I'm a girl. I'm supposed to identify with the princess character in many stories right? So why do I absolutely hate the character of Himeno in Pretear: The New Legend of Snow White?[Updated to add candy-rating]
Probably because after watching the first four episodes of the series OnDemand I decided this was one princess not worth saving.
Pretear is the story of this girl Himeno who is an outcast among her classmates and new step family. She has no real friends or companions other than her father who is distracted by his new wife... who happens to be loaded. All this changes the day the Leafe Knights enter her life and it turns out she is their Pretear... a princess of the spirit of life that has the abilities to merge with any Leafe Knight and add their power to her own. Evidently there are some monsters out in the world sucking the life out of things and it's up to the knights and Himeno to stop them. As is with many "super girl" series the "heroine" starts out a lame duck and is supposed overcome the obstacles ahead and lead to the happy ending... which I'm sure is how this series plays out... but I just can't stand to sit through the episodes.
Himeno is whiny, indecisive, and just plain boring. Almost all of her problems would be solved by her standing up for herself. Can't get your stepsister to say more than one word to you, assert yourself and speak up. Girls talking about you at school in front of you or behind your back, confront them. Himeno just sulks and retreats inside herself. She doesn't even involve her dad in what is going on in her world. The only time she ever turns to someone other than herself is to get some training from one of the knights named Sasame. Now, Sasame is by far the most sincere of the knights and though he is a handsome devil, he's not the love interest for Himeno. That falls squarely on the shoulders of the asshole Hayate. But I'm getting off track. Back to the lame duck.
Himeno is the kind of lead anime character that I hate. She's just plain lame. Nothing about her is remotely interesting. She has no character traits that make you want to watch her or root for her. Add to her lameness the canned animation that runs when she "preets" or merges with one of the knights looks like something out of a cross between the opening of a waltz and an orgasm, and you've totally turned me off. Why is it so hard to write or craft an anime series with a young female who isn't either super endowed by the titty fairy or jailbait that's missing a few brain cells? I don't think that the audience would mind a series where the lead female had brawn, brains, and beauty. I think many would welcome a series that featured a great story/narrative of a female lead, so where is that title? Where is the story of the girl who gains a tremendous power to do good or evil with and must figure out what side she wants to play for? Then she meets someone that travels with her for a while and exposes her to some ideals that she may not have ever come to know without their meeting that challenges all of the things she's believed up until that point? I think that could be an interesting story, and the "power" she has would be the thing that allowed the series to feature action sequences galore.
Labels: Anime, Jailbait, Lame-Princess, Ninjasistah, Pretear
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