ART+ANIMATION:
Backgrounds are good, city/ village design is good, strong level of detail and nice 3D layering of the artwork. Has a slightly dated to feel but it makes the humor scenes more entertaining for feeling out of place.
The animation is generally good, main character battles have amazing choreography and rarely have any static scenes. Some use of abnormal viewing angles. Mouth-flapping scenes are still present but are kept to a reasonable level.
The sound effects are good. In-show music is very good, but at times it seems too loud in the mix with voices. The first theme song does not follow the run-of-the-mill format of most recent action anime. It is similar to the music in the show and is orchestral and quite fluid in structure.
STORY:
This may be considered a shoujo with the vast number of male characters, but it doesn’t really hit that point until halfway through the series. The show feels quite gender neutral with scenes enjoyable by those on both sides, but nothing too ridiculous. It feels most similar in spirit to the Last Airbender series, with a good balance between battle scenes, character development, and light-hearted material – the music and setting also have a lot to do with that. Of course they don’t have bending, but there is a parallel.
The story follows Princess Yona, a spoiled princess who has never stepped foot outside her castle. One night, she is caught up in the murder of her father, the king and is forced to go into hiding. Along the way she is told to gain the support of four specific people to aid her. What she didn’t expect was that she would end up being caught up in an ancient legend from her kingdom. While out exploring the kingdom, see realizes much about the world around her and wishes to bring the happiness that she once had to her kingdom.
The first episode starts calm with some character background but ends with a great hook and cliffhanger that immediately draw in the viewer. From there we get a decent amount of backstory, and then continue into the first climax where our heroine has her awakening.
Great balance of easy-going humor with a few running gags, varied character building, and amazing battle scenes leaving me on the edge of my futon. Some serious character building scenes are broken up with silly moments, but all are either purposeful or reasonable. The pacing is well done. Nothing is rushed, and adequate time is taken to explore the important characters’ backstories.
Despite the main antagonist’s plans being made well-known not too far into the series, I found myself wondering why he choose the plan of action that he did. Of course, he too is only human and it made for a good story.
CHARACTERS:
The characters are well rounded and it is easy to feel invested in them.
Princess Yona goes from being a spoiled tomboyish girl having never ventured outside her castle, to choosing to fight on her own to protect others - seeing herself as the reason everyone else is in trouble. The in between stages are believable and well displayed. During the princess’s steps of growth, she doesn’t inexplicably gain new skills, even in crisis situations. Her burning awakening is realistic in that she isn’t thinking about much else as if she were some all-knowing OP superhero. With some prompting, she wants to try on her own to learn more about her situation She spends much of her time practicing on her own whim, despite not being all that smart or skilled. Critically, she still retains her old personality mainly for comedic effect - naïve, snarky but honest.
Even seemingly flat and weak supporting characters have quite a bit of depth a reason behind them.
The ‘reverse harem’ dynamic is pretty standard and adds to the humor. It’s hard to call it a reverse harem though considering the lack of romance going on – I’m glad they chose that path here. That’s not to say there isn’t anything that could be portrayed that way though, but our lovely princess doesn’t seem to think of those occasional situations in that way.
The ‘bad guys’ of all levels of the food chain show good reasoning abilities. There are one or two cowardly lord-level baddies with little depth more than preservation of their own standing. The story is mainly a struggle over how the path to the goal should be taken, with very little true bad guys, only disputes. The main antagonist is possibly the best example of this, where he had to do something unforgivable to accomplish what he saw needed to be done.
Overall character design feels standard but fits. Many of the stronger characters stand out and that is taken into account while the group tries not to draw attention to itself during their travels.
The voice acting has above average casting, with good display of emotions. None of the stereotypical annoying crying in serious situations.
ENJOYMENT:
I’m surprised that I have never heard about this show before, as it is truly deserving of more attention. I found myself constantly thinking of it as the Japanese version of the Last Airbender / Legend of Korra series. Other than the obvious similarities between the two, the story-telling itself is what I felt stimulated that feeling the most.
The humor never skips a beat and is used to break up the less exciting moments of the less serious scenes. I love the way they give the humorous moments their own art-style. I smiled or laughed at most of them.
Princess Yona’s growth as a heroine had me cheering her on the whole way, and she might just be my new favorite female lead character.
There are many quotes within the series that I like. My favorite - “I’m immortal. Actually, I can’t afford to die.” Others are more serious and applicable to real life.
OVERALL:
A very good semi-short series to watch if you are looking for a well-balanced and well thought out story with compelling characters. The humor is a welcome surprise in an otherwise serious looking concept. May be a shoujo, but it feels quite neutral.
