Tatsunoko Production's 55th Anniversary Anime: Egao No Daika

Alright, having watch the first episode, been tempting to make this thread btw. Anyways, to sum things up for those who don't know Egao No Daika is, Courtesy of MAL for the plot:

"On a planet far from Earth, there is a kingdom full of smiling faces. Princess Yuuki is 12 years old, and about to enter a sensitive age in a person's life. Everyday, she cries, laughs, and sometimes, her heart throbs with excitement. All the while, she lives merrily in the royal palace.

Filling her days are her loyal vassals: her tutor Reira, Izana who assists in political affairs, the leader of the chivalry Harold … and then there is her childhood friend and aide Joshua.

"Yuuki! If you have spirit and guts, you can do anything!"

"…No, not this again! Joshua, be nobler!"

Stella is 17 years old and a capable, reserved soldier. However, she is always smiling ... for smiling is essential to living.

This is a story of two girls born on distant planets. "

Seen the first episode and it was alright. So, Yuki was a Princess of a Kingdom called Soleil and needless to say, she is rather immature and oblivious to the world around her which is understandable given she is just 12 years old and she has a childhood friend named Joshua and both of them lost their parents due to the tragedy that happened. Also, in the first episode, we also saw how the people had an ability to piloting a mecha especially on both Joshua and Yuki whom the former tries to restore Yuki's dignity. The story then ends when the soldiers of Soleil tries to negotiate with a certain empire in a Border that is torn by war. Mecha animes, I'm interested to see how this is going. Anyone wanna watch Tatsunoko's 55th anniversary anime? And btw, on Wikipedia, it is called "The Price of Smiles" in English. Hmmm...

It was alright I guess? I had no real strong opinions on it.

I'll probably stick with it for a few episodes at least.

It was okay. I think it needed a longer premiere to introduce the other half of the cast and actual plot, though

@Hylarn Yeah, I agree a bit. The first episode I think it was just a warm up for something to come and hopefully it could be a darkhorse for 2019 despite being overshadowed by other bigger names such as Tn Y, Boogiepop, Mob Psycho and Kakegurui

Honestly I was expecting something dark with the light atmospheres most of the episodes till the very end.

It seem the lead will be the princess and someone else. What I found interesting is that everyone is seem to lying to the princess that everything is fine and they are not at war. Is that only her or does extend to the public as well?

I think they are keeping their 12 year old princess in a Potempkin kingdom, filling out paperwork like a real ruler would do, but someone else is really running the place

Episode 2:

Well, that was something. The Empire that Yuuki headed not only have problems with wars but also the problem with crops too and ouch... Joshua died and this ended up mentally scar Yuuki. Poor him and Yuuki Also, on the other note, there is another character from the enemy faction that will become the main focus.

Yeah, given how prominently Stella shows up in both the OP and ED, waiting until the end of the second episode feels like this series might be taking a bit too leisurely approach to its pacing.

really the third, since its just a teaser for now

Edited by ScrewySqrl on Jan 15th 2019 at 10:25:38 AM

@Screwy What third?

She won't REALLY show up until the 3rd episode. We got a barely-there teaser out of the post credits sequence in episode 2

Episode 3:

Today's episode focuses on the Blue Army Squad and of course one of the main girls of the show, Stella, and man the series didn't afraid to show the Grey and Gray morality of the show. Even if they saved the orphans, they ended up being hated because well... Their side killed their parents ofc. But yeah... Some of the members of the army are forced to do some abhorrent things because well... That's the order of their subordinates and they were also painted in a Gray Morality too.

Several fans are already nicknaming this show 'The Price of a Gundam'

@Screwy Then again, some of the concepts or the premise of the show does remind some people on either Gundam or Macross in some kind of way.

Btw, Episode 4:

I have a feeling that Stella is actually the lost daughter of Laila and so that's what happened in the past... That was dark, Yuuki's parents died due to the terrorist attack which resulted and Yuuki is the only person who can spearheading the country for now. I'm going to play a devil's advocate here but I kind of understand why Yuuki is a bit naive due to her young age and I kind of feel bad for her due to learning the reality of the war and this was shown where Yuuki tries to save some men but ended up failed.

I think this episode more or less confirmed that little thing with Stella... or was a doozy of red herring.

Episode 5:

Have nothing to say and possibly going to give this a rewatch but its mostly focuses on the Blue Soldiers including Stella's past and also the past of one of the members, Lily so yeah... And tomorrow I think will be a foreshadowing between the meeting of Stella and Yuuki.

Episode 6:

Mmmmmm yea... I feel definitely agree with some of the people saying that Grandiga Empire feels kind of scummy. And Yuuki though... Hmmmm, think she still needs some work being the leader of Soleil Kingdom and then there's other line of her being like a sunflower that got imprisoned in the castle without seeing how the outside world like and I agree with that. Also, this episode not being the meeting with Stella... RIP in pepperonis.

i love how this show depicts the war between the war and the empire, with none of the soldiers on either side we are following being portrayed as evil, there hasn't really been given a reason of which one of the countries in the war is wrong and the cause were barely touched upon. i'm expecting quite a few deaths in the future, despite the art-style, this is not a happy anime

I forgot to post:

Episode 7:

This episode currently focuses on Grandiga side and more flashbacks regarding Stella though. It was revealed that she was adopted by a willing parents although they can't cover their true feelings anymore due to the lack of resource. While we also got a So L moment in this episode, man the end was a bit devastating though for Grandiga and one of the soldiers is an asshat on responding to the incident because why not but can't blame em. In the meantime, the Soleil Kingdom and Grandiga also tries to make peace but I feel that the current Emperor of Grandiga is kind of a scummy person and tries to use the new mech for his own benefit but that's just me.

people o reddit are speculating that the empire shot down the injured soldiers on the way home, because they don't want to provide for them and want to keep the war going. the primary evidence is the lack of an escort and the closeness to the border

The Price of Smiles/Egao no Daika episode 8

Izana plays the role of hostage to the maximum potential. we're no doubt gonna get some big bombs dropped about the Empire of Verde and Chrars in the next episode

also, can i just praise this series for how varied it made the male character design is? usually it's the female characters that gets the greatest variation, so the fact that it is so varied for males too is a treat

Edited by MABfan11 on Feb 22nd 2019 at 12:19:03 PM

Episode 8:

Man, I really feel sad for Izana's death while his baby is born. Despite that, he did a good job to uncover the truth regarding the new chars and the vital info of Verde Kingdom. Yuki also had a decent strategy in war but yeah... She's still rather... Immature and I still understand her age and all and trying to keep your ideals in the end and prevent many casualties. And speaking of casualties... Yea, Grandiga Empire is pretty scummy and this episode truly shows especially their refusal on releasing the info of Verde Empire.

Episode 9:

so the Chrars drain the environment and basically makes it unable to grow and the Empire of Verda knew that and tried to stop Soleil and Grandiga from using them before it was too late. it also seems likely we're headed for nuke development, since Harold talked about it.

speaking of Harold, damn! he went out in a blaze of glory, perfectly capping off his character arc

Episode 9:

Yea, I can see now why the new chrars are dangerous and the Verde Empire plans to stop it but unfortunately, some idiots are just wanting to use it for their own benefit. We can't have nice things, can't we? And press f for one of Soleil Kingdom top soldier, Harold... RIP

Episode 10:

basically the last episode, from Stella's squad POV, this episode really benefited from the double POV of the war. Commander Gail Owens is definitely in the running for dad of the year

on a less positive note, the animation quality took a dip this episode, there was a lot of Off-Model this episode