Forum - View topicREVIEW: Majestic Prince Episodes 1 - 6 Streaming
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Darkmagick
 SubscriberPosts: 471 |
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I think there's something intangible about Majestic Prince that just endears itself to you. I honestly found the first episode to be very disappointing, but after a more enjoyable second episode I decided to keep with it, and now 12 episodes in I'm still watching...I certainly wouldn't say it blows me away or anything, but it's reliably enjoyable, and I'm finding myself very fond of the cast.
Overall, I think this was a very fair, even-handed review. I have to agree about the commanders, though...I'm still waiting for that moron to get the boot. The fact that he's still in charge is practically criminal at this point. >_> |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3670 |
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One of the things I really liked is the way the pilots bond with each other. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it feels a lot more real than the relationships I'm used to seeing. Since they don't have families to speak of, they have to look to each other for familial support, and do so in a way that just connects with me.
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getchman
He started it Posts: 9134 Location: New Hampshire |
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Yeah, Commander Komine needs to go, hopefully real soon. Thankfully their immediate superior, Suzukaze, cares about them as well as the awesome support staff on the ship
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Snomaster1
Subscriber Posts: 2915 |
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It's a shame that the creators of this didn't make this a full-on sci-fi comedy. I could see it as a parody of stuff like "Gundam" or "Voltron" or the mech genre in general. They could have made both the heroes and the villains such terrible shots that they couldn't hit a barn from fifty feet away. They had the ingredients for a comedy but didn't go all the way.
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The American Average
 Posts: 645 Location: Jehuty |
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This got a lower grade that Valvrave? thats crazy
 I have been enjoying this show every episode, while Valvrave its hit or miss. I never actually thought MJP was supposed to focus on the Mech battles I thought the show was about the characters, which is what the show is focusing on. Last thing, people are still complaining about the Hisashi Hirai character designs? they look pretty good when compared to his older stuff, i know who each character is just and they all are not copy and pastes of each other. My only complain on the character Design Tamaki, with her boobs changing size to big to bigger to make more fan service the lastest episode ep 12.
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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While Majestic Prince does have its share of problems, it has thankfully been getting better as it goes on. Many of the early issues with the plot have been addressed, thankfully, although I get the feeling that the scriptwriters are winging it. The show won't ever be one of the better Mecha series, but it looks like it will turn out to be a fairly respectable addition to the genre.
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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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My opinion on this show is largely neutral. It's pretty solid, and I agree with the review on most points. My only vague criticism is that the wackiness in character interaction sometimes feels forced.
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NoirSon
Posts: 26 |
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Easily the best of the 3 very good mecha shows to come out this spring, doesn't take itself too seriously but handles dramatic issues with a more subtle hand and the action is great.
Glad it appears to be continuing past the new standard of 12-13 episodes, so that the story can grow. |
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Ortensia1980
 Posts: 803 Location: some town near Amsterdam |
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I really like Majestic Prince. It may not be my favourite this season (that honour goes to Attack on Titan), but I think that it's a good show. I especially like the characters and how they've learned to work together. They were pretty much rubbish at first (hence the nickname The Fail Five), but they've really grown as a team.
Also, I've never gotten the complaints about the animation and character designs (apart from Tamaki's boobs which are ridiculously huge). I don't think that there's anything wrong with it. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
There's nothing wrong with the actual animation itself. What bothers people are the shortcuts that are used so that the producers can skimp on having to actually animate. For example, if something important is said then each of team gets their own reaction shot. And each character gets several reaction shots an episode. There's also a lot of establishing shots (shots of backgrounds and the like), and pans of the characters standing at attention. These eat up a lot of seconds, screentime that doesn't require animators do actually do anything except maybe mouthflaps. However, the later episodes have been better at avoiding such tricks, and to be fair shortcuts are used on most Anime, not just Majestic Prince. It's just that it was rather noticeable here. (It's also especially obvious in Attack on Titan, which has also suffered big animation problems. When the animation is even there in the first place it is amazing. Most of the time however it just doesn't exist.) But I do agree with you about the character development in Majestic Prince. The characters started off with superficial and cliched personalities; the grumpy & complaining second-in-command in the blue suit, the sharp-tongued girl who only mocks others, the glasses-wearing nerd who has a fascination for machinery and weapons, the cute & busty airhead in the pink suit, and the heroic leader dude with the red suit. They are like Super Sentai characters, even down to the colour of their suits. However, over time they've been fleshed out a little, given their own individual traits and worries and fears. It makes them more likeable, more sympathetic. They've also drastically improved as pilots and that means we are no longer irked at why a supposedly bad team are piloting such advanced suits. Majestic Prince will never be a great show, but as it improves it is growing on me. |
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zensunni
 Posts: 1294 |
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I hate to nitpick... OK, I don't actually hate to, but you know what I mean. Anyway, you may want to look over this sentence and revise it, as it appears that you mashed two thoughts together and lost some grammatical structure in the process. Easy to do, I know! As for the show:
Your first paragraph is extremely similar to my viewpoint on the show, though I have found myself starting to actively look forward to watching it each week as opposed to earlier in the season where I watched it partly out of obligation. (I am blogging about this, as well as a few more series from the season, so it is one that I had to watch.) The overall storyline, especially after the most recent episodes, has improved steadily throughout the season. The "memory wipe" thing is an interesting touch, as it provides an actual reason for the characters interests to be rather extreme. They all started fresh upon entering the Academy, so they have limited interests and pursue them exclusively in their limited free time. It reminds me of something a friend of mine told me when he entered medical school. He said one of his professors advised him to "pick one hobby and practice it faithfully." Not more than one, mind you, but he said it was essential to have one thing outside of med school that he could turn to to blow off steam and keep his mind from burning out. He choose table top roleplaying, and until I moved out of state, I got to help him keep his mind in good health. It was a blast! LOL The fact that they have taken this premise and actually forged fairly well rounded characters who are demonstrating growth is an impressive feat. spoiler[Not that they always do that. The most recent episode, while cute, was really just a place holder and another demonstration of the way society is using them. There was precious little "outside the box" behavior displayed. In fact, I would say that it was exclusively "inside the box".] As for the terminally stupid commanding officers, I actually don't mind that aspect of the story at all. I'll use spoilers so people can skip my long winded explanation without having to think about it... spoiler[It is reminiscent of the way that Harry Turtledove portrayed General Custer in his Alternate History novel series that begins with "How Few Remain". In that alternate world, Custer never goes to Little Big Horn partially because of the fact that the Union lost to the Confederates in the Civil War and fight another losing war against them in the 1880s. In both the 1880s and "Great War" era stories, Custer is portrayed as a blow-hard whose grasp of elemental strategy stops at the frontal assault, which tends to result in epic casualty numbers. However, due to superior subordinate officers (like Lt. Amane and Captain Suzukaze) and technological innovations (like the ASHMBs and the Juria System), he is one of the only successful commanders in the 1880 war and by the end of the Great War series, is considered a legitimate hero by the populace of the US. To a certain extent, even his long suffering adjutant (the position held by Amane) has admiration for him in the end, even if it is tempered by his knowledge of the amount of luck involved in his success.] spoiler[Thus far, despite his complete lack of competence and a couple of seriously bad losses, Komine has been the man at the helm of the only successful offensives in the war effort. The losses were staggering in the most recent one, but it was a success. Sometimes that matters more than whether he deserves any credit for the success or not. Being at the right place at the right time has made the careers of many an officer.] If it weren't for the outrageously bad super deformed transformations. (Like Tamaki's blush not actually conforming to the confines of her face.) I would probably rate this show as one of the best of the season. What makes it worse is the maddening fact that the artists have proven themselves perfectly capable of creating very good, extremely cute character designs. See Teoria and the little girl who thanks them for saving her and her family after their actions in episode 1 for exhibits A and B. When that little girl gave the thank you note to Tamaki, I thought my brain would burst from the cuteness! Seriously dangerous levels of cute and sweet there! It was probably the moment when I realized that the show has something serious to offer beyond epic space battles and decent slapstick humor. The emotional weight they pack into a package that is wrapped in action and humor is what makes the show enjoyable. It is capable of surprising me, if not with the story progression, with the moments of "Awwwwww" and the occasional serious "lump in the throat" moment. spoiler[And the revelation of the origin of the Wulguru, though not entirely mind blowing, was at least seriously good SF. The concept of a "Progenitor" race, to use the Star Trek term, is an oft-used trope in SF. An oldie, but a goodie. The twist of purpose behind their seeding of worlds raises the bar on the story a notch, in my opinion. I don't actually think I have read a story that combined those elements before. And I real a whole lot of SF! Not bad at all! But that is seriously outside of the scope of this review... About 4 episodes outside, to be precise.] |
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Ortensia1980
Posts: 803 Location: some town near Amsterdam |
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I have read some comments from people who complained because the animation looked "old" which was just plain silly. I'm not sure if I read that here or somewhere else though
And I agree. The characters are all very likeable and they're not these complete stereotypes that they started out as anymore. I still think that it's a nice touch that Asagi gets so stressed out at times that he gets stomach ulcers. |
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nightjuan
 Posts: 1473 |
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I'm not quite up to date on this show myself, which means I have to avoid reading too much into the previous posts, but I can still agree that the characters have gradually improved over time and the story has finally found a good place to stand on after the first few episodes. I don't think it'll amount to anything special in the grand scheme of things, given how formulaic the basic structure is, but it's good enough to make for a decent straightforward robot show. And naturally, I would definitely praise the mecha battles as a consistent highlight.
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Spotlesseden
Posts: 3514 Location: earth |
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that's a valid complain. the animation is not as flash as other new anime. It looks like more like gundam seed than other new anime. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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^
Character designs are not animation. |
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