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.
