Case 11
Episode 1 > Case 13
Episode 7 > Case 16
Episode 6 > Case 18
Episode 8 > Case 20
Episode 10 > Case 22
Episode 11 > Case 23
Episode 12 > Case 24


The only negative thing I can say about Princess Principal outside the double edge sword non-chronological narrative was the ending. Yes, season 2 is coming this year and all but I felt like the show ended in a weak way where it's literally screamed squeal bait.
Overall I really had a blast with Princess Principal Story. Yes, the ending was left to desired as well non-chronological storytelling at times (if you actually decided to watch the show in that order) but other than those shortcomings the story was nicely crafted.

When it comes to the characters for Princess Principal, I thought they were all great and memorable.
Ange who despite being mostly emotionless isn't afraid to sacrifice herself just to complete her mission.
Dorothy is the most playful and relatable one who uses her feminine charm to get everything that she wants. Also, she is great at driving gateway cars in missions.
Charlotte is the most oddball of the 5 where she uses her powerful connection to get the job done.
Beatrice is the most incontinent out of the bunch and despite her struggling to keep up she has a unique power that allows her to copy anyone voice with her mechanical throat.
Lastly, we have Chise who is a strong Japanese sword woman where she is unstoppable as long she has a sword.

Despite the five main girls being clichéd at first, they are actually great characters who not only developed well but all had the chance to shine on screen. Not to mention the characters interactions with each other was great especially Charlotte and Ange. If I had a favourite out of the five girls, it would be Dorothy as she was the most likeable and relatable character thanks to her fun personality and an intriguing backstory.

As for the villains, I thought they were enjoyable. Yes, some of them were one-note but the one that showed up near the end of the series was pretty interesting.
Overall the characters in Princess Principal are great, and they are easily the main highlight of this anime.

Visually Princess Principal is great in all areas.
It does a great job at presenting its world from the far-off Visually where stretches of light contrast with the ever-present darkness that generated a distinctive atmosphere, the old time European designs of roads, buildings, decor, machines to the surprisingly smooth animation that fits well the world that is presented. The charters designs for each of the girls are unique and very appealing to the eye especially the outfits and dresses that they were in the series.

The animation itself is surprisingly outstanding. The action scenes are well animated, character movement is smooth and the amount of attention to detail thought the series animation is amazing. The series also has some of the best use of CGI as it perfectly fits with the traditional 2D environments.
Great job Studio 3Hz.

The soundtrack for Princess Principal is pretty great and memorable.
Yuki Kajiura once again did a great job with the soundtrack and all of the tracks fit very well the overall Victorian setting of the show.


The opening theme The Other Side of the Wall by Void Chords feat MARU where despite being fully in English kickass song that perfectly the setting and tone of the series. Plus it's was sung in full English which was awesome.
The ending theme A Page of My Story sung by the five main girls of the show is a beautiful ending theme that perfectly closes off the episode of Princess Principal.


The sub verison is pretty good for what it was that is filled with good Seiyuu performances all across the board however the reason why I didn't release this review back in 2017 is that I wanted to watch/review this show dubbed and I have to now say. Princess Principal is not only the best dubbed from Sentai Filmworks but is also one of the best English Dub I have ever seen. Sentai Filmworks really brought they S game here as every single dub actor was actually British person and they all did a fantastic job with roles that were given especially the five main girls. My favourite dub performance was Elizabeth Bunch as Dorothy. She nailed Dorothy more than the sub counterpart as she actually more Charisma to an already awesome character. Honestly, God bless this dub.

Despite the lack of a real ending least as of right now, Princess Principal is a very enjoyable and memorable ride that I enjoyed from start to finish. The story was great and well told, the Victorian London was beautiful, the characters were great and fun to watch and the visuals as well the music was awesome. If you’re looking for a great spy anime that has likeable characters and an engaging story then I strongly recommend Princess Principal.
It is a fantastic spy anime that no one should miss.

Spy and Espionage media has always been a very popular topic in the West. Besides the ongoing popularity of the James Bond franchse, and the allure of heist movies like the Oceans' series, they've been around enough to be parodied for decades, represented by films like Austin Powers and more recently Kingsmen The Secret Service. Even cartoons like Archer have taken a crack at Spy shows. In the world of anime, consumed by magic high schools, video game worlds, and Moe appeal, spy shows haven't been very common. The most notable example as of late would be last year's Joker Game, which ultimately became a ... critical flop with its episodic structure and blandly undistinguishable leads.

Which leads us to today's topic. Studio 3Hz, responsible for last year's cute girl filled yet ambitious Flip Flappers, made this ambitious project, a spy show starring cute girls in a steampunk driven English setting as they embark on a variety of missions for the sake of their government. Did it succeed? Well let's find out.

The story begins with the setup of a proposed "London Revolution", splitting England into two sides, the Kingdom and the Commonwealth, neither of which get fleshed out or distinguished. Our protagonists, the cute girl spies, work for one of these sides on a variety of missions that make up our story. These missions range from infiltration, rooting out traitors, train battles, disguise exploits, heists, retrieving secret codes and many more, in addition to backstory episodes for some of the character relationships in the present.

In general, these episodes are quite fun to see, with a good amount of Tactical Espionage Action (thumbs up if you get that reference) in almost all of them. While some may accuse the show of more or less pushing the cute girl appeal, from a logical standpoint, having young girls do the spywork would put them away from a lot of suspicion, because the very idea would seem silly to most of the adults and guards around their areas and be unsuspected. One could argue that the silliness bleeds into its own script as well and while that is true, the concept isn't horrible in itself and on their own, most of the episodes are good fun, if including a few logical fallacies and repeated events here and there (the seductive role of Dorothy for instance).

That said though, there is one thing that prevents these episodes from reaching their full potential, the plot structure.

You see, the way the show structures itself is quite non-linear. This non-linear plotting has been done in anime like The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Baccano, but Haruhi was a meta comedy and Baccano used it to accommodate for way more characters and to keep the pace consistent the whole way through rather than having separate climaxes. Both also had source material already. With PP, it attempts to use different adventures that in many ways feel disconnected from each other to do all the worldbuilding and plotting from scratch, as an original property within 12 episodes. One particular character relationship gets the opportunity to develop and shine but...little else.

Questions about the world's ideas still remain incredibly open, many episodes lack overall relevance to the worldbuilding or plot lines to jack down the pacing, and while the characters' backgrounds are touched on, most are either done only briefly or takes unneeded time from other elements, looking at you Episode 9.

In many ways the show, while cool in short bursts, feels less like an overall elaborate story and more like a series of fun ideas the writer wanted to accomplish in this steampunk spy world he created, regardless of care or progression. Two notable examples are Episode 7, in which a laundry exploit exists to reveal backstory but not add any contribution to the overall plot, and ESPECIALLY Episode 9, an awkwardly placed backstory episode that kills the previous episode's pacing for a character who matters nothing in the grand scheme of thing and does nothing in what remains.

Even despite this, Episode 8 is actually great, being a really nicely appreciated look into the intertwining lives of two of the characters and adding a great amount of context. It's a case where an episode actually felt like it was put in a place where it should be, and it was by far the peak of the series.

Other episodes vary between "fun adventure with a small bit of insight" or, rushed plot episodes, more specifically at the end of it. The final episodes have very sudden plot revelations to throw the spy unit into apparent disarray, and the Ange/Princess relationship does benefit a lot from their character confrontations around this part, but it still feels like it does little with the world, only introducing a possible antagonist on par with the protagonists at the very end and ending on a sequel hook. Yes, a sequel hook, in an original story. Such a thing shouldn't happen, and if the show had keep more of a focus on its world and kept things consistent rather than trying to be stylistic with a timeline, it might've been able to accomplish far more than its ambitions seemed to imply. It might also have been possible to explain Ange's C-ball. While the substance is, according to a friend, based on a book, it lacks the proper limitations, so they can apparently Magic the characters out of situations without too much thought for how.

In a sense that's kind of reflective of the plot itself. As I mentioned the action scenes and specific scenarios were often entertaining itself, but the Rule of Cool moves it away from plausibility unfortunately.

On the plus side, the production is mostly up to par. While the character designs are sadly very typical of light novels, the general look of the world, costumes and action scenes is really well put together. The different uniforms, steampunk architecture around the world, action scenes and car chases all look the part, and made the show incredibly inviting at first as a new and unique show from the same studio as Flip Flappers. Actual animation was good for the most part. In terms of sound, Yuki Kajira made another fairly unique soundtrack similar to her work on ERASED, fitting the vibe of the setting and often being in the right times. The OP is badass, and the ED, while catchy is a pace breaker from the more intense endings.

The characters range from nicely handled to skimmed over to non-existent. Relatively early on at the start have Ange as the confident serious superspy and Princess as the royal figure wanting to create a revolution and cause a positive change to her nation. This goal isn't original in itself, but following a certain plot twist, it becomes more of a somber reflection that actually works for the plot in the end. Ange's role on her end is nice too as the most competent superspy. The other three of the main group, Chise, Dorothy, and Beatrice get far less. To the show's credit, each of them gets a particular moment when we learn of their basic backstories, followed by having a cool moment in an action scene, not necessarily fleshed out but present and accounted for, while the skills each of them DO feel like necessary pieces to form a competent unit in the spy missions in their own wat. That said, a few of their episodes tend to make the plot go off track. Chise, for instance has her own episode 9 feel incredibly disconnected and pointless in the main scheme of things aside from finding a way to justify in the Token Japanese girl. Other supporting characters are either people to be fooled by the spy group, higher ups who's main role is being higher ups or generally episodic characters who....sadly don't leave much. There is a suitable rival for the group but again, she appears at the very end, once most of the conflict is out of the way.
In general, the main characters are nicely handled where it counts with some nice character development scenes at certain points, but the show's sidetracking pace and incomplete nature hold them back behind simpleness.

Conclusion

In a few ways, the show reminds me of the writer's previous effort Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. That was also a 12 episode story that tried to create a world and characters with great production values, and while that show's premise was far less interesting and the faults in that show far more irritating, it kept a coherent story handle and tried to more or less conclude its whole idea in the end. He tried to do more than he could, and while Princess Principal is far from a total bust by virtue of its slick production and generally impressive standalone sequences, it went from a train wreck to a train veering off course only to return yet not reach its destination.

As far as being a spy show, it mostly succeeds, if not having enough opportunities to turn fate against the young girls. If you're looking for a general rule of cool show with moments of brilliance and fun action atmosphere starring cute girls, you'll get it. However, if you're looking for a well structured narrative with a well realized and fully fleshed out ensemble, you may have to look elsewhere.

Overall: 5.5/10

While I did enjoy Princess Principal and it definitely had its high points, it could been so much more if certain decisions didn't break its walls from the inside

Packed with actions and thrills and the finest of turmoils. This is the story about a spy organization consisting of hot girls. Carrying out tasks in order to revolutionize a country. Princess Principal. An anime that may appear to be bland at first, but will swiftly show its true nature and unveil all of its many unique concepts which'll put every watchers dumbfounded.

The mindset and piece of advice you need if you are planning to start this show and really to enjoy it :

- There is no Yuri. Just signs of Yuri.

- As you advance through the show you may notice that ... the episodes do not feel like it's in the right order. However, rest assured. It’s supposed to be that way at the beginning!

- You may not comprehend a few things while watching this show due to the fact that the mysteries are quite an annoying one.

- Expect a great deal of action and mysteries.

[ Do not read further unless you want to be spoiled. You have been warned. ]

The story's all about a spy group completing tasks set by their boss. The story is essentially covered by all the actions and mysteries. Hence making the story's absence of significance acceptable ( in my opinion ). When I think about it Princess Principal actually has quite a generic story. Be that as it may, but as I said before. It's still acceptable for me at least. Why?

I began this show not anticipating much. Honestly, I was actually intending to drop this show. But not until I heard the incredibly catchy opening which later on forced me to dance every time it played ( I'm not kidding ). As I kept watching, I felt as though my brain doesn't work when I’m watching this anime. But it was still fun nevertheless. I haven't seen something like this for so long. Princess Principal brought back the nostalgic feelings of mystery, history and actions which I've lost since the time I watched Gosick.

The art and quality of this anime was acceptable too. Expected nothing less from a joint venture between Actas and Studio 3Hz. In spite of the fact that I don't generally have a lot of connection with their work. I recognize them and how incredibly good some of them are. Princess Principal's art was done well and done right. My most favorite part regarding the quality and art was presumably the katana duel. Though it's not the best out there, I felt the hype as the blades conflicted with one another. It was an astonishing sight to see.

With respect to the characters... It's seriously a hard one to get my head around. The character development had a few mysteries appended to it which caused my brain to malfunction. Well, not like I didn’t understand anything at all. But I had a slight feeling of disapproval towards specific characters like Ange and Charlotte. These two characters are incredible and I love Ange. But I simply don't generally like the plot twist of Ange really being the princess and Charlotte being the normal girl who Ange met. It destroyed Ange's character development before the plot was uncovered. She used to be cold, edgy, deceptive, similar to a professional assassin. Unfortunatey after the reveal the anime made it so that she slowly became more delicate and kind. As an edgelord this disturbs me a little. But other than that, that is all I have to say regarding the characters.

Princess Principal was fun. I didn't expect to get so much joy from this show. It's actually been inside my list for probably around 1 year now. I'm so glad I got rid of it.

If you want something action & mystery-based with many cute girls. This anime might just be for you.

On the surface, Princess Principal ticks all the boxes for elements I like in anime, Victorian Steampunk, dark gritty environments, intrigue and mystery with a dash of light-heartedness on the side. With Studio 3Hz on board as one of the main studios, how could I pass this up? 3Hz also made my favorite anime of all time, Flip Flappers. So how does it compare? Some minor spoilers follow.

Well, the more keened eye amongst you may notice that Okouchi is head of the writing staff. The guy infamous for his trainwrecks both lovely and grand such as Code Geass or Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. I ... thought that even if the overall story wasn't any good, I'd still be in for a smashing good time. Sadly (or thankfully) the team seemed to have sedated him or placed him under heavy medication, as Princess Principal ended up having a competent story throughout.

Notice that I used the word "Competent", not "Interesting". I admit, perhaps it was a bit naive of me to enter this with high hopes of it replacing Flip Flappers as my favorite anime, but Princess Principal felted mostly like wasted potential. To elaborate further, while the first two episodes may hint at a series focusing on espionage and drama, Princess Principal is a largely Slice-Of-Life series where cute spy girls do cute spy things. Sure, some episodes may feature slightly more dire stakes than the previous episodes, but this is negated by the fact that Princess Principal, uniquely I may add, jumbles up its episode order for a majority of episodes (with the last two episodes being the major exceptions).

It's as if the team wanted to make a 24-episode anime but due to whatever reasons, budgetary or creative, they settled with 12 but the individual case episode encompass the range of 1 to 24, exemplified by how the first episode is Case 13 while the second episode is the true starting point chronologically. In spite of (or maybe even due to) this unique way of working around restrictions in episode count, the pacing of the series is greatly crippled. An action-packed episode may follow a slow slice-of-life episode for instance. Adding to the episodic nature of the series, the loose thread connecting the episodes with each other just simply isn't prevalent enough, and you'd be forgiven if you lost the direction the plot is heading into. Worse is how interesting elements unique to the Princess Principal universe (such as cavorite poisoning, The British Empire being split in half, Normandy belonging to Britain instead of France) don't play any significant role in the plot. The series ends hinting at a continuation in the future, which would sting if the series never gets an extension. If you thought the Cavorite jungle shown in the opening was ever going to make an appearance, you'd be sorely mistaken. And remember the Duke of Normandy? He’s going to appear in a pop quiz at the end of the review. So be prepared!

Speaking of characters, the main cast is quite likable, although Ange’s “Black Lizard” schtick and Chise’s “Fresh off the Boat” gag do get old. One complaint I have is with regards to the antagonists throughout the series. The Duke of Normandy for instance, despite being labelled as a major antagonist on the show’s website, he’s mostly a no-show for most episodes, and it’s not like his devious schemes are of any relevance to the show. He’s just some old guy with glasses. A rival character with abilities rivalling Ange is introduced extremely late into the story, with her appearance essentially being sequel-bait material. She’s by far the most interesting character outside the main cast due to her appearing for over 10 minutes, but her presence is too little too late to elevate the cast of characters to anything special.

The director once mentioned the focus of the series was on the relationship/romance between Ange and Princess. Ange and Princess are embroiled in a Prince-and-the-Pauper scenario, further intensified after the London Revolution. While I do applaud the writing team at moments for a select choice of scenes starring the two (most notably episode 8), their relationship doesn't come to the forefront that often, and their relationship isn't any more meaningful beyond Princess being a slightly more competent damsel-in-distress.

And there's that word again. Competent. Competent is also how I'd describe the writing throughout the series as well. It's generally good and will leave you interested (most of the time), but nothing special. There are also some glaring moments where they want you to feel a certain emotion but regrettably don't have the talents to make such a scene pop. The example I'm using is that dreadful Chise scene in episode 5. Her "Pain Pain Go Away" line to that lone orphan feels tacked on just for this episode, so you just know it’s going to be cruelly twisted at the end . When the plot twist comes and Chise is tearing up, I felt nothing but my head tilting down in shame. And this incident is completely forgotten in subsequent episodes. Classy. A slightly better way to remedy this is to have the line be part of her characterisation and introduce it in an earlier episode. It's not an elegant solution, but it's better than what we have. That is not to say there aren't moments that elicited a reaction from me, the ending to episode 6, while predictable, left me in goosebumps thanks to its brilliant direction and execution.

I've been complaining a lot about this series, so you might be wondering : Why even bother? Well, Princess Principal is still fairly entertaining as a whole. The animation vividly captures the action and the audio mixing is superb. And as I said earlier, the direction in general is a cut above average and the execution of the scenes ultimately leaves one enthralled. In addition, I do appreciate how the series portrays the Victorian Era as not entirely cog sunshines and metal rainbows, depicting aspects such as poverty and the prevalence of child labor in London, something most media set in this period generally gloss over. It’s not even window dressing either, the themes of wealth disparity even comes into play for a few of the episodes and I do appreciate them for at least trying to depict this otherwise commonplace setting a little differently.

In the end however, Princess Principal is simply a competent anime. It’s good but not spectacular. If this ever gets a second season, I’d highly recommend you check it out. However, since the survival of this series is still uncertain, it’s difficult to recommend this show on a whim. The series simply doesn’t do anything substantial or unique to warrant a viewing.

6/10
Above Average, not worth going out of your way to watch.

Now then, remember the Duke of Normandy? You don’t? Me neither. I don’t even remember the question I was about to ask! But I don’t blame you, I didn’t think he was that important anyway.

Princess Principal is a serviceable show; not a msterpiece, but not a total failure either. Disappointing would be the most accurate description, because the show introduces tempting setting, interesting characters and unconventional story telling while doing nothing with those ideas. Another aspect not working at all (for me), is conjunction of moe elements and mature themes.

STORY:What story?
Plot of Princess Principal is told out of order, not chronologically. There are shows, which utilized this structure to craft compelling and intriguing stories. PriPri is not one of them. Almost all episodes are stand alone events and are hardly connected by overarching plotlines. A simple case of ... the week show. Furthermore, the show has no mystery elements, the biggest plot twist is spoilered in ep. 2.
Pacing is also all over the place. Ep. 6 tried to introduce/develope one protagonist with backstory and interaction with another charakter, ending on an emotional high note. However, this relationship felt rushed and the ending forced. Events like this need more screentime to create an impact, since the themes of Princes Principal are rather dark and mature. On the other hand ep. 7 was a boring sitting with convoluted B-plot.
Despite being a show about spies, there is surprisingly little actual spying going on, like political intrigues. PriPri cannot create moments of genuine urgency or danger, due to strong episodic structure and subpar writing. The last 2 episodes try to create a dramatical finale but fail in a spectacular fashion, because the "evil" comes out of nowherer. Looking back, the overall plot did not move a step, if you compare the reall first episode and the last one. The reason for zero plot progression is severe focus on character development.

CHARACTERS: Interessting but underused.
5 main characters are interesting, diverse and have more than one quirk going for them. In general a well balanced cast that is fun to watch. Chise takes the first spot in authenticity, followed by Dorothy. Well, those two got the most interesting arcs. However, those are not spies, but cute girls in a hard world, victimized for the sake of the plot.

ARTWORK & ANIMATION: Expensive rag rug.
Charakter models and backgrounds are detailed; animation, especially in all hand to hand combat scenes, is great. Unfortunatelly, the artwork itself, while detailed, is a Frankenstein's monster. ALL women, most notably the main cast, look like charakters from a moe slice of life show, while all men look menacing and grim. And all spy outfits appear rather cutesy than practical. This moe look does not mash well with dark and mature themes of the show and can lower the impact of emotional scenes. As if the artwork is the only way to underline injustice.

SOUND: Good.
Memorable OP and solid voice act are speaking in favor of the show.

HEAR ME, I SAY, CROSS THE WALL!

Catchy OP? Check

Amazing ED? Check

Likeable cast? Check

Interesting story? Check

... Random filler episode? Check

Princess Principal is my Anime of the Season. When I first heard about it, I didn't come with high expectations. I thought it'll be some generic action/magic anime or a "Cute Girls Doing Cute Things" anime.

Oh, I was wrong. Princess Principal DOES have only female characters as main characters, and yes, they are pretty cute, but the last thing you'll say about them is that they're doing cute things. (Well, that is of course if you do not consider killing people "cute things")

Princess Principal is an episodic anime, each episode isn't related to the one before, and aren't released chronologically. Some of them show history and background of the characters. Most of the anime is like that, but at some point it airs a few episodes in a row which are also chronologically connected.

I wouldn't want to spoil, but there's some kind of twist we see early on which makes the show a bit more confusing, but a lot more interesting.

One of the things that amazed is the setting.
The steampunk setting is presented well. The world, the buildings, the poverty vs the rich, the clothes, the soldiers, the weapons, the cars. All of it looked faithful to the 19th century.

The characters don't fall into the normal anime tropes. We don't have the "tsundere" for example who is just a "tsundere" without any traits.

All of the characters are interesting, likeable and different. All of them are spies (as said in the synopsis) but each has her own fighting style, the way she acts, handles the tasks or her friends and such.

Talking about the art- If you saw screenshots or action sequences you could see that it's a beauty. Looks really good, pleasing to the eye and pretty detailed.

Lastly, the music. One of thr stronger aspects of the show. The Opening song is my favorite from this season, and is a good contender for the best Opening song of the year for me. The ED is pretty good as well, soothing after a tense episode.

The soundtrack (OST) is on point, adds a lot to the viewing experience.

I'm still not sure on my score, I want to give it either 9 or 10. For this review I'll go with 9.5 .

I recommend Princess Principal.

TL;DR Amazing anime, my AOTS. Interesting story, amazing action, music and art. Recommended.

First off, I think this show is one of the hidden gems I have encountered this season. And secondly, I binged watched this in one go, so my experience may differ from the few scathing reviews of this show.

This is a spoiler-free review. (i hope)

This anime knows what switch to flip for a binge watcher like me. While the episodes are not in chronological order (episode 1's title is called case 13, 'nuff said), this helps the audience piece together the story behind the girls. That is why the scathing reviews make no sense to me whatsoever. Each episode provides a little nugget of the ... girls' day-to-day activities, and each mission the team does, paints an image and offers a deeper understanding on the many aspects of the conflict between the Kingdom and the Commonwealth.

The episodes are enjoyable - heartwarming even, while others keep one at the edge of suspense, amazement, and awe of the individual character's personalities (loved the end of episode 1).

While there are some predictable twists, I do not think that they should affect one's enjoyment of a show. What I seek was character driven plot, and I felt that Princess Principle did it very well.

The art was very well done too, the background were very captivating and immersive. The girls had nice designs, and were drawn consistently. The show is just simply pleasing to look at.

The sound is a 10/10 for me. The opening is catchy, and the ending helps to wind the day down. The soundtracks used complements the action in the screen, and really adds to the enjoyment.

Also, the OST is by Yuki Kajiura, make what you have to with this information.

Overall, Princess Principle is one of the hidden gems of the summer season, and one that I enjoyed thoroughly. However, the story is incomplete, and I hope for a second season.

The show follows a group of teenage girl spies in what I can only describe as steampunk Victorian "Albion" (England). A wall has been erected, separating the two sides between the Commonwealth, and the Kingdom.

Story- 10
While I went in with low expectations, I was greatly surprised by the intricacies of this show and how the plot begins to unravels as the story has progressed. Overall, the plot and animation is solid, and it walks the fine line of leaving us with questions and answering some that comes with a good spy show. I have no doubt it will be one of the most popular ... shows of the season.

Art- 8
The art in this show is pretty amazing. I think that the animators went in with a solid vision, and executed it perfectly. Nothing about how this world is set up makes it seem like they didn't have a clear vision in mind, and I appreciate that.

Sound-9
Princess Principal's sound/ost is masterfully done by Yuki Kajiura who is known for doing some of the best ost's out there.

Characters- 9
While we don't know too much about them at this point, episode 3 in particular begins to let you understand the characters more. Because they are both teenage girls and spies, we don't know too much about the individuals, which only adds to their individual appeals.

Enjoyment- 9
This may be a little high, but I've always been a big fan of the spy genre, especially set in England (James Bond, anyone?)

Overall- 9
At this point, it may seem a little high, but I feel that after these two episodes, I'm invested enough, and left wanting more. A tell-tale sign of a good anime IMO.

Imma keep this straight and short.

This anime is super underrated, I mean the genre of Steampunk itself is on the lower end of Sci-Fi genres.
I found this anime of the fact that it was yet another piece of work from Okouchi and When I saw how it was a spy/steampunk with girls I thought it would be some simple and nice story but boy did it blow past my expectations.
Princess Principal is a episodic spy steampunk with non linear story structure that is brilliantly executed in its core. Each episode is a new mission and new plotline while still undergoing with one main ... storyline in the background and you never forget that which is a good thing because sometimes with episodic shows, it tends to lose its value and purpose through such issues. It also helps of how well paced the story is especially within the narrative events of each episodes. The cast is brimmed with interesting characters who all have their own personalities and quirks and none of them feel pointless to have around, they handle the tropes they were given excellently and of course they will have tropes/archetypes as every character & story has tropes/archetypes. However, Princess Principal exceeds past its tropes by utilizing the world building as well as plots conditions of being a spy and victorian Era which the story takes place within. It gives sense of plausibility within the quirks and gadgets the characters use too and doesn’t go beyond the realms of possibility, which helps to keep immersion and humane sense of the humaneness of the cast. Each of the 5 main characters in the cast are 3 dimensional characters with solid backstory, serving layered depth and complexity as well as motives towards their actions within the story.
I also appreciate how you can connect each of the episodes to one another as they are happening around almost the same time and really makes the audience pay attention and use their concentration to make them understand and make sense of the story.
I over all enjoyed and was entertained by the story and also appreciated the balance between the writing style of it.
Overall: 8.7-9/10
Recommend to anyone if they have free time and nothing in mind to watch.

Princess Principal is a mid to late 2017 original anime from Actas (the studio behind Girls und Panzer & Tales of Phantasia) and 3Hz (a studio I've never watched anything from. Still, the stuff I've reviewed from Actas has a strong track record. So, let's be hopeful.

Story:

The narrative is set in an alternate history where the great nation of Albion has been split in two, the Kingdom and the Commonwealth. The two parts are separated by a wall and spies from both sides conduct covert missions encroaching into each others' territory. Yeah, I know what that's like. We follow a group of young ... girls sided with the Commonwealth and allied with the Kingdom's Princess, Charlotte, as they conduct a variety of missions.

The one issue I have with this anime is that the episodes are in a really bizarre order. Up until the last couple of episodes we jump around in time for seemingly no narrative reason. If anything, it somewhat weakens the tension since we've generally already seen a later mission and we know our main protagonists are going to get through the situation they're in just fine. It feels like the writers just didn't plan ahead and they're filling in character back stories with missions when they think of them.

With that issue out the way, there are a lot of strong elements to this series. The spy missions are interesting and the series does manage to maintain a degree of tension in spite of the random episode ordering simply by presenting intriguing situations, side characters who could killed off and making you curious about how the girls are going to resolve the mission. It also has an ongoing story about the Princess and Ange and their past together that has a lot of compelling facets. The spy elements are really strong in this as well. There's very rarely a mission where everything is what it seems to be. There's a lot of betrayal and scheming. And the operations are largely clandestine. Yes, sometimes we get big action sequences but there are also plenty of situations where the girls sneak in and out in a very measured way so that they aren't detected. The series is also really good at introducing elements of the world and its politics in a very natural way that makes it feel like a well thought out, strongly developed world. The climax is really good too and has a lot of strong moments. The pacing is really good too.

Characters:

There are five major characters in the group. Dorothy, Ange, Charlotte, Beatrice and Chise. One of the big strengths of this series is that each and every one of them has a solid back story that gives them a strong motivation behind why they're doing what they're doing. They also have really excellent interpersonal relationships and interactions. They're also very complex characters with moral ambiguity since the antagonistic spy net is also shown as having strong reasons behind what they're doing and every single one of the major characters does some things that aren't exactly paragon. The series takes a very pragmatic stance on morality in general. Which I appreciate because the world isn't as black and white as a lot of media paints it to be.

Art:

The art looks really nice. The character designs are really good. The steampunk aesthetic is fantastic. The action sequences are appropriately intense and flow very well. The one issue I have with the artwork is that their spy disguises largely shouldn't work. Most of the girls cover the bottom parts of their faces when going into an intense moment where they'll be seen but you would think that seeing the upper halves of their face would be enough to identify them. Even if things are moving quickly.

Sound:

They got some talented ladies for this series. Imamura Ayaka, Tachi You, Sekine Akira, Furuki Nozomi & Kageyama Akari all deliver excellent performances that have a lot of subtlety behind them. Kajiura Yuki's musical score is perfectly suited to the series and really accentuates the action on screen.

Ho-yay:

There's a lot. Especially betwixt Ange and Charlotte who talk about changing the world so they can be together or running away together at various points in the series. But, to an extent, all five of the girls seem to be into each other. There's also a female side character in one episode who seems to have a thing for Dorothy.

Areas of Improvement:

1. The series really should have been in chronological order.
2. Better disguises would have helped sell the spy situation.
3. It would have been nice to have a few little scenes where the girls talk about things unrelated to their work.

Final Thoughts:

This anime is excellent. The steampunk aesthetic makes for a great backdrop to the espionage intrigue. The character relationships are really good and every aspect of the series is really strong. Are there a few things that could have been executed a little better? Yes. Do they have a major detrimental effect on the series as a whole? No. My final rating is going to be a very enthusiastic 9/10. If you like steampunk or spy stories you'll probably enjoy this. If you like both, you'll almost certainly be interested in this one.

Cute girls show that actually takes itself seriously? Well....anything works I guess? Who would have thought this show would work so well? This is easily one of the most surprising anime of the year! This show was a joint project between studios Studio 3Hz and Actas. This series is directed by Masaki Tachibana who is best known as the director of Barakamon. He has also worked on shows such as Flip Flappers and Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex and 2nd Gig. This is his second director gig. The writing for the series is handled by Ichirō Ōkouchi who is best known for his ... work on the Code Geass series.

Princess Principal is one of the few CGDT shows to get something right that many of the shows of this genre don't do.  What is that? Well to put it simply, its the characters and writing.

Before I jump into the meat of this review, I just wanted to explain my main complaint with CGDT (Cute Girls Doing Things) shows. My main problem with shows like these is how the characters lack depth, and there is no clear end goal. It just feels like 12 or 24 episodes of them checking off a list of anime tropes and clichés. There is no attempt to make the characters stand out besides being a whatever anime archetype they are.

Thankfully, Princess Principal is one of the few shows to get this right. A show like Princess Principal doesn't need to be just cute for their concept to work. What it does do is show you, that giving a character an episode to flush them out can pay off in the long run. We start to like the character for who she is and not because she is cute. Cute can be an aspect of liking a character, but when it is pretty much their whole character. There is nothing.

Now, let's get onto the review. I know that is what you have been waiting for. I'm happy to give you what you want. We are going to Black Lizard Planet.

Story (8 out of 10): Our story takes place in the fictional world of Albion, England. During the 20th century of the Kingdom of Albion has control and monopolized this mysterious substance. This has led to unrest among the citizens of Albion. So, a couple of years later, the Commonwealth launches an operation known as Changeling in an attempt to replace the current ruling class in power with a small group of girls. A girl that looks like the princess catches wind of their plan and offers to help them with their plans if the Commonwealth promises her that she can become Queen of the Kingdom.

The story of Princess Principal isn't an overarching plot but more so episodic plots that end up connecting later. They make sure each character gets their moments in the spotlight to shine. Mr. Ōkouchi really makes sure every character is flushed out to the best of his abilities. But he doesn't do the same for the villains of the show as they are barely around. He does a good job framing them as a threat, but they rarely cross paths with our main heroines making them seem like wasted potential.

Besides that, it also can be unfocused sometimes with focusing on things that are not important to the plot. For example, in episode 7, it feels like more of a side mission in an open world game than an actual meaningful episode to advance the plot and characters. The same can be said for some missions they go on. I am always asking myself, "What does this have to do with the plot?" Like there is one mission at the end of the series that felt out of place to me.

Overall, the story is good but lacks a good villain to oppose our girls. So, you're left with cute, interesting girls beating up grown men. I really like the beginning of the series as it serves as a good introduction to our cast. I also like the direction they went with the ending leaving it open for a season two since a season two is the only way they are going to fully realize their vision for what they want to do.

Art (9 out of 10): As stated before Studio 3Hz and Actas did the animation for this project. They both really come out swinging this time around. Actas doesn't always have the best animation, but they really surprised me here with this show. I can tell Studio 3Hz handle majority of the action scenes as each one is unique and different. I think Actas handled the big booming perspective shots. All of them were exciting and intense. So, they knew what they were doing in that department.

The character designs were done by Kouhaku Kuroboshi. Who I know from his illustration work from Kino's Journey. First off, I would like to tip my cap to Mr. Kuroboshi for his unique designs for all the female characters. He really makes every girl in the show look different. You can tell who is the oldest and youngest among our five main girls. He really gives them expressions through their clothes, that can really tell who they are as a character. He also makes sure their eyes are designed. When you look at the girls you can tell how each of them looks different. Ange’s eyes have a sharper and darker look while Beatrice’s eyes are a lighter color.

Though, I feel this is lacking when it comes to the male character designs. Every guy in the show looks bland and boring. No one really stands out even the boss of the girl has a mediocre design. The same goes for our villain. I can say overall, he really nails the 20th century Victorian London style. I think my favorite designs of the show are Ange, Dorothy, and Gazelle. So, overall, I think the artwork and animation were really good.

Characters (10 out of 10): Now onto my favorite part of this show. This show is really driven by its amazing characters. The characters of this show are nothing less than fantastic. I am talking about the main characters of course. Let's down the line and talk about how effective each of them is.

Ange: The queen of Black Lizard Planet. Ange is just a lot of fun. One of her main concepts and calling cards is her ability to lie and tell when someone is lying. She also has the ability to change her personality depending on the situation. You can never tell when she is being honest unless it involves one of the other major characters in the show. She is very laid back and is very aware of her surrounds. Ange never tells you who she is unless she uses the cover of "Black Lizard Planet" to tell someone about herself.  Yes, she can use the anti-gravity machine she carries, but I feel her power to outsmart everyone around her is even better. She is the all-around member of the group if you ask me.

Beatrice: She joins the team later. She is the younger member of the group but has a very dark backstory that involves her father using her as an experiment. So, she now has a voice box. With this voice box, she is able to change her voice to match any voices she hears. This is very helpful when they’re on missions. It's a really unique ability. She isn't the best fighter of the team, but combat isn't her focus. She plays more of the role of gathering intel. I love her expression and how she really keeps herself calm when on these missions since she is the most likely to die. Great character, and really has her heart in the right place. She only joins because the person serves joins. So, she is very loyal.

Chise: Up next is the only Japanese member of the group. Oh, I forgot to mention everyone is British in this show. Anyway, Chise is the samurai of the group. She is the main the hand to hand fighter of the group.  So, she takes care of any bad guys that get close. Her character reminds of a rule 63 loli Goemon. That doesn't mean she is bad. Her backstory in her first episode it was okay. The other episode she got was really cool. I do wish they went more into the reckless side of her. Overall, she is just a solid character being the typical samurai. Her costume is really cool.

Dorothy: Now time to talk about my favorite character of the show! Dorothy is the femme fatale of the group while also being the leader. She is the most level-headed of the girls and is cool under pressure. Dorothy never really does enough to much of a whore. She knows how to use her body right. She really plays the role of the femme fatale. Dorothy is very sexy and a very strong female character. She always knows what to do. Her backstory is not a bad angle with her being abused by her father either. IT tells you Dorothy never always had it figure out. Her real name is Daisy. She changed it to Dorothy. In her episode, you really got to see how she became the strong and powerful woman she is today. It's very well done.

Princess: The last member of this group and one of the most interesting. She is the public figure of the group. Princess is also the only reason Beatrice joined the team. She is the only one that can freely move around without having to hide her image. Princess is the most inexperienced in being a spy (same goes for Beatrice) but she proves to be very clever. She isn't one for combat, so just like Beatrice and a little bit of Ange. Her best ability is to be able to outsmart her foes. Now there is a huge plot twist involving her and Ange that I won't spoil, but I will say it was amazing and really will make you like Princess and Ange even more.

Lastly, I want to talk about Gazelle. I really wanted to see more of her because I felt she could have been a good foe for the girls. When she is on the screen she is really making her presence known. She is evil and very brutal. Episode six is one of the best examples of her being outright brutal to someone. She along with the other guy really needed more screen time. I hope they get more in a second season. I do think she has a great design though.

Sound (9 out of 10: The opening theme is solid getting that spy theme perfect, but I feel the ED really nails the moe factor with a cute upbeat song with some really good animation. I also felt the voice acting all over was solid. I felt the voice actors really did a good job of being the characters than just being an archetype. I think the strongest performances of the show were Ange and Dorothy if you ask me. Lastly, I felt the sound effects for the guns and explosions were nice and didn't feel stock. So, I feel the show has some good sound design.

Overall (9 out of 10): Princess Principal is easily one of the most underrated shows of the year. This show was such a treat to watch. I really like how they made the character the center focus, and we could take what they're doing seriously. This wasn't cute girls playing Kickball. These young girls working deep undercover as spies and acting like spies. I highly recommend shows for anyone who is a huge Lupin the Third fan and those that have wanted more depth when it comes to moe shows.

Lets get right into it

Starting off with the Story:
Its the era of Industrial Revolution in the Great Britain, The Royal Family is on the verge of collapsing and several people want to rule the Kingdom
All kind of unjust is on the rise
Classism, Poverty, Violence, Corruption, Employee Exploitation, Political Unrest, Illegal Immigrations, Power Abuse etc
Our main cast is working as Spies for the IA and have to handle requests from the Top
Each Episode a different case is taken up ranging from assassinations to simply helping one cross the border

Steampunked, 1970s theme, Old Britain, Revolvers and Mechanical Pistols, Jazz Music and all that good old stuff
I have ... always been interested in topics like these revolving around Politics & Economics, Bringing down the unjust people who control and rule us, debating right and wrong
So naturally I would like it, I mean its the reason why I decided to watch this anime
in the first place(jk it was the yuri between charlotte & ange that got me in)

Art & Animation:
Amazing...Simply Amazing and Beautiful
I mean just watch the PV and see for yourself
The fight scenes felt real with no Unreal BS where Physics didnt seem to exist
Character Design and London Artwork was BEAUTIFUL
Animation blended in smoothly with no weird rendering or glitched out Objects
Art & Animation is one of the Things that really matters to me...
If an anime has an amazing story or even characters but the Art & Animation is horrible, I wont bother watching it.. I know Im missing out on something amazing but I simply dont want to watch something unappealing to the eyes in the 21st Century

Sound:
Once again Amazing!
Dont believe me, Go watch the first 30 seconds of Episode 1
Probably one of my favorite anime prologue scene, kinda reminds me of the prologue scene of Koi to Chocolate to Senkyou I mean The music and setting gave off a similar vibe.
This would also clear up any of your doubts on the art & animation
Oh and the goddess Yuki Kajiura is also on board...so yea
Dont know who she is well then ever heard OSTs of Fate Zero or Garden of Sinners or perhaps Madoka Magica?? Yea she is the creator
Dont even get me started on the OP Song
Man that song gave off Persona 5 Vibes with its jazz musical strokes and pumped up theme. I loved it all!
It should've won the 2018 Crunchyroll anime op award where it was a nominee
The lyrics lined up perfectly with the theme of the anime and the character portrayals
That ED song was catchy as well

Character:
So Who do we have on board?
First A merciless and emotionless girl who is a perfect spy and has her heart closed off to everyone else except for a certain someone..I WONDER WHY IS THAT SOO??? well its a spoiler

Next a care free girl who seems to be an adult and a heavy drinker who decides to disguise herself as a highschool student at the most prestigious school where the princess studies

Then we have A Japanese girl who seems like a midget but is deadly and finds the western lifestyle to be lazy and unethical

Another midget girl who seems to be nurtured her whole life without a single exposure to the unjust of the world

and finally the princess, a blonde and beautiful girl who seems to care about her people and is good at negotiating deals and seems to handle stress and pressure well or at least thats what it looks like on the surface

Lets talk about the merciless girl, Ange
The way she disguises herself and acts according to the situation at hand is just brilliant
At School She introduces herself as the Shy, Lousy and kind girl just to create
an image of her being someone easy to get along with who has no experience or expertise in combat or whatsoever
that way she would be underestimated and overlooked, making her tasks alot easier as the opponents are in for a big surprise.
Then at other occasions where she needs to avoid unnecessary attention and questioning, she disguises herself as a hard-to-get-along-with delinquent with an attitude as to making sure no one gets near her and just leaves her be.
Seriously she is one hell of a girl with amazing skills and tactics. She doesnt care about anyone or anything unless its the certain someone.
Sadly Ange was exposed to this path from a young age due to certain incidents that occurred during her childhood with long lasting after effects not just to her but to someone else as well who had no involvement in any of the events and got caught up in it all which Ange believes is her fault and lives under the guilt of it every single day
Any further discussion than that would result in heavy spoilers
I have to say Her VA did an Amazing job of portraying her
At first I was for sure it would be some big VA due to how excellently the voice acting was handled but it turned out to be someone not well known. Props to Ayaka Imamura(VA of Ange) and Sekina Akira(VA of Charlotte the princess) for doing an EXCELLENT job portraying their respective characters.

Now I would like to talk about the Princess as well since her character is Pretty Interesting but that would result in spoilers so to summarize it without giving any spoilers, Her character is More than what Meets the Eye..She's one Hell of a Princess

Of course their are others as well but that would make this review 5 times more longer and would contain spoilers

All in all, the cast was Amazing and Badass with well execution and really enjoyable to watch.

The ending was a cliffhanger, but 6 movies have been announced to be released a few months from now which should be enough to cover up the remaining story.

Final Verdict
Should you Watch this Anime??
REGARDLESS of what your tastes are, I Believe everyone should give this anime a try
Just Watch the first episode.
It might have something in it for you.