[US DVD] Petite Princess Yucie Complete Collection (2009 Edition) Review

[Chris Beveridge]

Review by Chris Beveridge

Mania Grade: B+

In Summary:
Petite Princess Yucie took time when I first saw it to charm me, especially because of how all the girls were stopped from growing at age ten and their personalities bore a lot of that as well. But as it went on, I grew to enjoy it a lot. Going into it now some five years later with a different mindset and knowledge of the show, I was able to see it all come together a lot better and enjoy the flow of it. While it does have a lot of gaming moments to it with the jobs that the girls take throughout, they do it in a way that genuinely feels fun and enjoyable rather than a true chore. This is the kind of show that while aimed at younger fans it can transcend as well because it is so good natured and happy for the most part. There is a really good story arc here that plays out across the entire set and everything is tied together perfectly at the end, making it a memorable show that I wish we’d see Gainax get more involved with sometimes.

[brycec1701]

This one is one of my wife's favorites and one that I learned to actually like. It is definitely a good one to watch.

[Chris Beveridge]

Originally Posted by brycec1701

This one is one of my wife's favorites and one that I learned to actually like. It is definitely a good one to watch.

It's a surprisingly charming show, one that really surprised me. I think the initial surprise of it during the singles run made it all the more enjoyable, while this time around I found myself a bit more tempered about it, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

[UncleBen]

It's a surprisingly charming show, one that really surprised me.

It really is a good show. And considering that shows for younger viewers aren't thick on the ground these days, so therefore even more valuable on that account. It's a show that I can see surprising people and I hope they give this collection a chance.

Probably the biggest surprise for me was seeing how much weight Arc and Gunbard bring to the the show. They don't have a lot of screentime compared to the girls, but without them the story wouldn't have been nearly as special as it was. It also has a quality I appreciate greatly: everything was thought out clearly and no loose ends dangle at the conclusion. All in all, a great-looking and really fun show to just sit back and enjoy.

[The Great Bear]

Originally Posted by UncleBen

It also has a quality I appreciate greatly: everything was thought out clearly and no loose ends dangle at the conclusion.

That is definitely one of its better qualities. The story is told to completion, and one can feel satisfied with it (I liked the ending).

…

I really liked this show quite a bit, as it is fun and charming, as Chris said.

It also has one of the best dubs that ADV's Monster Island studio made during the brief time that ADV ran two dubbing studios (ah, those were the days).

[Suwako Moriya]

Ah, a series that I enjoyed over all. Even more so as the story progressed and changed focus. In terms of the girls, the two I like most would be Glenda and Beth.

[Suwako Moriya]

Originally Posted by The Great Bear

It also has one of the best dubs that ADV's Monster Island studio made during the brief time that ADV ran two dubbing studios (ah, those were the days).

Yeah, the dub was pretty nice over all. At least my memory of it anyway.

[Betenoire]

It was a show that surprised me by becoming deeper than I thought it would be. It looked like almost a standard young girls magical show that proceeded to go beyond just the generic and come up with characters and situations that I did not see coming. This was a very worthwhile pick up for me.

[Prede]

Not to be rude, but I just wrote a review for this title as well for my blog. (sorry about the plug ). Anyway nice review, I agree with most of what Chris said, only I rank the show even higher . Oh and I didn't feel that Elmina and Beth takeing the show away from the main focus was a bad thing, I thought it was great that the plot really kicked in full force. Once it did that, and had fleshed out each and every character, I felt really cared for them all, and the story was more interesting because of it. They did a great job with that.

This is one of the few magical girl shows that I enjoyed. And it's also one I'd recommend to many who dislike the genre entirely. It's a really great show. It's a very good story, and as others have said, becomes something much deeper then what you'd first think. I liked what the show said about growing up, and young adulthood. Oh and Cocoloo is perhaps the coolest character ever! But the amazing thing about this show is every character, no matter how small or how big, is incredbly likable. That's rare, at least for me. And not only was I never anoyed by anyone, I thought every single character ruled. It was a great bunch of characters. And the ending is really quite dramatic. I like what they did with that. This show has many sad moments, but it's also very happy, very fun, exciting, thrilling, happy, and such. It lets you live all the emotions of the characters, instead of dwelling on a few. And I thought that was great.

Not only is this one of the few magical girl shows I really like (the other I really like is Princess Tutu, although I like Yucie much more), this is also one of my favorite Gainax shows, right behind Eva and FLCL . I may be crazy, but I liked it that much (huge Ganiax fan btw ). As for the dub, it's probally my favorite from Monster Island. Monika Bustamante did an amazing job as Cocoloo, she has a really distinctive voice. Kelley Huston always managed to put a smile on my face as Glenda. She was great. And of course Rachel Rivera did wonders as the lead. And shoutout to David Jones as Glenda's father. He's a very talented actor. But every single actor did an amazing job on this one. It's a very unique, original sounding, and fresh dub. Much better then the cookie-cutter dubs we've been seeing lately. This show always makes me sad Monster Island closed, because we won't get anymore dubs like this .

[Chris Beveridge]

I like the show a lot, but it's still not that high on my Gainax list. It's still goes Wings of Honneamise, FLCL, Evangelion, Otaku no Video and then Yucie.