Princess Principal Episode 9 – Trans-Cultural Connection

September 11, 2017generaltofu 3 Comments

As previous history with Princess Principal has indicated thus far, the show has kept consistent with its character explorations with each passing episode, especially if we consider the bombshell that episode eight was. Episode nine chooses to focus once again on the combat expert and resident Nihonjin of the spies, Chise. We already had a pretty solid episode of development dedicated to her earlier in the season, wherein which she faced off with and slayed her father-turned-traitor, and we saw a distinctly human side of her by the end of it. That episode focused somewhat on integrating her into the team, and in many ways, this episode is largely the same, thematically. However, we learn far more about Chise in relation to her Japanese pride and heritage, and how that comes into play with her work as a spy. In a way, though, this episode serves as a deep dive into the character of Princess, as well, using the events of last week as a frame of reference.

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Princess Principal Episode 8 — Shifting Emptiness

September 5, 2017September 11, 2017Owningmatt93 7 Comments

I feel that every week that it’s my turn to write these articles, the show gets infinitely more interesting than the episodes of the previous weeks. Whether that’s because of the fact that I’m legitimately enjoying the pleasant surprises that this show continues to deliver, the fact that it’s just paced its bigger moments with more impact well, or possibly both, I’m glad that I’m watching this show and I take back all of my skepticism that I had about this show before it aired.

This week’s episode answered some of the the concerns that Mythos had in his last article, as he wondered if the show was going to tie some of these threads from these singular cases together into an overarching plot, which is something I also wondered about the series after the previous few episodes. But episode 8 has decided to finally reveal some of the cards that it had hidden in its hand and has now played them in full view of the audience. I wouldn’t say it’s a surprise twist or anything, considering some aspects have already been hinted at in Episode 2 specifically and could have been picked up on in smaller ways throughout various other episodes as well.

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Princess Principal Episode 7 – We Can Do It!

August 29, 2017September 4, 2017mythos 5 Comments

Another episode, another reason to like this show. I have no idea how they’ll tie some of the threads between these different cases together as we’re now working our way towards the ending, but I’m enjoying the ride nonetheless.

While definitely a departure from the emotionally charged last episode, this one is just as good in what it attempts to do. Going from sadness to peppy optimism this episode, our group of spy girls attempt to stop a nerve gas assassin by going undercover in a laundry mill, blending in with the other poor girls who are tasked with washing the military’s uniforms. I have to say, every scene in this episode exudes the feelings and ideas of Rosie the Riveter, women working hard together and accomplishing great things by their own hands and effort, and the wonderful ways in which our main characters help these girls in the mill succeed and even buy out their own business to run it themselves was fantastic. The ending then nicely tied the bow by the cast commenting on how they’ve left their friends in the mill empowered and able to take care of themselves now. This is a great idea to see expressed in this show and Princess Principal never seems to drop the ball in representing some kickass female characters.

She is adorable but believe me. She is insanely kickass.

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Princess Principal Episode 2 — Observation is Key

July 21, 2017June 29, 2020Owningmatt93 3 Comments

After watching various anime premieres this season, Princess Principal (or PriPri, if you’re lazy like me) was the one that took me by the biggest surprise in terms of its sheer uniqueness compared to many others of the season. That’s not to say the season is lacking in creativity, or that previous seasons had more creativity than this current one, but in this season with many anime seemingly attempting to ride waves of popularity based on other popular ones, I expected PriPri to fall in line with them in terms of having difficulty differentiating itself from shows such as Baccano! or Joker Game.

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Princess Principal Episode 1 – I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t psyched

July 11, 2017January 3, 2018mythos 3 Comments

When I sat down to watch Princess Principal, I couldn’t tell you what I thought it would be, but damn if I wasn’t surprised. I guess I expected some kind of “cute girls doing edgy spy things” and, to some extent, that’s sort of the zoomed out view of things. However, it’s so much more. As The Afictionado put it when we were talking on Twitter earlier, this show is more of “a steampunk fantasy full of spy intrigue and reminiscent of Baccano!”

And that’s freaking sick.

Take a steampunk setting in turn of the century London, split London with the idea of post-WWII Berlin (including the wall), add in a helping of fun pseudo-science, pour in a cast of charming characters, and then top the whole thing off with a great soundtrack and you’ve got yourself what I’m watching this season. This dish was delish, and if this rest of the series is anything like the first episode, then I’ll be craving more and more over the next few weeks.