Princess Nine: Vol-2 Double Header (1998)
Animation Production: Phoenix Entertainment, NHK Enterprises 21
Released by: ADV Films
Official Website: Princess Nine Vol-2
Episodes: 5-9
By Jeffrey Couto

Introduction

I must confess…I don’t care for sports, never have, never will. While I do occasionally enjoy seeing a live game in a stadium on nice days, I tend to get bored to tears when a game (from any sport) is on TV.

Interestingly enough though, I love sports anime, whether its professional racing (Mach Go Go Go), boxing (Ashita no Joe), or baseball (Princess Nine). It’s always appealed to me for reasons that are still unknown to me.

Princess Nine is a prime example of this phenomenon. A baseball-themed anime, I can’t get enough of it since I watched volume one a couple of weeks ago. I even purchased the soundtrack so I could listen to all the great BGM while I’m working in the office. After checking out volume two my enthusiasm for this series only grows further and expectations are once again raised.

Story

"The Princesses are starting to come together, but they’re still four girls short. As the crucial first game approaches, Keiko and Kido scour Japan for more players, but ultimately it’s left to the girls themselves to recruit their final members. Charged with leading the Princesses to victory, Ryo must find a way to conquer her own personal demons and forge the band of rag-tag misfits into a real team… but before she can do that, she’ll have to face off in a bitter grudge match against her arch rival Izumi!"-- ADV's Princess Nine Page

Review

Volume two picks up right where we left off last time as Ryo Hayakawa and the rest of her teammates continue scouting talent that could help their newly-formed baseball team reach their goal of playing in Koshien. With this search for new players almost complete by episode seven the rest of the episodes begin to set up some new foundations for the story to build and take new direction from.

In particular there are two subplots that have been floating about in the background that finally get thrown into the mix and take up more of the center stage. These deal with the growing rivalry between Ryo and Izumi and the love triangle that is starting to form between them and Hiroki, which forces an exploration of the characters' emerging feelings for each other and what the true meaning of love and friendship is to them.

This new situation makes Izumi’s initial dislike for Ryo grow into hatred for our young heroine, especially in light of other revelations by her mother, who is the chairman of the school and the driving force behind the creation of the baseball team. As Izumi’s jealousy of Ryo and Hiroki’s friendship grows and is compunded by her mother's revelation it takes her to a point of anger that results in a personal challenge that could change our heroines’ fates on and off the field.

What an awesome DVD this was!!!!!! After episodes six and seven give somewhat of a closure to the player scouting story arch, episodes eight and nine begin a new story thread that deals more directly with the growing rivalry between Tennis star player, Izumi, and the talented baseball pitcher, Ryo, which culminates in an intriguing baseball challenge; If Izumi is able to hit one of Ryo’s pitches and get safely to first base, the new baseball team is to be dissolved. If the star pitcher can strike Izumi out however, she must agree to join the baseball team and become the ninth and final member.

This leads to some great training sequences and further character development as both protagonists must rise to meet a new challenge they want to desperately overcome, a girl who doesn’t belong in the school and has taken away her mother’s attention from her for Izumi, and the yet to be understood hatred that her rival has for her, as well as powerful and necessary addition to the baseball team for Ryo.

The pace of the story, the conveyed atmosphere, the music...everything just comes together so well in these episodes. This is what good anime is all about. With the much needed rivalry finally becoming an integral part of the story I was on the edge of my site by the time I was done watching volume two of Princess Nine.

The animation in these episodes is on the same level as the previous five with some nicer -than-average scenes thrown in on episodes eight and nine for the training sequences and the showdown itself. All in all it's colorful, detailed and very smoothly & crisply animated.

More so than in episodes one through five the music has a more powerful presence in volume two due to the dramatic moments it helps carry forth. I cannot give the soundtrack enough accolades, it really helps brings the quality of Princess Nine to a higher plane that could not have been attained otherwise. This is the kind of series that just requires this level of music to work.

Volume two of Princess Nine includes the following episodes:

Episode 6- Catch This!
Episode 7- We Need you Izumi
Episode 8- The Future on the Line
Episode 9- Winners and Losers

Extras on the disc include clean copies of the opening and closing , the U.S. teaser and trailer for the series, and a rather interesting Oden cooking special (a must see!)

Conclusion

I can't believe I'm becoming such a fan of a baseball-themed anime! This really is a rare jewel that should be checked out by all anime fans. I cannot recommend this title highly enough, just trust me and go check it out, you won't regret it.

Look forward with great anticipation to seeing volume three.

Jeffrey Couto