Murder Princess (2007) (V)

Directors:

Shinya Kawatsura
Tomoyuki Kurokawa

Writers:

Sekihiko Inui (manga) and
Tatsuhiko Urahata (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

12 May 2009 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Short | Action | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

In the land of Foreland a coup d'état has occurred and the princess, after witnessing the death of the King...

Plot Keywords:

Princess | Bounty Hunter | King | Murder | Coup D'état

Cast

Bob Carter	...	The Narrator (voice: English version)
Leah Clark	...	Fenella / Girl (voice: English version)
Colleen Clinkenbeard	...	Alita Forland / Falis (voice: English version)
Daniel Drumm	...	Jitterbug (voice: English version)
R. Bruce Elliott	...	Jodu Entolasia (voice: English version)
Cris George	...	Guitano (voice: English version)
Caitlin Glass	...	(voice: English version)
Todd Haberkorn	...	Andre (voice: English version)
Chuck Huber	...	Dominikov (voice: English version)
Jeremy Inman	...	Roderim (voice: English version)
Takkô Ishimori	...	Jodu Entolasia (as Takkou Ishimori)
Grant James	...	Priest (voice: English version)
Brittney Karbowski	...	Milano (voice: English version)
Ami Koshimizu	...	Milano Entolasia (voice)
Vic Mignogna	...	Falis' Father (voice: English version)
Daisuke Namikawa	...	Dark Knight (voice)
Romi Pak	...	Alita Forland (voice)
Ben Phillips	...	Pete Armstrong (voice: English version)
Wendy Powell	...	Cecilia (voice: English version)
Monica Rial	...	Milano Entolasia / Alita Forland (voice: English version)
Chiwa Saito	...	Ana / Yuna (voice)
Carrie Savage	...	Ana / Yuna (voice: English version)
Patrick Seitz	...	Kaito (voice: English verison)
Mark Stoddard	...	Dr. Akamashi (voice: English version)
John Swasey	...	King Forland (voice: English version) (as Erika Weinstein)
Mayuko Takahashi	...	Mirano (voice)
Akimitsu Takase	...	Pete Armstrong (voice)
J. Michael Tatum	...	Kleiveldt (voice: English version)
Megumi Toyoguchi	...	Cecilia (voice)
Hiroshi Tsuchida	...	Akamashi (voice)
Tyler Walker	...	Frankenstein (voice: English version)
Kazuki Yao	...	Dominikov (voice)

Also Known As:

Mada Purinsesu (Japan) (alternative transliteration)

Runtime:

Japan:25 min (6 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Avex Mode

Trivia:

This is the first Bee Train production in which founder, director and animator Kôichi Mashimo has no involvement in, in almost a decade.

Soundtrack:

Naked Flower

Murder Princess is a rip-roaring kick-ass good time you'll have in any anime of the genre!

If your looking for a Shakespearian esquire tragedy, insane killer lolis well this isn't it. Murder Princess is fairly generic and fairly predictable yes. Why am I raving about it? Because it's just a boat load of fun. This truly works very well as a short OAV series as opposed to a longer TV series as you don't feel overwhelmed nor do you have to waste time with pointless fluff and nonsense found in some other action series. Basically Murder Princess could be likened to a two-hour-Hollywood summer film that you go buy popcorn and just kick back and enjoy. And you will enjoy it.

The non-stop bloody action makes this Bee Trains most enthralling and adrenalin pushing yet; also with out a doubt a well budgeted one with Marvelous Entertainment producing. The adaption from the manga is spot on (though there are a few things I wish they had done) and the music while a bit atypical metal fits so well for this. Even in the rash bash head banging metal you feel a lot of heart in the musical score and it only enhances the film further. Though despite the hectic pace of the plot it's still very easy to continue following the story. Compared to Bee Train insanely sporadic adaptation of Blade of the Immortal, Murder retains the charm of an intelligible but easy to understand plot but throwing you on a roller coaster compared to the slower moving series like my personal favs .hack//SIGN, and MADLAX. And it still takes a little time out for the audience to catch their breath.

The animation being the best yet I've seen, beautiful designs, great effects pointless bloody mesh maybe yet not laid on as thick as Blade's violence or a senine violence would normally be. Granted this is probably aimed at Teens more so than Adults like with Blade or others in that genre. A very nice color pallet but seemed heavy rather than the lovely color pallet by Studio Road in Tsubasa Chronicle and .hack//SIGN. Or maybe it's just my imagination, but regardless the beautiful color pallet takes you into the fantasy world of Foreland along with the overall art direction and composition.

Acting for the dub was unique and amazing from a FUNi all star cast including Monica Rial and Caitlin Glass alternating between umm...well themselves? Well anyway the dub made a clever move by retaining internal thought with the character's personality. Okay I'm sure that made no sense, well the commentary makes so much sense so watch that if I lost you.

Not much I can say about the Japanese as I haven't seen it in Japanese though with talents like Romi Paku I'm sure it's brilliant.

If you ask me Murder Princess is a hidden gem. Not just a hidden gem among Bee Train's arsenal of shows but among many action anime out there. It's a fun two-hour OAV adventure with non-stop action and is great to kick back with a bowl of popcorn or bag of chips or whatever your snack of choice be, and just enjoy.