Princess Resurrection

Synopsis:

On his way to meet his sister in a new city, Hiro Hiyorimi notices a girl who is about to be crushed under some construction beams that have broken loose from the crane hauling them. Without thinking about his own safety he pushes her out of the way but is crushed by the steel beams himself resulting in his own death. But, before he takes his last breath, he sees the girl clad in gothic clothing standing above him asking herself why someone would do such a thing but replies that he is glad she is safe. However, the girl that he saved turns out to be the daughter of the king of all monsters and she is curious why Hiro sacrificed himself for her and decides to resurrect him with her power called The Flame of Immortality. She tells Hiro that he is now her servant and introduces herself as Hime and that his lifespan is only temporary and the flame must be renewed every few days or he will die permanently. Without much of a choice, Hiro humbly becomes Hime's new servant.


Reviewer: Endosanity
Number of episodes watched: 26


Review:

Every once in a while a show comes along that is, for lack of a better word, fun. You just enjoy the anime from beginning to end for no real apparent reason. It has nothing to do with some sort of complicated plot or in depth characterization or anything of the sort. No, you are watching it for one reason, it puts a smile on your face and you don't even realize it. Well, that anime is Princess Resurrection and that's exactly the state of mind I found myself in while watching this anime. Princess Resurrection follows the "monster of the week" formula where a new foe will appear and it's up to Hiro, Hime, and one of her other followers to eradicate it in one or two episodes. Along the way they do encounter some remarkably original foes along with some familiar monsters that bear a striking resemblance to the old Universal monsters from the old black and white films of ages past. Not only does this help give this anime it's own hint of individuality but also lets you know the it knows how to pay homage to some of films greatest monsters.

With all this going on, Princess Resurrection also manages to put every single plot device in the hands of one of the most bizarre cast of characters that I have encountered to date. Hime the princess of monsters, Riza Wildman the half-human half-werewolf woman, Flandre the small but incredibly strong and almost indestructible maid that only knows one word "Huga", just to name of few. This way, not only are you given an interesting tale but it also helps to put each one of this anime's characters into perspective with each other in the overall story of they are attached to Hime in some way. Another interesting thing to point out is that every episode that Hime is in she uses a different weapon of destruction to fight her opponents such as a chainsaw, axe, hammer, circular saw, flail, mace, pitchfork, baseball bat, trident, and so on watching poor Hiro trying to protect an already lethal force of destruction is just plain comical but somewhat endearing. Even though there are dimes that Hiro does prove himself worthy of being Hime's servant or should I say, guardian, at times that still doesn't hide the face that for a main character Hiro is pathetically worthless most of the time.

Princess Resurrection boasts average animation but combines it with such a randomized plot that it brings out well presented character depth that it makes watching this anime a blast throughout the entire series. You'll find yourself laughing at the same time as being enthralled in it's off-the-wall plot and group of misfit protagonists that tackle any opposing force thrown their way. It may not be the epic series that you're looking for but if there was ever a series where you just want to turn your brain off and kick back and enjoy at face value then you owe it to yourself to watch Princess Resurrection. A high rating for being simple, strange, but a whole lot of fun to watch.

Princess Resurrection (opening)

Recommendation: |High|

Media type: DVD
From: Sentai Filmworks
Spoken languages: Japanese
Subtitles: English

*Note - Sentai! What up with the typos? For shame Sentai... for shame! It's not like we can fix it. You need to release a v2 DVD set with subtitle corrections.