Review of Fena: Pirate Princess
A promising pirate tale made laughable by contrived storytelling and convoluted fantasy elements. Fena: Pirate Princess is a somewhat misleading title. Fena is a princess, but not a pirate. There’s more emphasis on romance and drama than swashbuckling sword fights or buried treasure. Imagine if Princess Peach went on a globetrotting adventure—a damsel to constantly get kidnapped by one-dimensional villains and a MacGuffin to steer the plot. Except, Fena lacks the charm of your imagination. Her ditzy and energetic personality loses charm quickly; Especially because she’s intentionally annoying. A running gag is that she talks too much, which never becomes funny. The swaths of men whovie for her affection, or to simply spend a night with her, do so because she is irresistibly attractive (so we are told). She’s blond, blue-eyed, and very white—which characters repeatedly imply (and sometimes say outright) equals purity. Aside from being the perfect specimen of beauty, her personality is skin deep. She’s a blank slate ‘chosen one’ for the viewer to project onto. What she has been ‘chosen’ for is rather ambiguous. The so-called pirates, both good and evil, believe she possesses an intangible key. The key to a mysterious place called Eden. That name may make you wonder if Pirate Princess is a biblical metaphor. But the surprising direction the story goes will make you question if the writers have ever picked up a Bible.
When Fena is held up by bandits, she prays for someone to save her, and a man shows up and saves her. Again, she begs to be saved, and she is. She isn’t capable of taking care of herself. Luckily, she is shrouded in plot armor. All she has to do is be a damsel in distress. Her only other usage is leading the way to Eden with magical contrived abilities. When her escorts are lost, she switches to an alter ego and knows exactly what to do. Dream sequences and flashbacks hint she has deeper motivations in suppressed memories, and the build-up is consistently intriguing. On the other hand, the pay-off to her character arc is a massive dud.
Abel Bluefield is the anime’s central antagonist, who at the start, replaces the would-be villain that planned to marry Fena. He gave the suitor, a womanizer, an ultimatum, to capture Fena or die. Abel inevitably takes the reigns as the true villain accompanied by his disorganized pirate henchmen. The times they chase after Fena and co. are when the series takes itself less seriously, and it's earnestly a blast, but that does not last. The lead swashbuckler, a red-haired busty pirate, comes onto Abel, to remind you this isn't a kids' show. As the series progresses, Abel becomes increasingly fascistic and joins together with nameless European soldiers.
Yukimaru is the love interest and childhood friend of our titular heroine. A skilled fighter with a subdued personality that makes up for her boisterous behavior. Their relationship consists of her blushing at the thought of romance and him being oblivious to anything related to love. What 20-year-old guy doesn’t know what sex is? It takes more than blushing and awkward pauses to convince an audience that two characters are in love. Those are just some of the many failed attempts at comedy; that usually get dispensed by a comic relief character. Either the jokes are incomprehensible, or there was no punchline because they never made me laugh once, well, intentionally. The melodramatic lectures from Yukimaru and Shitan were more effective at inducing laughter than being taken seriously. When Fena starts singing like a Disney princess and Yukimaru instantly knows the lyrics by heart, you have to wonder if the writers intended it to be taken seriously.
Compared to Fena and Yukimaru, how do the rest of the characters fare? They’re one-note. Their reason for accompanying them on the journey to Eden is out of obligation. We know their names, but not their motivations or their personalities beyond surface-level traits. The times the anime attempts to develop chemistry between the good guys come off as awkward. They're more believable as a group of actors who hate each other pretending to be friends than a team.
The animation, sound, music are perfunctory. It is a predictable soundtrack, with a few insert songs that leave no impression. At least it is never distracting. Action-packed fight sequences once an episode spice up the adventuring and endless comic relief. There’s enough violence and death to keep you interested in between the long stretches of waiting for things to happen. A typical polished series for studio Production I.G. (Psycho-Pass, Haikyuu, Ancient Magus Bride). Visually it is one of their less impressive efforts, though the art and animation are more consistent than 90% of seasonal anime. But it’s not enough to sell a fundamentally flawed anime, particularly when it climaxes in a wet fart of an ending.
Fena—AKA White Marginal/Pasty Girl: Snow White and the Pirates follows a monotonous pattern; kidnapping, false stakes, awkward romance, and heartfelt speeches that fall flat. In the third act, it takes a sharp turn into nonsensical fantasy territory. God, the afterlife, spirits, and a forced attempt at metacommentary on fairy tales. By the time the show has already crashed and burned, the final twist is so alienating that it leaves you numb.