Shamanic Princess

Original Title: シャーマニックプリンセス
Romanized: Shaamanikku Purinsesu
Literal: Shamanic Princess

Plot Synopsis

When a mysterious object called the Throne of Yord is stolen from the magic world by Tiara's love Kagetsu, Tiara must travel to another world to bring it back. This leads her to a town where she takes up residence and lives as a college student during the day. At night she hunts for the Throne of Yord and for her lover who betrayed her. Aided by her partner Japolo and hindered by her rival Lena, Tiara must overcome the events of her childhood in order to achieve her goal.

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Legion
Review Date: 2003-06-13

Shamanic Princess is a dark, gothic horror story laced with shoujo-style tragedy and spiced up with a variety of creative magical action. The series isn't the most straightforward, however; it jumps forcefully into the story and its world, never fully explaining them and only partially filling out the details in a non-linear fashion where the final two episodes lead up to the first four.

But fear not: the somewhat loose world may be ill-explained, but it is nonetheless creative, detailed, and exotic, making for a rich setting. Backed up by absolutely gorgeous visuals--from fluid animation to richly painted backgrounds to beautiful character art--Shamanic Princess is a pleasure to watch, so long as the story is to your taste.

US DVD Review

Your standard issue CPM DVD at your service. This disc features a nice video transfer and clear audio in both Japanese and English languages along with a subtitle track. The main Japanese voice actors are reflected on the reverse side of the cover (the case itself is black this time so you have to take it out to see) and in the DVD ROM section. There's also some info about the character designer, Atsuko Ishida, and finally (this one was rather nice) Japanese trailers for episodes five and six.

Content Guide

Contains violence and some mature themes; probaby 13-up.

Violence: 2 - Some violence and bizarre scenes.

Nudity: 2 - Nothing's seen, but there's some skin.

Sex/Mature Themes: 2 - A tragic romance theme throughout and a scene that reflects the bizarre scenes mentioned above.

Language: 1 - Pretty clean.

Notes and Trivia

The order of the six episodes isn't entirely obvious (particularly in the VHS release, where USM provides no hints as to the order. The 5th and 6th parts, on the tape "The Guardian World", take place after the first four, but were created and (I assume) intended to be watched after "Tiara's Quest" and "Talisman Unleashed."

Availability

OAV series, released by US Manga Corps.
Available on subtitled and dubbed VHS, and hybrid DVD.

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