What They Say:
“Operation: Infiltrate a Planetoid Base”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Having gotten a bit more background in the previous episode that dealt with some flashback material in a decent way, there’s a bit more sense of grounding when it comes to Majestic Prince. Which was desperately needed as I was (and am, to some extent) feeling a strong disconnect from it all. It’s an attractive series to watch unfold, but there’s nothing that makes me want to know the characters, especially since they rarely talk to each other by name and the bulk of the kids have no real personalities beyond the color of their suit while in the mecha and whatever moves they’re most capable of handling. There is something to said for handling that part of it well and Majestic Prince does so, but the focus is still mostly on a superficial level for things in general.
While the team has gotten some fame due to the initial round of combat they were involved in, they’re still not functioning together well as a team. There are problems abound and as we see through the brief practice run at the start, they’re not doing so hot there either. And because of the fame, they get trashed online by plenty of people but also those that are in the same kind of program who dislike that they’re getting all that attention while doing so poorly on so many levels. It’s not done with a huge amount of malice or anything, but it’s present and part of the vibe that’s given over with another team that makes an appearance again and ends up getting into their own bit of trouble because of it. Everyone is after different things with what they’re doing and striving in their own way, but it is a team that’s been made up of people who can’t function in teams. And when you have someone like Izuru, who is doing all of this because he wants to be a hero, that just complicates it more.
We get a good bit of this kind of stuff in the first half as we see the groups and Izuru specifically, but the second half shifts to the cation side as the team gets out on a mission. And like seemingly everything they do, nothing goes according to plan and they discover an access point to an enemy base, which has them choosing between taking advantage of it and going in and going back for help. Obviously they go in, splitting up a bit for cover, and that gives us a good look at how the enemy is laid out and some of the strong visual nature of the series. While it’s a bit weak in terms of actual story with it, the action is solid and the animation and pacing is spot on, making for an engaging attack and escape sequence, though some of the CG continues to be the weak link in terms of blending with everything else.
In Summary:
Majestic Prince runs through another episode where it tackles the characters in small amounts, focusing mostly on Izuru here, before shifting into the action side. I continue to find the cast largely bland and nameless as they move about everything as they’re mostly just color coded pieces moving across the screen, either in their uniforms or when in their mecha. Though this is the biggest weak point for me in the show, it does leave me to just enjoy the action when it hits as that’s handled well and has a smooth and polished feel for a lot of it, though there are some awkward scenes here and there. The attack in this episode is pretty good and it gets us inside the enemy base for a bit and that proves to be an interesting angle since they’re simply different, but it doesn’t unlock any new answers.
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.
