Welcome to Gourmet Edifice
Princess Connect: Re:Dive is an anime adaptation of the Princess Connect game. It is directed by Takaomi Kanasaki of KonoSuba fame and animated by Cygames Pictures. The series premiered on April 7, 2020 and finished its run on June 29, 2020.
The story begins when a young man, Yuuki descends from the heavens and lands on the world of Astria where magic and monsters are real. Unfortunately, Yuuki has lost his memories, making him completely vulnerable to Astria's dangers. He's not alone thankfully. He has help; His retainer, Kokkoro who is devoted to serve and protect him at any cost, the ditzy and energetic warrior girl Pecorine, and the lone wolf spellcaster, Karyl. Together, they form Gourmet Edifice and their goal is to travel across Astria, fulfilling guild quests, search for adventure and cook yummy food.
During their travels, they'll meet a wide array of remarkable people; Elves, Beastmen, Sorcerers, Demons, Maids, Knights and so on and so on.
As they continue to explore and grow, these band of friends will find themselves entangled into a dark conspiracy; one that might destroy Astria.
A second season of the anime was announced
and premiered on January 2022.
The anime contains the following trope:
- Adaptational Badass: Though most of the playable characters could already fight to some degree, the anime gives all of them a significant boost to their powers, many characters gaining the ability to fire flashy explosions the size of a building with their Union Bursts. Pecorine in particular gets a rather hefty upgrade, as she fights without a weapon for the first two episodes and yet is still able to down enormous monsters with a single blow from her fists. This is later explained in Pecorine's case as her gaining strength from her armour, which massively increases her strength but also her appetite; despite this, she's still capable of dragging the kraken in Episode 9 to a halt while wearing nothing more than a beach outfit (though she still has her tiara on).
- Adaptation Distillation: The anime removes the offscreen meetings Yuuki had with the other girls from the different guilds and have each of their first appearances to be a new encounter for him and Gourmet Edifice.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Pecorine is perhaps just a teensy bit more gullible and airheaded in the anime adaptation.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: Both Christina and Neneka make a considerably earlier on-screen appearance in the anime than they do in the game.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Kyouka and Tsumugi treat Yuuki far more kindly than how they do to him in the game.
- Adaptational Villainy:
- The Shadows, while not entirely harmless in the game, are generally non-threats and do not have enough intelligence or strength to carry out any meaningfully villainous actions. Even when Kaiser Insight puts them under her control, she prefers to use them as power sources to strengthen her own magic while employing real monsters to serve as her attack dogs instead. The anime, in contrast, portrays Shadows as extremely dangerous and aggressive in their natural state, wiping out entire villages and being capable of Demonic Possession. Once Kaiser Insight begins experimenting on them, she creates an enormous abomination of a Shadow with overwhelming strength that far surpasses any of the monsters she commands in the game.
- Having not being backstabbed by Mana, Christina did not undergo a Heel–Face Turn like her game counterpart did and remained in support of the Big Bad, at least until the final episode.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: In the game, almost everything that Ameth says to Yuuki in his dreams is immediately forgotten by him by the time he wakes up, preventing her from helping him despite the wealth of information she is privy to. On the other hand, he remembers everything she says to him in the anime, making her excuses for remaining quiet and keeping him in the dark significantly flimsier. Later episodes imply though that it's because the memories would be too traumatic for his current self to handle.
- Adapted Out: Ameth's sister, Nebia, is trapped in the third floor of the guild house and freed by Gourmet Edifice after they enter it. In the anime adaption, they do a thorough cleaning of their guild house but fail to turn up any traces of Nebia whatsoever.
- Beach Episode: Gourmet Edifice goes to one where they meet the Sarendia guild again and the Mercurius Foundation.
- Because You Were Nice to Me:
- Which Yuuki immediately comes to regret, as Eriko relentlessly wants him to be her lover, even attempting to use curse magic to "bond with him eternally".
- Karyl quickly finds her loyalties wavering as she interacts with Pecorine.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Kokkoro's mushroom "friend" turns out to be a vile monster who was luring her and her lord into an ambush.
- Big Damn Heroes: Kaiser appears and has her Shadows to go and eat Pecorine and Karyl until a familiar glow appeared over the girls' bodies followed by Yuuki firing a powerful blast that destroys the Shadow.
- Black Comedy: Everything concerning Twilight Caravan and their questionably legal actions, from their bloodstained horror shop of a clinic to Eriko robbing a group of bandits and subsequently inflicting grievous bodily harm upon them after they attack the clinic in retaliation to Mitsuki cheerfully charging them for life-saving emergency treatment afterwards despite being partially responsible for their condition is casually Played for Laughs due to the Mook nature of the victims.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Karyl is the queen of this unfortunately for her. This girl can't catch a break: getting chased by monsters, fed something really nasty and all manner of unfortunate incidents.
- Yuuki is second behind, mainly whenever he encounters monsters that want to take bite out of him.
- Nothing goes well for Monika whenever her guild starts trouble.
- Cerebus Syndrome: Episode 12 shifts from the mostly comedic stories from the previous episodes to the more serious main plot that's been only touched upon so far. A dangerous enemy shows up that Pecorine just can't One-Hit Kill, and the hints about Pecorine being the real Princess Eustiana and Yuuki's past failure against the Big Bad start to really pile on.
- Chekhov's Gun: A ring that Karyl receives from Mana just before the events of Season 2, Episode 4 eventually turns out to be a means for Mana to teleport Pecorine to her just as she's about to defeat the Shadow-possessed golem, with Karyl unaware of the ring's true purpose all this time.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The crepe lady that Yuuki and Kokkoro meet in Episode 1 turns out to be Labyrista, one of the Seven Crowns and a person who knew Yuuki during his pre-amnesia days.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- The second half of Episode 6 follows the exploits of Elizabeth Park.
- Episode 7 continues where it left off with Shiori and Hatsune Kashiwazaki as the focus.
- Diabolus ex Machina: Elizabeth Park is faced with Shadows copying themselves, but manage to make headway against them once they figure out that they're only imitations with no real human skill. Then Christina shows up and devastates everything with one strike. While this also destroys most of the Shadows, Shiori's Shadow manages to consume the real Shiori.
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: Little Lyrical hums along to their Image Song "Little Adventure" a couple of times during Episode 8.
- Disguised in Drag: Yuuki wears a dress to help with Carmina's latest idol performance. And he looks surpsingly good as a girl that his guildmates, especially Kokkoro find it adorable.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Several episodes would have Ayumi appearing in the background. Most of the times, it's only when Yuuki is within the vicinity; a nod to her crush towards him.
-
Esoteric Happy Ending: After a long struggle, Gourmet Edifice succeeds in defeating Kaiser. Pecorine has her family and kingdom returned to her and Yuuki saves his friends from Kaiser's tyranny for good. But everyone's still trapped in the videogame Astrum - Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: On top of gaining a red color scheme, Shiori also sports distinct red eyeshadow after being possessed by a Shadow.
- The Food Poisoning Incident: In Season 2, Episode 1, the entire Gourmet Edifice group had a Vomit Chain Reaction and dropped to the ground paralyzed after eating a monster's meat. The group would had been being killed by the monster's friends if an adventurer hadn't stepped in.
- Forced Transformation: Yuuki, Kokkoro, and Karyl find themselves transformed into living pudding after they anger Miyako with their poor attempts at making her that same dessert.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In Episode 12, Yuuki is filling out an activity report for the Guild Association, but messes up writing his name. When it shows the error in question, halfway through, he switched to writing from Landsol's script to Japanese characters.
- "Groundhog Day" Loop: Episode 5 of Season 2 reveals that the anime is actually what happens if Yuuki chose the "return to the past with no memories" route in Chapter 15 of the mobile game.
- Heroic Second Wind: Once Yuuki unlocks his "Princess Knight" powers, his super-enhanced teammates are able to fend off Christina on equal footing.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Miyako enters into complete shock after learning that she ate a pudding made out of bugs.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Hatsune desperately tries to get through to Shiori after she comes down with a bad case of Demonic Possession. When simple words won't do, she opts to use her Psychic Powers to enter Shiori's Mental World and drive out the Shadow together with Shiori in a Battle in the Center of the Mind.
- I'm a Humanitarian: After Pecorine dresses up as a monster and threatens to eat Little Lyrical as part of her act, Karyl nervously remarks that it doesn't sound like a joke at all coming from her. Later on, Yuuki is literally eaten alive by Miyako after she turns him into pudding. He got better.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice:
- Kaiser thrusts a sword right in Labyrista's back when the latter got distracted.
- Labyrista returns the favor when she and Neneka use their powers to launch multiple constructs to Kaiser.
- Intoxication Ensues: After consuming Puchiko, a tiny, sentient mushroom, Pecorine suddenly turns bright red and keels over, and ends up being carried back to the city by Yuuki and Kokkoro. In another episode, she finds some delicious wild fruit that she shares with the rest of the guild, which ends up sending all of them (minus Kokkoro) into an alcoholic stupor.
- Medical Horror: Twilight Caravan's hospital looks so run down, even having blood-stained hand prints on the walls that one wonders how they are certified. It's revealed from a local doctor that they are legit medical professionals; just a little "quirky".
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Karyl slowly starts reconsidering her mission when she grows close with everyone in Gourmet Edifice. She finally gives up on the mission, not only after she sees the shadier side of her master's actions but also the discovering that said actions had robbed Pecorine of her parents, her lineage and her kindgom.
- Mythology Gag: At the end of every episode, Kokkoro stamps the screen, and in Episode 2, she starts a stamp card for Yuuki. This is in reference to the daily login bonus of the game, which is presented as a stamp card maintained by Kokkoro.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: When the Gourmet Edifice hear that Little Lyrical wants to become a guild "to protect the peace of Landsol", the girls are all stunned silent for a few seconds as they contemplate their own less than altruistic goals.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Two examples in episode 12:
- The first scene of the episode is Pecorine waking up from a nightmare about her parents not recognizing her. The happy-go-lucky Pecorine is crying.
- Yuuki also has a nightmare later in the episode, this time about him and Twinkle Wish being defeated by Kaiser, mixed in with dreams about the Gourmet Guild also falling. He's so traumatized by this that when he's asking for proper swordsmanship lessons from Pecorine in the morning, none of his childish innocence is there, something that Karyl picks up on.
- Oh, Crap!:
- After dropping an ill Yuuki off at a suspicious, rundown clinic, the girls soon found out that they placed him in the hands of the infamous Twilight Caravan.
- Mana's Shadow gets an epic one when Pecorine delivers multiple Princess Strikes.
- Once per Episode: Ascended Recurring Extra Ayumi appears in every episode as a Freeze-Frame Bonus (except in the first episode where she is more obviously shown during Kokkoro's exposition about how there are different races).
- Running Gag:
- Monsters attempting to eat Yuuki.
- Karyl's fear of bugs.
- Kokkoro would emote whenever something bad happens to Yuuki or whenever she sees something bizarre before her eyes.
- Suzume being dragged at high speeds by a donkey.
- Bugs being used as ingredients.
- Save the Villain: At the end of Season 2, Kaiser, backed into a corner, decides to feed herself to her own shadows in a futile attempt to remake Landosol. While the populace is more than happy to let her kill herself, Gourmet Edifice decide save even her from her own loneliness and despair, allowing Kaiser to be arrested for her crimes.
- Secret Room: Kaiser Insight reveals to Karyl that under her throne room is... yet another throne room, where she performs her Shadow experimentation in secret.
- Stealth Mentor: Turns out Yuuki has been this for Little Lyrical, having taken them to places (which Karyl did not want them to go to) and getting the children to gain an actual experience in preparation for the day they do become an official guild. Of course, that's just an optimistic opinion from Little Lyrical member, Kyouka. Could it?
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: All over the place.
- Kokkoro dolls herself up before meeting Yuuki, hoping for some sort of fateful encounter with her "lord". When she comes across where he fell to, he's there fast asleep... being fought over by wolves who saw the unconscious boy as their latest meal.
- After chasing off the wolves and waiting for Yuuki to wake up, the wolves come back for round two. Kokkoro decides to let Yuuki handle them in order to get experience in combat, but he fight exactly as well as you'd expect an amnesiac who just woke up would fight. Cue Kokkoro having to rescue Yuuki from wolves again. He doesn't fare much better in the fight later in that episode, and is shown in the next episode practicing his sword swings.
- Their first night in Landsol, it turns out that Kokkoro underestimated how expensive an inn room would be. Thus, the two of them decide to camp out in the woods for the night. However, as they're about to fall asleep, wolves come and drag Yuuki off again. In the morning Kokkoro decides to find some income so they don't have to worry about being attacked at night.
- Eating stuff in the wild raw can be dangerous. At the end of Episode 1, Pecorine eats a raw mushroom and then turns bright red and passes out. As Yuuki and Kokkoro are dragging her back to town, Kokkoro muses that they're lucky that it wasn't poisonous. A few episodes later, Pecorine finds some wild fruit and shares it with the rest of the Gourmet Food Palace. It turns out to be fermented, which causes everyone except Kokkoro (who held off on eating her fruit) to become drunk.
- In episode 3, a Jerkass critic arrives at the restaurant Pecorine has found work in, wanting to shut the place down in order to get paid by one of their competitors. With Karyl's help, Pecorine manages to make a dish that elicits a reaction that wouldn't be out of place in Food Wars!. However, he immediately goes back to his Jerkass attitude as soon as the shock wears off, at which point Pecorine just tosses him out like the disrespectful customer he is.
- In Season 2, Episode 8, while trying to retain items that were stolen during a robbery at a post office, Misaki attempts to provide a distraction for Kokkoro and Suzuna by attracting the thieves with her "grown-up charm". Given how Misaki is still a kid, and her idea of "grown-up charm" is using her staff to do a pole dance, the thieves instead think that she is messed up in the head and end up capturing her.
- Theme Music Power-Up:
- An orchestral version of "Lost Princess" (which serves as the main menu music in the game) plays during particularly heroic moments, particularly whenever Pecorine is about to unleash a Princess Strike. Amusingly enough, this track was originally the theme of pulling the gacha in the game, which is the one of the main methods players use to power up their roster.
- An orchestral version of "Smiley Contrast", Hatsune and Shiori's Image Song, plays when Hatsune and Shiori drive out the Shadow possessing the later.
- Trauma-Induced Amnesia: After being subject to medical treatment from Twilight Caravan for an entire day, Karyl shows up at the front door of the Gourmet Guild Hall the next morning sporting a Broken Smile and immediately heads to bed, subsequently waking up the day after with no memory of how she got home.
- Weak Boss, Strong Underlings: Illya has two modes: the menacing Evil Overlord and the Sleep-Mode Size. Whenever she steps out of her crystal container, she reverts back to the latter and is considerably weaker than her bat minions. Much to her chagrin, the bats sense the power gap and start attacking her. Played for Laughs when Yuuki tries to help Illya and then carries her in bridal style.
- Wham Episode:
- Season 2, Episode 5, as it reveals that the anime is actually a continuation of the mobile game, with it being about what would happen if Yuuki made the choice in Chapter 15 to go back and redo the events instead of receiving a Deadly Upgrade to continue his fight with Mana, as well as show flashbacks to That World during the subplot involving Kasumi.
- Season 2, Episode 9, Kaiser is about to be defeated only for Karyl to be teleported right in front of her, causing Labyrista to hesitate and be stabbed from behind by Kaiser's double. Karyl could only watch in horror as Labrista seemingly dies.
- Your Size May Vary: The fat food critic goes from a head taller than most people to being well over twice the size of the next biggest man on-screen in his third appearance for apparently no reason whatsoever barring possible unmentioned human experimentation from Twilight Caravan.
