Review of Fena: Pirate Princess

Spoiler Warning: We finally got a new pirate anime that isn't One Piece. No offense to that franchise though, it's still a masterpiece. After the success of anime originals, Fena: Pirate Princess delivered a decent story with incredible animation for a Crunchyroll original series. Along with the various similarities to other forms of media, this original can have its mishaps along the way, which were notable, but I didn't have a problem with it. Besides all the flaws this anime had, it also has its moments that were stunning to watch. With that, here are the pros and cons of Fena: Pirate Princess. The plot itself focusedon pirates in the show's beginning, but it soon adds other aspects that may be confusing to follow, such as samurai. However, it was able to mash those two together perfectly to create a colorful cast of characters that I enjoyed watching. The pacing for the anime was decent, as it was somewhat slow, but it evenly paced the first half of the series without any significant complications. However, towards the story's climax, it was rushed to reach the destined goal, which made sense since it's a one cour series, but it could've been better they didn't do a good job executing it. The only thing that I disliked was the ending. The fact that the ending explained how all the events of the anime and its choices weren't made by the protagonist herself wasn't the best move. And in the end, it pulled the same fate for Fena as they did for "Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song," but worse. The consistency between the events in the series was not the greatest, but the romance was fun to watch between Fena and the main male character.

The story was simple in the beginning. A princess escapes marriage to go on an adventure with her crew to recover her memories. Typical cliche pirate stuff, but when the main antagonist appears, it expands to interpersonal family problems. As the pacing was problematic, it focused more on Fena's past, which was great. Despite that, the anime gave little time for actual world-building, which would've been better since it's a pirate anime, but character development among central cast members earned my respect. For the climax of the story, the buildup towards the reveal of Eden was well done, and I commend the anime for making it and the other locations look amazing. Even though the story took place in the real world, the other areas like Eden would somewhat be out of place in the real world, but I honestly liked its inclusion in the story. The ending itself was complex and hard to understand. In terms of the romance, it was an emotional and bittersweet note to end. While the loss of the main character's memories is slowly becoming overused in other anime, they're still able to get most fans emotional after getting too attached to the main protagonist. In terms of character development, I enjoyed it, but in terms of actual travel, I wish there were a few more seasons to show off other areas, however, it's understandable why the anime's like that in the first place.

The characters were the best part of the series, in my opinion. Although I wished Fena could've been useful as a fighter, I liked her importance as a figure to the events before the ending. However, her expanding on her role was a double-edged sword, as it gave her decent character development, but it questioned how forced her choices were, and never got to think for herself. Her overall goal to recover her memories was shortsighted, as the ending made all of her efforts for nothing. On a positive note, the central male, Yukimaru was fun to watch. No matter how cool his name is, I liked his portrayal as a male tsundere, acts tough, but deep inside, he's is a nice guy. Although I wish Fena and Yukimaru's romance was expanded on more, I still enjoyed their moments together, both funny and romantic at the same time. The rest of Fena's crew had incredible diversity in their characters, and the voice acting among them was also fun to watch as it gave the characters their sense of personality. The main antagonist turned out to be a tragic character as his moments were harsh, but he eventually got what he wanted, which I'm glad did that route for the villain, which rarely happens in other anime nowadays. However, one character wasn't the best, as his role was meaningless. He only showed importance until the end and didn't leave an impact on the other characters, so it would've been better if he wasn't there. I loved how the character design in this anime has a Disney-like feel towards it on a positive side.

The animation is one of the most beautiful I've ever seen made by Production I.G, the same studio that animates Haikyuu. During the fight scenes, the movements were smooth, and it shows blood rather than censoring it, which I'm glad they didn't censor the blood. The areas such as Eden were beautiful to watch almost in a realistic manner. Combined with the character design, the visuals made this anime incredibly beautiful, and I was amazed at how much detail they put into this series. Despite the rough story, the animation made up for it, and I'm glad that actual effort was put into it instead of rushing it.

The music was nothing more than stunning, especially the opening and the ending. In terms of the music quality, the beginning song is sung by JUNNA. The same singer behind the opening song for The Ancient Magus Bride. She sounds incredible as she gave the opening song a sense of adventure for Fena's crew while maintaining a natural beauty to the instruments played for it. The ending itself has an incredible buildup to it. At first, it sounds bittersweet, but towards its climax, its tone changes for more hope for Fena, which they executed that aspect perfectly. On a separate note, the song Fena sang in the anime has great importance. I thought it was just a random song, but its significance to the story is my favorite part of anime that uses music as an aspect, and I loved it so much. Overall, the animation and music were my favorite parts of the entire original series.

Overall, the story was good, but at the same time, it wasn't perfect. If the choices in the anime were made better, then Fena: Pirate Princess would've been as great as Odd Taxi and Vivy. However, the anime was able to make up for the story with great characters, beautiful animation, and an incredible soundtrack. Crunchyroll originals can be hit-or-miss, but I feel like this was their best one yet. It was funny because it accomplished its goals before One Piece, but it showed me there is hope for pirate anime just as good as Fena. Crunchyroll, you outdid yourselves with this anime. I'm glad you gave me another pirate anime to watch.