Why Princession Orchestra Missed the Mark for Me

When I first heard there would be a new anime about singing princess Magical Girls, I was stoked. I love all of those things, so how could combining them go wrong? I couldn't wait to write about Princession Orchestra. I waited with baited breath for the first episode to air. Then I watched it and realized I had very little to say about it. Now, I am 20 episodes in, and I still don't have a lot to say. The series fulfills its promise on a most basic level. However, the majority of its charm comes from aesthetics and very little else.

Despite what the title would lead you to believe, Princession Orchestra pays more homage to Alice in Wonderland than it does to princess stories. In fact, there are so many Wonderland references peppered throughout the show that I personally think Wonderland Orchestra would have been a more appropriate title. The show takes place in a beautiful fantasy world called Alicepia, which is powered by an app that only girls can access. When the main characters show up, Alicepia is being threatened by the Jammerwocks, which is ruled by a group of vengeful boys whose motive was only revealed recently. They must transform into magical "princesses" and sing the Jammerwocks out of their wonderland.

Although the idea of musical attacks sounded really cool in theory, it isn't done well in Princession. The little I've seen of K-Pop Demon Hunters did a much better job of using musical numbers as a method to defeat enemies. The girls in this show each get one signature song that begins playing immediately after they transform, and their lips move to the lyrics even if their bodies are doing something unrelated. Since the songs are playing in the background on a different audio track from the dialogue, it's jarring to see their mouths move when it doesn't actually feel like they're singing. Since the songs are always the same, they usually have little relevance to the individual episode's storyline or battle.

Initially, I was more excited about this show than the current season of Precure, which is also based around singing. Having seen both, I have to begrudgingly admit that Precure did a better job with the theme. There are so few modern Magical Girl shows to compete with Precure that it really was about time for the long-running brand to get some good competition. Princession Orchestra just isn't it. While You and Idol Precure boasts distinctive characters with interesting personalities and struggles, the three leads in Princession come off as generic and bland.

Princession Orchestra's visually stunning world and musical elements aren't enough to save it from its lackluster storytelling and generic characters. Despite its promising premise, the show falls short in execution, making it a disappointing addition to the Magical Girl genre. However, that doesn't mean the concept of singing Magical Girls is inherently bad. Do you have a favorite musical series in this genre? Let me know what it is in the comments!