A lie within a lie
(This review contains
spoilers!)
Well, this was awesome.
As usual, a lot of the big name shows
this season didn’t catch my attention too much. I gave Kakegurui a shot, but I found the animation style wasn’t too
pleasant to look at. So instead I went looking for diamonds in the rough, anime
without the massive fanbases that seem interesting. One of those was Princess Principal.
And I’m sure glad I gave this one a
shot. This anime is exceptional in so many ways, creating an atmosphere both
somewhat playful yet still brutally dark. Set in a steampunk Victorian London,
this first episode introduces the main characters in their day to day routines
of being spies and doing spy stuff.
The atmosphere and presentation are
the true stars of the show here. We’re not in Kansas (or in this case Japan)
anymore, and the art direction displays that masterfully. The red and orange
city coated in gray and green fog is just plain beautiful, and the music is splendid.
Think of it as jazzy 1920’s style stuff mixed with Madoka Magica’s more eerie tunes (according to research, it’s the
same composer). The two go together wonderfully, giving the show much more
strength as a result.
Unfortunately it’s a bit of a double
edged sword, because despite the plot still being by all accounts a work of
genius, it doesn’t quite compare to the visuals. Still, it’s a darn good
self-contained story that does a great job of introducing the skillsets of the
girls. Well…most of them. The titular princess is basically absent here. But
other than that, each girl gets a chance to shine.
The writing on the lead girl is
especially interesting, and escalates this episode from a good watch to one
that just begs to be seen again to catch all the subtleties. Early on she
mentions that nearly everything she says is a lie, and they do literally
everything they can with that concept in 22 minutes. So many little word twists
and tweaks are hidden that make sense later on that make this episode a
wordsmith’s dream come true.
While you can never tell from the
pilot, this episode makes it look like Princess
Principal might be the hidden gem show of the season. The art direction and
music fit the atmosphere beautifully, the story is great and adventurous, and
the writing is beautiful. If I had one gripe, there wasn’t a lot of
worldbuilding or development on the characters outside of the lead. But there’s
plenty of time for that later. As it stands right now, I can’t wait for next
week’s episode.
FINAL SCORE
9/10
Amazing
No comments:
Post a Comment