Elf Princess Rane

[Rift120]

*Wince* Okay I really wanted to like this anime DVD, truly I did.

It had some good ideas. Execution on the other hand.... rather poor, in fact I can't even be bothered remembering the characters' names.

The miniature elf princess and the humans speaking different languages neither understanding the other could be the basis for a nice series, and to be fair the anime did handle it fairly well.

The idea of one of the characters saying something, then cutting back to what the other character HEARS was amusing, especially with some of the random words they put into what the other character is hearing.

The idea that they were fulfilling a long ago prophesy, but doing it through the unwitting help of a company trying to create a citywide amusement park? Complete with 'rides' based off of mythological beings which fit into above mentioned prophecy?

That is a pretty good concept, sort of like an unwitting parallel to the first episode of Gargoyles (You know where Xanatos moved the castle onto a skyscraper in order to break the curse on the gargoyles)

Then we get to the actual anime and characters and it all falls apart.

First we have the lead who is a 'adventurer' seeking Indiana Jones type treasure in the city... needless to say he's not exactly the brightest page n the book. Oh yeah, he's hyper and yells a lot, too.

And has one of the most irritating voice actors I have come across... I switched it to dub to get away form the voice actor, only to cringe as the English voice actor was even worse!

He naturally has a best female friend who has a crush on him and is constantly put out at being left behind. Oh, and she's the incredibly rich daughter of some mega corporation. The character here is pretty much a stereotype of this clichéd 'best normal friend' scenario.  Nothing really good or interesting about her, but nothing bad either. And her voice actress doesn't make me want to bludgeon myself to make the hurting stop.

He also has older sisters who are sextuplets or perhaps more. I don't know. more keep showing up in each episode looking alike.  I suspect cloning is involved here.

Among them is the operations pilot of a fire department mecha (which looked fairly neat and shows up for a total of 5 minutes all together) and leader of the 'fire department special investigation commandos'  (*I guess the city doesn't HAVE a police department*), the 2nd in command of the secret theme park project, a shrine priestess in training, and some rock stars.

There is also the 'feng shui' guy who is secretly in love with the girl best friend of the hero.  And sporting one of the most ridiculous hairdos I have ever seen. Remember the AMV done to Van Halen's 'Right Now'? Remember the part that had the line "Right now is stupider than it seems" while the guy danced the funky chicken in a field of pink flowers?  That's the Feng Shui guy.

Oh, and they're right that scene IS stupider than it looks in the AMV.

Most irritating about this guy is he often talks in another language. So how do the brilliant people at Animeworks portray this? Simple, they just print in subtitles every word backwards ekil siht.

Oh, and just for fun, they'll insert random messages to each other, or promoting anime in the backwards messages. Cute the first time, but gets old really fast.

The end result? You'll be pausing your DVD every time this twit speaks just so you have a idea what he's saying, and even then you'll find out you wasted the effort of pushing the button because the message is completely irrelevant.

Look... alternate nonsense languages have been done before and better. Use a different font or something. The setup here is not only annoying but painful.

Especially when you consider how well they handled the different language barrier between Rane and the humans.

Which brings us to the elves, of which there are two, but describing them is a waste of time because they are pretty bland. You've got Rane, who is a ditzy optimistic blond stereotype, and you got the wizard one who is here to kill Rane.  That is if she can remember it.

Oh and each elf is about the size of a Barbie, which despite their powers of flight and magic, means they are pretty much manhandled by the larger humans. This at least is amusing, watching the humans drag, shake, and yell at the elves while they helplessly sway in the human's grip is somewhat amusing in a slapstick way, making such interactions the high point of the anime.

Oh, and finally there is the human butler, who rates a mention merely because he is almost quite literally the anime version of Lurch. (You can easily see him calling out 'YOU RANG' like Lurch did in the Addam's family).

Still it doesn't even matter because you don't give a crap about the characters, aside from hoping the hero comes down with laryngitis so you don't have to hear his voice actor any more. There is no character development and minimal background given.  Heck, even MOUSE's (which as I now agree with Dracos in saying is the complete opposite of character depth) characters are more fleshed out and interesting than these guys, and I mean that beyond their rather generous curves.

There is some fanservice, but its nothing to talk about unless you have a Barbie fetish or something.

Overall, a pretty bland series. It had some good concepts, but they were pretty much either ignored or thrown together carelessly negating their value.

I'd say it rent it, but overall a 1.5 out of 5.

[Dracos]

Why rent it if its so bad? =)

Anyhow, thanks for the warning, but try and slow down a bit when writing these Rifts.  It felt like it was a bit hyperactive reading it =)

Dracos

[Edward]

Okay, I spellchecked and proofread this.  Hopefully no one minds.  Thanks for posting the review.

[Edward]

Wow, I thought nobody didn't like Elf Princess Rane.  I though it was a blast - even though I owned it on VHS, I picked it up on DVD when I had a chance.  People I've shown it to have found Elf Princess Rane anywhere from mildly amusing to hilarious.

I did watch the dub, not the subtitled.  Unlike Rifty, I had no problem with any of the voice acting, not even for the character Go Takarata, who he found so annoying.  And the dub of the feng shui guy, Mr. Nishima's oddball speech wasn't anything lame like backwards lettered words - if you pay attention you'll hear references to fantasy artists, the Cthulhu mythos, and the Transformers.

For those just interested in the fanservice, there's more than just the pint-sized Rane and Leen her friend/would-be assassin with a memory like a sieve.  Large portions of the second episode take place in a hot springs bath, with Go's semi-girlfriend Mari Yumanakata and one of his sisters the most prominantly featured.

The mystical beings Rifts mentions are standard creatures from feng shui.  Since the designer of the various sites for the Yumanakata Corporation is an expert on feng shui, it's no surprise his designs use these creatures.

There is no real prophecy involving them.  The main character Go crams them (and bits of Japanese folklore and random events) into what he thinks is a prophecy, as his enthusiasm consistently triumphs over logic or what people were actually trying to say.

There is a prophecy from the elf world, one that Rane mentions a couple times.  Occasionally, Go even listens long enough to have some idea what Rane is actually saying.

And that's the deeper level behind the frenetic words and action (Elf Princess Rane frequently makes the first few episodes of Excel Saga look sedate).  If you shut up and really try to listen to what the other person is saying, you actually can understand them.

Not that there aren't times when paying no attention doesn't help the characters, like Rane cheerfully welcoming Leen, not realizing the other elf is repeatedly threatening to kill her.

The only thing I found disappointing about Elf Princess Rane was they only made two episodes.  I'd more than double the score Rifty gave it.

[DB]

I'm more in line with Edward here. This is mindless fun with no real plot or principle. In many ways it's a parody of a lot of the genres it touches on, a less decent version of Excel. EPR wasn't great, but it had some amusing moments. I'd probably give it a 5 out of 10.