DETATOKO PRINCESS
To the pudding vats!
Review by: Craig “Allergic to Tapioca” Norris
Length: 3 episode OAV
Genre: Fantasy, comedy
Watched: All, subbed
All of a sudden, the 1990s brought about a change in the anime industry. Where before most series focused on giant robots and space wars, it had suddenly become fashionable to take a page from the book of D&D (RIP Gary Gygax) and create anime based on fantasy, magic, and role-playing elements. Thus began the mad rush for studios to belch out as many fantasy anime as they could. Some owned the genre for years to come. Others... not so much. As far as this anime is concerned, unless you like slapstick, site gags and pudding, you’re looking at an also-ran here.
Plot synopsis: Princess Lapis is the heir apparent to the throne of Sorcerland, and wields the awesome power of the Magic Eraser (patent pending). So naturally, it’s not a good thing that she’s immature and stupid. In an attempt to remedy the situation, her mother sends her on a journey. Unfortunately, she doesn’t send her a few miles away as she had intended, but rather to the other side of the continent. Can her math teacher, an immortal swordsman, and a diminutive sprite save her from the clutches of the witch Topaz and bring her safely home? Even more importantly, can Lapis survive the lack of pudding?
Artwork: Even for a mid-90s release, the artwork is pretty rough. It reminds me a lot of Slayers, only not quite as polished (that’s saying something, since the artwork in Slayers wasn’t that polished to begin with). With the focus being on comedy, most of the fighting sequences are not elaborate, either utilize still-frames or that old trick of everyone roiling around in a cloud of dust with the occasional limb poking out. As far as all the fantasy anime that were vomited out of the 1990s, this is a middle-of-the-road production visually.
Music: The opening song is pretty good, if you’re into ballads. Although I disagree that love is, in fact, a beautiful magic; it’s confusing, and sometimes causes nausea. Aside from the opener, the soundtrack is fairly subdued and doesn’t do anything to set itself apart from the pack. For a short OAV it’s quite forgivable, so I won’t consider the lack of a noteworthy soundtrack to be detrimental to its overall quality.
Characters: Apparently, the privilege of living in a magical realm comes at the price of intelligence, because all of the main characters seem to exhibit some form of mental retardation. Lapis is not a “big picture” kind of person. For example, the opening scene has her bring a floating island crashing down onto a village to save a baby bird. She uses a power called magic eraser, which serves to dispel any magic. She is obsessed with pudding, seemingly able to consume more quantities of it in one sitting than Bill Cosby has hocked in his entire life. In fact, if she does not consume pudding once every three days, she goes into withdrawal that can lead to death. Her parents are concerned that she has not shown enough maturity for her age, which is why they send her on her journey. However, they can’t help but protect her, donning silly costumes and coming to her rescue when danger looms. Kohaku is a swordsman who has been cursed with immortality. Therefore, he is often used as a human shield and is designated to receive the lion’s share of physical abuse. Not being a very good swordsman, and being a bit slow in the head, his only real asset is his curse. Jii is Lapis’ math tutor, who has failed to teach Lapis much of anything. This is no fault of his own, as Lapis is exceedingly dense. On their journey he is in charge of Lapis’ pudding rations, which she sometimes steals. Nandra is a small sprite who appears particularly attached to Lapis. She doesn’t seem to have much power on her own, but she and Lapis often combine theirs to perform the magic eraser. Nandra seems to prefer going with the flow as long as Lapis is not in danger. Lady Topaz is a witch who collects cute girls, and she has had her sights set on Lapis for quite some time. Unfortunately she is just as inept as everyone else, so her schemes never cease to cause damage to property and her person. All this leads me to believe that there should be some sort of screening process to evaluate whether an individual is competent enough to wield immense magical powers. Hey, if someone needs a license to drive a car, why not mandate one for blowing up villages, as well?
Plot: The situations presented, as well as the way they are handled by the “heroes,” are all totally ridiculous. A swordswoman who is afraid of blood, a forest filled with pudding, and severely anemic fitness demons are just a handful of the nonsensical things that will be encountered. Obviously, none of this is supposed to be taken seriously at all, so keep that in mind as you scratch your head.
CHICKS!: Considering the overarching trait among the characters being stupidity, none of the chicks hold a very high degree of appeal to me. Obviously those who have an unhealthy obsession with pudding will have found a soul mate in Lapis. Aside from being unpredictable and a moron, she’s not a bad catch. All signs point to the fact that Lady Topaz is a lezzer, so other than the desire to be a fly on the wall in her bedroom, the attraction ends there. Plus she is also a complete dimwit. The least stupid is probably Sapphire, Lapis’ mother. She’s still pretty hot for a woman with a teenage daughter, but her marriage is exceedingly stable, so there’s not much of a chance there.
Overall: There have been better fantasy anime, and there have been worse ones. There are certainly more questionable ways to spend 90 minutes, but considering the sheer amount of choices one has of fantasy anime these days, this one would not be my first choice. If you have some time to kill while your instant pudding is congealing in the refrigerator, this anime might be something to consider if you’ve watched a good number of the other ones already.
IN A NUTSHELL
+ Good for a few cheap laughs
+ Short enough to not be a waste of time
- Harsh artwork
- Nothing that sets it apart from the pack
Rating: 6/10
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