What They Say:
Izuru shows true comradeship with his willingness to sacrifice himself to protect both Tamaki and Kei. But is self-sacrifice truly the right choice to make? Tensions grow taut as the pilots and crew brew over their last skirmish.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While the previous episode had some downtime for the characters following their various actions in the mecha and growing fame and notoriety, the episode also focused on a very precise mission towards the end that the group had to accomplish in a small amount of space and time. One that a seasoned professional would be hard pressed to achieve easily and without an intense amount of practice and planning. But they were thrown into it and everything went big there for awhile. All of that has lead to where we’re at now, though the show doesn’t want to pick up with the action but rather a bit of background material as to why the MJP project exists and how some of them got involved in it. Which is useful background to be sure and definitely needed at this point, if not earlier.
While we get to see some of the teachers gripes about her assignment in this and having to deal with kids, we also get a look at the kids themselves prior to their more current involvement in the war that’s ongoing. It’s interesting to see them in a more relaxed form where the pressure isn’t there, but we also get the reinforcement about how Team Rabbits is made up of people that were unsuited to being on teams. Which was a big part of those first three episodes, and things that made most – if not all – of the characters fairly unlikable since they just ground up against each other. But that also means that now that they’re in the thick of battle in the present, they really need to come together and work as a team if they’re all to survive. And while they may be individuals that aren’t quite team-ready, they don’t want to see any of the others actually killed in the line of duty.
What we do see as the danger increases is that Izuru really steps up to help them all out and that starts to bond them together a bit, even if they all chastise him about it some in a way that works better than I expected. While we do get the material with the fight and fallout from the previous episode, the show isn’t focused heavily on that as we get more of the background material overall that has lead us to this point. It’s interesting in its own way with what we get, but it’s information that I’ll easily admit I wish had come a bit sooner, as well as more general character clarity since they’re all mostly faceless when they’re in combat mode. This and the quieter side of the episode definitely help the series overall though and while I still don’t feel like there’s any depth to the majority of these characters, it actually feels like there’s a bit more of a story to be told here now.
In Summary:
While Majestic Prince doesn’t feel like it gives the events from the end of the previous episode proper due here, what we do get is a quieter episode overall that finally starts to explain more of the past events that have lead to this point in time and a bit more bonding between the kids due to events during the fight. While there are some tried and true concepts in here, with twelve year old plus pilots that are better suited to space than others and the use of them to help save mankind from an imminent threat, it’s managed to not make it all that engaging for the most part. What helps here is the time spent with Rin as we see the past and present through her eyes and that helps to flesh things out, at least in terms of the overall mythos of the series that still has a lot more to explain.
Grade: C
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
