The story begins with Dr. Akamashi, introduced as a scientist formerly in the employ of the government, launching a coup d’etat in the Forland kingdom. With his dying breath, the mortally wounded king sends his daughter Alita to find Prince Kaito, who is leading a diplomatic mission and its military escort abroad. She flees from the castle and reaches a forest on the country's border.
While running the Princess falls off of a cliff and onto Falis, an infamous bounty hunter. Due to the nature of the near-death experience (referred to as a spiritual commutation) the souls of Alita and Falis are switched. After Falis dispatches the forest's guardian beast, Alita pleads with the bounty hunter to protect the Forland kingdom, offering herself, body and soul, as collateral. Falis agrees.
Review:
It has been awhile since I watched a short one shot OVA series most of the anime titles getting released these days are 13 episodes and up and some reach epic status and pass the hundred episode mark. It seems that OVA series are becoming less and less prominent in the Anime world maybe its due to the fact that they don’t make that much profit than there longer counter parts.
Story:
This is where the Anime falters a bit. Maybe it’s due to the fact that they changed some of the plot elements that was in the Manga, so that it suits the Anime better. The basic plot is a fantasy type world that is inhabited by biomechanical monsters from a past era in the history of the world. Now that on it self isn’t a bad idea but the way it was executed was properly done.
Only midway thru the third OVA do we get a glimpse why the world is in the current state it is in, but after that not a lot more get explained to the viewer and what does get revealed doesn’t make a lot of sense in the bigger context of things.But having said that the story is pretty fasted paced and the different “colorful” character and the interaction with each other makes up for the holes in the story.
Animation:
One of the better points of the show the animation is drawn crisp and clear and the quality of the animation stays the same through out the show. The fantasy world that surrounds the characters is animated pretty nicely and gives the viewer the feeling that the story does indeed take place in a fantasy world.
Some people complained about the “speed lines” used during the battle sequences but that’s just being nit picky. The other reason for the watching the show would be the fighting scenes it’s been awhile since I saw a good sword fight in an Anime show, which by the way is perfectly animated.
Sound/Music:
This is where the Anime really shines the whole Anime soundtrack consists of Metal/Punk/Alternative tracks and was written especially for the Anime by “Bee-Train”, they also did shows like Noir & Hack Sign and both of those shows had soundtracks of note.
The soundtrack really comes to the party during the fighting/action sequences, the opening scene is really rocking and sets the pace for the Anime the ending theme is the only song that doesn’t seem to fit the show but that’s just me being nit picky.
Character:
The characters really make this series what it is, it makes up for the holes in the story and redeems the show for any other faults it might have. This is the one of the main reasons why u should watch the show apart from the music. From “Faris” the bounty hunter and her cyborg sidekicks: “Dominikov” and the soft hearted “Pete”.
There are so many colorful characters too mention in this show that I could go on forever u will quickly find a character u can attach yourself to. And let us not forget about the killer robotic loli`s.
Enjoyment:
Ultimately the story of Murder Princess isn’t innovative and it doesn’t try to be particularly different in any manner but like I said before what the story lacks the characters and the soundtrack make up for it. If u are looking for light entertainment with a nice metal/punk/rock soundtrack then Murder Princess is for u.