The end…?
(This review contains
spoilers!)
Princess
Principal truly has been the ultimate sleeper hit of the year for me, maybe
even more. It’s rare that I stumble upon an anime that’s this high quality that
gets so passed over by the majority of fans. But did the finale wrap things up
in a satisfying way? Let’s find out!
EPISODE 12
While not exactly the lowlight of the
season and despite being still a very good episode, this wasn’t exactly the
show at its finest. Yes, it was a very high quality episode that most other
shows would bend over backwards to have as their finale, but compared to the
quality of prior episodes this one doesn’t quite hold up.
Continuing directly from last week,
Princess has been wrapped up in a coup by the Commonwealth to destroy the
throne once and for all, and it’s up to Ange to save the day before the evil
agents decide Princess is no longer of any use to them. Along the way, Dorothy,
Beatrice and Chise return to the spotlight, each of them getting a moment to
shine…except Beatrice, who feels like she’s just there because she needs to be.
It’s too bad, as her character managed to go from irritating to one of my
favourites over the course of the show, so I kinda wanted a bit more of her.
This episode’s biggest boasts is its
action sequences, of which there are plenty. Not a frame goes by without something
awesome happening onscreen, leaving you on the edge of your seat until the very
last seconds.
The last minute or so is a bit
herky-jerky though, as the showrunners spend all their remaining time pumping
in Season 2 fuel. Zelda manages to escape with a flying orb just like Ange’s,
the main guy from HQ returns with no real explanation, and more. This is at the
expense of seeing if the nobilities attending the party escape safely, or
getting a proper ending for Dorothy, Beatrice and Chise outside of the post-credits
sequence. It’s incredibly blatant that they want to do more with these
characters, which is something I’m really onboard with. But in an industry that
only guarantees a second season to the biggest of big hits, this is kind of an underwhelming
finale should Princess Principal never
return.
All in all, this was a decent episode.
Was it a good finale? Hard to say. I think they spent a little too much time
advertising a potential Season 2 when they should’ve focused on creating a good
ending for Season 1, but otherwise this was an excellent “goodbye for now”
finale. The visuals and especially the music were clearly put to excellent use
this week, and each character got at least a moment to themselves, even if some
got more than others. All in all, while it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped, I’m
still thoroughly satisfied.
FINAL SCORE (Episode
22)
7/10
Good
FINAL THOUGHTS
Wow, where to begin? Princess Principal came as a complete
surprise to me. As the one show that I stuck with out of the five that caught
my interest at first for the Summer 2017 season, this show rarely disappointed.
The steampunk visuals and jazzy music design created a feel that I’ve never
really seen in an anime before: cold and robotic, but at the same time warm and
fuzzy.
The characters are easily the show’s
strongest suit. Ange, Princess, Dorothy, Chise and Beatrice are delightfully
varied, and you grow to love all of them by the end of the series. Even
Beatrice, who I initially wrote off as just being there so they could have a “cute”
character, ended up being one of my favourites towards the end.
The fact that this anime never got the
audience it deserved is highway robbery. While
it doesn’t quite have the same universal appeal as Little Witch Academia, the creativity put to use here make it an
anime that all fans should check out.
If anything, that’ll give us a better
shot at a Season 2 and improving the finale.
FINAL SCORE (Overall)
9/10
Amazing
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