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I want to thank Haak for indirectly getting me into this show.
I looked up this show on a Google image search, and the character designs really didn't appeal to me, so I had initially decided to give it a pass. But then I read Haak compare this show favorably to Valvrave on the Valvrave series thread, and I decided I'd try to get beyond my superficial issues with this show to see if I would enjoy it.
And I have to say, I'm glad I did.
What I like about this show is that it strikes me as the most grounded/realistic of the three mecha shows of this season. In other words, I don't see as many fantastical elements in this show as I do in Gargantia and Valvrave, so this show is relatively easy on my suspension of disbelief.
Another edge that I think this show has on its two direct competitors is how it's the only one of the three to have mecha conflict that is consistently interesting and suspenseful for me. Gargantia and Valvrave both have protagonists that strike me as having absolutely overwhelming force over their opponents, which takes some of the interest and suspense out of it.
But with Majestic Prince, the protagonists are slight underdogs, if anything, and so that makes the actual mecha conflict in this show more rewarding to me than what they are in Gargantia and Valvrave.
That's not to say that Gargantia and Valvrave don't have their own edges of course - Given what I wrote before, it should come as no surprise that I prefer the character designs and overall look of those shows to what we have here.
Still, I like how Majestic Prince takes a group of five kids, a motley crew in some regards, and lets us watch them grow through their difficult life situation and their combat challenges as they slowly mature. While neither of these kids leaves as strong an impression on me as what Ledo (Gargantia) or Haruto (Valvrave) does, I do find that this group is more than the sum of its parts. In other words, the internal dynamics between the five are fairly consistent, and has a certain authenticity that makes the story that much more rich and engaging. These internal dynamics are not always as amusing to me as I think they're intended to be, but that's almost beside the point - The key is that they build a certain chemistry and camaraderie between the five that feels very "true to life" and hence helps me care about them.
The adult characters also come across to me as impressively diverse, with the most important of them being nicely multifaceted. They make for a strong supporting cast.
On the whole, this is a very solid show so far.
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