PUPPET PRINCESS (2000)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *psychological, sociological*

PUPPET PRINCESS is a one-shot OVA, about forty minutes long and based on a story from Japanese manga artist Kazuhiro Fujita. I'm not sure of the precise date that the original story of the same title appeared in a manga magazine, but it was no earlier than 1988 and no later than 1995.

PRINCESS is a beat-for-beat emulation of the manga original. Manajiri, a genin with no master, encounters a weird young woman with a big box on her back, who wants his help to invade the sanctuary of the evil Lord Karimata. The young woman, Rangiku, asserts that Karimata invaded the estate of her family and slaughtered everyone, though Rangiku escaped with the help of a nurse. Karimata's purpose was to steal the unique technology of Rangiku's father Fumiwatari-- a technology involving creating life-size puppets with special mechanical enhancements. Rangiku demonstrates the power of some of these puppets when she and Manajiri are attacked by evil ninjas. The orphan princess brings forth from her big box four huge puppets that defeat the ninja, barely restrained by the strings with which Rangiku manipulates them.

Manajiri is in no hurry to get involved in the puppet princess' troubles, and at one point he's frankly horny enough to claim that he wants payment out of her cute little body. But Rangiku is so innocent that the hapless genin can't take advantage of her, and of course he ends up helping Rangiku obtain vengeance. However, Rangiku's apparent loyalty to her deceased relations has a certain twist I won't reveal, but it gives her a bit more characterizational depth. The story ends in such a way as to set up a possible series with the two heroes, though no further adventures came to pass.

The idea of a heroine using souped-up puppets is fairly original, and draws upon the entertainment-subculture of Japanese karakuri, which involved all sorts of puppets, including some with limited ranges of mechanized movement. At base the main appeal is sociological, as the world-weary ninja Manajiri ends up binding himself to the service of Rangiku, even though she's a princess without a kingdom. The action-scenes are limited but the humorous scenes compensate, and so PUPPET PRINCESS provides a decent one-shot offering.