Majestic Prince: Episode 7 Review

Streaming Allegiance: Crunchyroll
Reconnaissance Report by: Drake
Progress: Episode 7


Majestic_prince_promoWhen we last left Team Rabbits, they had just successfully completed their mission and surpassed all expectations during the process, especially mine! At the end of the first episode, we were left with many different questions. Most dominantly ‘Why was Team Rabbit was selected?’, ‘What is the deal with this war?’, and in general just a desire for a lot more background information and a look into how this world operates. However, my biggest question was about what would happen to these five losers turned hero. Were they able to continue to carry out the job given to them, or was this just a fluke? I’ll get to this answer a bit later, as it requires a bit of a buildup.

Right off the bat, in episode two, the members of Team Rabbit are hailed as heroes for their bravery and amazing show of prowess during the defense of the Undine base, which really rises the star of the MJP Project, gaining them support. However, while the crowd cheers, the Team is very nervous and unsure of themselves as they are unable to fully comprehend themselves how they came out strong in Undine. This uncertainty unfortunately leads to a string of losses as the Rabbits do their best to completely master the Juria system and please their superior officers. It actually isn’t until episode five or six, when Team Doberman comes onto the scene to lend a hand, that Team Rabbit begins to learn to fight as a team and believe in themselves.

The characters so far are a little hard to explain. On the surface, it really feels like most of them have not evolved at all since the minute episode one began playing. Kei still carries a no-nonsense stoic attitude, Izuru is still really optimistic and lives in a dream world of being the ‘hero,’ Tamaki is still extremely boy-crazy, and Suruga is still a huge military geek. However, Asagi has changed drastically since the initial episode. Maybe this was how his character was meant to be portrayed all along, but I took him as the lancer, or foil – the force to push Izuru down the right path. Instead, Asagi has turned into a weak, almost useless, character that gets stomach cramps and intense stage fright the minute he enters battle.

However, as you dig deeper and go through the series, you begin to see the beauty of these characters. They aren’t your run-of-the-mill hot-shot pilots, or even those with lots of experience. These are your everyday kids thrust into a life they never wanted, to fight a battle they did not choose to fight. On top of that, they are also the most socially awkward kids ever. These traits make Team Rabbit very relatable and likeable despite a lack of character development and depth.

Thankfully, the story isn’t as stunted as the characters are developing. Within an episode or two we are given a better understanding of the world, the mechs, and the war being waged. This story is slowly expanding nicely giving enough detail and information to keep us sated but also wanting more. In episode seven we even get to meet the alien forces waging the war on the humans, which is actually pretty exciting despite their small time on screen. I feel in the next few episodes we will see a lot more of them, and understand more of their side of this story.

Overall, I have no regrets about Majestic Prince after seven episodes, and I plan to continue on with this to the end. The animation is beautiful, the opening song is breathtaking, the battles stunning, the characters relatable, and the story is pretty interesting. This anime is filling out well and turning into a solid series, and will continue to do so if things continue as they have and the characters develop more. All in all, I’m excited for episode eight – it’ll be the Rabbits’ first major battle! Stay tuned, folks!

Episode 1 Score: 8.00/10.00
Episode 7 Score: 8.50/10.00