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| 3. Iodine
 
Despite an obvious formula, questionable production values,
and a heap of familiar cliches, Princess Nine is well within the running
for the best sports-themed anime ever made. When the chairman of a prestigious
girls' academy decides to enter the first all-female baseball team into a prestgious
tournament, she's fighting an uphill battle. Fortunately, she secures Ryo Hayakawa
as the pitcher, a girl who has the makings of greatness in her, but Ryo and her
new teammates will have to go up against challenges they never expected in order
to reach their dream. With the help of intelligent writing and a set of strong
female characters you can really cheer for as heroines, the show embraces the
expected norms of the genre and makes them work to its own advantage. From the
technically impeccable research behind the heart-stopping baseball games to the
only love pentagon where I was actively rooting for everybody, all of the show's
potential weaknesses come out as strengths. Most of this is due to the incredible
characterization that really pushes the girls a step further than we'd expect.
Even the minor players feel better defined and realized than the leads of many
other series. The only major failing of the show
is the sub-par animation, that often makes the characters look warped or cross-eyed
despite reasonably good direction and interesting designs. A real boost comes
from the music, that uses a few orchestral arrangements for the really dramatic
moments alongside synthesized background themes and a pair of great songs for
the credits. Aside from an ending that feels oddly truncated, the story is one
of the most exceptional and inspirational I've seen in ages. It may be girls'
anime, but Princess Nine is anything but girly. Watch and enjoy. |
| 2. Nightside
The problem with a lot of 'feel-good' anime is that they often
lend themselves to trite clichés and cheesiness. These things are difficult
to ignore and how well the show represents the sport of baseball, I really cannot
say. But even someone with no interest in sport whatsoever would find it difficult
to accept some of the situations. At best, I found baseball an irritating distraction
and wholly implausible - especially when considering that half of Ryo's team are
complete rookies and there is not a single substitute player. While it's fair
enough to say that Ryo had inherited a talent for pitching from her famous/infamous
father, can a fifteen-year-old really pitch at the speed of light? Can anyone?
Much of the suspense built up throughout the episodes was dampened by the predictability
of what was to come and Ryo's supreme talent. I felt that essentially nothing
was at stake, but the ending restored some faith. It
must be said that Princess Nine isn't the most visually appealing show.
Stock and occasionally weird looking (depending on what episode you're watching)
character designs and poorly drawn, uninspired, bland backgrounds that lack any
sort of style are my biggest complaints. Ryo and Izumi are the pivotal characters,
teammates but rivals and two very stark personalities. Their strained relationship
was interesting to watch, as was the love triangle/square. Otherwise, little impressed;
Takasugi is the arrogant jock, Seishiro is a total non-entity, Keiko is a selfish
bitch and the coach…well, I liked the coach. The remainder of the baseball
team girls face internal conflict or other problems, with some terribly hackneyed
outcomes, but time runs out before they're anything like fully realized. Unfortunately
the interaction between the characters rarely rises above shallow and ultimately
they failed to interest or engage me. If only it
had been more believable, less puke inducing and perhaps a little less focused
on the 'winning is everything' ethic, P9 could have been a lot better. |
| 1. Tempy
The Kisaragi High School start a girl's baseball team to try
to reach Koshien, home of the Japanese High School Baseball championship. But
can they make it into this male-dominated world? Princess Nine isn't about
baseball, that's just a setting. Our main protagonist is Ryo Hayakawa whose father
was once a promising young pitcher. She and the other girls have to face major
hurdles - trying to get their all-girl team accepted, beating the other teams,
but most of all, overcoming their differences and their own personal demons. Princess
Nine sports nice designs, but the art and animation fluctuates quite a bit.
It's primarily a low budget series, but the dynamic action sequences look very
nice and very, well, dynamic. And then you have the reuse of animation, the dreadful
crowd art, people looking cross-eyed, and even pupils not getting colored in.
What Princess Nine does excel in though is the music by Masamichi Amano.
Yes, the major themes get reused often, but they're very good in expressing sadness,
drama, and excitement. While most of the conflicts
are created due to annoying misunderstandings, horribly clichéd outside
forces (the parental group comes to mind), or overdramatization, the way the girls
overcome their problems is what makes this show so inspirational. A great source
of conflict and drama comes from Izumi, Ryo's main rival on the field and in love.
Izumi can seem very blunt and uncaring, but she does care, and her fierceness
and resolve makes her a favorite character of mine. It's a shame the other girls
don't get as much screentime as Ryo and Izumi. In
short, despite its faults, Princess Nine is a good show with many great
scenes and shouldn't be missed. |
| 
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(3.5)