And we’re back for some James Bond’s cute girls action’s dose of the week and I am happy to report that we have a very good episode in our hands. In fact, I won’t hesitate to say that this is the best Princess Principal we’ve seen so far. Well, case1 builds more groundwork than this week but this case9 has far more exciting case than previous weeks. Not only that, this episode builds up the interactions and hints towards the deeper intentions of all the girls, save Beatrice (seriously, who’s in the right mind to put her as action spy? She’s a dead weight girls. But somehow… I like her that way). But even in Beatrice’s case, now the team knows how to shut off her annoying scream so I’m totally happy with this episode. Moreover, this week is the only time that I can feel Princess Principal slows down the pacing (it’s still fast though) that allows more character interactions, while still maintains the beat throughout and as a result, the episode flows extremely at ease.
This week, the team uses the Princess’s position to gain access to the Cavorite mine and get the prototype from the underground lab. That prototype, a mini Cavorite control unit – looks eerily similar to the one Ange has. I like the way Princess Principal keeps expanding the use of that special device. This episode, she shoots the device to activate scanning the previous objects situated in the room. In other events, the Princess’s grandma and the Duke of Normandy make sure to let the Princess (and us) know that they have a plan for her marriage with the Russian Empire to calm the high tension between the two countries. The actual search for the prototype is interesting enough, each of the girl contributes to one task of the mission, there is of course twist and turns along the way but those don’t overwhelm the story. Moreover, they don’t pull any overpowered, unbelievable skills in there like previous weeks. I actually have quite a great time following the case this week so I hope Princess Principal keeps this tempo from now on.
It appears Princess Principal will go for a non-chorological order; pretty much Haruhi-style, now that we jump to case9 and my hope for a proper introduction of Chise is still in place; although this episode does spill the beans about Chise’s hidden agenda. Damn, I’d pretty much prefer if they keep it more ambiguous but the reveal does tell us a lot about her motives, as well as her current situation. Well, I honestly wouldn’t expect Chise expresses so much cute reactions but let’s see what she has on a serious side. She works under Lord Horikawa, whom I assume is belong to Japanese Imperial Family; who uses Chise as a spy to determine which side to ally, the Commonwealth or the Kingdom. This “White Pigeon” team is indeed an ideal team as they have 2 members from the Commonwealth, and other 2 from the Kingdom; so Chise can have a clear picture regarding the situations of both sides. She feels insecure about her role in the group, however, as she gets really upset by the way Ange constantly puts her out of action field considering she has the greatest combat skills of the group. What she doesn’t know is that Ange uses her as a safety net for the Princess, to which the Princess doesn’t agree with (very great characterizations all around). How does she and Lord Horikawa found out about the team is anyone’s guess right now, but I’m secretly glad that she isn’t here to kill the Princess or Ange off. Or will she?
Dorothy has also grown a lot on me. Now, it becomes a norm and I am really looking forward to her doing a femme fatale’s impressions to seduce whatever male species in the world. But this episode goes further than that, having her in a bind herself to keep a closer watch on the Princess, the person that she obviously grows accustomed with. Just see how Dorothy feels uneasy about the mission, and then relieves when the suspicion is proving wrong; towards her remark at the end: “White pigeon isn’t grey” and you can sense how much she went through to protect what she considers as friends versus her mission. Speaking of “friends”, it’s worth noting that while Ange considers only the princess as true friend, hence over-protective of her; the Princess considers everyone in the team as friends. Will Ange come to trust other members of her team? They all have different agenda anyways so whatever happens, the end-result will be a big battlefield between the casts. And those who fight for their love usually are those will end up being miserable in the end.
