Princess Principal

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Princess Principal is a Twelve-Episode Anime, originally aired in 2017. It is followed by a six-part film series, Princess Principal: Crown Handler, that was delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The television series has been licensed and released on Blu-ray by Sentai Filmworks, and is also available on Amazon Video.

Victorian-era Britain Albion has discovered Cavorite and used it to become even stronger than in Real Life... but a revolution a decade ago has split the country, with the London Wall marking part of the border between East and West. There's still a war going on - not fought by soldiers, but by spies and subterfuge.

So, yes, this story is set in a steampunk version of the Cold War.

The Commonwealth of Albion has devised a plan - Project Changeling - to replace the Kingdom of Albion's Princess Charlotte (fourth in line for the throne) with a double, Ange le Carré. What they didn't count on was the princess deciding to join forces with Ange in order to become Queen and reunite the nation; a decision that she fully expects to end with her going to the guillotine. The two, along with Ange's partner Dorothy and Princess's school friend Beatrice, become an espionage team for the Commonwealth, based out of the prestigious Queen's Mayfaire girls' school that Princess attends and taking mission orders from "Control". A Japanese swordswoman, Chise, joins them partway through the story. "Team Principal" has the advantage of Ange possessing the "C Ball", the smallest known Cavorite device.

To add to the suspense, every member of Team Principal (with the possible exception of Beatrice) has a secret that she's keeping from Control... and, in the cases of Ange and Princess, from the rest of the team.

The story can't decide whether it wants to be in the "trenchcoat and stale beer" or "tuxedo and martini" subtypes of espionage stories. Perhaps it's best to place it in the middle of the spectrum, at "casual outfits and red wine". Or maybe "schoolgirl uniforms and tea".


 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The tunnels under and through the Wall are immense.  Then again, the Wall is tall and thick enough that entire buildings are incorporated into it...
 * Alternate Techline: Takes place in an alternate early 20th-century Great Britain where cavorite-powered antigravity makes massive flying battleships possible.
 * Anachronic Order: The stories were aired (and provided in the North American Blu-ray release) out-of-order. Each episode is identified with a "Case" number that indicates where it falls in chronological order.
 * Identical Stranger: The only reason Project Changeling was even considered is because Ange and Princess Charlotte look alike.
 * Impersonation Gambit:
 * Project Changeling in its original form.
 * Ange tries to pull one to get most of the team into a restricted area. Since one of the guards she's trying to bluff has heard that Princess is already inside the restricted area, this quickly turns into an Indy Ploy.
 * Roof Hopping: One of the things that Ange's C-ball allows her to do.
 * Secret Path: The hole in the palace wall where Ange could get in to see Charlotte.  Destroyed on the day of the revolution.
 * Sequel Hook: Zelda's escape at the end of the final arc suggests she -- and the Commonwealth faction she works for -- will come back to cause more trouble in the film series.
 * Series Continuity Error: Case 1 mentions that everybody knows what Princess Charlotte looks like. Case 16 has Princess go undercover in a London laundry mill.
 * Spirited Young Lady: Most of the central cast, as befits a group of aristocratic teen girls (one of whom is a literal princess) from a quasi-Victorian alternate England who are a team of spies.
 * Translation Convention: The original Japanese dialog says the characters are speaking English.
 * Victorian London: With added steampunk and a Berlin-style wall. London is Team Principal's home base, and the setting for half of the stories.
 * The Wall Around the World: The London Wall.  Exactly what it encompasses is unclear, but it clearly divides the known from the unknown and the safe from the dangerous, as far as most of the characters are concerned.
 * You Are Already Checked In: In what might be the only case of both people involved being heroes, this foils an Impersonation Gambit during the final arc of the original TV series.
 * Zeppelins from Another World: The massive anti-gravity-lifted flying battleships fielded by the Kingdom of Albion, while not in any way actual Zeppelins, serve the same purpose in symbolizing the difference between the story's setting and the "real" timeline.
 * Zeppelins from Another World: The massive anti-gravity-lifted flying battleships fielded by the Kingdom of Albion, while not in any way actual Zeppelins, serve the same purpose in symbolizing the difference between the story's setting and the "real" timeline.

Characters Subpage

Characters from  usually have secrets to keep - sometimes, even their birth names are major spoilers.

Team Principal
"Team Principal" is what Control calls the team. They call themselves "Team White Pigeon" if they call themselves anything at all.

Dorothy
Voiced by Yō Taichi (Japanese), Elizabeth Bunch (English), Stephanie Kirchberger (German)

Birth name:

A description of the character goes here.


 * Big Breasts, Big Deal: The "When you've got it, you should flaunt it!" subtype. She loves showing her cleavage whenever there's a guard who needs to be distracted.
 * Older Than She Looks: She can (barely) pass for a high-school student, despite being 20 years old.

Ange le Carré
Voiced by Ayaka Imamura (Japanese), Avery Smithhart (English), Marnie Aramruck (German)

Birth name:

A description of the character goes here.


 * Meaningful Name: After John le Carré.
 * Meganekko: Ange wears Purely Aesthetic Glasses as part of her cover identity at Mayfaire, and adopts a stereotypical "cute" personality to go along with them..
 * The Glasses Come Off: Whenever she's on a mission.
 * Nice Hat: Has a rather splended black silk top hat, as shown in the main work page's image.
 * Street Urchin: Survived (and even thrived) on the streets of Commonwealth London.

Princess Charlotte
Voiced by Akira Sekine (Japanese), Patricia Duran (English), Arlette Stanschus (German)

Birth name:

A description of the character goes here.



Beatrice
Voiced (usually) by Akari Kageyama (Japanese), Shanae'a Moore (English), Liza Ohm (German)

Beatrice is Princess' best friend at Mayfaire (and vice versa), and despite her high birth is happy to serve as a servant to royalty. She's originally an honest and straightforward girl, although getting involved with the spies who have infiltrated the school quickly changes her outlook on life.

She's also a Woman of a Thousand Voices (the anime fakes this by having multiple voice actors read her lines), thanks to mechanical vocal cords that her father implanted in her throat (against her will). This comes in handy, when she's able to be heard and not seen by Team Principal's opponents.

Beatrice is an amateur spy, and thus fills the story role of "person to explain things to" - letting the scriptwriters avoid the use of As You Know.


 * Woman of a Thousand Voices: As mentioned above.

Chise
Voiced by Nozomi Furuki (Japanese), Rachael Messer (English), Julia Fölster (English)

Birth name:

A description of the character goes here.


 * Ninja

The Duke of Normandy
Voiced by Takaya Hashi (Japanese), Jay Hickman (English), Wolf Frass (German)

The Duke of Normandy is the Kingdom of Albion's Home Secretary, and thus their chief spycatcher. He would prefer to see Princess Charlotte removed from the line of succession to the throne - a non-fatal method would suffice, but he isn't the type of person who would shy away from setting up an "accident".


 * Big Bad: As far as the Commonwealth is concerned.

Gazelle
Voiced by Yuko Iida (Japanese), Melanie Burke (English), Nadine Schreier (German)

A description of the character goes here.


 * The Dragon: The "smart, detail-oriented administrator" type, although she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

Zelda
Voiced by Mie Sonozaki (Japanese), Elissa Cuellar (English), Franciska Friede (German)

A description of the character goes here.

An agent loyal to the military man she refers to simply as "General", and a representative of a different faction within Commonwealth military and intelligence than the Princess and her team has previously worked under.


 * Ax Crazy: Does not present herself as the most stable of individuals, no.

Trivia Subpage


 * The series' opening theme, "The Other Side of the Wall" by Void_Chords featuring MARU, was listed on The Best Theme Songs of 2017 list at Anime News Network; it was one of only three themes to get more than one nomination on the list.

Awesome Music Subpage


 * Crowning Music of Awesome: The opening theme to the TV series: "The Other Side of the Wall" by Void_Chords featuring MARU.