Genres: adventure, comedy, magic Themes: magical girl Objectionable content: None Number of Episodes: 26 Vintage: 2002-09-30 to 2003-03-24
Plot Summary: Yucie, really a 17-year old stuck in a 10-year old’s body (she has a curse on her), would do anything to become her age. When she hears of an opportunity to become a chosen Platinum Princess, and then have the power to use a tiara that grants a special wish to the Platinum Princess once every 1000 years, Yucie goes for it with clear determination.
Ah I love this little series. It doesn’t try to change the world, or come up with a new way of thinking, but it’s really good. It’s a cute little story that I really liked. Gainax owns, but this is very different then most of their other stuff, but it’s still very good. I haven’t finished it yet sadly, but I plan to buy the DVD’s for this one soon. The dub is top of the line in my opinion. I really liked it. I watched this when it was on Anime Network VOD all those years ago. I think I watched Princess Tutu around the same time, another great magical girl show, and I’m no fan of that genre by any means…
Ok so why does no one talk about this amazing series? I just finished it and the ending was amazing. I mean I’m not a fan of the magical girl genre, I tend to avoid titles that can fall into that genre actually, but this is such a wonderful and powerful show you can’t help but love it. Why hasn’t anyone watched this? You’ll laugh with the characters, you’ll enjoy their happyness and fun times, you’ll get scared, angered, and upset. And you will be very sad along with the characters as well. Instead of focusing on one or two emotions, this series displays all different types of emotions, and none of it feels tacky or cheesey. It’s funny, it’s exciting, and it’s downright sad at times. But it’s a great series that really covers some ground. Ok so the first few episodes may be a little episodic, and too sweet and cute for some, but I thought they were great as well. And the later episodes are some of the best in the bunch, and none of the episodes could be called filler as they are all important. Perhaps not a very complex or original series, but it’s still very moving and all around well done. And all I need is a powerful story sometimes, and this fits the bill. Each and every character was perfect, and all the major characters grow and change throughout the series. And there’s not a character I disliked in the bunch. That’s very rare for me, I usually hate on at least a few characters. But in thsi anime I liked each and every one of them. Overall it’s an uplifting series, that may be too girly for some, but I think many people here would enjoy it. So go out and buy it on DVD already!
The dub was done from Monster Island and it is perhaps my favorite dub to come out of that studio, although Nadia was really good as well. I haven’t heard enough of Getbackers to really judge it, but this is a hard title to beat. Because the dub is perfect. Sure it does not require any tough acting or anything like that, but it’s all very well done. And it’s very fresh sounding. A bunch of people you’ve probally never heard of are in this, and they all do an outstanding job! Also David Jones yet again impresses me. He’s great! Nadia, Getbackers, and Yucie. The man should have been cast in more shows…he’s a good actor. Shoutouts to Rachel Rivera as the lead, Monika Bustamante as Cocoloo the spirit world princess, Lee Eddy as Beth the conflicted fairy world princess, and Kelley Huston as Glenda the Demon World princess. These actors are up to par with the veterens in Houston, New York, L.A., or Vancouver. Really it’s a shame we couldn’t have heard more from the folks at Austin then we did. These guys need to move to houston or something so we can hear more from them again. What an overlooked city in regards to anime dubs.
Also I feel sad that although Princess Tutu at least get’s mentioned now and then, this is totally ignored. I would rate this even higher then Tutu, although that’s a great series as well. Critics are still singing praise for Tutu but this has been forgetton already? For shame! Both this andTutu need to be watched, even by those who dislike the genre.
I actually still have yet to pick this one up. I had it preordered for a long time, but a glitch caused my order at Right Stuf to be cancelled, and I never got around to reordering it. I do plan on picking it up in the near future though. I’ve always enjoyed the trailers for it.
Ah yes this is a great series. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. I own the thinpack boxset of this, not the newer one though. My boxset has none of the extras, but there really weren’t any to begin with (clean op/ed, and some artwork from the show), so I figure I didn’t lose much, and got a thinpack instead of the stackpack. I like thinpacks over those. Anyway this is probally one of my all time favorite series from Gainax, right below FLCL and NGE. Those are the only shows Gainax did that I liked better. Yeah call me crazy, but this is a really good show from them. It’s so cute too. Then again I like almost everything Gainax did, so…
So are you manly enough to buy Petite Princess Yucie? I know I was. The boxset proudly sits on my shelf. Only real men watch shows with Princess in the name.
Yeah I’d love to recommend this title to my friends, but I don’t think they’d really like it. I only the one would, and that’s because he liked Princess Tutu. This show and that show go together like salt and pepper in my eyes. My other friends tend to stray away from the more girly shows like this, sadly. I try to keep an open mind when I watch shows though(unless it’s Ghibli or CLAMP in which case I’ve been burned by them too much to care anymore ). I never dismiss anything because it’s girly, or manly, or different. And it was worth giving this show a chance, because it’s a really well written story. Very dramatic near the ending too!
And top of the line production values from Gainax too. Great animation, and very colorful and light artwork. The character desings are cute and stand out as well. And the music is very cachy. Yeah I can’t find much wrong with this show.
Also saw this on VOD and really enjoyed it. The interactions between the candidates were rather fun to watch. The interaction between Glenda and Yucie was the best. I plan to eventually buy it on DVD.
Oh I agree, the interaction between Yucie and Glenda was a strong point of the series. I also liked to watch Glenda and Elmina fight, as Elmina was also so civil about being mean lol! They were quite the cast of characters. Also loved the hate/love relationship between Cocoloo and Beth. So CUUTE.
Hmnm Dragoon is surpringly silent on his opinion of this show. I’d like to hear what he has to say about this.
It’s a good show for its time and has tested the wears and rigors of time pretty well. The show to me was consistently good, until the climactic ending where it got even better. Some people…
Would have preferred the darker ending that was portended rather than the happy-ending version that resolved everything. I fall into the latter camp, I liked the happy ending.
The climactic portions of the end were my favorites. The series wasn’t great to me, but it was definitely in the solidly-good category.
As for the dub, it’s pretty good Monster Island (ADV’s Austin studios) production, not in my top 3 of the studio but I enjoyed it. It suited the series style very well.
I’m also one of those who think series with Yoko Ishida for one reason tend to come out good, this is no exception.
Hmmm thanks for the input! Always nice to hear what you have to say. I of course rank the series as great but that’s just me. And one of my favorite dubs from Austin. So now I’m wondering what are your top 3 dubs from Monster Island?
as for the ending
I was getting worried this would have an unhappy ending. And although I think sometimes that’s truly for the better, not sure I’d like that for this one. The happy ending fit the series as far as I’m, concerned. But it could have still been interested if the sad ending that was hinted was the one used. But I do think Gainax wanted to make people happy with the ending on this one. Seems that backfired lol! Awww poor Gainax, we love yah anyway.
I still think it’s a shame Princess Tutu gets at least a little attention, and this none at all. Really when does this get mentioned? This is a great example of the magical girl genre, and I think people would really like it if they gave it a chance. It’s quite a good show.
Yeah sadly this is one of those series that was hot when it first came out on Anime Network in 04/05 (whenever it was around then). But like a lot of older boom series anime, that got hot… the internet truly changed how fast series get hot and fizzle out. People just seem to be interested in the what’s new and what’s next.
So many of the iconic past titles like Lain, Excel Saga, and even more mainstream stuff don’t even get mentioned much nowadays. It’s a shame.
As for my favorite Monster Island dubs?
Get Backers as I’m sure many of you know. Not perfect, especially with some of the smaller roles, but it had so many iconic VAs and new talent. It was the last Monster Island production and they were sure to end it on a bang. J Shannon Weaver, Jason Liebrecth and Shannon McCormick were awesome. Jason was good enough that after MI closed, Funi hired him for a lot of leading roles since then. ADV used to be so fantastic at finding new talent back in the day when they had production running on all cylinders.
Dai Guard is considered the best or one of the top 3, I agree with a lot of the older experienced dub fans who claimed it so back in the day.
Ah I’ve never seen Dai Guard, Lost Universe, MazinKaise, or King of Bandit Jing lol. Although I am a little interested in King of Bandit Jing. Looked like a series worth checking out.
I remember watching this when it first came out. At first I thought it was just pretty good, but then once it got depper into the series I really loved it. And I still love it today. Never got to finish it when I first saw it on VOD, and I didn’t get to see the begining few episodes either. So I was missing a bit of the story. After finally being able to see the entire thing though, I can say it’s quite the series. And it truly is a shame all the buzz is gone. Although to be fair this was never that big to begin with was it? I don’t recall much talk on this one back way when.
A few other older shows that seemed to have fallen off the radar weirdly include Jubie Chan, Jungle de Ikou!, Birdy the Mighty (which I only recently watched), Kodacha, Vampire Princess Miyu, Rurouni Kenshin (still haven’t seen) and Witch Hunter Robin. I remember when these series were always being talked about, sometimes the only ones being talked about, yet no one even remembers them now. I wonder why that is. How some shows go from being quite popualr, to never mentioned in only a few years. Yet others never go away.
I must disagree with you on Lain however. That title was always iconic, and I think it’s still well remembered today. However Excel Saga really has fallen from grace in a very short period of time.
It’s regarded well by the people who saw it then, but most of the new fans that represent the large driving force of hype, buzz and forum discussions don’t care about older titles like those - kind of like the NTHT situation you and I talked about in the SyFy thread - they’re too obsessed with the latest and newest thing from JP like Toradora, K-On, Bakemonogatari, and the fall lineup. I don’t believe most newer generation of fans would appreciate Lain the same way we did back in the day, just like the new fans today won’t like Robotek as the 80s kids did. Time changes perspectives. But it’s a lot more complex than that too, and would require too many paragraphs to dissect.
By saying “it’s regarded well by those who saw it” did you mean Lain or Yucie? Cuz I’ve meant many people who love Lain, but very rarely anyone who talks about Yucie lol.
Oh there’s no way many newcomers will enjoy Lain. That one is a lost cause to try and instill on others. Perhaps a few will like it, but I don’t think it’s a show that would appeal to them. For one it shows it’s age way too much. But I do still think it’s talked about a lot by those who have seen it. However the ones I’ve mentioned, seemed to have been completely forgotten about. Where are those titles fans? It is a shame though that titles like this and NTHT are not given enough spotlight though. They do diserve it.
I like new shows, I really do. In fact I was recently blown away by School Days as you know. But as long as I haven’t seen the show it’s new to me, and so I’m always up for watching some older stuff. Esecially titles I may have missed over the years. Not sure why people obsess so much over the new stuff. I mean sure there’s a lot of good titles that come out each year, but theres a lot that have already came out. And I’ll never understand the people who feel the need to watch every single new show, even the ones they dislike. That confuses me. Do I keep up with the fall line up? Yeah the one from 1998 . Still it really does bother me that no one is really talking about NTHT. Hell if more people talked about it I might have seen it sooner. I remember people saying a few things about it being good, but never much more then that over the years. It’s name would come up from time to time, but I never paid much attention to it. Wish I did, I could have gotten into it much sooner.
Oh yeah I meant Lain and even Excel. Excel was very hot before but it fizzled out fast, to the point that ADV doesn’t seem interested in re-releasing it. I have to wonder how many people loved it on FS but not enough to actually buy it, even back in the day. Even 3-4 yrs ago it was a title I know many people talked about very often, now barely anything.
Well like I said though, this title was never very big. If big titles like Lain and Excel have faded away, then I guess this is to be expected of Yucie. But still that’s quite sad. I’m totally going to talk about this series as much as I can. I would also sing praise for Tutu, but others seem to be doing that for that show at least. I so have to review this series though, and do other things to help make it a little more well known. Once I get some time this will be one of the reviews I gata do. I can’t wait to review the dub too, I have so much to say about this.
The music is another strong point of the show, the opening and ending themes are so great. This show really has no weak points. What could I ever say bad about it? Uh…perhaps they waste a little too many episodes in the begining with the more episodic stuff? And maybe they had too many light and fluffy stuff in the begining? But I really liked those episodes too, and they did have an overall plot, and they were used quite well. Hmmm it’s really hard to find a problem with this series. Guess if your looking for some new philosophy from your anime, or want a really complex story this would not work, but from looking at the title that’s sort of to be expected. But it was a deep show (at least deeper then you’d think), I mean it had a lot to say about growing up, and what it truly means to be an adult. Also it’s themes of friendship, love, rivalry, and father-daughter reltaionships were handled quite well. Hmm it will be hard to find a fault in this series when I review it.
). I never dismiss anything because it’s girly, or manly, or different. And it was worth giving this show a chance, because it’s a really well written story. Very dramatic near the ending too!
Not perfect, especially with some of the smaller roles, but it had so many iconic VAs and new talent. It was the last Monster Island production and they were sure to end it on a bang. J Shannon Weaver, Jason Liebrecth and Shannon McCormick were awesome. Jason was good enough that after MI closed, Funi hired him for a lot of leading roles since then.