Synopsis:
Tiara is an adept magic-user from the Guardian World. She has been tasked with retrieving the Throne of Yord, a mysterious painting which is said to be the source of the Guardian World's power. The problem is, the Throne of Yord was stolen by Tiara's former lover Kagetsu. All Kagetsu wants is to save his sister Sara, who's imprisoned in the painting. But Sara is also Tiara's best friend. Their fate, and the Guardian World's, now seem to rest in Tiara's hands. Will Tiara forsake everything for the sake of the ones she love?

Review:
I first saw Shamanic Princess a few years ago, fansubbed. Back then only the first two episodes were available. I was craving for the rest but the local fansub distributor didn't have the remaining eps. Much to my delight, the whole six episode OAV series has finally been released in English -- in one DVD!

There's a mystical air about this series that's hard to describe. But while Shamanic Princess's plot and premise are intriguing, its chronology is quite strange. Episodes 1 to 4 cover the Throne of Yord storyline, and episodes 5 to 6 are prequels. Episode 5 shows Tiara's childhood days while episode 6 tells us what happened before the first episode. The conclusion leaves something to be desired as well. Despite the positive note in which Shamanic Princess ended, I'm not sure about how the Sara / Throne of Yord problem was resolved.

The most outstanding thing about Shamanic Princess is definitely the breathtaking art and animation. The characters are gorgeously drawn, and they possess the grace to match their physical beauty. The way they move is sheer poetry in motion. The magical battles are truly mesmerizing to behold -- music, sound, and visuals merge perfectly to bring you some of the finest scenes in anime-dom. The English dubbing is tolerable at best. I find some of the dub voices terribly miscast. Japolo sounds like an old Mexican woman (nothing against Mexicans but Japolo isn't supposed to sport such an accent); Lena and Sara sound too old for their respective ages; Kagetsu probably has the most fitting dub voice of all. I suggest you turn to the original Jap dialogues instead. Shamanic Princess's songs and music are also pretty good, making the soundtrack worth checking out.

Negative points aside, I enjoyed watching Shamanic Princess and I consider the DVD worth every cent I paid.

Miscellanies:
The DVD contains all six episodes and comes with a lot of extras - an image gallery, scripts, trailers, character profiles, etc.

Screenshots:

Shopping - click on title to purchase:

Rightstuf Shamanic Princess (DVD)

[ Anime Series Index | Back to Main Menu ]