Princess Waltz

Princess Waltz is a Visual Novel by Pulltop, notable for being easily the most graphically intensive and text heavy example of the genre to be published in the west. Indeed some reviewers have declared it a possible and quite intentional Crowning Moment of Awesome for publisher Peach Princess, who it is safe to say have produced what is easily the most accomplished of their localizations so far (which is to say that spotting a spelling mistake is rare).

It is a tale of a land called Eldhiland, where for years the six princesses of the land have competed in the titular tournament in order to win the hand of the Prince of the Imperial Family. Now it is time for the ladies to compete for the hand of Prince Chris, these six beautiful girls showing off their graceful dancing skills as they discover the values of friendship, love and embroidery...

Oh, it's not that kind of story? Ok, strike that, it seems the Princess Waltz is less about dancing, and more about said six princesses beating the unholy crap out of each other with a selection of improbably huge and unlikely weapons. With Eldhiland choosing to hold the tournament on present day earth, main character and good natured jock Arata is drawn into events when he accidentally befriends the local Enigmatic Transfer Student and discovers that said transfer student is the much coveted Prince Chris himself. For unknown reasons Chris has joined the Waltz in disguise as the mysterious Princess Iris, and after much Ho Yay Arata decides to aid him in his battle to beat the other five and win the tournament himself.

Said Princesses include:

Princess Suzushiro Shikikagura: On the surface the Token Mini Moe Proper Lady Shallow Love Interest and Unlucky Childhood Friend of Chris. In fact it quickly becomes clear that she is also Hot Bloodedness and a Plucky Girl, along with being a very badass

Princess Angela Victoire Blendin: An unapologetic Blood Knight, she cares less about Chris and more about getting the best fight possible from her opponents. As such she is antagonistic but honourable, her Slasher Smile in combat mediated by her tendency to Pet the Dog outside of it.

Princess Liesel Hansel: A Genius Bruiser and borderline Badass Normal, who makes up for her lack of physical ability with deadly cunning and her mechanical augmentations. The Little Miss Snarker of the cast, she prides herself on her lack of concern for the concepts of a fair fight and regularly derides those who choose Honor Before Reason.

Princess Liliana Guenther: Genki Girl and Plucky Comic Relief, she is also rather Genre Savvy and could probably singlehandedly qualify for half the anime tropes on the site. Don't let it fool you, at least some of her personality is Obfuscating Stupidity disguising an experienced and clever combatant.

Beast Princess: The last princess, introduced near the end of the story. It is implied that she makes a few appearances earlier on, protecting Arata from the shadows. Unlike the other princesses, she has little interest in the Princess Waltz and Chris, and is more concerned in protecting Arata. It is implied that she is closer than everyone thinks.

Not getting by simply on the strength of its high production values (Even the minor characters get unique paperdolls!) Princess Waltz combines likable and interesting characters with a tone that shifts seamlessly between comedy and drama with equal attention and skill paid to both. The plot isn't anything new but it's well told, and even if it occasionally veers towards thin excuses for everyone to punch each other the fights are so damn good it doesn't matter. So good indeed that at times you ache for them to be animated, excellent sound effects and clever use of paper dolls combining with strong writing to produce some truly badass stuff.

Provides examples of:
"Arata: What? DAILY?
 * Adaptive Ability: The Guardeners. They start in a few basic forms--wolf, giant bug, etc--but regenerate into a new, more powerful form after defeat. The only way to prevent this is to destroy them completely.
 * Awesome but Impractical: Your Mileage May Vary of course but the skills in the game during the card battles. Sure they can deal way more damage than the usual damage but there's a catch. To give you an example: 1st phase throw a Feint: you get initiative. Fair enough. 2nd phase throw an Overdrive. Oh look, the enemy has a card and is using it to block using Parry. Too bad try again the next day. Skills are one shot only and they can only be refilled the day after.
 * Fortunately, the enemies have very specific criteria for them to use their skills, one of which includes you throwing out four cards in the right phase. They also visibly bring out the skill card whenever you fulfill the requirement, allowing you a chance to decide whether to bring out more guns, let it use the skill, or put the card which triggered it back (which also causes the enemy to withdraw their skill).
 * Badass: Most of the main cast.
 * Badass Crew
 * Badass Normal: Ordinary High School Student (well, mostly) Arata manages to do some pretty badass things, though he often has to suffer afterwards. He never tires of going after monsters who could kill him with a look, armed with some Improvised Weapon.
 * Well, ditto for Liesel: she actually isn't a real princess, as her homeland is a meritocracy without a nobility. For that matter,  Gah.
 * Badass Princess: The female characters who fight.
 * Batman Gambit / Evil Plan / Gambit Roulette: At the end of the game, its still not clear what the hell April was up to, so there's really no way to know which of these apply.
 * Battle Ballgown
 * Berserk Button: Suzushiro has quite a few, including touching her or pointing out that her Proper Lady facade is looking a bit shaky.
 * Better Than a Bare Bulb
 * Beware the Nice Ones: The contrast between Suzushiro's normal personality and her personality in battle is... dramatic, to say the least.
 * Bifauxnen:, who makes all the girls Squee.
 * Worst job hiding it. Ever. Is this even worth spoilering?
 * Well, to be fair, this game seems to be very Genre Savvy about itself, and considering the sheer idiocy that would result by insulting our intelligence, the designers thought lampshading this trope immediately would be a good idea instead. Considering how hard maintaining that plot twist would be anyway, that was probably for the best.
 * Even Arata feels like a moron after the reveal. It's THAT obvious.
 * Hell, on the official English site,  is referred to as a she. Which is strange, since it also mentions that Iris always appears when Chris is in danger, but is never around him. The reason is Heavily implied in the first chapter.
 * Hell just turn off Male voices...you'll notice she keeps on talking.
 * Big Ol Eyebrows: Liliana actually refers to Suzushiro as 'eyebrows girl'.
 * Biological Mashup/Fusion Dance/Gender Bender/Sharing a Body:
 * Butt Monkey: Poor Chris proves The White Prince for about ten seconds before the whole world gathers together to make his life hell.
 * Glen too, who despite being a powerful dragon lord is invariably referred to as a chicken and tends to have every attempted moments of badassery go horribly wrong before the scene is out.
 * Big Bad:
 * Bloodless Carnage: Despite the characters clearly being described as being covered in blood this is rarely evident in any of the CG's, where they sometimes don't even seem bruised.
 * Most after-fight CG subverts it, oh-so-blatant Clothing Damage, numerous visible bruise, and LITTLE blood for that much damage...of course!
 * BFS: Iris's Finishing Move. Angela and Liesel's weapons are also ludicrously huge.
 * Brother Sister Incest: . Even more so
 * The second one probably counts as a Crosses the Line Twice, considering how H-Games usually dance around actually doing this trope for real.
 * Captain Ersatz: Fans have noted a large number of similarities between Iris and Saber, and Shichiou with Gilgamesh.
 * Card Games: Hybridized with a traditional RPG battle engine for fights against enemies, and done amazingly well.
 * Calling Your Attacks: This is a given, considering the genre.
 * Cast From Hit Points:
 * Cast Of Snowflakes
 * Celibate Hero: All the Princesses, mostly for 'Love Is A Distraction' reasons (Seems a requirement for participation is being a Plucky Girl). Liliana has three married sisters and falls into 'Love is Beneath Me', she frowns on their lack of ambition and won't settle for anything less than a Prince.
 * It's a requirement to participate; this is a tournament to decide the Emperor's wife after all... Reference:
 * Subverted. But then, it's an H-game, so how could it not be?
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Also
 * Winged Maid...
 * Chessmaster:
 * Clothing Damage: Pretty much everyone by the end of a fight.
 * Conservation of Ninjutsu: Toyed with in the battle engine. Any card that you don't play one turn gets held onto for the next turn and increases its value by 2.
 * Christmas Cake:
 * Combat Pragmatist: Liesel.
 * Cool vs. Awesome: Both the company that translated it to the USA, and the gamers whom have tried this game have ALWAYS compared it with Fate Stay Night, and it even has IMPRESSED some fans of the actual Fate Stay Night. So, it should be no surprise that this game has a HIGH Holy Shit Quotient.
 * Covert Pervert: Suzushiro and Shizuka are the standout examples. Suzushiro tries to be a proper Yamato Nadeshiko, but her sex scene is the kinkiest in the game. And Shizuka styles herself Arata's bodyguard/maid, but she...comforts herself daily.
 * Cool vs. Awesome: Both the company that translated it to the USA, and the gamers whom have tried this game have ALWAYS compared it with Fate Stay Night, and it even has IMPRESSED some fans of the actual Fate Stay Night. So, it should be no surprise that this game has a HIGH Holy Shit Quotient.
 * Covert Pervert: Suzushiro and Shizuka are the standout examples. Suzushiro tries to be a proper Yamato Nadeshiko, but her sex scene is the kinkiest in the game. And Shizuka styles herself Arata's bodyguard/maid, but she...comforts herself daily.

Shizuka: Ah...ah, no. That was a slip of the tongue. I meant to say weekly."

"Iris: Our time is done. It is time for us to go."
 * Crazy Prepared
 * Crash Into Hello
 * Defeat Means Friendship: Angela's quote from below.
 * Determinator and Plucky Girls: Everyone. Arata actually notes that more than anything else the Waltz seems to be a test of just how stupid and stubborn you are.
 * Deliberate Injury Gambit: Arata beats this way,
 * Downer Ending:
 * Elephant in The Living Room:
 * However, the game does imply that  Which is actually a rather touching piece of Fridge Brilliance if true.
 * Everythings Better With Princesses: And how!
 * Also contains a mild subversion with Liesel. Since the country Palmied is run by a merchant oligarchy rather than a monarchy, "princess" is simply the designation for whichever girl is selected to participate in the Waltz, rather than an actual noble title...though it's hinted that the princess is usually upper-class, since.
 * Fan Nickname: Chris was christened.
 * Finishing Move: Everyone gets one, given an appropriately awesome CG.
 * Fission Mailed: There's a fake "bad end" halfway through the game.
 * Five Man Band: In the second half we have;
 * The Leader: Arata
 * The Lancer: Angela, literally in this case.
 * The Smart Guy: Liesel/
 * The Little Guy: Suzushiro
 * The Strategist: Lun Lun
 * The Sixth Ranger: The Beast Princess
 * Genre Savvy: If you look at some of the dialogue of the characters, especially Lun Lun and the Big Bad, they seem to be VERY aware of the H-Game and RPG tropes the game runs on. Angela also has a few moments where she does a very snarky Lampshade Hanging on how poorly the Chekhov's Gunman trope was hidden. In fact, Nodoka even notices the clichedness of the stock excuse that is given for Arata knowing all the girls, but Nanae convinces her to follow the MST3K Mantra. Hell, it approaches Leaning On the Fourth Wall levels when
 * The Big Bad is an interesting mix of Genre Savvy and Contractual Genre Blindness. He's aware he's a villain and is often one step ahead of the good guys, but he fulfills pretty much every stock villain cliche simultaneously. He even hangs lampshades on some of it.
 * Good Morning Crono: In the grand Dating Sim and RPG tradition, the game begins with Arata waking up in the morning and discovering that he's overslept and is late for school.
 * Graceful Loser:
 * Grand Theft Me: Shichiou
 * Halfway Plot Switch: A pretty epic one, too. The game looks like a Tournament Arc with a Chessmaster working behind the scenes, but then halfway through
 * Healing Factor: The Prince's Blessing.
 * The Heartless: The Guardeners. Also a Meaningful Name as they guard the garden.
 * Honor Before Reason: Angela, Arata, Chris, and the Big Bad shamelessly adhere to this trope a LOT.
 * Hero Ball: Arata repeatedly charges into battle against monsters that totally outclass him. It tends to work out for the best, but, as the other characters point out, it's extremely foolish.
 * Given how any and all of the Princesses tend to be a lot more heroic around him, let's face it: Arata is the Hero Ball.
 * Hot Shonen Mom: Arata's mother.
 * Ho Yay: In Universe example; Chris and Arata, something commented on repeatedly by the other characters.
 * I Am Not Left Handed: Liesel seems weak at first, very powerful but slow and clumsy.
 * Idiot Hair: One of Arata's unnamed classmates, a girl with an ahoge who displays the amount of intellect you'd expect.
 * Irony: Wait a minute...
 * Jerkass Facade:
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold: Your Mileage May Vary, but Angela is only a Blood Knight when she's got an opponent in front of her. She's still haughty and supremely confident at other times, but often does so while Petting The Dog.
 * Karma Houdini:
 * Kill It With Fire: Both of Angela's finishing moves are perfect incarnations of this trope.
 * Kiai:
 * Kill It With Water: Liliana's water pistol allows her to do all sorts of tricks with water.
 * Level Up At Intimacy 5
 * Lightning Glare: Suzushiro and Lun-Lun have enough of these to power the entire East Coast for a few days.
 * Love Dodecahedron: By the end of the game, all the available girls like Arata, their feelings ranging from profound respect to outright devotion, leaving huge hints of the Tenchi Solution.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: One of Liesel's attacks.
 * Mega Manning:
 * Angela also notes
 * Ninja Maid: April is this for Chris, much more powerful than she looks.
 * Not Blood Siblings:
 * Not So Different: The Big Bad claims that Arata will eventually come to the same conclusions he did, which will lead to the exact same thing happening again. Iris retorts that if it does, then the current generation will have to deal with it.


 * Obfuscating Stupidity: If you think that "Lun-Lun" is nothing more than an anime-obsessed Genki Girl Ditz, then you haven't gotten to the scene where she points out that her family is in charge of the most powerful naval force in their world, and are responsible for constantly battling pirates. As a result, she has at least as much combat experience as ANGELA.
 * Actually, this troper remembers differently.
 * Oh Crap: "I have brought down the bird in the sky."
 * Omniscient Morality License: Frigging.
 * Our Dragons Are Butt Monkeys
 * Poor, poor Glen.
 * Out of the Inferno:
 * Paper Thin Disguise: No one connects Iris and Chris, despite the fact they even have the same hairdo.
 * Even if you don't wind up teaming with the 6th princess, the game does a very terrible job of disguising who she really is.
 * Playing With Fire: Angela's Finishing Move has her cloaked in huge dragon made of fire.
 * Made especially impressive in that said Finishing Move was
 * Porn With Plot: Very, very plot heavy, with the porn, while unskippable, brief, rather tasteful, and it compromises about maybe 3-5% of the game content at absolute best.
 * Psychotic Smirk: Angela rarely wears anything else. Suzushiro also pulls one occasionally when she's in a bitchy mood.
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: Liesel. Not evil as such, but certainly not a very nice person.
 * Red Oni Blue Oni: Angela vs Liliana. It had to happen sometime. Also: first battle of Iris and Angela.
 * Reverse Shrapnel: Liesel uses this trick with high-tech cannonballs.
 * Royals Who Actually Do Something: Self explanatory.
 * Running Gag: Chris and Arata being forced to hold hands, and the reactions of everyone around them.
 * Sealed Evil in A Can: Eldin/Shichiou.
 * Secret Identity:
 * Sexy Mentor: April of course! At least as far as she's concerned.
 * Tenchi Solution: Princess Waltz implies that this could easily be the case through dialogue, plot implications, and practical reasons. To wit:
 * Dialogue: ALL of the girls (especially in the true ending), wind up liking Arata to some greater or lesser degree, ranging anywhere from profound respect to outright love.
 * Plot Implications: We are given very broad reason to believe that not only is the world the Princesses have come from very relaxed standards wise (they aren't as hung up over illegitimate kids), but the Brother Sister Incest implications in the plot are not regarded as Squick by the other girls. In fact, they SUPPORT Arata/Chris (with the broad implication on both sides that they wouldn't mind being haremettes or in a polygamous relationship, which is actually not uncommon for royalty)
 * Practical Reasons: Due to the events of the game plot having caused major political uncertainty, the Tenchi Solution would be a great idea for political expendiency (with the added bonus the prince and princesses would actually be pretty okay with it), and considering the whole plot was an Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny to determine the continuance of the political balance, the Tenchi Solution benefits all sides.
 * The above said, the plot begs for an extended epilogue Fanfic.
 * And at the very least, the game pretty much says flat out that although Chris is the more important, Arata also gets together with at least the princess he merged with at the end.
 * Shout Out: Maybe it's just a coincidence, but Suzushiro's Big Ol Eyebrows combined with her When All You Have Is a Hammer power set puts one in mind of a certain Ninja.
 * Liesel's blue hair, red eyes and cold personality is a more obvious shout out.
 * Let's see: royalty in a blue & white battle dress, wielding a BFS who is stuck with a not so Ordinary High School Student: sounds familiar, doesn't it?
 * Surprise Pregnancy: Twice in the backstory, disqualifying the princesses in question from participating in the Waltz. In the current Waltz, it resulted in . In the last one,.
 * The Glasses Come Off: To Ominous Latin Chanting no less.
 * The Ojou: All the Princesses really, though it's Suzushiro who really embodies the trope.
 * The Faceless: The very creepy Kije.
 * The Worf Effect: Shichiou proves his credentials
 * Theme Music Power Up: When the Techno Ominous Latin Chanting starts up, someone is about to do something awesome.
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Highly encouraged in this game, in fact, as damage past an opponent's last Hit Point translates into an Experience Point boost. Managing to drop an opponent to 1 HP and then unleashing everything you've got on them is an excellent means to level up faster.
 * Totally Radical: "What the hoppin' heezy are you doing!"
 * Tsundere: Chris and Angela, neither of whom fit the standard mold.
 * Chris keeps a princely mask up at all times, but underneath is a Type A Tsundere.
 * Angela is mostly Type A, but switches to Type B for her Pet the Dog moments. Even those are pretty harsh, though, and are more like "Don't screw up too bad" rather than true deredere moments. The only exception is her sex scene.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Poor Nodoka doesn't even get a second glance. And given the nature of the game her lack of a nude scene, more or less and H-scene is very telling.
 * Wham Episode: Chapter 12-13 : Those that Fall.
 * Weapon of Choice:
 * Iris (and Chris) use a sword, as expected of The Hero.
 * Liesel uses a freaking huge hammer, obviously in reference to her being a blacksmith. Arata actually notes that it looks rather odd wielded by the emotionless and small framed girl.
 * Suzushiro
 * Angela uses a lance, counter to her Blood Knight personality.
 * Liliana uses guns, and seems to think she's The Gunslinger. It's arguable.
 * The Sixth Princess,, uses a Halberd, a different kind of Blade On a Stick.
 * Worthy Opponent: Angela does this for everyone, screaming out their names, encouraging them to fight harder, showing mercy when they lose... she even mentions after the fight against that she would have called the woman a friend.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: All the schoolgirls except Nodoka and at least one princess.
 * The Sixth Princess,, uses a Halberd, a different kind of Blade On a Stick.
 * Worthy Opponent: Angela does this for everyone, screaming out their names, encouraging them to fight harder, showing mercy when they lose... she even mentions after the fight against that she would have called the woman a friend.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: All the schoolgirls except Nodoka and at least one princess.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: All the schoolgirls except Nodoka and at least one princess.