[ Episode 6: At the end of the decision]

Here’s the start of my before-the-end-of-the-year reviews.

This finale was rather well done though I couldn’t help but feel that it was pretty anticlimactic. Cecilia died in a way I wasn’t expecting especially for someone who taunted that she had so much power though I suppose her defeat was because of her arrogance. Kaito was pretty lame as I thought he’d put up more of a fight against Faris but he got utterly defeated. Speaking of which, his reason for wanting to destroy the world was stupid. “Because even though war almost destroyed the world people are still fighting”? That’s some silly thinking if you ask me. It was sad to see that Faris’ partners and the loli twins had to go though because of Teoria shutting down but I can’t say I really felt it that much.

The ending is sort of open as well with Faris and Alita still unable to return to their original bodies. I thought that they would have switched at the very end but it just didn’t happen. Still though, at least at the very end Faris is still beating the hell out of fools while looking gorgeous. ^_^

[ Final Thoughts ]

So, after six episodes, Murder Princess has definitely been an interesting ride. It started out great but ended rather poorly. The plot was good enough but still lacked that “it” that would have made it feel complete but the characters, at least the protagonists, are what made this series a good watch. Faris and Alita are both decent characters and I love how their personalities differ so much yet they are able to get along.

The other major highlight of the series is the music. It’s some of the best you’ll hear if you ask me, especially if you like rock and punk. So while Murder Princess overall wasn’t exactly amazing I’d still recommend it to those who are looking for a easy to understand plot, with fantasy/sci-fi elements, and some nice action scenes. Oh, and also for Faris and Alita since they’re so good together.

[Overall series review: 73/100]

[ Episode 5: Destiny]

Lost Technology? Space and Time? This is stuff straight out of RPGs.

Wow. Now that was a lot of stuff to process. Lost Technology, androids, cyborgs, time and space…that was a ton of stuff. Apparently the world was destroyed once before when it was at the peak of human development. Sure, it’s been done before but I found it quite interesting. And it looks like I was right about Faris/Arita being out for the majority of the episode. She only really managed to pick up a sword near the end and was able to slash Kaito once before feeling dizzy again. Her partners did most of the fighting which was surprising because they pulled their evolved forms almost out of nowhere.

Anyways, it looks like Faris/Arita has recovered from most of her injuries though and now long side of Arita/Morino, she’ll be returning to the castle to end it all. Cecilia is most likely going to die since she was responsible for killing a man who seems to be Faris’ father in the past (amazing how Cecilia still looks so hot). Faris/Arita definitely has a hard fight ahead of her since she’s such a powerful mage (maybe she’ll use that demon-mode again since it is the final episode). I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Kaito though. It seems he’s a bit freaked after realizing that Morino is the real Arita so I’m not sure what’s going to happen to him. I’m looking forward to the final episode and hoping the ending is satisfying. ^^;

[ Episode 4: Banishment]

I wonder how Cecilia managed to turn Kaito against his own country. *looks at her face and her chest*

I see…

Now this episode was a huge improvement over the previous one. Man, I just knew that armored guy had to be Prince Kaito. He came back to the kingdom too conveniently. Cecilia looks to be the real mastermind here despite Kaito being coronated at the end of the episode. I had to feel for Arita/Morino and Faris/Arita though. Arita in that she had to witness her brother betraying her and the country, and Faris because she was really the only one able to put up a fight against both Cecilia and Kaito and ended up getting injured really badly. Surprisingly I felt a bit sad for the lolis as well since now their master is dead thanks to Kaito stabbing him through the chest. It’s hard to tell where this is going and how it’s all going to end since I’m sure Faris/Arita will need quite a bit of time to recover from her wounds. She’ll probably be out for most of episode five unless she awakens into that “demon-mode” she showed in episode two. That’s the only way I see her having a chance against a double-team from Cecilia and Kaito right now.

[ Episode 3: Return]

Not much Arita/Faris this time around but there is more of the hot green-haired woman!

I didn’t find this episode as awesome as the preview two but it was decent nonetheless. I just think those lolis and that scientist are a waste of time in regards to being antagonists. Right now I’m only interested in the green-haired woman who has yet to shown herself to Arita since she first appeared. She looks strong and seems to have an equally strong comrade or two with her. As for Arita and Faris, I’m glad they made up even though the reason why they were angry with each other was pretty silly to begin with. More importantly though, I find it interesting that Kaito decided to return at such a time. Is it just a coincidence he returned after so long or is there more to it? Looks like we’ll be finding that answer out in the next episode as the preview shows some pretty exciting stuff going down.

[ Episode 2: Coronation]

Bloody murder. Fanservice. Yuri undertones. Killing. Murder Princess is absolute WIN.

Dammit, why is this a six-episode OVA? If anything, this episode just proves to me that Murder Princess should have been a TV series. If not a 26-episode one then at least a 13-14 episode run.

Anyways, in this episode we mostly get to see Faris, or rather Hime-sama/”Arita” adapt to the life of royalty. All the same, Arita is now known as “Milano” and is a servant to “Arita”. So from this point onwards unless otherwise indicated, I’ll be using their current names and not their old ones. If that makes sense. I found it quite interesting how quickly and easily Milano was able to fill the role of a meido/servant despite being a princess all of her life. Perhaps she learned the role from her departed servant Miranda? Most likely I’d say.

Also, remember how I mentioned in the previous episode about the possibility of some Arita/Milano scenes? Yup. They’re in this one. Almost all of the scenes of the two nearly scream yuri, especially the one in the bathing room. Milano was quite close to Arita when she was saying how she Arita must “take her body” as a reward for saving the Kingdom. Yeah….she even fell in the damn tub! Sadly, nothing happened between the two. Although, we did get a loud “NO! DON’T TOUCH THERE!” from Arita when Milano fell in LOL. Well, for now, it seems as if Milano really likes Arita but Arita on the other hand is still a bit weary of having such a close friend. If it isn’t explored in the future episodes, then as I always say, let the doujinshi flood in!

I enjoyed seeing the new Arita try to adapt to the life of a princess. She’s still rough around the edges and probably always will be for her duration as princess but that’s what makes her so awesome. Her lack of modesty when she awoke from asleep had me rolling yet had my eyes paying full attention to the screen. FANSERVICE-DESU! The strange thing is, Milano blushes. EH? She’s blushing at the sight of her old naked body? Narcissist much, Milano?

The facial expressions in this episode was golden, most from Arita. Her “Argh, WTF!” to her “COME GET SOME!” and lastly to her “YAY! I’m the princess!” expressions are all too enjoyable not to see more than once. She was pretty scary at the end of the episode when she killed that monster as well. I wonder what’s up with that….

On another note, Arita’s buddies are actually useful. Thank goodness they aren’t useless fodder. Though, I have to say that the antagonists aren’t as interesting as I’d like them to be. The doctor and his loli-bots really are lame in my opinion and only serve as fodder villains. I mean seriously, these idiots are what gave an entire elite guard problems? You’ve got to be friggin’ kidding me. Well, at least we know there will be more interesting antagonists in future episodes. They didn’t appear in this episode but they were in the previous one and you can also see them in the OP sequence. I can’t wait to see Arita have a real challenging fight.

LONG LIVE PRINCESS ARITA FORLAND!

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Genres: Adventure, Fantasy
OP: [Hikari Sasuhou (ヒカリサスホウ)] by BACK-ON
ED: [Naked Flower] by Paku Romi
Murder Princess

[ Episode 1: Birth]

This series is freaking awesome. Did I just say it’s awesome? Actually, I can’t even find a word to describe how good Murder Princess is. I managed to read one or two chapters of the manga that was available some time ago and really loved it but sadly couldn’t find anymore translated chapters at that time. As such, this animated form of the series is definitely a godsend to me.

One of the very first things I noticed was how they changed the way Faris and Arita switched bodies. I don’t have a problem with it though since the background information about the method of exchanging bodies sounded decent to me (in short, it happens when two people are simultaneously experiencing a near-death situation). I have to wonder though if BeeTrain is going to do anything extra with Faris and Arita considering their track record for having female main characters with “very intimate” relationships. Anyways, Faris, the bounty hunter switches bodies with, Arita, a princess and after defeating some huge ugly monster, they head back to the kingdom of which Arita ran away from because of a rebellion. Sounds like an RPG, doesn’t it? Well, I’m glad the plot isn’t heavy-laden because otherwise this series/OVA probably wouldn’t be as fun if it was so.

I found it very interesting of how it only took the switching of Arita and Faris to make Arita’s body go from ‘cute and beautiful’ to ‘hot and sexy’. I suppose it’s really the attitude of a woman that decides how her appearance would translate into the eyes of others, huh? Also, I have to say “WTF” at the enemies in this episode. Loli machines? HUH? What the hell is that? Some little bratty girl just walks into a palace and is killing soldiers and knights left and right? You’ve got to be kidding me. She didn’t even last a half a minute against Faris when it came down to the end of the episode. Speaking of which, I freaking loved when Faris just let loose inside of the throne and didn’t even care if blood was splattering on her or on her pure white dress. Her “Come get some, bitch” pose was just too awesome not to go “Holy crap she’s hot and cool and sexy and a killer” over and over in my head. I want more of this kind of stuff. This is certain.

It’s a shame that this isn’t a series and is a 6-episode OVA. Though, I suppose that the animation wouldn’t be as high quality as it is if it were a series instead so I suppose it’s a good trade-off for now. Hmm, I wouldn’t mind seeing some fanservice in the upcoming episodes of Faris in her new body. She’s got to explore it some time, right? RIGHT?