Petite Princess Yucie Review
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She finds herself admitted to the princess academy to receive training for this role. As a child of commoner and a single parent family, Yucie is quite out of place at the academy. She quickly finds herself competing fiercely with Glenda, the daughter of Satan himself. Then there's the mysterious Cocoloo, Elmina of the heavens, and Beth of the fairy world.
The plot elements of this show are quite odd. First there's the fact that while all of the candidates are sixteen, they all stopped growing when they turned ten. The thing is, they act ten. Then again, maybe that's part of the point. For the most part they do grow up during the series.
Then there's all the odd jobs the girls in the princess academy are expected to take. Who knows why? I would call these episodes filler, but they are often the most humorous events in the series. At least one was also used to advance the main plot.
Now, why are they doing all of this? To collect a flower from each of the five worlds to allow one of them to claim the platinum tiara for their own and gain one wish. Why? The whole show just seems kind of silly doesn't it? But I enjoyed it. There was something eluding me. It took reading another review to realize it.
The show is not about princesses and winning a contest. The show is about the relationship of a father and his child. None of the children come from a perfect home as we imagine it. Nowhere is there a mother. Some are dead, some have walked out of the picture, some are simply unknown. The fathers range from cold to downright embarrassing. There's the lord of the heavens who demands perfection and is seemingly devoid of affection. There's the king of the underworld who absolutely dotes on his daughter and would do anything for her. I'll admit having met parents who were this embarrassing. Heck, he decorated all of hell in candy canes and kittens without actually asking if she would like that or not. Then there is Gunbard. He too adores his daughter, and is quite embarrassing about it. He cooks enough for her birthday to feed a village. Of course teenagers aren't going to want to be caught by their friends actually hugging Dad. But, he is an outstanding father. He listens to her problems. He encourages her. He is there for her. This is what it is to be a father. They all love their children.
This really is a special little series.
Oh yes. One last thing I should add. This is one of the few series I would actually suggest watching the english dub. The California girl accents that ADV used are quite entertaining. This would have suited Saturday morning TV quite nicely.