What They Say:
Asagi and Izuru escort Daneel through a Wulgaru capital ship that crashed on Mars during the Battle of Ceres. Meanwhile, Tamaki, Kei and Suruga must face Wulgaru fighters during an iron oxide storm that is jamming their radar and sensors.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the series reveals more of its true workings to both the viewers and the Team Rabbits crew when it comes to the Wulgaru, and now the introduction of Daneel as well, Majestic Prince slowly takes on some more interesting turns to events. Having an enemy that we can start to actively engage with certainly helps, and getting those like Daneel involved shows more sides to them and their greater interest in things. With more of the history of the Wulgaru revealed as well in the info dump we got previously, the stakes of the war are made even more clear since it’s all about harvesting. And honestly, part of what just had me amused with the previous episode was using the name Daneel at all, since that comes from a real classic of science fiction.
With this episode, things take an interesting turn now that the team knows more and we see both Asagi and Izuru sent on a mission with Daneel that involves them heading to Mars. Having a crashed Wulgaru ship there, they provide the role of escorts and bodyguards as they search the craft for any possible intel and more. It’s interesting to get what amounts to a guided tour of the place with Daneel providing some good commentary along with the observations of the other two, noting how it’s more biological in nature and the way that the whole thing can be rather unsettling. The nature of the Wulgaru hasn’t been delved into all that much, but what little we do get has shown them to be similar in some ways but wildly divergent in others.
The investigative side of things does a decent job of really making clear some of the class structure of how the Wulgaru operate, and Daneel gets to show off some of the technological side as well with how they interact with their ships and other equipment. It’s not exactly a difficult situation for Asagi and Izuru to deal with in protecting him, since they don’t view him as an enemy, but the show does present some danger for them to deal with when it comes to what may be in the derelict ship but also just the structural integrity combined with the need to protect Daneel. In a lot of ways, the episode has a really good feel about it, one that harkens back to older anime series like Macross with its Mars aspect and what it does, but also tied with some good animation and pacing.
In Summary:
I’ve really struggled with Majestic Prince since the get go and in a lot of ways those struggles remain when it comes to the paper thin characters that haven’t registered well with who they are even after eleven episodes. Here, we get more of an informational episode in a way, but it’s done in a show me way rather than a tell me way. That makes for a good show as we get the two Team Rabbits pilots heading down with Daneel to explore the derelict ship. There’s some good commentary to be had along the way, some decent minor discoveries and explanations of how things work and a mild but enjoyable bit of action and tension to draw it all together just right. Majestic Prince still hasn’t won me over, but more of these kinds of episodes can only help in the end.
Grade: B
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.
