| Subject: Re: Scrapped Princess |
Author:
chiisai_nezumi
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Date Posted: 12:38:12 08/31/03 Sun
In reply to:
Chichiri
's message, "Re: Scrapped Princess" on 14:01:52 08/29/03 Fri
>>Seeing Pasha's review of Twelve Kingdoms reminded me
>>that this forum can be used to discuss actual anime
>>series, too. :)
>>
>>So, the only really important thing I can think to say
>>about this series is that it TOTALLY ROCKS. It's only
>>available via digisubs for now (unlicensed, 17
>>episodes out of almost certainly 26,) but I'm sure it
>>will get picked up as soon as it finishes. Around
>>episode 6, I started thinking that it might be among
>>the best series I've ever seen, if not _the_ best, and
>>that feeling has only grown. The art and character
>>designs are very pretty, (unless you are Ash and only
>>like 80s hair, in which case you're up a creek,) the
>>CG is well-done and unobtrusive when it should be, and
>>the story is quite compelling. The best way I can
>>think to describe it is "take your stereotypical
>>wandering-adventurers-in-a-medieval-setting and your
>>stereotypical brat-princess-with-a-secret-plot-device,
>>and then make it non-stereotypical." :) The setup in
>>the first episode is that the three Casull siblings
>>(Raquel, Shannon, and Pacifica,) are travelling in a
>>wagon and get stopped by an angry mob. We find out
>>that Shannon is a very strong swordsman (when he beats
>>them all without unsheathing his sword), Raquel is a
>>strong magic user, and Pacifica, although only 15 and
>>apparently without any special powers, is the
>>"Scrapped Princess" who will destroy the world on her
>>16th birthday. Pacifica acts bratty, Shannon acts
>>uninterested (think "Sakura and Touya" kind of
>>relationship,) and Raquel acts ditzy, but you can tell
>>that there are deeper waters running through all of
>>them. I guess I can't really say much more without
>>getting into spoilers, since the plot starts to pick
>>up right at the second episode! Everyone watch this!
>>DO IT! DO IT NOW! :)
>
>I'd download it, except I don't need to, 'cause the
>anime club here is showing it this semester. :D
>Along with Last Exile (pretty~), Escaflowne (nothing
>like a classic, especially one subbed by DaveF), and
>Sugoi yo Sexy Commando Masaru-san. ^^
>
>Chichiri
I dunno, I'm not a fan of Scrapped Princess. The animation and character designs are all very nice and all, but this show seems to be lacking something that makes it fall in the average-good range.
I think, more than any other factor, the predictability and triteness of the portrayal of Pacifica's emotions is responsible for this show's mediocrity. The scriptwriters really could have done a better job working with the experience of being something akin to the Antichrist (the analogy is appropriate, given the Mauser religion and its statements regarding her...a major difference however is that there simply hasn't been enough time to build up a dread factor - the Antichrist has been a notion of evil in our world for 2000 years, while that particular prophecy of St. Grendel is only 15 years old...it is true, however, that the tradition of prophecies from St. Grendel has a dread factor of its own). I mean, really...I don't expect Pacifica's reaction to this news to be visually spectacular, and I don't have a problem with her reaction being quiet, but I do believe that many subtle undercurrents (even taking into account her simplicity), have been left out or glossed over.
The same sort of approach mars this show's portrayal of character interactions. When I watched it, I didn't really get the feeling that the three were siblings at all. Lipservice was paid, of course, in Shannon and Raquel's protectiveness of their little sister, but there was a haphazard sort of chemistry between the three that just didn't quite jive. For instance, in the Shannon-brainwashing episode, the memory sequence consisted only of a good memory of a young Pacifica enjoying eggs, and this is somehow supposed to fuel Shannon's unthinking slaughter of innocents during the brainwashing dream. This simply isn't convincing, and the connection - playing with a little sister and then killing people who try to stop you from playing with her - is a little thin.
For those reasons, I'll give Scrapped Princess a 3.5 out of 5. Great animation and character designs, poor portrayal of character relations and situations, mediocre soundtrack.
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