(L) Princess Principal

[LoweGear]

You know, rewatching the previous episodes, especially Episode 2, knowing what we do now from Episode 8 really adds a nice touch of depth to many previous actions regarding Ange and Charlotte.

For example, we know now that Ange and Charlotte used to perform switching pranks in their plays in the castle, and when you think about what happened in episode 2... it was pretty much a prank on both Ange and Charlotte's part to everyone. Also, hearing the line about being friends gains on such a sentimental feeling knowing what it means for the both of them. Finally in relation to the previous point, I imagine that the real Ange was a hell of a lot more surprised than she let on seeing that the friend she that had died was suddenly alive, but knowing now how much she tried to put up a formidable front to cover up her weaknesses, she kept it up to try and ascertain whether the person in front of her was the Charlotte she knew back then.

Princess Principal is one where it actually becomes better on a rewatch, and I like that.

[germanturkey]

great episode. the praise of "you're a real princess now" must have made OG Ange feel wonderful. all the work and effort she put in was validated by the real deal.

in terms of writing/direction, this episode is one of the best in recent memory.

[Flower]

Ep 08

Very much so - the anime improves on rewatch for me too, and I for one and mighty glad for that.

And as others have mentioned, my respect and admiration for both the pickpocket and the princess went up quite a bit after this episode as well - both of them certainly had a lot to go through, and they went through it cold turkey.

Now for me the only thing I would like to see in terms of characters is a little more development for Bea. She was checking out some kind of machine in this episode, and at first I wondered if she were tinkering with or even building something from scratch after seeing what appeared to be some kind of familiarity with machinery at least in ep 07 ... but the brief scene we got did not imply any level of competence beyond what was shown in ep 07, even if I was eager to "read into things".

Have been mulling with others how this cour will end. Am still of the opinion that it will be open ended, but I agree that there will probably be something related to something happening to the Princess (perhaps even at the hands of Normandy).

For some reason I would really like to see a fight between Chise and Gazelle. XD

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by germanturkey

great episode. the praise of "you're a real princess now" must have made OG Ange feel wonderful. all the work and effort she put in was validated by the real deal.

I think it goes deeper than that. Remember how Princess said she was empty? I think it means she felt like she was losing herself as she was stuck living a lie.

Ange's "you're the real princess now" doesn't just validate her work. It validates Princess as a person. She's basically telling Princess "you don't have to feel empty anymore because you're the real princess now. It's not a lie. It's who you are."

[chaosprophet]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

I think it goes deeper than that. Remember how Princess said she was empty? I think it means she felt like she was losing herself as she was stuck living a lie.

Ange's "you're the real princess now" doesn't just validate her work. It validates Princess as a person. She's basically telling Princess "you don't have to feel empty anymore because you're the real princess now. It's not a lie. It's who you are."

I agree with what you said but I think her calling herself empty is not only because she was living a lie, but also because she saw herself from before as nothing too. A girl who didn't have any knowledge, who was worth nothing. Before meeting the princess she likely was only living her life trying to survive, without having tome to have fun or to find hobbies and things she likes.

Well, at least that was the impression I got.

[Side-streetdog]

For all the pranks both of them had pulled when they were child.
I don't believe no one wouldn't knew that there was princess look alike back then.
But in that chaos they need princess, either fake or real.
Will this effect to the plot in the future?
Or in those who may suspected or knew already dead in revolution, and no other know the truth.

This series already very promising. I hope they won't screw up.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Side-streetdog

For all the pranks both of them had pulled when they were child.
I don't believe no one wouldn't knew that there was princess look alike back then.

The planning for their pranks likely involved them ensuring that everybody else didn't know that there were two of them - it ain't much of a clone prank if everybody knows that there's a double afterall.

[Xeiros]

Spoiler for Episode 9 Preview:

Next episode preview via PriPri Radio

第9話 「case11 フェルメル・デュエル」
ちせがクイーンズ・メイフェア校に転入してから半月。
西洋文化に慣れないちせは、校内でも浮いた存在だった。
ある日、とある事件がきっかけで、ちせは貴族の子息と決闘することになるが……。

Shitty machine translation

Episode 9 Case 11 – Fermel Duel

It has been half a month since Chise moved into Queens May Fair. She's still getting accustomed to western culture. One day, as a result of a certain incident, Chise will fight against the son of a nobleman.

Chise so far has had the least overall screen time. Of the 8 episodes released she is the only main cast member not to appear at all in two of them (back to back to boot) and other than her introductory episode plays only a minor often insignificant role in those she does appear in. She'll get a few lines or a brief scuffle/fight to remind the viewer she exists, but that's usually it.

The show has not done anything to show us what kind of relationships she's made with the other girls in any meaningful way. All we get are brief isolated conversations with or about them. The writers don't seem to know how to make use of her. You have the A and C dynamic. The B adore P dynamic. They even had D and B bond in an episode. You had the P wants everyone to be closer friends with the whole team name deal, but Chise has been written to be very much the outsider she is.

It's implied she is very much accepted as a member of the group, but they're not doing a good job of showing that mainly due to how little she's been featured in the overall show. In her one feature episode so far she's front and center, but in all the others she barely even exists. So I'm quite glad she's getting another focus episode that might better explain her place on the team in so far as interpersonal relationships go not to mention what her long term goals are. Her character needs it.

[Liddo-kun]

Watched episode 8:

This episode is just amazing. So that's how Ange and Charlotte met... it's just a coincidence that they looked alike. Look so much alike that the English soldiers thought the fake one they saved is the real one. Princess Charlotte see for the first time the harsh real world... and poor dog who died of hunger.

Anyway, it's nice that Charlotte made the effort to save those children from that child abuser... people who abuse kids are the lowest scumbags.

[~Yami~]

Episode 8 has elevated this anime into best of this season for me

People might feel pity toward Pickpocket but we need to feel the same for the Princess
Please imagine just how many things she got through to be a spy

and I need to go back to episode 2... It would feel more nostalgic since it is their first reunion after the switch

I think it is safe to drop the suspicion toward Ange since she is a genuine princess and inherit Charlotte's wish
if Control decided to dispose her, I'm sure Charlotte would rebel
at least there are no lie between Charlotte and Ange.. their relationship is genuine

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Xeiros

Chise so far has had the least overall screen time.

I think that's Princess. She was basically a non-entity until this episode. We only knew she had a past with Ange and wants to be queen but the show wasn't doing anything with her character and that plot. This episode at least helped to contextualize her situation, but it's far from the attention the most important character in the story after Ange should get. She also didn't built any interesting dynamics with the team besides her relationship with Ange. She's supposedly close to Beato but the show never really shows that closeness, and she barely interact with Chise and Dorothy. She's underdeveloped, underutilized and isolated.

I'm actually surprised next episode is gonna focus on Chise. I thought they would finally tackle the plot after this episode. It would have been the perfect lead in. But I guess the show still wants to keep fucking around some more before getting down to business (if it ever gets to that point). Can't say I'm happy about this though.

[chaosprophet]

The next episode preview worries me a bit because...

Spoiler for Ep 9 preview:

...of the case number. While I'm used to and okay with the show going back and forth, it worries me for it to go that much back now. It means any development on the characters, their relationship or skill sets from 4 previous episodes would be ignored. And it's hard to think it can bring anything new to the table for the characters considering we already saw how they were doing and acting quite later. Hopefully they will surprise me and there was a development this episode will bring that may even have been hidden in plain view through the previous episodes.

EDIT: Another possibility that come to mind is that episode will use some of the backstory info we only learned in the episodes that come later case chronologically wise, which could be interesting too.

[Applehell]

What an fantastic episode! Ange and Charlotte's backstory remind me a lot of the Mark Twain's Prince and the Pauper which was unexpected inspiration to draw from. The meanings behind the coded words traded between them throughout the show up to now are much more meaningful now, and episode made the Princess a realized character. Kinda of a shame we don't get POV from herself rather than Ange relating everything, but that didn't take away too much from the content.

The spy activity of the week of course as usual did nothing to advanced overarching plot (the episodes being out of order doesn't help at all), but the strong fleshing out of Ange and Charlotte circumstances elevated the episode beyond the previous ones this doesn't matter as much to me here.

[SeijiSensei]

A real-life prototype of a young female spy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...a3a_story.html

De Clarens stole one of the vital secrets of the war — Germany’s plans to build and test the V-1 and V-2 rocket bombs at Peenemünde. Her intelligence encouraged the British to bomb Peenemünde, delaying and disrupting the program, and “saving thousands of lives in the West,” said R. James Woolsey Jr., then CIA director, at a private ceremony at the agency in October 1993 honoring de Clarens.

How did this charming, diminutive woman accomplish her mission impossible? She listened. De Clarens was a fluent German-speaker, and in 1943, she teased the first threads of information about the rocket program out of some German officers she had befriended in Paris as a translator. And then she kept pulling on the string.

Unlike the ladies in Princess Principal, De Clarens appears to have come from a more privileged background. I suspect that was probably true for a number of the women involved in espionage during the Second World War because, as in De Clarens case, they had learned foreign languages at school. Julia Child, better known as the "French Chef" worked for the OSS during the War, again because of her education at boarding school and Smith College.

[SeijiSensei]

I worried at the outset this was going to be a recap episode, but then we got the duel.

Have we seen any boys at this school before? Those guys (from Albion I presume) may have helped push Japan into the arms of the Commonwealth. On the other hand, when it's a choice between a bunch of despicable young men and the lovely young ladies on Team Princess, it's not a very hard decision.

I wonder if Lily's sidekicks are named Hannah and Barbara. Unlike LWA's Diana, Lily has little more than her name and bluster though. Like Beato, I admired Chise's response in the lavatory, but Charlotte's comment was even more cutting and hilarious. "I always thought of you as my friend. Do you think I should reconsider?"

[Stark700]

I'm very glad to see those brothers getting their ass kicked by Chise. Rightfully so too with the way they were making cruel jokes at her.

Their school actually looks pretty much what I had expected at this timeline. Very normal in fact. As a fan of Chise, I'm also glad she got a lot of screen time this week.

[James Rye]

Beato a cute, she's the cutest spy. <3
Chise is so badass how she dealt with that cheating guy in this duel. I don't think she will ever be a proper spy though, she's more of the warrior or maybe assassin type.

[ScrewySquirrel]

Originally Posted by James Rye

Beato a cute, she's the cutest spy. <3
Chise is so badass how she dealt with that cheating guy in this duel. I don't think she will ever be a proper spy though, she's more of the warrior or maybe assassin type.

She is more Samurai than Ninja, even if all those of us in the West mistake them for each other -- Ninja weren't 'honorable' and samurai hated being sneaky.

[FlareKnight]

Well that was a nice focus episode on Chise. Though no doubt she's really not suited for the spy work. Though she can work pretty effectively as a distraction. Stands out so much that no one is going to even notice anything odd the other characters do .

On the other hand...how is this series going to end? We're still just at the point of kind of random character focus episodes. Are they actually going to make any significant progress in their main mission before this is over?

Good episode though. Was fun watching Chise own that duel.

[alex_drian]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

On the other hand...how is this series going to end? We're still just at the point of kind of random character focus episodes. Are they actually going to make any significant progress in their main mission before this is over?
.

Seems that they go with the Changeling Operation whatever is.