DVD cover of Petite Princess Yucie
5. Petite Princess Yucie: Don’t overlook this anime as just a kid’s show. The first few episodes may rest a bit on the old magical girl formula, but it quickly grows into its own.
Petite Princess Yucie is about a 17 year old year named Yucie who is stuck in a 10 year olds body. Not wanting to look 10 forever, Yucie decides to become a Platinum Princess candidate at the Princess Academy. At the Academy, Yucie joins four other Princess candidates, Kokoru, Glenda, Elmina, and Beth, in competition for the Eternal Tiara. The tiara able to grant the winner one wish.
The Princess Gang
The beginning episodes of Petite Princess Yucie rely on the formula of having the girl’s complete relatively normal tasks as they do odd jobs for town’s people. The episodes ending with heart warming results and lessons learned. But as the show continues the main plot unravels, turning the show’s light hearted attitude into something darker with more of a punch (but still remains kid friendly).
The show is mostly centred on the friendship between the five girls, but it does have an amazing romantic lead called Arc. Arc is a mysterious blond boy who falls in love with Yucie over time, nicknaming her “forehead.” The banter between Yucie and Arc is really cute and had me and my friend gushing over their romance.
Yucie and Arc
The dub for Petite Princess Yucie is horrible. I can’t stand it. But my friend watched it dubed and liked it… but personally I would rather listen to a fork being dragged across a chalkboard. At least it would emit softer tones. For me, subed is the only way to go, the characters well matched to their voice actors.
Petite Princess Yucie is a magical girl series that managed to make me and my best friend sob and blubber by the last episode. I have a tendency to over use the word “heart,” but Petite Princess Yucie really has it. It is a charming and humorous anime about friendship and how you and your best friends can overcome anything as long as you are together.
Taichi Yagami (from anime-planet.com)
KDW’s embarrassing side note: I had a crush on Tai from Digimon when I was 12. I hated Sora because he liked her, but shipped Mimi and Jo like a ferocious forest fire. I still have the VHS of the movie.
Tall and Geeky 