ALARIS' REVIEWS

22nd May 2009
Scrapped Princess (2003)

Scrapped Princess is a 24 episode anime series set in a medieval fantasy world, where Princess Pacifica Casull is prophesied to destroy the world when she turns 16. Widely believed to have been murdered at birth, Pacifica has instead been secretly raised by commoners. Just shy of her doomed birthday, Pacifica's existence becomes known, and she is forced on the run with her two protective, adoptive siblings.

Scrapped Princess is another classic example of an interesting concept let down by underdeveloped characters, a meandering plot, and highly repetitive dialogue. The animation is quite nice, but the execution of the story is deeply mediocre.

Pacifica starts as a passive, flouncing, self absorbed girl without any useful skills, and I was looking forward to seeing her evolve and grow as a character. Unfortunately, post-finale, I'm still waiting. Unlike other spirited girl archetypes, such as Miaka from Fushigi Yuugi (1995), or Serena from Sailor Moon (1995), Pacifica is not exceptionally kind, funny, or brave. It's possible that she's supposed to be cute, but unless you're Hello Kitty, that just doesn't cut it.

The tepid tone of the story permeates every aspect of the series. The adoptive siblings have so much potential to be cool or empathetic, but they are shallowly sketched, and fail to undergo any character development. Plus, I've never been a fan of the 'little sister complex' which seems so popular in shojo.

Have I mentioned the series is really repetitive? Many scenes play out like vignettes, probably intended to shed light on the characters' relationships, and painting a picture of life on the run. However, these scenes are bland and prosaic, lacking tension, humour, warmth, or story progression. Information is repeated and re-repeated, and characters proclaim the same assertions over and over.

The characters spend the entire series reacting to events rather than pursuing goals, and the pacing is sluggish right up until the end. Dramatic scenes only intermittently punctuate Scrapped Princess, and they fall far short when compared to other magical girl series, such as the gorgeously melodramatic Escaflowne (2000), or the intriguingly stylised Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997).

Having said that, I am sure there will be people who enjoy Scrapped Princess, and the fact that I sat through the entire series indicates that I found it tolerable, if not exactly enjoyable. The series regularly feels as though it might finally take off, and there was a point in episode 11 when I thought the real main character had finally shown up. Alas, it was not to be. Curiously, the character who appears in episode 11 is everything the hero should be - passionate, active, funny, flawed, and doing epic things for heroic reasons. Her story puts Pacifica's to shame, and reminds us how badly a series can be hobbled when saddled with a character as uncharismatic as Pacifica .

Scrapped Princess is diverting if you have nothing better to watch, but the interesting ideas behind it are wasted with weak plotting, bland writing, and unsophisticated characters.

Verdict: A mediocre fantasy series that plods along without much spirit.

If you like .hack//SIGN, you might like Scrapped Princess.