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I'm surprised Princess Anna from King Gainer hasn't come up in conversation yet, considering she got a fair bit of love in the Clawshrimpy Watch thread. She's not the best princess, but she's up there for me at least given that she's not only never really useless or in the way, but actively useful quite a lot of the time and always has a nice, upbeat attitude to share around. She just wants to go on fun adventures and I like that.DrSunshine posted:Well, for one thing she's not just there to sit around and look winsome! In fact, she's an awesome active character who starts out as your typical sort of naive idol-like princess and gradually learns about the real-world consequences of her idealistic plan to resettle the Moonrace on Earth. Next, she's not afraid to order the death sentence on unruly subjects like Corin Nander. She's got steel in her! Finally, it's hilarious how quick she is to grab the nearest gun or rifle and try to shoot someone, even if they're riding in a dozens of meters-tall mecha! I'm gonna second Dianna from Turn-A though as my personal favorite. I thought Kihel was the better character, though not the more enjoyable one after my initial watch of the show but the more I learned about Dianna from re-watching, side materials or chatting to other folks about the show the more I've come to revise that opinion. She starts out the show as someone worn down by a life of servitude where she spends the majority of the time frozen, only to be thawed when her government feel she's needed as a figurehead to placate the masses or help inspire folks. She's been doing it for years of her own life and probably at least a few hundred, if not more likely over a thousand years in the more literal sense. She knows that her subjects are all prey to the same lovely life-cycle, and cannot live normal lives because the Moon just cannot support them all at once and so they need to be cryofrozen for years at a time in a population rotation. Yea, she has some naivety when she first comes to Earth, but to me she comes off as someone who is really more desperate than anything. She knows the Moonrace have to return to Earth at some point and wants to get it done as soon as possible so that they can actually return to a normal life, rather than having to make do with a simulacrum on the Moon. And then she meets her exact twin, and grasps at this fleeting chance to see what others see when they look at her and more importantly, have fun for the first time in what is quite possibly centuries (since she was last on Earth most likely). So she grabs it, and it turns out to be a horrible mistake because she can't switch back. Or not a mistake, because poo poo, it's actually working out okay and she's getting to live a little and remember what she's protecting in the first place and man Earth is great, why can't everyone live here in peace? The sheer joy she takes in some of the small things she gets to do, like riding a bicycle down a mountain or farming and so on is a pleasure to watch. As is the degree to which she takes to the chance to be someone, anyone, other than the political pawn she's used to being. She's also the center of many of the show's better or more iconic moments, helping out in the war hospital, the Turn-A washing machine and so on. Then when she's drawn back in to politics again she doesn't bemoan her fate or act like a martyr or anything, she just gets on with it because she knows loving around could lead to far worse consequences. She threatens Corin with a rifle when he's in a 20 odd meter tall mech, she lets herself be used as a hostage by people who may just up and kill her, she gives orders without waffling on their consequence or morality, she forgives people who betray her because she understands their base greed but also understands that the needs of the situation are more important than that - and that giving in to those desires doesn't make a person bad or unforgivable. She's a highly idealized princess, but gently caress if I care, she's still the best one. One could make a fair argument that she and/or Kihel are the true main character of the show, because while Loran pilots the giant robot he doesn't really make much in the way of decisions or grow at all as a character, which is all on Dianna. She's the one pushing the story most of the time. Lily Borjarno is also a great Turn-A princess by the way, and unlikely to be brought up so I'll mention her. She rules if, for nothing else, the sick burn she gets in on Guin at the end of the show: telling him to put on a dress if he really wants Loran that badly, and then, when he replies that society isn't ready for a ruler in a dress, replying that he can do whatever, she'll be off ruling Ameria in her dress. She's a pretty great character all round though, at turns kind of vindictive (tricking Dianna in to working at the war hospital because she was jealous of her) and childish (wanting to help Guin out of infatuation and seeing doing so as a kind of spy game), she displays maturity and perception when it's called for. She spends the majority of the series helping Guin because she admires his ambition, but once he crosses the line she rationalizes why he did and puts it in perspective without getting overly emotional and then helps stop him, because her infatuation doesn't preclude her from duty or common sense. Turn-A had some great characters. tsob fucked around with this message at 17:11 on May 4, 2015 |
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May 4, 2015 17:07
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YIKES Stay Gooned posted:That's a tremendous amount of words to post in the PYF Anime Princess thread I'm not familiar with PYF threads I suppose, but hey, it's not like it took me long to write so no real loss. I'll let ya'll get back to the expected comedy I apparently missed being the point of the thread now so.
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May 4, 2015 17:22
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DrSunshine posted:No, Tsob, I really really liked reading that analysis, it definitely helped put my own thoughts into order about Dianna. Thanks a lot!! I've only watched Turn-A once, and that post is inspiring me to watch it again to pick up the various nuances. I think the first time around, I didn't really think too hard about the characters because I was more interested in understanding what was going on and what the main plot threads were -- it was my very first Tomino show after all -- but the second time around, I'll pay more attention to Dianna and her evolution. A lot of it is only in incidental details shown or mentioned in passing within the anime, but apparently expounded upon more in the various manga and novel adaptations that were released. There's enough there to think that Tomino probably created and intended those elements for the show, but it's never shown in any kind of detail. Which is kind of sad really since, much as I love Turn-A as is, some more insight in to the state of life on the Moon would have been pretty cool. It's very possible that I'm reading in to the show stuff that Tomino hadn't worked out yet or never intended and that Dianna asking Kihel to dress up as her really is meant to be more naive than desperation or isolation, but when viewed with the idea that she is nothing but a pawn Gym, Agrippa and possibly others on the Moon use to keep the people happy it definitely changes my view of what pushed her to do so at least. I cannot, for instance, recall for definite anyone in the show stating that Dianna is mostly a figurehead. There's some pretty good circumstantial evidence in the way Agrippa and Gym treat her, the fact that even some members of the militia are happy to disobey her without really thinking about it too much and so on, but perhaps that wasn't intended and is simply something another person decided to use in manga adaptations. Yes_Cantaloupe posted:I think there's room for excellent posts like tsob's in this thread, and it's strange to make fun of someone for posting from the heart. I don't believe anyone did actually make fun of me for it, more just that they were surprised at seeing an effort post.
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May 4, 2015 20:10
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