There is a bad prophecy told to the king that a baby will be born in his kingdom. The baby is said to bring chaos and destruction into the world, and the cursed baby is Pacifica Casull, the newborn princess that will bring the curse at the age of 16.
To escape the prophecy, the baby was buried in the darkness right after birth, and no one is suppose to talk about this omen. However, one assasins after another is coming to kill Pacifica, who is not suppose to exist in the first place, and so the elder brother and sister of Pacifica: Shannon and Raquel, sets on a journey to protect their only sister.
Synopsis by: Niomea
Story & Characters
When the Church (and since it's anime, the church is inherently evil) decides that baby Pacifica is the one who
will bring about the apocalypse when she reaches age 16, she is tossed over a cliff by a legion of knights. Those
knights should have chosen decapitation instead, because the girl survived the fall, and her two older siblings, Raquel
and Shannon, have taken it upon themselves to protect her with their lives.
It's an interesting concept, but the plot goes nowhere fast. On several occasions, characters just don't act
the way they ought to. For instance, in the first episode, a soldier named Chris is sent to assassinate Pacifica.
Pacifica's siblings get distracted fighting some other foes, and Chris sneaks up right beside his target. Rather
than kill her, he instead asks her if all she does is stand behind her protectors, doing nothing at all as they fight
for her life. Which brings up another point; realism in conversation is sacrificed for the purpose of cliched, and all
too predictable plot development. In a well done story, plot development, and characters' revelations take place
inside of realistic conversations and actions. In this regard, Scrapped Princess falls flat on its face.
The characters are uninspired and boring. The soldier Leo aspires to be a champion of justice, but finds that becoming
a knight could lead to becoming a leader of injustice. He's like Amelia from Slayers, only his character is bringly
predictable. He never does anything significant for the plot, and I often wondered why he was there in the first place.
Most of the other character suffer in the same why, especially that Rei (Evangelion) clone, but the biggest problem was
Pacifica herself. Almost every episode, she'd pop the question of whether or not it'd be better if she just
died. Now, given her position, I understand that it would be an issue, but it's an issue that is at the forefront
of the series the whole time, but is never truly addressed. The only whiney main character I've ever enjoyed was
Shinji Ikari from Evangelion, and that was because the story revolved around him discovering his problems and him trying
to solve them. Pacifica does nothing but complain the entire series, so in that regard, agree with the Peacemakers; the
world would be better off with Pacifica dead.
Rating: 3
Art
Though the story is lackluster, the art quality is on par with what we'd expect from an anime these days. The
frames don't shake at all, and the coloring scheme is quite vivid and moody. My only complaint is the lack of
variety. None of the towns can really be distinguished from each other, and the same goes for fields and forests. The
only thing that helps us tell each location apart is what the characters say, who thankfully tells us where they're
at or where they're going. The battles are done well; none of that 'single character frame with shooting lines
in the background' stuff.
Rating: 7
Sound
No real complaints here. The soundtrack doesn't have any flaws, aside from its lack of memorability. The only song
I can remember off the top of my head is the stupid eyecatch with the accordion music that often breaks the mood of the
show. The song isn't that big of a deal, but it's so unlike any of the other themes in the show, and it makes
you wonder if the producers were high when they made it.
The voice acting, on the other hand, is not a problem. The characters are voiced well, and if the characters had gotten
some better dialogue, I would've given Sound a better score than this.
Rating: 4
Presentation
As an RPG veteran, I had a lot of problems watching this show an enjoying myself at the same time. Cliches left and
right, with cookie cutter characters (minus Shannon) that are thrown into the mix in an attempt to get something decent
in the end. The humor wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either.
The stereotypical "that incident" in this show was a war from 4000 years ago. There's nothing wrong with
referring to a war 4000 years ago, but it you're going to, at least make the war a critical point in the story
(Xenogears for the PSX is a prime example of a pertinent conflict 4000 years ago). Honestly, they could've just
omitted that whole war and the story would have flowed almost the exact same way. Because few of the events really rely
on each other (no cause and effect), I quickly got the feeling that the producers made up the story as they went
along.
There are some moments where the show actually becomes original, but it never was a good thing. Take the ending, when
the audience discovers the true form of the world. Yes, it was original; no, it wasn't good.
This show presents all the mediocre aspects of anime storytelling. Heed my warning; avoid Scrapped Princess at all costs
Rating: 2
Final Verdict
3.5000 (below average)
Reviewed by Wiegraf30, Oct 16, 2004
