NOTE: This review is a continuation of my reviews of this series. If you have not seen any of the volumes or my previous reviews, you risk spoilers by continuing.

Intro

At long last! It’s mine! It’s finally mine!

The Story

Princess Nine is all about nine girls who break through the gender barriers in Japan. All the girls are around 15 years old and one by one they all receive invitations to join a very prestigious all girls school in Japan on a full scholarship but there is one condition, they all must play for the brand new girls Baseball team and compete against the guys teams in order to not only make it to the national championship, but also win the championship within three seasons.

This series takes us through that first season in which many events take place. Led by ace pitcher Ryo Hayakawa (pronounced: Yo), this team learns many lessons about life, team work, love and what true friendship really means as all throughout the season they are faced with many obstacles including other players who don’t think that they belong, their class mates thinking that they are hopeless, parents who are out raged about girls playing baseball and even with each other as their star pitcher and the daughter of the head of the school find themselves competing over the same guy.

The Good And The Bad

This is my all time favorite series. Flat out, hands down, my favorite. When I finally got this series in my possession I spent the next couple of nights watching it all over again and I was absolutely reminded on why it’s so incredible and why it’s my favorite. Even if you’re not a sports fan you’ll find out very quickly that this is not a series about baseball. There are baseball elements in this series but the real story of this anime is all about these nine girls chasing after their nine dreams of being the best in the country and learning to come together to help each other out not only as team mates but as friends.

The emotion in this series is very real. I remember watching volume one a couple of nights ago and by the end of the second episode I already had tears in my eyes simply because I knew exactly what these girls were going to be facing within the next couple of volumes. Even if I knew everything that was going to be happening, I couldn’t help but fall in love with each of these characters all over again.

The biggest complaint that I hear about this series is that it is just too predictable to be entertaining and I can see how that is a legitiment complaint. Since this is a sport series, it does become pretty predictable in parts but I do find that most of the time the writers did a fabulous job of keeping it's audience on their toes as they watched and enjoyed.

Music

“Princess Nine” also holds the title of my all time favorite anime opening theme song. With a soundtrack done by the Warsaw Philharmonic, this series contains incredible music from beginning to end. The drum beats are strong and there are some wonderful versions of the opening and closing themes done throughout as background music including a very sad solo acoustic guitar version of the opening theme which always signified to me that it was time to break out the tissues.


Dub vs. Sub

When I saw this series for the very first time I was what you could call a ‘sub snob’. I was under the impression that all dubbed anime was terrible and there was absolutely no reason to ever listen to anime in that way. Since then I’ve grown and matured and realized that was a very silly way to be thinking and so when I watched it through this time I watched it entirely in it’s dub form and I absolutely loved it! Hilary Haag as Ryo and Monica Rial as her rival Izumi were absolutely incredible! These are two of the best dub performances I’ve ever heard in my life and they set the gold standard for what dub performances should always sound like. The emotion is real and the acting is flawless.

Extras

Over the course of six volumes there are lots of extras that were included. I’m not going to go into details on all of them but here is a list of all the extras you’ll find on these volumes:

~ Clean Opening
~ Clean Ending
~ Player Statistics
~ US Teaser/Trailer
~ "Ode to Oden" - An Oden Cooking Special
~ Profiles of the English and Japanese voice actresses
~ History of baseball in Japan
~ Karaoke version of opening and closing themes
~ Original Japanese Cover Art
~ Original Japanese Artwork

The only part of the extras that really upsets me is that there were so many more extras that were planned and yet scrapped at the last minute most notably of which was a voice actress commentary track on volume six. This was would have been an incredibly welcome extra but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.

Overall

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again and again. This is my all time favorite series and it will continue to be my all time favorite series. The performances are incredible, the story is emotional and gripping and the characters will make you love them by the end of the first volume.

What upsets me most about this series is that despite the incredibly low price and strong advertising campaign that ADV put behind it, it never had enough momentum to get a second season and while it is too late for us to ever get one again (sadly enough), we can still at least re-live season one of this season from the first pitch to the last over and over again.

Final Grade: 96% - A



Related Reviews

Princess Nine Vol. 1: First Inning
Princess Nine Vol. 2: Double Header
Princess Nine Vol. 3: Triple Play
Princess Nine Vol. 4: Strike Zone
Princess Nine Vol. 5: Bases Loaded
Princess Nine Vol. 6: Grand Slam


©L.B. Bryant 2005

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older