Product Details

• Format: Animated, NTSC, Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: Japanese, English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Funimation
• DVD Release Date: May 12, 2009
• Run Time: 150 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001US3XQ4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,986 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Murder Princess: The Complete Series" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

MURDER PRINCESS - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dark Title, Fun Fantasy Romp, May 2, 2009

By 

ONENEO (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Murder Princess: The Complete Series (DVD)

With a name like Murder Princess, one might expect this title to be a moody, dark violence-ridden experience. However, and much to my delight, the title is a bit misleading. Based on a manga by Sekihiko Inui, the material was transformed into a six episode OVA series by Marvelous Entertainment. The big news here is that Funimation has acquired the rights to the full domestic DVD release.

The set, which consists of all six- OVA episodes, comes packaged as a single disc within a standard-sized DVD case. Total runtime comes in at 150 minutes and language options are nice and thorough as well: English language recorded in Dolby Surround 5.1 and stereo Japanese vocals (with English subtitles is so desired). Extras are pretty solid as well and included a commentary track with the English voice actors over episode 6, textless songs, and Funimation trailers.

The story goes something like this: The kingdom of Forland is under attack by one Doctor Akamashi and his horde of baddies including an adorable but nasty pair of androids Anna and Yuna.

The story opens with the death of the king and his son (Prince Kite) away on a diplomatic mission. As such the throne falls to the younger Princess Alita, who is anything but ready for the weight suddenly placed upon her shoulders.

In the process of fleeing the castle in disguise, the new queen smashes into a rough and tumble female bounty hunter named Falis. As the pair tumbles toward their inevitable doom, they swap bodies. Now the real princess, in the bounty hunter's body, assumes the role of a handmaiden to her body, which is now occupied by Falis until a means of undoing the transfer can be found.

As far as rough around the edges princesses are concerned, Falis proves capable of using her bounty hunter skills and blades to whip many seemingly overpowering threats to the kingdom while the real princess remains in the shadows as a mere servant.

Sure body swaps are nothing new in the realm of entertainment and the fantasy setting has been done to death but somehow the formula works here. As stated above, the name Murder Princess is derived from the fact that the always meek and mild princess returns to the throne a brash and skilled killer and her reputation as such quickly spreads.

The character models are very reminiscent of those made famous in fantasy/ technological video games like the Final Fantasy series: Think monsters the size of buildings, towering knights with ridiculously oversized swords, and robotic humanoids who ride choppers. Fortunately, the use of technology within the fantasy setting is explained quite believably here, as the timeframe is in fact the future of mankind once technology has utterly destroyed society. In effort to rebuild from the shambles, humanity has, in a sense, started over despite the fact that bits and pieces of tech (like cyborgs, missiles, and machine guns) have found their way into the new-old renaissance.

Pacing is spectacularly swift which I suppose is to be expected in a six-episode series. Visuals are crisp and clean and the dub work is perfect. My only complaint is twofold: First, the material is intriguing enough to warrant a continuation of the plot (at least 13 episodes would have been nice) and second (spoiler warning) I'm not sure if the fact that the two lead characters never end up swapping back to their original bodies fits in with the "fairy tale ending" shows like this thrive on.

The TV 14 rating is very conservative as well. The violence is limited to the hacking and slashing of monsters and mythological bad guys and there is no nudity to speak of. Language is limited to the typical non-offensive cussing.

In all, critics seem to come down pretty hard on Murder Princess, faulting it for relying upon body-swapping gimmicks and a cliché setting to make up for a lack of depth but judging it accordingly misses the point. This is a fun-filled fantasy romp with a solid cast of characters and some interesting explanations for the merging of technology and mythology. This is good clean fun that could have succeeded for seasons to come.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very solid series, six episodes and not a weak one among them, November 10, 2009

By 

D. White (Mid-Atlantic USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder Princess: The Complete Series (DVD)

I personally picked this title up on whim during an anime sale, partly due to the Western/fantasy setting and also trusting in Funimation dubs. What I got is a very solidly constructed, well-paced series that--and I'm not unique in this--I'd like to have had more of.

There are no weak episodes in the batch, and the English voice acting excellent. All characters from the various Forland family members to Faris and her clan come vividly to life, with vibrant widescreen visuals and entertaining swordplay. The 5.1 surround (English) also lets every slash come through with extra clarity.

Be aware that characters and storyline here are an often weird/goofy amalgamation of medieval royalty, (literally) colorful Frankenstein knockoffs, military weapons fashioned as crazy young "girls", mind/body switching, even a Ghost Rider wannabe. This combined with the sometimes truly "big-eyed" characters (even for anime) and vibrant color can even create a "Saturday morning" cartoon look at times. But such absurdity is part of this anime's charm.

Overall, Murder Princess (an odd name, as fortunately she isn't a murderer...) will never be a candidate for any awards but is very entertaining and somehow feels meatier than the mere six short episodes might suggest.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could be about five episodes longer., March 21, 2010

By 

James F. Briggs - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murder Princess: The Complete Series (DVD)

As a whole its an entertaining show, that thankfully does not require too much time invested to watch it.

My biggest complaints are the lack of length, which sadly does not give enough time for character development, and the back stories seem pretty rushed. On the positive side, it was not so long that the staff had to put a slew of filler scenes in to ensure it ran long enough. I would say four to five more episodes would have made this one complete.

The other is the main motive for one of the bad guys. Yes its the most cliche thing here.

(Spoiler warning do not read past this if you want to avoid that.)

The big baddie is the older brother returned after years of absence, who wants to destroy the world in order to end all the suffering. Yeah, the same motive for about 75% of the main villains in anime.

Baring that the rest of the show is superb. The character designs are ranging from decent to excellent. I also did actually enjoy how it turned out at the end even with the exceptionally cliche enemy.