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home / october 2002 / chasing otakuism |
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 Animefringe Editorial:
The Naked Battle
By guest columnist Jack Hsu
Princess Nine was the total surprise hit anime series
of the year for me, coming out of left field. (Yes,
that was a bad gratuitous baseball reference!) When
ADV announced a couple years ago that they had acquired this
series, the buzz was that this was a big experiment
for ADV, as this was not only a sports anime, but there
was going to be no violence in it, and the main
characters were girls! P9 was pegged as a shoujo anime,by the fans initially, perhaps wrongly. All the
discussion about the dub cast on the Animeondvd.com
forums and ADV's decision to put the series out on 6
discs with the MSRP at $19.99 helped intrigue me
enough that I decided to take a chance and buy the
first disc sight unseen. It was one of my best anime
decisions ever.
When the first volume arrived in my mailbox, I already
had an idea what the series would be like. Having read
some sports manga and owning one sports anime (Battle
Athletes Victory), I was expecting the usual:
Ultra-talented star leads underdog team to overcome
impossible odds and achieve victory. "Hey, I wouldn't
mind a good underdog sports story for my collection,"
I thought to my self. I was both right and wrong. By
the time I reached the end of the first episode, I was
hooked.
I was right in that there were the many usual sports
anime/manga elements. There is the ultra-talented
girl-next-door star pitcher, Ryo. There is even a,
rival/resident rich ice princess named Izumi. There also is
the energetic girl, the shy girl, the mysterious girl, the
brash girl, etc., to round out the team. The coach is
even a drunk. There were over-the-top dramatic, predictable
plotlines, average animation, all adding to a kind of
good campiness that you expect from a sports anime.
Except for the music - the background music was
performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic, and is an
excellent score. But there was something, a spark that
helped lift this series from that kind of typical
series to something outstanding. This is where I was
wrong.
Was it the writing? Princess Nine, for all the typical plotlines, also was atypical. Plot twists were
thrown at the viewers that nobody saw coming.
Characters, while starting out as stereotypes, were given
dimension and personality, such that you really
started to care for them. For example, Izumi could
have always been just Ryo's rival. Yet the writers
were able to let you see her whole being, her humanness
(good and bad), that makes her become perhaps the most
complete character by the end of the series. You may
not agree with Izumi, but you really can understand
and empathize with her. Romantic triangles were
set up, and done well enough that you could see many
different scenarios as to how those would be resolved.
Was it the voice acting? Both the original Japanese
cast and the English cast did a great job! This is one
series that I can listen to either version and not
feel like I'm losing anything. Being that the
characters started stereotypically, I thought the way the
cast was able to give the characters emotion and depth
was very important. Also being that there was such a
large cast, the fact that everyone sounded different
and distinct was a wonderful bonus.
Princess Nine became my "Must See" series. For the few weeks before and after each volume release, I would be
discussing all the plot twists and the details of the
stories with fellow P9 fans online. On the day I got
each new disc, I would set aside that evening to revel
in more Princess Nine goodness. I came to really care
for the girls. I laughed with their joy, I felt down
when they were sad, I lived and died with their
success and failure.
It's been such a great ride that I want this show to
keep going for a long, long time.
Alas, ADV will be releasing the last volume of the
Princess Nine series in October. There is no plans for any sequels. This is a sad state of events when almost
any series can spawn a sequel or a spin-off but a
worthy series like P9 cannot. But there is something
more for those who just want more Princess Nine. As
with many other series in Japan, there was a drama cd
released, the translated title being: "Princess Nine:
The Naked Battle." Got your attention there, didn't I?
No, this is not a hentai drama cd, though there is
some hanky panky going on. Thanks to Ahjenta on the
Animeondvd.com forums, I was able to get a rough idea
of the story:
During the summer, the girls go over to Izumi's house
to get help on homework. It turns into kind of a
risqué competition, with Izumi and Ryo representing
each team, and each loss necessitates each
representative taking off an article of clothing.
Somehow Takasugi (Ryo's and Izumi's romantic interest)
also ends up at Izumi's house. He is allowed to stay,
but promptly blinfolded and his imagination begins to
run rampant from what he hears.
That's a very basic gist of the story. This format,
with no animation to match, really gives the voice
actors a chance to shine. I thought the voice actress
for Izumi, Mami Kingetsu, stole the show. She sounded
even better on the drama cd then she did in the
series!
Two things definitely made this cd worth the
purchase, even if I hardly understood Japanese. The
first is that Izumi does the oja-sama laugh, the kind
of laugh let off by Ayeka of Tenchi Muyo! and Naga of
Slayers. It's really funny, and incredibly fitting.
The second is that it is revealed that Yuki also has a
second Fifi-chan, known rather interestingly enough as Fifi-chan MKII. This one's a bit larger and a bit, um, straighter than the original and is able to fill Yuki's "loneliness" in a rather different kind of way, if you know what I mean.
When I first heard about the existence of this drama
cd, I wanted it just to hear more of the characters.
Then I actually heard about the content of the cd, and
I wanted this title even more. Unfortunately, this
particular cd is already out of print in Japan, and is
not widely available. I was lucky enough (with some
timely help) to get my copy from Yahoo Japan through a
proxy bidding service. I also remembered that there
was a good amount of interest in the drama cd among those who have seen Princess Nine . I also was
reminded that ADV has been looking at the possibility
of licensing a drama cd. The conditions are right, the
domestic anime market has been growing steadily, with
no end in sight. ADV is one of the top anime
companies in America, and they are always looking to
expand their business. Why not a drama cd of a series
that was a success for them?
With the encouragement of a few people, I made a
petition asking ADV to license the Princess Nine drama
cd (http://www.petitiononline.com/P9CD/petition.html).
In the petition, it asks that ADV license and release
the drama cd as a 2 disc set, one containing the
original Japanese cd (with the dialogue translated in
a booklet if possible) , and one with the same drama
acted out by the original dub cast. This would give
the dub actors a chance to really let their talent
shine without the restriction of lip-flaps. I think
the results would be amazing. ADV could just use the Japanese cover, which has a few nice pictures depicting the girls doing their contests. Izumi fans will like the cover. Not to mention more of the Kisaragi Nine is always a good
thing.
If you will also notice, in the petition it asks that
if you sign the petition, you are also asked to send a
physical letter to ADV in support of it. Yes, it is
much more of a commitment and more work. The reason is
this: e-mail and on-line petitions are almost
meaningless to companies. What companies will pay
attention to are physical letters. So I am asking if
you enjoyed Princess Nine, and if you want more of it,
sign the petition and then go the extra mile and mail
in that letter. Let ADV know that there are people who
want the Princess Nine drama cd!
Note: During the ADV Panel at Anime Weekend Atlanta 8, Animefringe asked about the possibility of Drama CDs such as Princess Nine being brought over. ADV Films responded by saying that they have been looking into Drama CDs but are still trying to figure out how to make it so you can understand what the people are saying. Judging from their soundtracks, ADV may be looking for a release that mirrors the Japanese one.
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