This week's review is on Princess Minerva, a 1995 short film OVA (similar in length to Plastic Little). It was done by Toho/RED/Group TAC, then licensed/distributed by ADV Films in 1998. It is a pure sword and sorcery fantasy adventure story, which is one of my favorite genres in Anime. So, it is good or is it just ridiculous? Lets find out.
The plot of Princess Minerva is as follows. From the back of the DVD case cover,
"Minerva is a pent-up princess who yearns for the action and adventure of a hero's life (So its a Disney ripoff?). So , she enters the local gladiator's competition (in a paperthin disguise)as the ultimate idol-singer-martial-artist with an alias only les slightly less transparent than her disguise (her alias is Cutie Kamen lol). However, when her father finds out and her governess (and best friend) is kidnapped, Minerva must reveal the true strength of her heart. Riding to the rescue with an amazon horde, the princess must level mountains with ancient magic (she doesn't do that at all lol) to overcome a vengeful sorceress and save her dearest friend!"
Yeah, the back of the cover provides more info on the short film than I could recount, and I watched this 3 days ago lolz. Although, it is slightly inaccurate as I've shown above. Well, this OVA/short film has some good things going for it. For one, the animation is fairly decent, though since this came out in 1995 it is a tad aged. Also, ADV Films provided a decent cast for the dub, including Jessica Calvello, Laura Chapman, Tiffany Grant, etc. and they all turn in decent performances, even sporting some rather funny one-liners.
However, there are more negatives about this. For one thing, unlike Plastic Little, the length works against the plot, as elements seem rushed/incomplete. Also, characters are as 2D as the paper that they were made on. Most of the time, they are essentially fantasy stereotypes (princess, cleric, warrior, merchant, etc.) and it seems a total waste of potential. Also, the villains leave much to be desired, as their motivation for their actions is never explained. Then again, with a short runtime, such a thing would be impossible. Finally, they tried and fail at sequel-baiting (watch it, you'll see). Of course, this is only product associated with this title.
Final Score is 5.5/10. It is barely passable, but the many faults with it prevent it from getting a higher score. Its a title which is so bad that its good, in a way. It being less than a hour in length, makes it something one could watch quite easily, but only once in a while. I enjoy it, but in the sense that it is rather uneven all things considered.
Next Week's review will be posted next Sunday.
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