Princess Principal

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Princess Principal
Release
Title	Princess Principal
Japanese	プリンセス・プリンシパル
Romaji	Purinsesu Prinshiparu
Release Date	2017
Airing	July 2017 to current
Staff
Studio	Studio 3Hz
Director	Masaki Tachibana
Writer	Ichirō Ōkouchi
Character Design	· Kouhaku Kuroboshi (Original) · Yukie Akiya (Animation)
Music	Yuki Kajiura

Princess Principal (プリンセス・プリンシパル, Purinsesu Purinshiparu) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Studio 3Hz and Actas. Season 1 is directed by Masaki Tachibana and written by Ichirō Ōkouchi, with original character designs by Kouhaku Kuroboshi and Yukie Akiya, and music by Yuki Kajiura.

Instalments

The first season of Princes Principal aired from July to September 2017. It was followed by a Picture Drama in the same year and a six-part film series titled Princess Principal: Crown Handler, of which three parts have been released as of December 2023. A mobile game called Princess Principal: Game of Mission was also launched in August 2017, and was available until December 28, 2018.

Premise

Princess Principal is set in a fictional analogue of England called Albion. During the early 20th century, the Kingdom of Albion monopolised a mysterious mineral called Cavorite to construct a fleet of heavily armed airships that made it the dominant power in the world. However, the proletariat of Albion grew angry at their country's ruling class for largely ignoring their plight, sparking the London Revolution in which the lower classes attempted to overthrow the royal family. Eventually, the two sides reached a stalemate, and a great wall was erected through the middle of London, splitting Albion into two nations: the Commonwealth and the Kingdom.

Several years later, the Commonwealth launches Operation Changeling, a plan to replace the Kingdom's Princess Charlotte with Ange le Carré, a girl who bears a strong resemblance to her, in order to have a highly placed agent within the royal family. However, the Princess turns the plan on the spies, offering to work with the Commonwealth if Ange and her friends will help her become Queen. So begins the story as five girls serve as undercover spies in the Kingdom, working for the Commonwealth while enrolled as students at the prestigious Queen's Mayfaire Academy.

Development

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See also: Anime Staff

Princess Principal's original concept was pitched by director Masaki Tachibana and producer Atsushi Yukawa. They were discussing the prospect of an anime about high school girls who lead a double life as spies. Inspiration was also taken from the book The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain, published in 1881.

Since they already had a lot of anime about "tough-looking guys [that] are doing cool stuff," they decided to go a different route. Kouhaku Kuroboshi was chosen as character designer, with the director saying they were going for characters with a cute look, who could also "do other things." The setting of the 19th century was chosen due to the spy-theme. Masaki Tachibana suggested the steampunk aesthetic, and for it to be combined with Victorian themes. The research necessary to pull the show off, done in part by Seiichi Shirato, was quite extensive due to this. Masaki Tachibana commented that it also posed a challenge for the animators to keep the quality consistent.

Staff decided to structure the story anachronically in order to increase the mystery throughout the series and keep viewers curious. They also wanted a "flashy" first episode, with more action, but that was something which the first case did not provide. Another reason for the anachronical order was Chise's presence: had the series been in chronological order, she would not have appeared until later in the season.

Characters

Ange le Carré

Main article: Ange le Carré

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Beatrice

Main article: Beatrice

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Princess Charlotte

Main article: Princess Charlotte

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Chise Todo

Main article: Chise Todo

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Dorothy

Main article: Dorothy

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Anime

Season 1

Main article: Season 1

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Picture Drama

Main article: Picture Drama

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Crown Handler

Main article: Crown Handler

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Manga

Main article: Princess Principal Manga

The Princess Principal Manga is an official manga adaptation of the Princess Principal anime which began publication in Tokuma Shoten's Monthly Comic Ryū website on Nov 8th, 2019 by artist Ryo Akizuki, who is also a prop designer on the anime. The manga consists of two volumes, with the first volume being compiled and released on March 13, 2020 and the second volume ongoing. The first volume is made up of seven chapters and the second ongoing volume has another three chapters.

Game of Mission

Main article: Game of Mission

Game of Mission was a puzzle mobile game released on the 10th August, 2017 on IOS and Android in Japan. The game ended its service on December 28, 2018 and launched an "illustrated encyclopaedia stand-alone" function in mid-December of 2018 to allow players to view their obtained characters and continue playing after the game's servers shut down.

Music

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Release date	Album title
July 26, 2017	The Other Side of the Wall
August 2, 2017	A Page of My Story
August 30, 2017	Princess Principal Character Song Mini Album: 5 Moving Shadows
September 27, 2017	Principal Original Soundtrack: Sound of Foggy London
March 27, 2020	Princess Principal THE LIVE Yuki Kajiura × Void Chords LIVE CD
April 8, 2020	LIES & TIES
	Nowhere Land

Reception

Main article: Awards and Accolades

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