In comments, Pixy mentioned that he'd given up on Petite Princess Yucie about half way through because he had played one of the "Princess Maker" games and could see all the borrowing. It's true that the series does borrow a lot from those games; that isn't accidental. Gainax owns both properties and the anime is based on the games.

But there's a lot in PPY that isn't in the games, and most of the straight borrowing is front-loaded. I had the idea of documenting in relatively non-spoilerish manner the series structure so as to show that. But just in case anyone doesn't want to see it, it goes below the fold.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Yucie at 01:32 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
Post contains 601 words, total size 4 kb.

Each of the Platinum Princess candidates has a steward (shitsuji). Yucie's is Cube, male. Glenda's is Gaga, also male. Beth's is Bel Bel, definitely female. Elmina's is Balizan, a machine. But Balizan has a male voice, so I guess we think of him as male.

Cocoloo's steward is Chawoo. Is Chawoo male or female? Or is it just as meaningless to ask that as it is for Balizan? Even though Chawoo has a high voice, I find myself thinking of "him". But sometimes we see Chawoo take other forms, and those are invariably female. I wonder if Chawoo is actually female.

Or maybe it really is meaningless to ask that about a ghost.

UPDATE: Even though I know what's coming, the end of the 25th episode always makes me cry when I watch it. (I've become a softie in my old age.)

On original broadcast, the week between episode 25 and episode 26 must have been torture for viewers, especially young ones.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Yucie at 07:11 PM | Comments (11) | Add Comment
Post contains 167 words, total size 1 kb.

I like sight gags when they're done well. This one is very nice, from episode 11 of Petite Princess Yucie:

 Is "Hitting a watermelon with a stick while blindfolded at the beach" a trope, a tradition, or a cliche? Sure seems like it shows up in anime a lot.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Yucie at 11:35 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
Post contains 51 words, total size 1 kb.

I'm rewatching Petite Princess Yucie and I just noticed an interesting parallel. It's a slight spoiler for PPT and also for Card Captor Sakura but not a very major one. And it isn't very profound or earth shattering. Still, it goes below the fold.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Yucie at 10:58 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 164 words, total size 1 kb.

In Petite Princess Yucie, the swordsman Gunbard had just won a terrible battle against a sorceror. Standing in the middle of a ruined village in the night, surrounded by corpses and burning buildings, he saw an intense white light in the sky in the distance. It settled to the ground in the woods. He ran towards it, and in a clearing he found a baby girl, glowing in the darkness.

Gunbard raised the foundling, naming her Yucie. She's the title character. Sometimes her father is called "Hero Gunbard", and I finally figured out that they have been using the Japanese word yuusha as a title.

Which is interesting. Yucie's name in the title is spelled ユーシィ Yuushii in katakana. (The last character is a small one; what does that mean?)

What I got to wondering was whether maybe Gunbard chose the name "Yuushi" ironically, or as penance, or something like that, as a take on yuusha. Turns out that yuushi can mean "gallant figure" or "grieving" or "volunteer" or "ambition" or "traveler" -- and all of those are applicable to Gunbard's back story once it's revealed. Hmm...

UPDATE: I love this:

The Puchi Puri Suupaa Sentai...

Glenda's choice of costume and weapons is magnificent, what with the spiked shoulder guards and the spiked club. Perfectly in character. And Elmina's garb is both practical and fashionable.

UPDATE: And the Puchi Puri Aidouru-tachi:

It's always a bit jarring to see Beth in a dress.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Yucie at 05:57 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 245 words, total size 2 kb.

From left to right: Cocoloo, Princess Blue (of the Spirit world) with the spear. Yucie, Princess Orange (of the Human world) with the sword. Glenda, Princess Red (of the Demon world) with the spiked club. Beth, Princess Green (of the Fairy world) using magic. And Elmina, Princess Magenta (of the world of the Angels) with a bow.

Those are the colors of magic associated with each of the worlds. It was an interesting set of choices for colors, and not what you'd expect. Orange? Magenta? Boring. But I also thought it was interesting that their combat outfits didn't follow those color patterns.

UPDATE: One of the things that artists on this series seemed to enjoy was finding incongruous costumes for the characters to wear. Below the fold are some of my favorites.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Yucie at 05:09 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 163 words, total size 1 kb.