Get ready for fantasy, sci-fi, political intrigue, romance, action, comedy and prominent use of the body swap trope, if you decide to take a look at Murder Princess.
Maybe that seems like bit much for one text – but I definitely liked the mix and thought this was a fun OVA. It’s not the shortest one out there, and it does tell a complete story across only 6 episodes too.
The series was released in 2007 and animated by Bee Train during their heyday and I don’t remember having many complaints re: the visuals or direction, though you won’t see the super-dynamic camera-work common to modern action anime.
As per the title, you can expect regular violence over the course of the betrayal of Princess Alita’s kingdom and her subsequent struggle for vengeance.
She manages to recruit some interesting folks and while there are a lot of familiar story-beats along the way, I was hooked by the body swap aspect which brought in a few fun ‘fish out of water’ moments.
However, one thing I did wish had been given some extra screen time was both Falis and Alita coming to terms with the switch, as it does play second fiddle to the action.
As an example, I imagine it would be pretty disconcerting to look at someone else and see your own face, see ‘you’ doing things from the outside, yet both leads adjust a bit too quickly perhaps.
Obviously it wasn’t a huge problem for me, but I do wonder whether the manga does more with that aspect?
Even though the star rating will probably seem a bit low, I still enjoyed Murder Princess – in particular Romi Park* as Falis, and remember the ED as standing out.
As I said before, this anime did leave me curious about the manga – and so maybe one day I’ll seek it out.
3.5 Stars
*Took me a moment to recognise her as the voice of Edward Elric, actually.
The Review Heap 
There were so many aspects of this anime that I would have presented differently, yet it is a definite favorite of mine! As for the protagonists’ quick adaptation to their new bodies/situations, consider their previous lives. . .a princess would already be accustomed to living an artifice of office and title, whereas a mercenary must instantly become whatever his/her situation demands in order to survive. I saw their transition as natural for their particular characters, just not fully enough explored for the story’s own sake. (Great to see this short series get some attention, btw!)
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It stands out for me too, in spite of the things I didn’t enjoy as much 🙂
Yeah, I can see that, good point – and more exploration of the theme might have been on the cards if the OVA had been longer.
(And thanks, I haven’t seen it reviewed much around the WordPress blogs I’m familiar with either).
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I liked this one too and would have liked to see it spread across a full twelve episode season.
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Same, that would probably have been perfect. Doubt there will ever be a re-make but it’s definitely on my (growing) list of manga to maybe one day check out.
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