Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Fena: Pirate Princess
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zfunk
Posts: 259 |
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I have theory over why that happened. spoiler[I think this is because Fena wanted to save not just Yukimaru but all her friends. And because one of the Goblin crew had feelings for one of the pirates, she was brought back to life. And since she was close to those other two, they were bought back. A weird magic interpretation of saving your friends.] As for the series, under whelming, not the worst in the world. Though spoiler[this show trying to make Abel and Helena this series version of Zereff and Mavis. They are not Zereff and Mavis,Able for sure sure is no Zereff, I sure cared about those two than the two in this show.] |
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 2616 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Ha! That's exactly what I thought they were trying to do, too! 
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Delphisage
Posts: 55 |
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Who are Zereff and Mavis?
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zfunk
Posts: 259 |
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Characters from Fairy Tail. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18223 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Ditto, although I might periodically rewatch the opener. ("The Sea and Pearl" is one of my favorite anime themes of the year.) While I agree with comments about the series feeling rushed, overall my main criticism is how Fena was handled as a character. The series mellowed her out way too much in the later episodes, resulting in her losing the delightfully spunky edge she had earlier on. I can forgive other faults and wonky logic in the name of entertainment value, but that gradually grew to be a distraction. |
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JoelBurger
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Seeing some parallels between the beginning and the end here. In both cases Fena is denied agency over her own life, given two possible choices that's actually just one choice because of how stacked towards one side the other party makes it, all couched in having her marry someone. Which speaks to how badly they bungled Fena as a character, that we went from a Fena who does everything in her power to escape that situation to a Fena who meekly accepts her place in Eden (because there needs to be a Maiden of Choosing for vague and undefined reasons). What a pirate princess, really fighting the status quo and the powers that be there.
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marklungo
 Posts: 80 Location: Berea, Ohio |
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And the writers showed some self-awareness about that in this episode, as Fena and Cody discussed how little agency Fena has had and how she's been manipulated by powerful forces she barely understands. The animation has been beautiful throughout, but as for the writing and the characters, Fena has been a major disappointment. |
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1567 |
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I love how they didn't even try to explain all the nonsense from the past couple of weeks, they just doubled down by throwing in even MORE random plot twists. Fena's dad is the king of England? It's her job to destroy the world? Unless she doesn't feel like it? We never find out who made Eden or how? The whole journey feels pointless because if Fena hadn't found Eden she'd have gotten to keep her memories and there would have been zero chance of anyone destroying the world? It's a happy ending except Fena's friends are all going to die in some battle now? The three best members of O'Malley's crew are alive after all but don't get to do anything? Kei just forgives the crew for no reason? Abel and Helena got reincarnated, and we can tell because they're the whitest children on the whole island? The treasure and the sword were real after all so I guess the Goblin Knights are millionaires now? Fena got a magic lobotomy. Happy ending! Animation-wise, this show was amazing. Writing-wise, this show was terrible in a very entertaining way. Every episode, a new baffling writing decision that derails everything that came before. A main character who goes from being incredibly passive to deciding the fate of the planet in the span of five minutes. Just a narrative trainwreck that kept piling on wreckage week after week, while we all stood by in awe. Terrible show. I hope there's a season two. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11407 |
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I'm not sure if I can articulate this properly, but I finally realized what was putting me off about Fena more than anything. And that's that her character design and animation seemed to go out of its way to be as moe as possible in every shot, to manipulate me into wanting to protect her smile. That goal felt more like the raison d'être behind every artistic decision than conveying her personality and emotional state was. Which obviously not only didn't work, but made me actively dislike her. It's not that I object to moe, per se, but there was always something I couldn't quite put my finger on that made her feel more like a canvas to paint moe-ness on than a character.
On another note, I couldn't stop giggling at Fena's dress animation. She reminded me of one of those poor weather reporters sent out to stand in a hurricane to show viewers how windy it is. And I know there were supernatural shenanigans going on with the multi-seasonal island rising up from the sea, but when that was over...weren't they originally off the coast of Iceland? You know, that part of the world famed for its sandy beaches, palm trees and warm, shallow, clear blue waters? I imagine there's a good reason for that, but this finale made so little sense to me, it's just easier to go "huh?" and move along. 
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5854 Location: Virginia, United States |
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So is this basically true...............? |
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zfunk
Posts: 259 |
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Can we give those 3 O'Malley Pirates survivor, the "only a flesh wound" award that Yukimaru had all season. All season Yukimaru has been no selling what should be fatal blows or at least more damaging than they turned out to be. But these ladies have him beat, no selling what happened to them.
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db999
Posts: 303 |
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The moment they said Fena had to choose to destroy or keep the world the same I started to check out of the episode because then I knew exactly how it would end. Fena would choose to keep the world going she’d lose her memories and then regain them at the last second of the episode and that’s exactly what happened. It was just so predictable and no amount of good animation and soundtrack could salvage this final twist. It’s impossible for me to feel anything about Fena losing her memories when it’s obvious she will regain them in the final seconds of the episode. It’s a shame because until these final two episodes I really enjoyed the show. It just ended in a complete anticlimax. If you told me that originally the show was going to be 24 episodes and then 7-8 episodes in they were suddenly told 'actually you're only getting 12 episodes, wrap it up in the next 4 episodes' I would believe you. There are so many things in episodes 7 and 8 that make it feel like there is going to be more to the story like there was supposed to be a whole other 12 episodes. It seems like the writers either didn’t really have any idea how to end the series or it was supposed to be 24 but got cut down.
If it was going to only be 12 episodes here’s how they should have ended it. Abel shouldn’t have killed the O’Malley Pirates halfway through. After he orders them to leave the pirates shouldn’t have come back they should have temporarily retreated and decided to start tracking our main characters' ship. Then when our characters find Eden it’s not just the British Navy and Abel who find them. The O’Malley Pirates and the army from Goblin Island should have shown up and then there would be a 4-way battle between them. That way the whole plotline about them being sentenced to death by Goblin Island would actually be resolved and the foreshadowing about Yukimaru and Shitan’s brother possibly being evenly matched would actually come to something and it would allow the O’Malley Pirates to live up to their full potential. Then Fena could finally use her bow to save Yukimaru at the last minute and they continue on their adventures. But now as it is we’re stuck with a disappointing series that shot itself in the foot in the final 2 episodes. I still don't think the show is bad, but in the final 2-3 episodes they took a show that I would solidly rate at 4-4.5 stars and reduced it to a series that only gets 3 stars |
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kgw
 Posts: 1075 Location: Spain, EU |
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In the end, it was the thing it promised a the beginning: a YA adventure spoiler[ with pirates, samurais, ninjas,the end of the world, true love]. With gorgeous animation and better-than-average values.
I also felt it was a bit rushed, spoiler[specially with the Abel part, the menace of Yukimaru's "brother" never realized...But well, every major character survived (except Abel), so everything is fine, I guess. ] It won't be remembered next season, but it can't be considered another "Crunchyroll original" flop or a failure. If anything, I hope that that the first step in the right direction. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2327 |
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So... the show really just sort of completely forgot about Kei hunting them, eh? Maybe Fena choosing to forget was really a metaphor for how badly they wanted the audience to forget that little story detail.
Not much more to be said that others haven't already, I guess. It was a pretty miserable finale in all the ways that most of the people in this thread worried it might be, but ah well. I thought it was still an OK-ish show on the whole, and definitely still the least-bad CR original I've watched, but can't imagine ever going back to re-watch it or even remembering it very fondly in the future. |
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marklungo
Posts: 80 Location: Berea, Ohio |
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I agree with almost everything Wyvern wrote... except the parts about Fena being bad in a "very entertaining" way (it was mediocre at best) and wanting a season two (unless it's a massive improvement on season one). Extra points for the Evangelion reference.
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