Review: Scrapped Princess

 

Episodes: 24

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Magic, Novel, Post-Apocalyptic, Sci-Fi, Shounen

Release Date: 08.04.2003 - 07.10.2003

Studio: Bones

Author: Sakaki Ichirou

Summary: Usually, the birth of heirs would be a joy to any kingdom. But at the time of the birth of the royal twins, it was prophecised that if the girl child reaches her 16th birthday, she would be the cause of the destruction of the world. Out of fear of the prophecy, it was decided that she should not be allowed to live and the little child was cast off the highest cliff to a certain death. Pacifica, the child of whom the prophesy spoke, is now 15 years old and traveling with her adoptive brother and sister who are dedicated to protect her. Chased by various forces dedicated to see that the sentence of death is carried out, Pacifica is compelled to hide her identity and to rely on the strength of her brother's sword and the mastery of her sister's sorcery to stay alive. With an army of warriors, sorcerers, and the might of the church all dedicated to her death, will the assistance of brother and sister be enough, or will Pacifica have to call forth the power to save herself and fulfill her destiny as it was told in the prophecy?

Sometimes even I do wonder what is with this industry. Before watching this I remember that I watched Special A, which was nothing compared to this show. I don't want to seem that Scrapped Princess was a show not worthy of my shelf, but it was rather way better than what I expected.

With one thing I agree, the plot is very overused. It seems like I am reading a fairy tale just to fall asleep. What makes this good is the way it is presented. Pacifica Casull travels with her older brother, Shannon Casull and her older sister Raquel Casull in order to hide from the ones that pursue her death.

 

Nick-named "Scrapped Princess" by the Peacemakers, she is said to bring destruction to the world if she is left alive and reaches her 16th birthday. A pretty cruel fate, for someone that did not taste life and that has to run from a place to another to stay alive.

But is there more to it than it seems? Why do the "Peacemakers" try to manipulate humans in order to kill her? Why can't they do it themselves? Yes, this show is good because it doesn't rush in order to reveal every plot element, it takes its time in order to develop the story and introduce each event at the right time.

The cast of characters in this show is pretty varied. Aside from the three main protagonists we also have many pursuers, assassins, church attendants, civilians and "to be" companions which most of them are not left uncleared and undeveloped.

Talking from an artistic point of view, the animation was pretty well executed for a 2003 production. The character designs are very gorgeous and their outfit pretty much resemble a more European ambience rather than the traditional Japanese outfit. Sound-wise, this show does not shine at all. Even though not much time has passed since I watched it, the soundtracks remain a question mark for me, meaning that I can't remember how did they seem or if they somehow managed to dig a hole in my memory. The only plus that this show gets for sound is for the voice actor cast, Fumiko Orikasa (Bleach, Code Geass, Gintama) voicing Pacifica and Sayaka Ohara (Code Geass, xxxHolic, Tsubasa Chronicle, Nodame Cantabile) voicing Raquel are just a few names that have a certain meaning in this industry.

Scrapped Princess is not a show that you can expect eye~candy visuals and ear~delighting sound, but rather a show that focuses a lot more on other aspects such as story and character development. If you watch this show for these elements, then you will receive what you wished if not, then its 50/50 (LOL). Shounen fans will enjoy this one because if there is one thing that this show does not lack, then that is action sequences.

In conclusion, for a 2003 production, Bones proves to be a reliable animation production company. I just wish that such shows would be produced nowadays too, but you know how they say, if you can't receive what you want today you might as well dig in the past.

Story: 9
Animation: 8
Sound: 6
Characters: 8
Delight: 9.5

Overall: 8.2

Somehow this show would've been better with yuri subtext, dunno why.