Princess Rouge Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-06-19 (updated 2011-03-01)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Princess Rouge is exactly what it looks like: Yet another sweet, generic love comedy. It goes easy on the comedy and focuses on the sweet end, plus tries to add a little seasoning to the bland recipe by tossing in some action, mystery, and a dash of attitude. It isn't badly done--the visuals are passable, the acting is pretty good in both Japanese and English, and it the story looks like it might amount to something. But in the end, it has no particular good points either, and the story is left unfinished after two episodes.

As is, Princess Rouge is incomplete and unoriginal--if you really enjoy this sort of thing, it might make for an amusing diversion, but it's not worth the time otherwise.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2006-06-19 (updated 2011-03-01)
• 1.5 stars out of 5 (?)

Princess Rouge is yet another generic anime love comedy. It tries to add a little seasoning to the bland recipe by tossing in some action and a dash of attitude, but it's still a warmed-over rehash that never makes it past the first course.

We have here anime love comedy plot #1. I think it's also numbers 2 and 4, but the point is, it's about as standard as they come: Girl falls from sky, starts living with guy, the two awkwardly try to get something going, then her sisters show up. And of course there are usually some bad guys involved in one way or another--in this case, some scheming fellows in armor who send a gloating minion once in a while.

In this version of the tale, the mood is toward the Oh My Goddess! end of the scale, meaning generally less comedy and more old-fashioned sweet. It's also a little darker than average, including some sword-swinging bad guys for excitement. The story has a passable amount of mystery; Rouge may not have any memory, but she seems to be very important, and may not be as much of an innocent as you'd expect. But, since the series is cut short after two episodes, hints are all you'll ever get. So, add frustration to the unoriginality.

Otherwise, there's pretty near nothing out of the ordinary. The characters (all-important to love comedies, particularly severely unoriginal ones) certainly aren't anything to write home about. We have an awkward guy, a sweet girl, and a couple of violent sisters who don't think much of the guy.

About the only thing that distinguishes Princess Rouge at all is that the main couple are a little less innocent than the standard over-sweetened pair. Rouge is an uncommonly wary heroine in distress, and our hero makes several rather amusing wisecracks now and then (these are, in fact, the high point of the whole thing). Not enough to save the series, but it's refreshing to see a kind, innocent male lead with a bit of attitude for once.

The visuals are as generic as the rest of it. The action (there actually is a little) is adequate, the character animation and art are average excepting a couple of brief, expressive moments, and the character designs are generically attractive. In an unusual departure from static character design Rouge gets a haircut between the episodes, except she looks better unshorn. The only notably nice-looking thing is some pretty mountain and forest scenery, but the rest of the backdrops are bland and undetailed.

Lastly, we have the acting. In Japanese, Shiho Kikuchi's Rouge is very appealing--sweet but not too innocent. Her English counterpart, Juliet Cesario, is also good. The hero, Yuusuke, doesn't fair quite as well cross-linguistically; his wisecracks work in both languages, but while Wataru Takagi gives him an amusing, exasperated tone in Japanese, Scott Simpson's voice is too nasal in English. Most of the minor characters are passable in both languages, with the best and worst standouts (both in English) being a particularly impressive, studly rendition of the bad fellow in episode 2 and some terribly-acted minions hanging around the main bad guy. The music is light and unremarkable.

In all, Princess Rouge is exactly what it looks like: Yet another sweet love comedy. It goes easy on the comedy and focuses on the sweet end, plus throws in a bit of mystery and some action. It isn't badly done, but it has no particular good points either, so at best it would been an amusing diversion if the story had been completed. As is, it's incomplete and unoriginal--if you really enjoy this sort of thing, you might like it, but it's not worth the time otherwise.

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Related Recommendations

A lot like every other love comedy of this sort, but particularly similar to the pleasantly romantic Oh My Goddess!, which is much better. On the more action-oriented side, it has a little in common with Tenchi Muyo, which is also much better. It also reminded me of MAPS for some reason; they share a little of the same feel, though the stories are wildly different.