Princess Principal

The first episode was just awesome, the setting is full on steampunk coolness with amazing, steam covered, sprawling city of London, and the action was so wonderfully stylized, the opening scene instantly glued me to the screen. I love the use of the miniature anti-gravity device. So cool.

I was caught off guard by how serious and gritty this was. For a series about high-school girl spies I expected something more lighthearted, a parody even. But no, this was deadly serious and pulls no punches on what a dirty, morally compromising businesses spying is. I expect a lot of dark stuff to go down from now on.

This was honestly the strongest first episode of the season for me. If it keeps this up I'm going to be very happy with it.

Not sure spies are supposed to be fighting that much, but I'm all for lots of action. With a compulsive liar as the main character, and the others not being much better, interpreting the truth could get interesting. The steampunk setting was nailed, and I think a good tone was hit with it treating these cute girls being spies seriously, but not being grim or over the top. The individual story was quite good with several twists. ED is adorable. Another keeper for this season.

Steampunk cold war spy thriller with cute girls. And it works! Good balance of seriousness and camp

Well this is going to be a great season. This was the second show I could tell I'd love just from the OP. I never watch the OP!

^^^ "Not sure spies are supposed to be fighting that much"

Try telling James Bond that.

I am pretty hesitant, seems really cool but I really don't want to get into it if it's going to be one of those shows where they kill off good members of the cast just cause.

Someone want to create an actual trope page for the show? I'm at work so I cant give it the attention it deerves. bu this is a fantastic show so far.

It sounds like a neat premise.

But Izetta disappointed me a lot. So I think I'll wait before picking this up.

I was actually just about to say that it reminded me of Izetta somehow. I think Izetta ended up good overall, so hopefully this show will continue to grow into the promise of its premise.

This sounds like a girl power kind of show, like some wannabe Kim Possible-lite...

Well it's still Kim Possible meets Totally Spies-lite...

...what?

This going to be like that slowly unraveling kid's fantasy world that actually is some post-apocalyptic Crapsack World?

edited 10th Jul '17 8:20:23 PM by Soble

I don't get the Izetta comparisons. Sure they're both wartime Europe with some magic stuff, but Izetta focused on the broad picture of the war with the heads of states, large scale operations, the romance relationship between the two leads, had a main ongoing plot, and was fairly idealistic on character's actions.

This is more focused on the more nitty gritty, with the protagonists working together out of duty, not friendship. As spies they should be committing small acts of espionage and assassination, not leading the front lines. Supposedly this is going to be pretty episodic. While the protagonists aren't evil and don't mind lending a helping hand if it isn't too much work, there's no effort to overlook the nastier actions they might have to commit.

This doesn't seem to be a super grim affair with everyone being as cruel as they can be with everyone living in constant fear for their lives. It's a serious show from the start, but the political situation feels more Cold War-esque, not bombs raining from the skies daily.

It's an Ichiro Okouchi show - as in, the guy who did Valvrave, Guilty Crown, Code Geass, and Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress. So expect a loose, twist-heavy plot with a rather strange balance of silliness and seriousness.

I mean the first episode involves a man dragged into a spy war so he can pay for his sister treatment and dying in the process. Moreover not only they mention that it's possible his sister "accident" was engineered to back him into a corner, but that it's might be the side the protagonists are on who did it.

If that's not dark as hell, I don't know how to call it.

@laculus:

I think that argument can be misleading, aside from the fact that Guilty Crown (which I happen to dislike far more than anything else mentioned) was mostly written by someone else and not him. In all honesty, the framework and tone for Princess Principal are very different so far.

Lumping everything together like that isn't really based in a very objective analysis in my view. For instance, Kabaneri had its own set of positives and negatives instead of copying what came before.

Now, the first episode of this new series is even more far removed from the rest. If there are any "twists" involved, I am almost willing to bet that it'll be something fairly commonplace within the spy genre (say, someone turns out to be a double or triple agent and messes stuff up).

So far, nothing has truly surprised me about this first episode. It's fine. I did miss a couple of details the first time around, but then I went back and confirmed that they had been set up beforehand.

edited 11th Jul '17 11:01:34 PM by Madonis

Gives me some Izetta vibes, with the clashing character designs and serious plot, Scenery Porn, and a divisive writer. I felt burned by the end of that show, so I'll be very cautious with this one.

Izetta mostly fell apart because it was a 2-cour story being told in a single cour, so it didn't have time to properly set up or resolve anything.

And think I remember reading somewhere that this show was 2-cour? So I don't think it'll have quite the same problems.

Only one cour, sadly.

2. Now we're talking. Actual spy stuff instead of a bunch of action. It's tricky figuring out who you can trust. Lots of great shots, especially when Ange was on the side of the building. Now I have a good read on most of the characters. The Princess interests me a lot in particular. This show is delivering good.

So apparently Ange is Princess Charlotte and the princess is Ange. I'm starting to get the feeling we're going to need a spreadsheet to keep track of everyone's identities and allegiances for this one.

edited 16th Jul '17 12:44:47 PM by Jaustin89*

This is such a fun show. So many little twists and turns

I assume that last bit means that Ange and Charlotte switched places before the show ever started, though I wonder how this will actually be relevant

if you go back and watch the Ange's "introduction" — you notice the Princess recognizes Ange before she says a word.

Yeah, this show is fun. The spy stuff is amazing.

You know, since the last episode, and through this one, I've been wondering if the protagonists can even be considered the "good guys" given that they seem to be at least equally amoral as the other side. It wasn't helped when the Princess betrayed her country in exchange of help in getting the throne.

But then the ending came and Princess and Ange are actually manipulating both sides to their own ends. Holy shit, we have full on Villain Protagonists on our hands here!

Seriously, we are two episodes in and the show already delivered such a twist!

I mean, it depends on what the end goal for Ange and Princess is. Install one of them on the throne? Bring down one side? Unite everyone? Shits and giggles? Have they had a master plan for a decade, or were they just winging it ever since reuniting? Can they really trust each other? They're obviously grey, but which shade is yet to be determined.

It's my own fault since I had to stop watching halfway through episode 1 and was only able to pick it back up a day or so later, but can someone run down the schemes from Episode 1 for me again? If I read it right, the scientist made a deal with the Royalist side of London to entrap Commonwealth spies by pretending he wanted to defect.

Episode 1 summary.◊ And while we're at it, episode 2 summary.◊