Princess Waltz: Difference between revisions

[[File:rsz_homecharabg9_7521.jpg|frame]]

 

 

It is a tale of a land called Eldhiland, where for years the [[Everything's Better with Princesses|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...

Said Princesses include:

 

 

'''Princess Angela [[Meaningful Name|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.

Not getting by simply on the strength of its high production values [[Cast of Snowflakes|(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.

 

* [[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.

** 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 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, {{spoiler|she's not the official competitor either. The girl chosen for Waltz was disqualified for... taking the celebration about the fact she was [[Double Entendre|chosen too far]]. Liesel, who made her dress, was the only one who could have mastered it in the remaining time... And she did, wiping the floor with two arguably strongest princessess in the Waltz, only losing to a Love Power-up.}} Gah.

* [[Bifauxnen]]: {{spoiler|Chris}}, who makes all the girls [[Squee]].

** [[It Was His Sled|Worst job hiding it]]. '''Ever'''. Is this even worth spoilering?

** Even Arata feels like a moron after the reveal. It's THAT obvious.

** Hell, on the official English site, {{spoiler|Chris}} 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 [[Did Not Do the Research|the first chapter]].

* [[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 [[Not Safe for Work|after-fight CG]] subverts it, oh-so-blatant [[Clothing Damage]], numerous visible bruise, and LITTLE blood for that much damage...[[Fetish Fuel|of course]]!

* [[Brother-Sister Incest]]: {{spoiler|Arata and his adopted sister Shizuka}}. Even more so {{spoiler|Arata and Chris who are half-siblings, cousins, and second-cousins}}

** The second one probably counts as a [[Crosses the Line Twice]], considering how H-Games usually dance around actually doing this trope for real.

* [[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 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.

* [[Deliberate Injury Gambit]]: Arata beats {{spoiler|Suzushiro}} this way, {{spoiler|along with a [[Can't Have Sex Ever|hefty dose]] of mostly justified [[Moral Dissonance]]. He allows her to punch him (breaking two of his ribs) before tacklehugging her, binding her with power neutralizing bandages and at the same time breaking her [[Celibate Hero|Can't Touch Men]] promise. Still, he feels bad about doing it, and she was the one who picked a fight with him.}}

* [[Downer Ending]]: {{spoiler|Halfway through the game, it tells you that you got the bad ending. It's just [[Bait and Switch Credits]], but a very mean one that almost makes the player cry.}}

** However, the game does imply that {{spoiler|''he fell so hard for Chris he probably knows and still doesn't care!''}} Which is actually a rather [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|touching]] piece of [[Fridge Brilliance]] if true.

** 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 {{spoiler|Riko was only a lowly engineer, but the only one qualified to use the Dress after the original girl [[Surprise Pregnancy|was disqualified]]}}.

* [[Fan Nickname]]: Chris was christened {{spoiler|Reverse Trap [[Fate/stay night|Saber]] by her detractors}}.

* [[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.

* [[Macross Missile Massacre]]: One of Liesel's attacks.

* [[Mega Manning]]: {{spoiler|Angela manages to defeat Liliana by using Iris's [[Finishing Move]] on her, having observed it in a previous fight.}}

** Angela also notes {{spoiler|that if Liliana had the chance to observe this [[Finishing Move]] beforehand she would end up with a powerup of her own: and she seems to do just that during the final battle, if chosen.}}

* [[Obfuscating Stupidity]]: If you think that "Lun-Lun" is nothing more than an anime-obsessed [[Genki Girl]] [[The Ditz|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. {{spoiler|Lun-Lun had more combat experience, but Angela had more raw power. Finesse vs Brute Force}}

* [[Omniscient Morality License]]: Frigging {{spoiler|APRIL}}.

* [[Our Dragons Are Different|Our Dragons Are Butt Monkeys]]

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]]: Self explanatory.

* [[Running Gag]]: Chris and Arata being forced to hold hands, and the reactions of ''everyone'' around them.

* [[Secret Identity]]: {{spoiler|The other princesses do not know that Chris is Iris, Liesel is gathering data in the form of Riko, Arata's [[Huge Schoolgirl]] classmate.}}

* [[Sexy Mentor]]: April of course! [[Eccentric Mentor|At least as far as she's concerned.]] {{spoiler|Oh and as that previous trope hints, she's not [[Treacherous Advisor|quite as harmless as she seems.]]}}

* [[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 [[Naruto|Ninja.]]

** Liesel's blue hair, red eyes and cold personality is a [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|more obvious]] shout out.

* [[Surprise Pregnancy]]: Twice in the backstory, disqualifying the princesses in question from participating in the Waltz. In the current Waltz, it resulted in {{spoiler|Riko becoming Palmied's "Princess Liesel"}}. In the last one, {{spoiler|Nanae dropped out after becoming pregnant with Shizuka}}.

* [[The Glasses Come Off]]: To [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] no less. {{spoiler|Go Liesel!}}

* [[Wham! Episode]]: Chapter 12-13 : Those that Fall.

* [[Weapon of Choice]]:

** Liesel uses a [[Drop the Hammer|freaking huge hammer]], obviously in reference to her being a blacksmith. Arata actually notes that it looks rather odd wielded by the [[Emotionless Girl|emotionless]] and small framed girl.

** Suzushiro {{spoiler|is a [[Bare-Fisted Monk]], her personality a equal mix of cocky and disciplined.}}

[[Category:Visual Novel]]

[[Category:H-game]]