First Impressions / Ginga Kikoutai Majestic Prince

「小惑星基地潜入作戦」 (Shōwakusei kichi sennyū sakusen )
“Operation: Infiltrate a Planetoid Base”

After the high intensity of the first four episodes, this was supposed the breather week for Majestic Prince – clearly, that did not happen! The introduction of Team Doberman – Randy Maxwell (Katsu Anri), Patrick Hoyle (Murase Ayumu), Rakesh Chandrasekhara (Fujiwara Yuuki) – continues the positive trend and their presence helped established the characterization of the Zannen 5 who has, without doubt, grown on me in a big way. Izuru and Kei – a personal favorite of mine, remained the obvious stand out, but Ataru is the character who made his mark in this episode. His goofball persona isn’t a false guise, but as we learned this week, there’s more to the pilot of Gold 4 than meets the eyes. We were told two episodes ago he has exceptional memory in selected areas and evidently, such competence was applied in the area of electronic gadgetry – not just guns and rifles, he was proficient enough to fix a bomb that was damaged during their mission. While Izuru is the bold and forceful one, Ataru is comparatively more reserved and insecure, but that doesn’t mean he’s a pushover – in fact, he’s most certainly capable of pulling it together when the time calls for it and his role was vital to the success of Operation MacLean this week.

Speaking of Operation MacLean, the supposedly straightforward mission turned out to be a highly suspenseful thrill ride from start to finish – one where we feared for the lives of our protagonists at every moment. The topic of teamwork was clearly an integral part of this episode, and while Izuru’s raw skills in the battlefield is beyond doubt, it’s undeniable he tries to take on too much of the heavy-lifting himself. As Randy aptly pointed out, you can’t keep a team together if you don’t believe in your man – that’s an advice that Izuru has taken to heart, and by delegating the tasks at hand, he has not only grown as a character, but also succeeded at unleashing Team Rabbit’s true potential in a crucial battle. As usual, the fast-paced action scenes were amazing to look at and we got a glimpse of some new mecha capabilities that wasn’t made apparent in the previous episodes, chief of all is the weaponry and force shield system of Kei’s Control Unit. I don’t think there’s any doubt the state-of-the-art CGI has served the many choreographed battles in Majestic Prince admirably and it strikes me as even more impressive that the animation quality has shown no sign of deterioration after four action-packed episodes.

Naturally, I am suspicious of what were the aliens up to at such a secluded base and it’s not just that one point – the entire notion of the Wulgaru remains riddled with questions and I suspect there’s a story of conspiracies brewing in the backdrop. Where things go from here is anyone’s guess, but it seems like Team Doberman will have a larger role to play in the story than previously assumed. Courtesy of Randy’s well-intentioned mischief, the Zannen 5 had their first experience in porn-viewing and no question, it was full of hilarious moments – the childlike Tamaki mistook it for wrestling and Kei was so furious that she gave Randy the “death glare”! Despite his womanizing demeanor, Ataru was so perplexed by the video that he fled the room almost immediately and to my surprise, it was Izuru and Toshikazu who ended up watching the video all night. That’s a side of the characters that I would love to see more of and judging from the sheer hilarity that Team Doberman brought to this episode, their addition to cast can only be good news and I eagerly await the next shenanigan that Randy pulls on all of them!

Random tidbits:

  • It appears that Rin Rin has the face of a porn star. Let’s throw in Reika and have a full-on yuri skit!
  • Who’s this mysterious girl?
  • The tentacle-like feature of the Gunner Unit is pretty handy.
  • Team Rabbit will be graduating from the academy next week. Things are certainly moving quickly!

tl;dr: @SeishunRC – #MajesticPrince 05: Team Rabbit’s accomplishment: Watch porn and blow up an enemy base, all in the same week! #Anime

Full-length images: 02, 03, 05, 06, 08, 09, 13, 15, 18, 24.

 

Preview

45 Comments

  1. 5 episodes in and I’m still unsure how I feel about this series, with one exception: it completely led me astray with all the Death Flags popping up around Team Doberman.

    1. Unusually skilled upperclassmen who actually turn out to be friendly people
    2. The talk about enjoying life while you can
    3. Staying behind against overwhelming numbers so the rookies can complete the mission

    I suppose raising the flags don’t always mean instant death, but with at least 3 in one episode, it was like every second they were alive went against all anime conventions.

    Rasen
    Reply

    2. I wonder if that video is the reason behind Randy asking for Rin-Rin’s address and number.

      Hoping that maybe she’s as *rawr* as the pornstar (if that really wasn’t a drunken Rin).

      Lurker
      Reply

  5. Surprised you didn’t mention how Izuru got the hardest slap of his life from Kei. Or the death glare she gave him when they talked about the video the next morning. Izuru needs a lesson in communication skills with women. Hope that lesson doesn’t come from Randy.

    zeroq01
    Reply

    1. Kei had many funny moments in this episode – can’t possibly mention all of them, but the “death glare” that she gave Randy is the one that had my laughing out loud :3

      Seishun
      Reply

  6. To me, this ep provides a detailed character analysis on Izuru. Izuru’s passion of heroism somewhat reminds me of Kotetsu (Tiger & Bunny), which makes Izuru a rather interesting character for me. However, it’s that unique characters traits that made me fail to see the flaws in Izuru (as pointed out by Randy) as a character. That being said, I still think that Izuru is a very interesting character of the series. If anything else, the flaws act as some sort of a balance to Izuru’s positive/remarkable traits. Yin and yang, if you will.

    Terrorhunt
    Reply

    1. Izuru in indeed a great character – he’s confident and incredibly perceptive for a kid his age, but one who is not annoyingly obnoxious. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as he takes on a more central role in a leadership position, and slowly but surely, he’s gaining the respects of his team members 😉

      Seishun
      Reply

  9. I like how you write about the same points that I noticed in this episode… except for your interest in seeing my Reika in yuri action ¬_¬.

    In upcoming episodes expect more development on Tamaki and Toshikazu.

    Another irony shown in this episode is like Tamaki, the younger but more grown physically, is also more interested in romantic relationships but has no idea of the maximum of a couple intimate act. The innocent Tamaki has many contradictions within its main features lol XD. But if you think more, this is not uncommon in a girl of 15 years, in addition to being a student at the military academy with no memory of his past.

    Shadow74
    Reply

    1. Not a fan of Yuri? I think I have made it very clear that I’m shipping those two very hard, Reika x Rin Rin <3
      Tamaki is all about romance – candlelight dinner, catching a movie, hugging and maybe lip locking. Sex is the least of her concerns 😛

      Seishun
      Reply

  10. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like gargantia and majestic prince are looking at different sides of the same coin. In gargantia, it’s all about ledo regaining his humanity, while here, it’s more of the zannen 5 trying to hold on to their humanitu (especially when a lot of the higher ups consider them as simply disposable weapons). Team doberman’s hilarious antics reminded the zannen 5 that they are no different and that they are still normal teens (really love that porn viewing incident).

    And looks like randy is going to be one of the first casualties in the series. He acts as the mentor to izuru (think roy fokker in macross).

    flamerounin
    Reply

    1. LOL Not a good sign when he’s giving out the Roy Focker vibes!
      Good point and that’s a good comparison. It’ll be interesting to see how the Zannen 5 cope with actual military life after they graduate from the academy and I’m sure the struggles with their identity crisis will resurface sooner or later.

      Seishun
      Reply

    2. What are you talking about? Sex education is important 😛
      To be fair, Randy does have some real wisdom, both in leadership and piloting, to share, but that’s obviously not the highlight of this episode XD

      Seishun
      Reply

      1. This is just my speculation, but I think the white haired girl Show Spoiler ▼

        Nevertheless, I’m surprised how entertaining this show turned out to be.

        lo_ol
        Reply

      1. Maybe, but I don’t think so, that girl seems more like “patron” type character to me. The Lacus Clyne/Marina Ismail/Relena Peacecraft type. The rich girl whose family plays a major role in the human/mecha experimentation surrounding the MJP project and probably had a role in the creation of our super-soldier main cast- and she probably knows Izuru from before his memory wipe, childhood friend or something. The other girl that you referred to as “mysterious” fits the bill better for a “white ranger” character- she’s the military type and foes to the same school- probably another MJP project creation, either that or she’s some kind of spy…

        Zen
        Reply

  13. Oh, this show keeps getting better! Fast-pace action and constant development of characters…

    Also 10/10 accidental showing of porn. Things like this are good from time to time, but I still wish this show would take itself a bit more seriously.

    The Moondoggie
    Reply

    1. i think this series is already taking itself seriously, what with the zannen 5’s rather depressing backstory and how the military treats them as weapons. maybe not just in the angsty manner that other mecha anime use. the humor actually drives the serious parts in more in this case.

      flamerounin
      Reply

    2. I like the mix of serious action and comedic moments. You gotta remember that Majestic Prince is two cour so the show has plenty of time to flesh out the characters :3

      Seishun
      Reply

  15. I don’t suppose mentioning ‘Death Flag’ right now after so many comments about it warrants a bashing now, does it? :p

    The funny, rather silly and brotherly aura Randy gives might confirm my fears, but from the current episode it’s pretty obvious the three aren’t your typical aloof, cold or problematic ace pilot types. They might be even bigger ‘idiots’ than the Zannen Five before becoming senpais themselves.

    The typical episode of Majestic Prince to me consists of humor with action and that touch of seriousness in it, which this one has. What really impacted me was the H2H talk between Izuru and Randy. You realise that the latter isn’t just a random goofball and does have wisdom to share (aside from his love for porn and trolling).

    It’s also pretty refreshing to see Zannen Five succeeding with the odds against them again, especially so when they are obviously still questioning their identity and ability in dealing with the things thrown their way (like it or not, they are teenagers and can get affected by rumors and useless online commentary)

    Loved the humor, and does that slap mean potential sparks for a IzuruxKei relationship? Time will tell, I guess.

    Owaranai
    Reply

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