Fena: Pirate Princess

FoxtrotC★ 3

I had really high hopes for this anime. Based on the trailers and after watching the first few episodes, my initial scoring was a 9, maybe even a close 10. It's funny when you check the reviews that 90% of those which have only seen the first 6 episodes or less have given the series a very high score like me, while most of the people who finished also feel like Kaizoku Oujo being a huge letdown. The biggest reason I was so hyped for this anime is that it offered me the same nostalgic feelings I only felt when I was a little kid watchingcartoons almost two decades ago. Interesting and laid-back adventures with a funny and lovable cast, in a mostly episodic style season, where each episode begins a small adventure but it is also finished by the end (with of course a mandatory overarching story which progresses a little bit with each episode and culminates in an epic showdown at the season finale). Someone else in the reviews named this same feeling "old Disney series", and while not all of my memories are linked to Disney products, it's still an apt comparison. Well, the anime delivers fantastically on everything I just listed above - up until around episode 4-5. After that, it turns into a sort of melancholic soul-searching and poetic wannabe art piece which I wasn't really interested in. There were full episodes where the characters were doing nothing but talk to each other about their feelings! Seriously, during the last two episodes of the season I was so uninterested that I was checking stuff on my phone while listening to the endless inner monologues and dramatic voices of the show. This might be fine for a season 4 finale or something like that, but after like two separate adventures I still can't care deeply enough of the characters for the show to be able dramatize them deeply. At the same time I'm told this was supposed to be a 24 episode season instead of it being halved, so that might have given more depth to the characters for me to care about them. My other issue is the hurried mess of culture mesh they performed. On paper, mixing pirate adventures with ninja warriors and the legend of the Maid of Orleans sounds like a neat idea, right? Well, it had potential. Unfortunately it was very much wasted. Mostly the whole pirate storyline, which I was the most interested in. The way they combined these elements make it look like the story was written by a 8 year old who just piled on every cool stuff he knew about (ninjas and pirate yeeeaaah!). They do not clash or build on each other and no potential synergy is explored from the different genres. The visuals and the sound were quite well done, which still cannot save this series from being a disappointing, forgettable drop.

LoveLetter100★ 5

I was enjoying this anime quite a lot. It reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean and other similar Disney movies. Adventurous show with upbeat cast and hint of darkness laying underneath the plot. Closer we got towards the end it was becoming more and more clear that this show will crumble under its own weight. Storylines had to be dropped and characters were abandoned. Promise of an arc with Shitan or some sort of development for Fena were not fulfilled. Instead Shitan and rest of the crew ended up with only surface level characterisation no more important than Abel's generic soldiers. Nobody couldeven be bothered to mention the banishment from the island ever again. I guess they were just allowed to go back in and those concequences for their actions were non-existant. So we got all this wonderful character potiential out of the way....what replaced it in the climax of the story ? What replaced it was a philosophycal question as to whenever humanity deserves to keep on living. Are the sins which we are committing too much for our continuous existance ? Does the weight of love balance the weight of hatred ? Were all of those deaths caused by Fena's crew in order to protect her justified ? And if so does that mean that deaths which Abel caused were justified as well ? He did all of that out of love as well after all. The answer to all of those questions is.....I don't know. Neither does the story. We never get any anwers on the morality of our heroes. So no answers nor any conclusion to the stories of our characters. What was all of this for then ? This finale had little to no build up. It came, asked the question, did not bother to answer and left as quickly as it came. The main problem of Kaizoku Oujo is its lenght. It is way too short. I know Crunchyroll putted a lot of time and money into this show and that they tried quite a lot. Maybe they should have putted even more time and money into it. This show should have drastically change its own structure or have 24 episodes. Near the end characters talked about their journey as if it was much longer than it actually was. All of this is so strange considerig they spent ONE ENTIRE EPISODE near the climax just silently walking and building up the final reveal instead of developing characters....like....dude..... You don't have 24 episodes. Hurry it up.