Kaizoku Oujo

I was enjoying this anime quite a lot. It reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean and other similar Disney movies. Adventurous show with upbeat cast and hint of darkness laying underneath the plot. Closer we got towards the end it was becoming more and more clear that this show will crumble under its own weight. Storylines had to be dropped and characters were abandoned. Promise of an arc with Shitan or some sort of development for Fena were not fulfilled. Instead Shitan and rest of the crew ended up with only surface level characterisation no more important than Abel's generic soldiers. Nobody couldeven be bothered to mention the banishment from the island ever again. I guess they were just allowed to go back in and those concequences for their actions were non-existant. So we got all this wonderful character potiential out of the way....what replaced it in the climax of the story ? What replaced it was a philosophycal question as to whenever humanity deserves to keep on living. Are the sins which we are committing too much for our continuous existance ? Does the weight of love balance the weight of hatred ? Were all of those deaths caused by Fena's crew in order to protect her justified ? And if so does that mean that deaths which Abel caused were justified as well ? He did all of that out of love as well after all. The answer to all of those questions is.....I don't know. Neither does the story. We never get any anwers on the morality of our heroes. So no answers nor any conclusion to the stories of our characters. What was all of this for then ? This finale had little to no build up. It came, asked the question, did not bother to answer and left as quickly as it came. The main problem of Kaizoku Oujo is its lenght. It is way too short. I know Crunchyroll putted a lot of time and money into this show and that they tried quite a lot. Maybe they should have putted even more time and money into it. This show should have drastically change its own structure or have 24 episodes. Near the end characters talked about their journey as if it was much longer than it actually was. All of this is so strange considerig they spent ONE ENTIRE EPISODE near the climax just silently walking and building up the final reveal instead of developing characters....like....dude..... You don't have 24 episodes. Hurry it up.

This was certainly one of the best anime with a romance and adventure theme that I've ever had the opportunity to watch! At first I didn't care for anything, but as the work progressed I became very attached and enchanted by the characters, the two protagonists are sensational and even the antagonist had her perfect ending! The art is beautiful, that whole universe was beautiful, the mix of stories, stories, it had everything! The soundtrack was certainly one of the best I've ever heard and was one of the main reasons for me to burst into tears in those last two episodes, the dubbing was incredibleand fascinating, I don't have any negative points to mention, only positive ones! If you haven't watched it yet or are afraid to watch it, you might as well fall in love!! 1000000/10.

A promising pirate tale made laughable by contrived storytelling and convoluted fantasy elements. Fena: Pirate Princess is a somewhat misleading title. Fena is a princess, but not a pirate. There’s more emphasis on romance and drama than swashbuckling sword fights or buried treasure. Imagine if Princess Peach went on a globetrotting adventure—a damsel to constantly get kidnapped by one-dimensional villains and a MacGuffin to steer the plot. Except, Fena lacks the charm of your imagination. Her ditzy and energetic personality loses charm quickly; Especially because she’s intentionally annoying. A running gag is that she talks too much, which never becomes funny. The swaths of men whovie for her affection, or to simply spend a night with her, do so because she is irresistibly attractive (so we are told). She’s blond, blue-eyed, and very white—which characters repeatedly imply (and sometimes say outright) equals purity. Aside from being the perfect specimen of beauty, her personality is skin deep. She’s a blank slate ‘chosen one’ for the viewer to project onto. What she has been ‘chosen’ for is rather ambiguous. The so-called pirates, both good and evil, believe she possesses an intangible key. The key to a mysterious place called Eden. That name may make you wonder if Pirate Princess is a biblical metaphor. But the surprising direction the story goes will make you question if the writers have ever picked up a Bible. When Fena is held up by bandits, she prays for someone to save her, and a man shows up and saves her. Again, she begs to be saved, and she is. She isn’t capable of taking care of herself. Luckily, she is shrouded in plot armor. All she has to do is be a damsel in distress. Her only other usage is leading the way to Eden with magical contrived abilities. When her escorts are lost, she switches to an alter ego and knows exactly what to do. Dream sequences and flashbacks hint she has deeper motivations in suppressed memories, and the build-up is consistently intriguing. On the other hand, the pay-off to her character arc is a massive dud. Abel Bluefield is the anime’s central antagonist, who at the start, replaces the would-be villain that planned to marry Fena. He gave the suitor, a womanizer, an ultimatum, to capture Fena or die. Abel inevitably takes the reigns as the true villain accompanied by his disorganized pirate henchmen. The times they chase after Fena and co. are when the series takes itself less seriously, and it's earnestly a blast, but that does not last. The lead swashbuckler, a red-haired busty pirate, comes onto Abel, to remind you this isn't a kids' show. As the series progresses, Abel becomes increasingly fascistic and joins together with nameless European soldiers. Yukimaru is the love interest and childhood friend of our titular heroine. A skilled fighter with a subdued personality that makes up for her boisterous behavior. Their relationship consists of her blushing at the thought of romance and him being oblivious to anything related to love. What 20-year-old guy doesn’t know what sex is? It takes more than blushing and awkward pauses to convince an audience that two characters are in love. Those are just some of the many failed attempts at comedy; that usually get dispensed by a comic relief character. Either the jokes are incomprehensible, or there was no punchline because they never made me laugh once, well, intentionally. The melodramatic lectures from Yukimaru and Shitan were more effective at inducing laughter than being taken seriously. When Fena starts singing like a Disney princess and Yukimaru instantly knows the lyrics by heart, you have to wonder if the writers intended it to be taken seriously. Compared to Fena and Yukimaru, how do the rest of the characters fare? They’re one-note. Their reason for accompanying them on the journey to Eden is out of obligation. We know their names, but not their motivations or their personalities beyond surface-level traits. The times the anime attempts to develop chemistry between the good guys come off as awkward. They're more believable as a group of actors who hate each other pretending to be friends than a team. The animation, sound, music are perfunctory. It is a predictable soundtrack, with a few insert songs that leave no impression. At least it is never distracting. Action-packed fight sequences once an episode spice up the adventuring and endless comic relief. There’s enough violence and death to keep you interested in between the long stretches of waiting for things to happen. A typical polished series for studio Production I.G. (Psycho-Pass, Haikyuu, Ancient Magus Bride). Visually it is one of their less impressive efforts, though the art and animation are more consistent than 90% of seasonal anime. But it’s not enough to sell a fundamentally flawed anime, particularly when it climaxes in a wet fart of an ending. Fena—AKA White Marginal/Pasty Girl: Snow White and the Pirates follows a monotonous pattern; kidnapping, false stakes, awkward romance, and heartfelt speeches that fall flat. In the third act, it takes a sharp turn into nonsensical fantasy territory. God, the afterlife, spirits, and a forced attempt at metacommentary on fairy tales. By the time the show has already crashed and burned, the final twist is so alienating that it leaves you numb.

You know the "three episode rule"? This show was a clear 10/10 at that point. Hell, I didn't even need three episodes, just a single scene from episode 1 of our goofy princess's "escape plans" or even a single frame of her angry expression was enough to win me over. It would have been a great show it it was actually about that goofy princess, or about travel and adventures, or about pirates vs. ninjas, or solving a legendary mystery, or any of the things the start of the show leads you to believe it is about. Instead, all those things turn out to be irrelevant,obviated by an absurd nonsense ending. It's impossible to explain or justify my disappointment with it without spoiling it, so I will just stop here. I guess different people can handle that to different extents - just like willing suspension of disbelief for ignoring plot holes and weaknesses in other shows, perhaps some people can also ignore a bad ending and still enjoy the trip to get to it. Sadly, I can only do that for unimportant element, but not for the thing that the whole show builds up towards and should be centered around. Thus my verdict remains - don't bother watching it if you are not willing to forgive a massive disappointment eventually.

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