I'm not a little girl!
From Studio Gainax, based on their Princess Maker video game 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 physically grow past the age of 10, 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:
- All Animals Are Dogs: Episode 5 has Yucie working on a farm and eventually be given the job of feeding a birdlike creature that serves as one of the farm's work animals. Cue it taking a liking to her instantly and giving her a few big licks in the face.
- Art Shift: Some episodes are much more cartoony and choppy than others.
- Balloon Belly: Yucie in episode 1, establishing how Gunbard loves cooking for Yucie to show his love.
- 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.
- Catchphrase:
- 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.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Glenda's father the Demon King is a Bumbling Dad, much to her ire.
- A Day in the Limelight: The girls' butlers go on a mini-adventure to cure one of them.
- Evolving Credits: Initially only Yucie appears in the ending sequence, later all five main girls appear together.
- Expy: Yucie, Ercell, and Maga Selent are based on the princesses of Princess Maker 3, 2, and 1, respectively.
- Fluffy Cloud Heaven: The Realm of Heaven combines this aesthetic with Bizarrchitecture, being a bunch of escherian structures floating in the sky.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: Gunbard never told Yucie that he put together the Eternal Tiara.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: In one episode taking place in the Demon World, Glenda carefully looks around to make sure nobody is watching before warmly comforting a crying cat demon.
- 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.
- Light Is Not Good: Elmina's dad, the King of Heaven, tends to be a Jerkass.
- Magical Girl Queenliness Test: The trials for becoming the Platinum Princess. Much of them involve taking on part time jobs that cultivate virtues like kindness and perseverance.
- Master Swordsman: Elmina the Heaven's princess is very skilled with bladed weapons. Yucie also suddenly appears to be very good at sword-fighting, though one earlier episode showed her and Glenda practicing.
- Missing Mom: Glenda's mom abandoned her father because of his goofiness. Also none of the other princess canditates mothers have been seen either.
- Modest Royalty: The students at the princess academy. Apparently it's a requirement.
- Mr. Exposition: Inverted in Queen Ercell. She thinks many things are of common knowledge, therefore she doesn't elaborate on them.Queen Ercell: "What? Didn't I tell you?"
- Naked First Impression: Inverted: Arc was the one naked, Yucie realizes it… then blushes and recoils in embarrassment.
- 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.
- Not Growing Up Sucks: The Platinum Princess candidates are stuck looking ten years old physically. Yucie and Glenda are the most annoyed at this and their primary goal is to use their wish to become adults.
- Nuns Are Mikos: "Nun" is a part-time job, and the nun who trains Yucie even acts slightly flirtatious toward Arc.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: The first thing Glenda did when meeting Elmina was challenging her.
- Older Than They Look: The main cast is 17 but look 10.
- Our Angels Are Different: They got robots as butlers, and they are usually perfectionists: Succeed or Fail. There is no 'try' for them.
- Our Spirits Are Different: They are not the souls of dead humans, but an entirely separate race that look like regular humans - except for Chawoo, whose default form seems to be of the Bedsheet Ghost variety.
- Parental Abandonment: Not as much abandonment as 'if you are not
the bestperfect, you aren't worthy of being called MY daughter' for Elmina. - Pet the Dog: Beth doesn't seem to be an overly sympathetic character—until you find out how she lets her fairy assistant spend the night.
◊ - Pimped-Out Dress: With all the queens, princesses, and noble ladies, these of course show up a lot.
- 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.
- Running Gag: Arc calling Yucie "forehead", Cocoloo
not having much of a presence, Glenda's catch phrase, as well as others. - 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.
- Shapeshifter: Cocoloo's butler Chawoo can do it and pose as her.
- Spoiler Opening: All five main princesses-to-be show up there.
- Tickle Torture: Happens to Cube in episode 2 by Gaga on Glenda's order.
- To Be a Master: The premise of the show is a competition to find the girl who will become the next Platinum Princess.
- Transformation Sequence: Glenda does a magical-girl powering up sequence in some episodes. The other girls have a simple one for when they use their gems to change outfits.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Beth and her "servant" Belbel.
- True Companions: In the end, the girls care more for each other than for some stupid magic trinket.
- Verbal Tic:
- Beth's assistant Belbel uses the classic "desu" sentence end-er. In the English dub it's "yes".
- The gate to the Princess Academy ends its sentences with the English word 'gate'.
- Cats in the Demon World talk but frequently end sentences with the word 'nya' (meow), while the dog like kobolds use 'woof'.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Glenda is this with both Yucie and Elmina; With Yucie it's because Glenda is an Alpha Bitch who brags about herself, and with Elmina because angels and demons naturally clash.
- Weeding Out Imperfections: In one episode, a man estranged from his daughter shows how he trims his rose bush, removing any blossoms that aren't satisfactory to make stronger, better blossoms grow. This is connected to his overly-strict parenting style that ultimately led to his daughter leaving, convinced she would never see a smile on his face or hear any pride from him.
- 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.
- You Have Waited Long Enough: A key part of the backstory involves this trope. Gunbard and Queen Ercell loved each other, but could not be wed because Gunbard was her knight and a commoner. He set out to piece together the Eternal Tiara and wish for the ability to marry Ercell; knowing the journey was long and dangerous, she agreed to wait for him. While he was gone Ercell remained faithful and refused any arranged marriages—until her father nearly died. With the queen and her people questioning why she would be so cold as to refuse her father's wishes to marry, Ercell was forced to go through with it. Gunbard finally gathered all the pieces and came home to Ercell and her husband.
- Your Costume Needs Work: Not only do the girls have fans, said fans think the girls' pendants are well-made replicas.
