The Princess Blog

Everything's coming up mermaids!  I just finished the final book in the amazing  Vazula Chronicles  the same week that Time Princess finally released the mermaid visual novel I had been waiting for. "Sisters of the Sea" draws heavy inspiration from Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid,"  but it is not the same story. Since the majority of it takes place on land, the game failed to provide any mermaid clothing or even mermaid-inspired outfits, opting instead for a more historically authentic Danish look from the period that the story takes place. The mermaids were a big draw for me, but I wouldn't consider this the most well-written story in the game , nor was it  one of the worst . "Sisters of the Sea" puts the player character in the role of Ondine, the little mermaid's sister, who turns human with some help from the Sea Wizard and travels to land in the hopes of restoring the soul of her sister, Marin. In this version, the merma...

"The Haunted Castle" Once upon a time, there were two princes. The older prince, Dorian, was kind and wise but had a gentle demeanor that shined through to all who knew him. Meanwhile, his younger brother, Stewart, was hotheaded and envied the crown. When their parents passed away and the crown was to be passed on to Prince Dorian, he and Stewart went out riding together in the countryside. Prince Stewart returned from their trip alone. To the horror of the entire palace staff, he reported a terrible accident in which Dorian's horse was spooked by a wild animal and ran off a cliff, taking the elder prince with him in a fatal drop. The kingdom mourned the loss of their future king, and preparations were made for Stewart to become king in his stead. While most accepted this sad tale as fact, a scullery maid named Lorraine found the young prince's story very suspicious, especially when Dorian's body had yet to be recovered. She decided to try to investigate the castl...

Back in June when I found out that Netflix was making a movie adaptation of The School for Good and Evil , I went ahead and read the first book in the series . I liked the idea of a school for fairy tale characters, but it left me with a lot of questions regarding how changing their childhoods would alter their stories and why the author had such a superficial perception of good, evil, and girls in general. The Netflix adaptation resolved many of these issues by cutting irrelevant scenes and dialogue and making just enough minor changes to the plot to make it more coherent. Was it a perfect movie? It was never going to be, considering the source material. The filmmakers did a great job of salvaging whatever substance they could find from the book and turning it into a fun teenage romp with gorgeous costumes. The School for Good and Evil  is about two girls named Sophie and Agatha who live in a backwoods town called Gavaldon. Though the other people in the town are cruel to Agatha a...

It's no secret that I love mermaids . So when I found out about a great deal on the first book in a four-book series by Deborah Grace White  that features a mermaid, I decided to dive right in. The last book I read from her was a mediocre retelling of "Beauty and the Beast."  I decided to give her another chance for the sake of mermaids, and I'm so glad I did! The Vazula Chronicles  is such a well-written and compelling series that as soon as I finished A Kingdom Submerged , I immediately got started on A Kingdom Discovered ! While this series is not based on "The Little Mermaid,"  it does contain a torrid romance between a mermaid and a human that will keep you on the edge of your seat. A Kingdom Submerged  tells the story of Merletta, an underprivileged mermaid who gets accepted into an elite school and is mocked for getting ahead based on her background as opposed to her own merit. Yet, it's pretty clear that the school would have preferred not to ha...

While American networks have been shying away from animation , Japan has been releasing multitudes of new anime series each year. This season, we have been gifted with no one, but two princess-inspired anime shows that contain throwbacks to classic storytelling tropes that Disney has graduated from  in the modern era. These shows feature beautiful animation with gorgeous fashions  and relaxing pastel colors. Eastern entertainment has come a long way since Princess Knight  and continues presenting us with the best girly stories to fuel our imaginations in the most pleasant ways that allow us to escape from the hardships of reality . Bibliophile Princess , which I've lovingly nicknamed "Library Princess," is a throwback to the classic version of Belle from Disney's Beauty and the Beast , particularly the scene where the Beast presented Belle with the library. In this aesthetically tranquil new anime, Lady Elianna is offered unlimited access to the royal library in exc...

After following the West End run of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cinderella  with great anticipation, I was pleased to learn that the show is coming to Broadway  after its controversial closing in the UK . I was a little less pleased when I learned that its title would be changed to Bad Cinderella. Yes, I know "Bad Cinderella" is the headlining song from the show  and that they don't want people to confuse it with Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella , but after Lloyd Webber was booed onstage for calling the production "a costly mistake" in a letter he wrote for its final curtain call, is it really a good idea to promote its revival in America with a derogatory adjective? Maybe if it didn't spark so much controversy in its British run, the title could have been interpreted as a parody along the lines of Disenchanted . At this point, it gives off the impression that Webber is making fun of the show, something that I personally don't think it deserves. H...

I used to think that Revolutionary Girl Utena  was the most innovative, unique, and original anime out there. After watching  Princess Knight  and now The Rose of Versailles , I realize that it drew inspiration from older anime sources. All three of these series feature women who don swords and take on the role of a man to protect the innocent. They each have their own queer-coded attributes  that combine all the best things about noble heroes  and damsels in distress . The Rose of Versailles, which came out in 1979, right in the middle of the 30-year gap between 1967's Princess Knight and 1997's Utena, stands apart from its surrogate cousins because it is set in a historical setting rather than a fairy tale world. The Rose of Versailles takes place prior to and during the French Revolution. It spans the decades of Marie Antoinette's life from her engagement to King Louis XVI to her beheading at the guillotine. If you haven't already guessed, the show does not h...

"The Little Seamstress" Once upon a time, there was a poor girl living in a small village with her father. The two were in mourning for the tragic death of her mother, who taught her how to be a seamstress like she was. The girl, whose name was Beatrice, diligently took on her mother's profession and mended garments for the residents of the small village. One client named Prunella seemed to visit more and more often and spent a great deal of time talking to Beatrice's father. Prunella would bring things like a skirt with a missing button that appeared to be torn off or other clothes with small rips that did not look like they happened by accident. Soon, Beatrice learned that the woman was to become her new stepmother. On the night of her father's wedding, Prunella demanded a gift from her soon-to-be stepdaughter. Beatrice had little to offer. She tried offering a prized pincushion, some of her finest needles, and even her favorite spool of fabric that shimmered li...

I wasn't sure what to expect from the latest visual novel in Time Princess  called Moving Mountains. This game releases new stories so often that there isn't always enough time to read up about them to get excited, which was the case here. This story is pretty typical of a visual novel from this game. It focuses on a particular historical period and features a heroine with the ability to make decisions that have the potential to change history. Moving Mountains is the most generic story I've played in this game so far. It didn't introduce me to a new culture since there have already been several stories set in China , most of which were more interesting than this one. Unlike many of my favorites from this game, the story was not rooted in mythology or legend . Instead, it was your average tale about a woman who was ahead of her time and wanted to avoid an arranged marriage and find independence. There was nothing particularly wrong with Moving Mountains story per se, b...

The most notable gap in the D23 Expo announcements this month was from Disney Television Animation . Two years ago, they announced a massive slate of upcoming series , several of which were never mentioned again. Now we know why. Most of these shows have either been canceled or delayed, and the princesses are sadly no exception. Before I get into that, however, I'd like to lead with some good news. As many of you know, one of my favorite shows of all time is Sofia the First , a limitless adventure about a little girl who gets to experience all the magic of being a Disney Princess for the first time. This series has been stuck in Netflix limbo for the past three years, preventing Sofia from joining her fellow princesses on Disney+ . Next month, all of that is about to change. In tweet posted on September 15th, series creator Craig Gerber shared Disney Schedule Archive's post  that Sofia the First will be leaving Netflix on October 8th and joining the ranks of Elena of Avalor a...

I've shared my love of Disney's animated Little Mermaid  series on here many times in the past. My favorite episode of the show is called "Wish Upon a Starfish." In it, Ariel meets a deaf mermaid named Gabriella, and they go on a quest together to find a magic wishing starfish so Ariel can have legs to dance and Gabriella can have a voice to sing. The episode contained one of the best songs from the series, "Daring to Dance," and has a fascinating backstory behind it. Gabriella was not selected at random to give Ariel another mermaid to be friends with. She was actually based on a two-year-old girl, who was one of the show's biggest fans, named Gabriella Angelina Bommino . When the episode went into production, Gabriella was dying of leukemia. Through the Make a Wish Foundation , the Disney animators designed a mermaid based on Gabriella's image to show her family what she would have looked like if she hadn't passed away so tragically young....

I thought I already knew everything there was to know about Jodi Benson , the iconic voice of my favorite Disney character, Ariel, from The Little Mermaid . When I found out she was releasing an autobiography, I expected it to contain the same stories I'd already heard in interviews, live performances , and word of mouth. As it turns out, I was wrong. Part of My World: What I've learned from The Little Mermaid about love, faith, and finding my voice  is an intimate and revealing account of everything that went on behind the scenes of Jodi's life, and not all of it is pretty. This book humanizes this smiling upbeat role model for princess fans and musical theater ingenues and shows us that she is a real person with real problems just like everyone else. Reading Part of My World  made me feel closer to Jodi Benson than I ever have, even after meeting her in person. I highly recommend this book to all fans of musical theater and animation. Part of My World  was like catching...