Arcane Reviews: Corpse Princess

Hello ladies, peoples, and animals it is I, the Arcane Reviewer! Here to bring you a new anime review. So it's been awhile since I've seen a really heavy action packed anime with lots of blood and gore! You know, awesome stuff. So while I was searching for an anime to watch I came across this little gem right here. Now the question is; is it any good? Well my fellow readers I'll answer that question for you in today's review of, Corpse Princess. Or if you like the Japanese title better Shikabane Hime. Does it give you your fill of gory anime goodness or does it just decompose on the spot? Let's find out shall we?

Story:

The story here is pretty cool and is really interesting as well. The world that Corpse Princess sets up is that of a very grim and depressing one. In this world if a person dies with a huge amount of regret and sorrow they come back as these horrible creatures simply none as Shikabane. These monsters can't be killed by any human as they are already dead but that doesn't mean they can't be killed at all. You have these other group of Shikabane called, Shikabane Hime. They're different then the other Shikabane because they died but somehow kept their humanity. So you have the Shikabane Hime fighting off the corrupt dead from harming the world of the living. Now while this set up is really cool and open to a lot of possibilities for a really harsh and deeply character driven story it doesn't really do that. You do have character stories but they're side plots, the main plot here is pretty much just a former good guy is now evil so we must stop him. There's nothing wrong with that but personally it feels a little to simple for a concept with such a heavy emotional potential here. There's an episode that shows a Shikabane that was a mother that died in child birth, that's a great set up for some deep story telling and possible character development. To bad none of that happens. They reveal the Shikabane and then they just kill it off like it was nothing, then in the next episode they face a completely new Shikabane. That just seems like a huge missed opportunity for something that could have been really, really heavy and dramatic. But instead it was just a cool fight scene. That's it. But even then it was still enjoyable and fun to watch so it's not that bad.

Animation:

Animation in this show is top notch which is a little surprising to me. Why? Because this was done by Gainax. You know, the studio that completely blew their budget on Evangelion and then made the last two episodes with sketches and recycled animation. Okay I'm joking, but in all seriousness that anime moves very smoothly and looks very nice. Though I will say that sometimes it looks like they leave details out of the big fight scenes for characters so that animating said scenes are easier to do. I'm not the biggest fan of this style of animating I will not lie ans say that the action scenes weren't cool to see. They were in fact very fun to watch. So I really like the animation in this show and it was one of the biggest highlights in the show overall.

Music:

The second biggest highlight here though would have to be the music. The music in the show is just badass and insanely enjoyable to listen to and it set the mood incredibly well. The music was slow, creepy, and thrilling when the scene needed it to be and it was done so well. Then when an action-packed and crazy scene would start up the music would kick up into high gear and have a hard hitting background track to get your blood pumping. The music is just the right amount of awesome to get any fan of action or suspense ready and glued to their screen to see what'll happen next.

Characters:

Now this is kind of a mix bag for me. The characters aren't really bad at all in this show, hell a lot of them are really cool or fun characters to watch. But with that being said they just kind of fit in the little spot that they're signed to and don't really move forward from said spot until it's important to the plot. A good example would be with the main character of Ouri. He is shown as a kind hearted person who just wants to keep the people he loves safe. That's about all he really does in the show and nothing else until a big plot point happens. Then Ouri is given a bigger role and is made to be a lot more important to the plot. They even heavily imply a major personal feeling he has for one of the other characters. Now with all of this you'd think that he would have a big character change right? Well no, he doesn't. He just has a more active role in the plot but a side from that he pretty much stays the same. They also go pretty much nowhere with his feelings for that character. It's almost like they stay the same and don't really move on which isn't really horrible. Because they still are enjoyable characters that you like to watch they just feel like characters not people.

Nitpicks:

Okay I have two major nitpicks here. The first is with the main character Makina, she is the main shikabane hime that we follow. She's presented as an dual Uzi welding badass that no one can take on. Oh wait yes they do because she gets her ass kicked all of the time. I know you wanna try humanizing the character so that we can relate to them but it to a point when it looked like she was just fucking incompetent. She just gets her ass handed to her. I know she can't die so it's all cool but come. Shiki could kick this girl's ass and she's not even dead! Also my second nitpick is the lack of anyone explaining anything. Now by that I don't mean that the show is vague about it's plot or anything like that, they actually explain it to you, but they explain it to you and not the main fucking character! No one just talks like a normal human being instead everyone wants to tell only half truths and make assumptions. But they don't need to do that because we as the audience already know what's going on so it's frustrating as all hell to watch these assholes run around like fucking headless chickens! Just explain something damnit!

Overall:

To wrap up this review I guess I'll say that this isn't a bad show. It's not the best show ever but it does have some good things in here that people can enjoy. Like I said before I like the show, I had fun with it but it won't leave a lasting impression on me. It's just an okay show that some may like. I recommend it but only a not highly. Just if you're looking for something fun to kill some time.

Arcane Reviews gives Corpse Princess a 7 out of 10.

You can watch"Corpse Princess" on:

Funimation (Sub and Dub)

Hulu (Sub and Dub)