What They Say:
While the guys are enjoying their day off, Tamaki and Kei are on a secret mission–they have to act like stars for the day! For quiet and reserved Kei, this is no easy task. Can the two young ladies survive running from gig to gig non-stop?
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
After an episode that felt reminiscent of the original Macross series in some ways with its trip to Mars, Majestic Prince returns to more familiar and less engaging material. With the show having hit the twelve episode mark at this point and the middle of the road for the two seasons that it’s set to run, I still find myself in that weird place where because of how it’s been structured and worked, it’s near impossible to really feel connected with any of the characters. Even during the middle of the show, it’s only Izuru that really stands out and only because he’s made more of a play for various scenes that allowed his name to come across more. The cast is so undefined in so many ways that they’re practically ciphers even at this point. So an episode that focuses on Tamaki and Kei should be decent for a bit as it sends them planetside to do general PR for the Majestic Prince program.
Because of the nature of the two of them down in the city going through the motions, the episode showcases some initial pride by those back up in space seeing how Tamaki and Kei are representing them, which is done with some good humor and enthusiasm. But once they get out of the spotlight for a bit and caught up with others, it turns into a series of overly comical moments that are, admittedly, hilarious to watch but feel so incredibly out of place within the context of the show so far. When the pair are taken to a kindergarten to be principals for the day, it’s an over the top kind of race/drive that happens and it just puts at least one of them into near tears with what they go through. But the show shifts back to normal patterns in some ways quickly as well, such as the cringe inducing moment with the kid just rattling off every technical aspect of the mecha in that know it all kind of way that drives adults batty.
As it progresses, we get more things going on and a nod towards the growing escalation of war in space, but mostly it just delves into the girls and a few others as they go through their routine. Tamaki is completely into it from start to finish with a massive amount of enthusiasm, which is a good balance to how Kei gets worn out so quickly and so often with all the craziness. They’re the ideal couple in a way because of how they balance out and there are some nice montage scenes as they go through their roles at so many industries and other public events to showcase the Majestic Prince program. It’s not deep, but it helps to give just a bit more personality and non-combat time to the girls who are largely little known when you look at the first half of the series overall.
In Summary:
But even with all that, there really isn’t an exploration of who these young women are. It’s more about their basic personalities and the struggle they have with the work that they’re given, which they do handle well overall even with all the problems that crop up along the way. The two of them definitely come across well and feel a bit more real, but it is still fairly superficial overall with who they are. But there’s just a sense that they’re not just a pair of names and faces anymore, but whether it’ll carry forward for me is something that’s just too early to tell yet. Majestic Prince has a needed down episode and a chance to really work with some of the characters, but it ends up just scratching the surface and little more than that.
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.
