First Impressions / Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

OP Sequence

OP: 「私は想像する」 (Watashi wa Souzousuru) by 昆夏美 (Kon Natsumi)

「ヒーロー誕生」 (Hīrō tanjō)
“Heroes are Born”

There’s definitely nothing else quite like Majestic Prince. This is an old-school space opera through and through, filled with compassion and intelligence. It’s a real shame MJP doesn’t seem to have found a broader appeal among the English-speaking audiences, but irrespective of how you feel about the series, the show delivered yet another knockout in its second week. No doubt, there exist some controversies among the viewers as to whether the character designs by Hirai Hisashi and the widespread usage of CGI will prove to be a wise choice. But setting aside the pre-determined rooting interests, I find the harsh criticism that was directed at MJP mostly unfounded. The attraction of its aesthetic designs is simply a matter of personal preference and when the matter concerns an opinion as subjective as that, there’s no inherently “right” or “wrong” answer. All I can say is, I am comfortable with my own judgment and Majestic Prince is truly a real treat if you’re as big a fan of old-school mecha as I am.

The list of the things I love about Majestic Prince is long and there are definite strengths that make it stands out from the rest. It was clear from the very first episode that the heart and soul of this series are its extensive range of mecha and in terms of pure artistic designs, I would rank the selections in Majestic Prince even higher than those we’ve seen in Suisei no Gargantia and Kakumeiki Valvrave. The keen attention to detail displayed here is genuinely impressive – not in the animation but in the intellection behind the minor aspects of its design templates. Specifically, the DNA-embedded JURIA-system is an interesting concept that fascinates me greatly, even as its exact nature remains vague. The fight-or-flight component of the system relies heavily on the pilot’s survival instinct to control the AHSMB units and to that extent, it partially explains the sudden advancement of Team Rabbit’s combat performance during the premiere. This is the second time Majestic Prince has surprised me with its ability to present such weighty information dump in a format that is easily comprehensible and without a doubt, that’s a testament to the spectacular work of director Motonaga Keitarou and writer Yoshida Reiko.

For two episodes in a row, Majestic Prince has shown it doesn’t take itself nearly as seriously as its mecha stable-mate from this season. The lighthearted storytelling is especially apparent in this episode – not only did the Zannen 5 became instant celebrities overnight, but the AHSMB units are now also branded with outlandish corporate sponsorship logos, that is reminiscent of Tiger & Bunny. Fundamentally, the show boils down to its five main characters – Izuru, Toshikazu, Tamaki, Kei, Ataru – and no question, I’m very interested to see how Team Rabbit adapt to such drastic changes in their personal lives. Each of them has their unique quirks, but by and large they’re good people that I genuinely care about. Izuru and Kei in particular stand out as the somewhat dopey leader and the cool-headed strategist of the team. What comes next for the Zannen 5 is hard to tell but being a two-cour series, the creators has the time and opportunity to slowly roll out the exposition in a seamless manner. I expect the world-building to continue in the similar grand fashion and hopefully, we’ll be fortunate enough to learn more about the silver-hair maiden (Itou Shizuka), who was briefly introduced this week.

Full-length images: 01, 02, 04, 05, 09, 12, 13, 14, 15, 18, 20, 21, 34, 35, OP, ED.

 

ED1.01 Sequence

ED: 「サヨナラっていう」 (Sayonara tte iu) by 石川智晶 (Ishikawa Chiaki)

Preview

62 Comments

  1. Lol, what? Corporate sponsorship superhero-esque mecha? And I thought I’d seen everything…reminds of that movie ideas Southpark episode Awesom-O…not that it’s a bad thing, the most random of ideas can lead to great developments…let’s see if the production team can turn this crazy concept into something interesting…XP

    Zen
    Reply

      1. Yeah I’ve seen it and it was an awesome show, I do agree. Throwing the whole corporate sponsorship idea together with futuristic mecha however just seems pretty random to me- for superheros its not unheard of- for mecha it’s new and random in a potentially gimmicky sort of way- I really hope that they’ll be able to make something special out of this…

        Zen
        Reply

  2. I for one am quite enjoying this series so far. The Mecha designs are good, the characters quirky, distinct, and realistic (so far), and the pacing and humor are excellent. The only thing I’d like more of is some exposition on the state of the world and the aliens. The art style is unusual, but I don’t mind it (and am rather amused by that one guy’s gigantic nose). There are already several sub plots in motion (the MJP making space-humans and the alien hierarchy) and I’m looking forward to how this develops.

    Hochmeister
    Reply

  4. I like how things are shaping up. I kinda get the feeling that development in this series will be somewhat along
    the lines of how Mouretsu Space Pirates worked out; different story I know, but just the overall feel of its pacing.

    I get a sense that none of our 5 are/will be in any mortal danger in this series. Having said that, I don’t know if this
    is going the “teamwork” route (Sky Girls or the more recent and fabulous Vividred Operation, probably with
    less kissing (I hope)), or each will get their turn in the spotlight. And like Mouretsu Space Pirates, they seem
    to be under adult supervision.

    A question I have is that while these are students, I wonder if we’ll see some of the regulars in future episodes…

    mac65
    Reply

    1. The comparison with Mouretsu Pirates is an interesting one. The storytelling are pretty laid-back for the both of them and Majestic Prince seems to rely on combat strategies in its action scenes pretty often as well. I highly doubt we’ll see any “yuri” action in MJP, that’s solely Vividred’s forte 😛

      Seishun
      Reply

    1. Fabulous taste there my good sir!

      OP goes on sale 4/17, and the composer is Ishikawa Chiaki (who sang the ED to MJP and helped compose any others, which I’m sure you can find easily on wiki). Until full version comes out, there’s always this http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm20584917 (use nicoviewer if you have no nico account).

      In terms of “addictiveness” and lyrics, this song is definitely on par with the Nana x TM combo. Too bad this show gets completely overshadowed.

      Kunagisa
      Reply

  10. I love MJP, but I prefer the mecha direction and the character cast in Valvrave so far, despite this being very polished. Also, I guess I just don’t like the bad guys being alien humanoids using weird looking units (that could be because of Gundam AGE).
    Whoever says this is just boring and unoriginal probably has problems with mecha anime in general. I’ll agree the humor can feel forced, but can’t you say that for every possible fiction that exists?

    Chirisazame
    Reply

  12. Hmmm, I don’t know about that doesn’t appeal to English-speaking audience statement. My first language isn’t English and I’m Asian (Chinese specifically) yet I still don’t find it appealing as well.

    Before people thumbs me down, this is purely my opinion. It seems you guys love the show for its characters and their quirks? As for me, those are the exact things which drove me away from this show. I love Kei though, out of all characters in this anime, I find her the best. She is calm, assess the situation properly and is the most mature. The other 4 are like 3 year old kids.

    This episode clearly outlined how I felt towards them. The response to their pathetic behavior on NicoNico in the anime was exactly how I responded. I facepalmed when Toshikazu got a stomachache just from the interviews and Izuru being a blatant dumb hero kid. I’m sure this might piss off lots of fans, but I really dislike that kind of delusional characters. Especially how they were frozen in fear when the Wulgaru attacked made them even more pathetic.

    Now I know that overpowered main casts are not fun as well, I don’t like underpowered main casts. I prefer a balance, but then again these flaws in their characters are basically calling for “character growth” throughout the anime, so I’ll stick around and see. Hopefully Izuru will learn quite well and stop being a delusional kid.

    This show is realistic in some parts and unrealistic in some parts too. Simon actually don’t believe they will survive and probably chose them to fight just because he wanted them gone as implied in this episode. His lack of faith in the team and the response of the general public towards the team’s uselessness and pathetic behavior on the battle field were definitely realistic as I feel exactly the same. So shameful. It really does this well, so I’ll say this is the good thing about this anime.

    However it’s unrealistic in terms of battles and the situations. They would actually have been long dead had this been real life. It was shown clearly in this episode how immature and incompetent they are which I hope they grows out of into magnificent characters with more strengths and weaknesses by the end. Also, why aren’t they preparing for war? Wasting time on interviews instead. They’re not taking war seriously and the mood of war was just not there. There was no sense of urgency and fear.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    The anime is a treat in its way and it really depends on the person whether they like it or not. You either get into it or you don’t at all. I will definitely stick around and see how will it end up 🙂

    Lol there are more people hating on Valvrave for unoriginality than Majestic Prince =.=
    Angry emo kid who hates the world kicking ass vs a team of immature kids who doesn’t know how to fight properly
    Not sure which one is better, but I’m still gonna watch all three including Gargantia anyway haha

    Now I’m going to wait for Shingeki no Kyoujin: I’ve read the manga and can’t wait for the haters to shut up if episode 2 maintains the same quality as episode 1. This season is so great, I’m loving these~

    MJP
    Reply

    1. The incompetents here were not them, but their superiors. They were sent to a warzone totally unprotected and they had a lot of luck the enemy was a snob (that’s his quirk :P). About the interviews and their reactions, they were not trained for that and they are just obeying orders there. They are kids from a pre-military academy and they act like kids. It’s always better than seeing them breakdown cause of psychological issues. I loved seeing their reactions when everybody was cheering them there.

      For me the unrealistic part is not them, but their superiors. They nearly had three of their specially raised kids killed in action cause of their lack of planification and nobody was fired there. Imagine having to salvage the cutting edge machines worth millions cause the pilot whose dna matched was killed because of careless exposition to enemy fire. Completely irresponsible those higher ups.

      Ebisu
      Reply

    2. I didn’t want to to use the general statement “Anime Community” to refer to everyone because I can’t say for certain how anime viewers in Japan (or other places) feel about MJP. Feedbacks from RandomC and other English anime blogs were pretty lackluster, and that was what I was referring to in that sentence. Please don’t take it the wrong way.
      Personally, I don’t subscribe to this whole realistic vs unrealistic debate in anime or fiction in general. All it matters to me is whether the show is entertaining and MJP certainly succeeded on that front.

      Seishun
      Reply

  13. So Team Rabbits gets ads just like Tiger & Bunny, interesting rabbit references. Anyway, it isn’t my favorite this season, but I like it enough to stick with it. I find Toshikazu, Tamaki, and Ataru to be much less interesting than Izuru and Kei (more so Izuru, he seems). I also feel like these characters are younger than usual, maybe like 12-14? Not really sure why.

    UnknownVoid
    Reply

  14. i actually prefer this to valvrave by far precicely because as you say it doesn’t take itself too seriously, I wouldn’t compare gargantia to either of the two shows because it is very different and the comparison doesn’t work.

    soni
    Reply

  15. I liked how they showed the realtime online response to the press conference. Sci Fi Books often have interwebs and such involved, but its often left out of mecha anime in favor of TV News, which I always found bizarre.

    Some of the humor was actually funny this episode, which is progress. The response to “I’m taking applications” was probably the high note for me.

    I’m not sure how I feel about the Lacus clone yet. If they make her comic relief, they could do all sorts of amusing things with it, but they seem to be going for mysterious/serious so far with her.

    Drunk mechanic chief + Rin Rin? I suppose some hilarity could ensue from that ..

    FarHorizon
    Reply

  16. After blowing through the two episodes, I definitely see where you come from with the old-school angle Seishun. Really great points raised on that front.

    But strangely enough, the show I’m finding MJP most similar to isn’t the old mechas but Gatekeepers, another modern-day legacy throwback to a glory era where stories were simpler, where characters were super-idealized and themes painted in broad strokes. Where the romanticism of a tale reigned supreme, and that’s the direction I see MJP going in. There’s a definite charm to the way things are being done here. But at the same time I can’t help but find MJP being somewhat out of place in the current anime landscape, and it doesn’t help that the directing isn’t nearly as sharp as I would’ve liked it to be, unlike Gatekeepers. Can’t say I’m feeling as good about the show as you are, but at the very least it’ll be interesting to see where MJP ends up.

    Asobi
    Reply

    1. It’s probably closer to Vandread, another one of Gonzo’s classic that features mecha and a setting in space 😉
      I love Gate Keepers, even Gatekeepers 21 that everyone hated, but I don’t think it’s directing is particularly impressive and it’s probably not a viable comparison for MJP.
      It’s still too early to say how MJP will stack up against other mecha flicks, but I do like what I’ve seen so far and I hope you’ll give it a chance too.

      Seishun
      Reply

  17. MJP is underrated because lol Sunrise and lol Gen Urobuchi, nothing else. If the people would stop one second and compare the three of them, they might notice that MJP is the better one. It didn’t need to take himself so serious to be effective. Is the less hyped of the three /m/ series this season and the “Hirai-same-face” excuse is not valid anymore since Heroic Age make those idiots swallow some humble pie.
    Shizuka Itou using her best voice module to mimic Rie-Rie’s Lacus Clyne from GS/GSD left me perplexed. God, she’s good! The fact that the mechs are “wearing” exoskeletons is a nice touch, and yes, this feels like an old school space opera (centered in a particular squadron, something that is not very common), but is the right dose of it. Another good thing: a likable cast, something amiss in this kind of series as of lately.
    More than anything, the 2 continued-cour format will give the series the change to grow, both in script and character-wise, while Gargantia will have to compress itself in 12/13 and Valvrae will have a Code Geass-esque cliffhanger and half a year waiting for it’s sequel (which will turn into Geass S2 ver 2.0 or another BS like Gundam 00 or AGE)

    SeedStriker
    Reply

    1. +50 Seishun Points
      The unfair comparisons has really hammered MJP’s reputation. It’s a entertaining show if viewers just see it as what it is, a light-hearted old-school mecha.
      Indeed, the exso-skeletons are a nice touch, something that wasn’t made clear in the premier. You don’t see attention to details like that in mecha any more, which makes me appreciate MJP even more.

      Seishun
      Reply

  18. Seishun not worry I am with you.
    This anime is great and I like the character design, it’s a shame that not valued as it should. Is it just for the little bit of fanservice, pantyshots, bishonens and a stylish design that is in abundance in other animes?

    I already want to see next week, this gets really good anime. I hope XD

    Shadow74
    Reply

  19. Personally I like this show for the exact reasons some people dislike it – it’s shallow,unrealistic,ridiculous with no sense of gravity and the characters are naive and silly, basically there’s nothing here to be taken seriously which is actually the reason I find shows like this enjoyable, you just turn off your brain and enjoy the ride.I think every anime season should have one or two shows like this(doesn’t necessarily have to be mecha).

    anon
    Reply

  20. In my own opinion, I feel that the character designs were okay, but I think the episode wasn’t really a knockout. We see that the Juria system is what makes the foundation of the robots, but using these adolescents as the pilots is a risky plan since they are still in control of emotions, but it is interesting to see how these characters will play out their role.(Especially the main character,his friends’ treatment on his heroic personality is amusing)
    I’m curious to see how the show will play out since we are just getting to know the plot, though Gargantia and Valvrave are tough contenders.

    Dualash
    Reply

  21. The old-school assessment of the show is spot-on. The show is quite idealistic and the protagonists are more in-line with superheroes with idealistic tones and goofy group dynamics. It’s sad that not many can enjoy this kind of entertainment anymore but that’s the trend nowadays. Not many want a Superman anymore, they all want a Batman is all I’m saying.

    That being said I found this episode weaker than the last one. Only the press conference got a chuckle out of me and the whole satellite scenes dragged a bit. I did enjoy the characterizations of Izuru’s maintenance crew though, especially the *cough* well-endowed head mechanic. Really, the cast’s individual crew members are the most interesting part of the show for me.

    fragb85
    Reply

  24. I like the show (but I’m not technically an english speaker :P). I like the art too, the depth of those character designs give it a realistic touch (except maybe the noses sometimes). The chapter was well linked with the previous one too. Let’s see how it develops.

    Ebisu
    Reply

  25. EHHHHHHHHH, still undecided about this. At first it was an outright no to my prospects of it…then I keep hearing a surge of legitimate hype behind it and it seems like I could enjoy it. Then I hear it’s 2-cour on top of that? Jesus….maybe I should just take a chance on this one. It’d be my 17th anime on top of my stuff though….T__T

    B-Dawk20
    Reply

  26. So I finally got around to watching this and… I’m torn.

    On the one hand, this show is currently simply painful to watch. The characters act like caricatures of idiot youth, the dialogue is often outright painful to listen to, the pseudo-science being thrown around regarding the JURIA system makes me cringe, and the pacing in these two episodes hasn’t been great.

    On the other hand, the mecha action and soundtrack are good, there’s a distinct disconnect between the tone of the OP/ED and the tone of the show to this point, and there are enough hints sprinkled into the narrative of a possible more serious turn to the show later on.

    …mm. I think I’ll check back every now and then.

    Corin
    Reply

  27. So is this intended to be a comedic parody of sci-fi and mecha? It’s all cliché to the maximum, and nothing makes realistic sense. The characters are in a war and are part of Earth’s military, yet they act nothing like soldiers, or even realistic human beings.

    I could understand and perhaps enjoy this series if it ‘didn’t take itself seriously’ and used satire to poke fun at the genre, but it doesn’t even manage that—the humor is juvenile at best and incomprehensible and out of place at worst.

    To me, this series feels like 100% mecha fetish and shounen wish-fulfillment. I can enjoy series like Gundam, that have these elements, but one that is literally about nothing else?

    Horrible!

    Yenzal
    Reply

  28. Loving this.

    So THAT was the feeling I got there – old-school. There were times in the episode where I just laughed out loud, especially the one where there were companies wanting their names to be painted on the mechs – and without asking for the pilots’ permission at that! Silly, silly moments galore, but for some reason I rather enjoy it and be happy then criticise it and sulk. Why watch something if you don’t even enjoy it, or at least some aspect of it?

    I’m also wondering if the side characters will ever come out of the shadow, though it’s not likely, considering we have five main characters here. Certainly, in the more serious elements Majestic Prince is still rather lacking, and it spells worry for plot.

    Either way though, the jury’s still out.

    Owaranai
    Reply

    1. I don’t think MJP is lacking in the more serious department. They have shed some lights on the politics that is going on behind the scene with the introduction of Lt. Amane this week. The action sequences were very well executed as well, complete with proper strategical analysis by Kei. Being a two-cour series, MJP can take its time to explore the many themes that it has put forward. Viewers like us ought to be a little more patient 😉

      Seishun
      Reply

  31. I found it interesting how the AHSMB units could take off their armor and then have it sent out to them. It will be funny if Hitachi ends up having a crush on the crew boss, which considering how he was blushing when he first met her, could happen :p

    agr0n
    Reply

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