PUPPET PRINCESS

Reviewed by Eric Reinhart
January 29, 2002

"When the princess makes the puppets dance, bodies will fly like broken toys."

I just watched "Puppet Princess" on DVD for a second time. What a hodge-podge of stuff! I can't see myself watching it again. This anime has everything going for it... funny that it's not good.

The art is very nice. The leading lady is cute with large eyes, shapely shape (!), and a beautiful costume with flowing fabrics.  Her ninja-protector is very buff... with all of the characteristic anime stylings: great hair, amazing eye-brows flapping out over wild eyes, lots of angles to his face, his physique, and his motions. The designers intended "Puppet Princess" to look like classic high-style anime... and it does.  It looks terrific!


"A ninja with a bloody past and a princess with a bloody future."


As the story opens, there is a bit of comedy, right off the bat. We see the lady for the first time. She is walking along a dirt path carrying a huge, 7-foot tall oblong wicker basket on her back... and we watch as she breaks her stride and almost falls on her face to avoid stepping on a pretty little flower growing in the middle of the path. (Mild chuckle.) She continues on and meets up with the ninja fellow whom she persuades to join her on her quest in exchange for all of the money she has... which isn't much. After making her deal with the ninja, our lady heads off to the near-by waterfall to "cleanse herself" before the next day's adventures. We see her naked in the lake. We see the ninja leaping at her to "have his way" with her... but she is too stupid to know what he wants. "I'll try my best to do whatever it is you want." Questioning smile... (Give me a break!). She turns so that we all can see the terrible scar on her naked back (and back-side).  "I hope I'm not too ugly." (Pulll-eassse!) She proceeds, while standing there naked, posing in different positions, to tell us the story of how her father became obsessed with creating puppets (robots) that needed a special material... the living skins off of the backs of young children. Her father had stripped-off her skin when she was only five years old! (Oh... That is one cruel Daddy!) And now, her only wish is to locate and destroy that one clock-work puppet that still wears her hide! The ninja is so turned off by her story that he can only walk away... leaving the lady to call after him... asking him what he had wanted, before. "Never mind, now"... and how!
The scene shifts to gross pictures of warriors stripping the flesh of off peasant children while their mothers weep and the flames leap higher.
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Such a mix of stuff... smiles, cruelty, cuteness, blood, plenty of naked-lady scenes (without much detail), a horny ninja bastard (who is actually a well known magician, in disguise)... all in a stupid story.
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I haven't mentioned the fight scenes. They are actually pretty good. The highlight of the film, for me, was watching the little lady operating her puppets in combat with the evil king's forces. Were I to view this anime again, I would fast-forward to the scenes where we see her using her hands and feet to grasp the strings of her warrior marionettes. She throws herself into it, completely. Teeth grit, eyes go wild, fabric flails, and arms, legs, fingers and toes wriggle madly as she drives her mechanical warriors to victory! Truly fun to watch!... but that's it, though. When it was all over, I felt kind of cheated... so why did someone waste my time by writing and producing that script? Where did that flesh-stripping idea come from? Such a film... empty fluff is what it turned out to be.
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I rented my copy of "Puppet Princess"... glad I did. I have seen it for sale for $19.95. The DVD had language options of Japanese or English... either language, with or without subtitles. It's kind of fun to play the English-language version and run the English subtitles. As you read and listen, you can see how the English script is altered, somewhat, from the original dialog. You may hear, "Hey, wait a minute, damn it" and see the subtitle, "Come back here!"  The DVD also had "Out-takes". I couldn't imagine how a cartoon (sorry... ANIME) could have out-takes. It turns out that they were bloopers from the English dubbing sessions... mostly English-speaking actors stumbling through the pronunciation of Japanese proper names... amusing.

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Let me know what you think! E-Mail Eric@ReinhartGraphics.com

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