I'm not a little girl!!From Studio Gainax, based on their Princess Maker videogame series, comes this sweet and hilarious shoujo story: A retired knight named Gunbard finds a baby girl in an abandoned battlefield and adopts her. As time passes, it becomes apparent that Yucie can't grow anymore… the reason being a mystery.One day, a light from the royal castle calls upon her. Sneaking in the highest tower, Yucie finds the thing that spoke: The Eternal Tiara, an artifact so powerful it can grant any wish. The Queen arrives and warns Yucie that the Tiara can only be used by someone the jewel chooses, and that using it now could kill her.Yucie enrolls in a 'princess school' regimented by Queen Ercell in order to make herself worthy of the Tiara so she can wish her curse away. Soon more characters appear. More girls with the same curse as her... and without as many qualms about getting the prize as her.
Tropes within:
Aerith and Bob: Yucie, Cocoloo, Elmina, Glenda, and Beth.
Battle Butler: He doesn't battle, but Cube aids Yucie in any way he is able, calling into a certain service to provide items needed for the situation. Later, more fight-savvy battle butlers appear.
Glenda: ...Princess of the Demon World with elegant beauty and fantastic magical powers.
Yucie: I'm an adult./I'm not a brat.
Cats Are Mean: In one episode, Glenda, princess of the Demon Realm, has to fight Cait Sith, an evil cat attacking her realm and turning everyone there into cats.
Then again, if this Cait Sith is the same one as the one in the Final Fantasy series, it's actually a Japanese interpretation of a Celtic mythological character.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Crystal Flowers correspond to the five worlds, the five gems of the Tiara, and the attributes needed to possess them. Orange stands for the Human World and kindness, red is for the Demon World and friendship, pink is for Heaven and strength, green is for the Fairy World and trust, and blue is for the Spirit World and honesty. Yellow is for the Magic World and love.
Five Races: Humans, Demons (Stout), Angels (Fairy), Ghost (High-Men) and Fairies (Cute). The final episodes showed that there was a sixth world, the Magic World.
Yucie also suddenly appears to be very good at sword-fighting, even though she isn't even shown holding a sword before.
One earlier episode showed her and Glenda practicing.
Indirect Kiss: Played with: Arc kisses Yucie when he just met her… on the forehead.
Invisible to Normals: Cocoloo's butler is a ghost, and the cast can't see him until he wants them to, midway through the series.
Also the other ghosts as well. Although after obtaining the Crystal Flower from that world, they become visible. And apparently look no different from humans.
Irony: Queen Ercell knows a lot of things that she neglects to tell the girls. But it's something she doesn't know that ends up impacting them all in the final episodes; the revelation that by guiding them to the Tiara, she was sending the girls to either destroy the world or four of the candidates puts the Queen in a state of shock and despair.
Noblewoman's Laugh: In the 2nd episode, Yucie points out that she doesn't have an "oh-ho-ho" laugh or greet people with "gokigenyou," which makes her out-of-place at the Princess Academy.
Princesses Prefer Pink: Yucie's princess fantasies involve her in a pink dress (including a pink Fairytale Wedding Dress). She actually wears one when she is crowned the Platinum Princess.
Rags to Royalty: Yucie. She's actually the princess of the human world.
The Rival: what was said about Glenda and Elmina, and to a lesser degree, Glenda and Yucie have a rival-like relationship.
Senseless Sacrifice: In the last episode it's revealed that Maga Selent is the lost princess of the Magic World who Refused The Call. When she finally became the Platinum Princess, her friends disappeared pointlessly as the destruction was too much to stop.
Sentai: The girls act out this trope near the end. If one looks carefully, there is a color scheme of yellow, blue, red, pink, and green, just like some Super Sentai (and Power Rangers) series.
Sequel Hook: The ending has all the lead girls inexplicably attend the Princess Academy once more, even though they all graduated already. Yucie also seems to be no different as a Platinum Princess. But it's especially clear that a sequel was planned when all the girls shout "see you again" in the last shot. This was in 2003 and there still is no sequel in sight.
Shape Shifter: Cocoloo's butler Chawoo can do it… and pose as her.
Winged Humanoid: Elmina. She is Heaven's princess, thus looks like an angel.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Maga Selent, shown to be cold and villainous, is revealed in the last episode to be the lost princess of the Magic World who Refused The Call and watched her world suffer—when she finally became the Platinum Princess, her friends disappeared pointlessly as the destruction was too much to stop.
Your Costume Needs Work: Not only do the girls have fans, said fans think the girls' pendants are well-made replicas.
Zettai Ryouiki: The standard uniform for the Princess Academy is an A Grade, though some of the girls don't wear the standard, and given the characters, it hardly qualifies as Fanservice.
0 reviews 