So far, Circlet Princess has been an all right anime. I would say that it ranks below similar 1-on-1 fighting anime like Chivalry of a Failed Knight and even Asterisk War, but it’s still an OK watch. I’m glad that I’ve been watching it weekly, because Id probably have trouble binging it.
This week’s episode featured some more circlet bout action, as well as some character development for Reina.
Brief Synopsis
After the practice match with Takamori Academy, their circlet bout club leader visited Union Academy in order to invite Yuuka to join their school / club after her performance in the match. While Yuuka’s circlet was all for it, Yuuka wanted to stay at Union and make things with with the members they have, plus Reina.
We learn that Reina’s older sister was the pride of Union Academy, and after much success, was scouted to go to the United States for circlet bout. When this happened, Union Academy’s circlet bout team basically fell apart. The episode focuses on Reina’s struggle to accept that fact. She has been trying to get the club shut down because she feels like she isn’t good enough to follow in her sister’s footsteps.
Yuuka gets some footage of Reina’s older sister’s fights and watches them. She then challenges Reina to a circlet bout, and proceeds to fight just like Reina’s sister, also using her weapon. Yuuka wins the fight and Reina has to join the circlet bout club, as was agreed upon prior to the fight.
Reina
Despite being really uptight and hostile at times, I really like Reina so far. I like her hair and how it looks like she could really pull off a nice hime cut if she tried, but instead she wears her hear back and has uneven bangs. Despite this she still has this sort of traditional look to her. It’s fair that she does this though, because her older sister sports a nice hime cut.
Hair aside, I guess Reina just seems like an honest character. Sure she has her hangups, or did at least, but she feels more real than many of the other characters. Yuuka seems like an airhead where things just happen to go right for her, and we haven’t seen that much of the other girls yet. Reina so far is like that one character where I feel like her hard work will pay off, or something like this. I also really like the spear / naginata as a weapon.
It’s a stark contrast to Yuuka, who just shows up and manages to do well somehow – and when asked, she is always confused as to how she fought well.
More Action
As for actual circlet bout action, we got to see Reina’s sister fight, as well as Yuuka fight Reina. The Yuuka v. Reina fight in particular was a good length, although in the beginning it was essentially a mimic of Reina’s older sister’s fight.
The thing with this show is that you can tell the animation isn’t the best, I’m going to guess it’s a budget thing… So the fights can be pretty bland at times, with characters standing still for too long and the fights just feeling slow. The fights in this episode weren’t amazing, but they really haven’t been that great since Yuuka’s first fight in episode 1.
I’m just hoping they saved their efforts for the more important fights, and that we will still get some great fights before the end. I’d love to see a fast-paced Reina fight.
New Weapon
Figure I’ll mention the new weapon we see in this episode, because the weapons can get pretty ridiculous. This one is a super curved sword, to the point where the sword is essentually a semi-circle. A sickle sword I guess? It looks extremely useless in a 1 on 1 fight. I feel like this kind of sword would be more effectively used from on the back of a fast moving horse… (which would still lose to Reina’s sister’s naginata).
Final Thoughts
The episode was pretty good. I liked seeing Reina as the focus of the episode, and am glad that the circlet bout club has finally gotten everyone together. I hope to see the club improve enough to be able to win matches against other schools in the future. I also hope that everyone improves, and not just Yuuka.
That’s it for episode 4.
Until next time.
Thanks for reading!
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