A Majestic Prince is Well Suited for Combat, but a MP must also be able to work as a team member. Enter the "Failed-5".
It's just another day for the Failed-5 of the Military Junior Pre-Academy (MJP). "Don't call us that!" MP takes place in space. Our team operates power-suits. They have just had a below average practice session and now they are being deployed for the 1st time. The Failed-5 (sometimes even called "fart-knockers") must distract the enemy long enough for a rescue of some trapped colleagues to be successful. The battle is HOT. Will they survive? It's time: Fight or die.
'The purpose of the MJP was to create human beings better suited to the rigors of working in space and not, as some put it, a sick super-soldier experiment.' Eh, tomato / tom-ah'-toe. These kids were genetically engineered and their powersuits (AHSMBs, or Advanced High Standard Multipurpose Battle Devices which derive power from something called the Juria System) were built from their DNA. The suits themselves have a fight-or-flight instinct that can take over when the battle intensifies.
MP is a 2013 release that is rated 7.13 on MAL. It is 1 season consisting of 24 24-minute English dubbed episodes with CC available. The show has a bit of a halting start but improves with time and is overall good to VG. MJ is mecha manga anime. Per anime planet, "Mecha are self-propelling machines that are modeled after humans; some can change into multiple, non-humanoid formats as well. They're usually controlled by an internal pilot or by remote, but are sometimes sentient beings that move autonomously. A mecha's size ranges from bulky, wearable armor to a massive, towering contraption and beyond. While mecha have a wide range of applications, such as making manual labor easier, they are most commonly portrayed as heavily-armed war machines." The most popular mecha include Code Geass, Neon Genesis Evangelion, and Mobile Suit Gundam. I've seen 2 of the 3 as well as Aura Battle Dubliner, Patlabor, and RahXephon. They all range from VG to exceptional. For me the mechanics are cool but a mostly neutral device. The show must fly on its own merits. MP is good, but borderline. With the benefit of foreknowledge, I would not opt to watch it again for the first time. If I, however, had a special affinity for mecha, I most certainly would watch and rewatch MP.
MP has a kids show vibe in terms of simple interpersonal relationships, plot and dialogue. Our 5 main protags attend MJP in the academic city called Grandzehle. Each is a "Prince", one of the genetically engineered children raised to operate the AHSMBs. This is a team composed of individuals who were originally deemed of poor team material. They have unusually high survival instincts but their poor teamwork causes them to stick out unfavorably at school. The fun of the show is the interpersonal relationships and interactions. There's even some budding romance - and some heartbreak, too. Here's our main players:
Irie Tamaki has an abnormally high G tolerance. Her brown hair is short and tousled. She's got a heavy weight on her chest. Two, actually.
Asagi Toshikazu has short shaggy black hair and a short temper. He was genetically designed to process vast amounts of data.
Kugimiya Kei has highly developed auditory perception. She has long ash brown hair in a layer cut.
Hitachi Izuru has abnormally high focus. Right now he's focused on becoming a hero. His black short hair is stopped over his forehead. Out of the 5, he is the most significant one.
Suruga Ataru has outstanding memory in select areas and wavy strawberry blond hair.
Kuroki Ange is a late addition to the group. Ange appears one way but can act quite differently, at times, /especially/ in combat. Ange represents a direction change that is played for edginess and sometimes humor. Not only is Ange's split personality a lot of fun, but we don't know Ange's gender yet. After a few failed sorties for information, the team has temporarily given up trying to pin it down.
Then there's Rin. Don't call her RinRin and certainly don't call her fussy britches (as the head mechanic is wont to do). She's Captain of Godinion and Commander of the team.
The English voice acting is always excellent, and MP is no exception. The ubiquitous David Matranga and Greg Ayres each play bad guys, and it's not a good fit for either of them, but all the other parts are spot-on.
The setting is the invasion, or pre-invasion by a more advanced and hostile race called the Wulgaru. These rapacious beings hunt those of "lesser DNA" for sport. Princess Theoria has rejected their cruel ways and has been helping earth combat the Wulgaru as they trickle into our solar system. The MJP program is a result of her help. Things are already crucial, and the main invasion hasn't even begun.
Some of the space scenes are gorgeous. The use of color is excellent. People have simple features along with some hyper-fantasy (Go BIG: big boobs, big eyes, big muscles, big colorful hair, big color-palette). Backgrounds are minimized and stylized realism with scattered detail that is artistically beautiful. They do an especially nice job with the space scenes. The enemy craft are lit with red, yellow, or orange. The zoomed out battles are a light display and the effect is stunning. The art is truly top-notch.
The theme is Free Will vs Programming. Hitachi Izuru struggles with this particularly. In the end he decides he has free will and exerts it in a worthy story arc. The pacing is moderately slow which generates some drag. The characters are simplistic and on a child fiction level: Thus, the scarcely scattered elements, that push it into PG-13 range, are regrettable. It's all borderline stuff that stops short of providing an easy answer, so it's to each parent to decide as to age suitability.
〰🖍 IMHO
📣7.3 📝6 🎭7.5💓4 🦋2 🌞4.4 🎨8.7 ⚡6.8 🎵/🔊6.8 😅3 😭4.5 😱3.5 😯3 😖2 🤔4.5 💤1.5 🔚8
Age 13+ with these cautions:
~ Language d@mn, bull$h!+
~ One of the maintenance workers is a Rosy the Riveter looking gal with enormous exposed cleavage - each is 5-gallon sized.
~ "Ya gotta fall in love, squabble and touch eachother's parts", says a pilot from another team. That dude tricks them into watching an adult film. They only show their shocked reactions.
~ One woman has 5-gallon-boobs covered by cloth straps as wide as ace bandages.
Rated TV-PG-13: Parents Cautioned
Re-📺? This one's in the good-to-pass-the-time category, but I may never pass this way again....
Offshoot productions: In 2016 they hey put out a 25th episode and a movie, Armored Fleet Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening.
As of today, MP is available on Hidive. Some titles worthy of a visit of Hidive are:
Maid Sama 10, Made in Abyss 9,
Parasyte the Maxim 8.9,
The Eminence in Shadow 8.8,
No Game No Life Zero 8.8,
RahXephon 8.6,
Akame ga Kill! 8.6,
Princess Principal 8.6,
Chihayafuru 8.5,
Girls Last Tour 8.5,
CR Chaika The Coffin Princess 8.4,
Love Chunibyo And Other Delusions 8.4,
Special A Class 8.2,
Food Wars 8.2,
Land Of The Lustrous 8.1,
Girls Und Panzer 8,
Land Of The Lustrous 8,
Reincarnated as a Sword 8,
My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU 8,
Gate 7.9,
Ice 7.8,
Ao-chan Can't Study 7.8,
Beyond the Boundary 7.8,
You're Under Arrest 7.8,
Pet Shop of Horrors 7.8,
Hakkenden 7.7,
Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun 7.7,
Is It Wrong To Pick Up Girls In A Dungeon? 7.7,
Flowers of Evil 7.7,
Farming Life in Another World 7.7,
Princess Resurrection 7.6,
Akiba Maid War 7.5,
Real Girl 7.5,
School Live 7.5,
Kokkoku 7.5 - on the border,
Needless 7.5,
Senryu Girl 7.5,
D4DJ 7.5,
Kokoro Connect 7.4,
Aura Battler Dunbine 7.4,
Pet Girl of Sakura Hall 7.3,
After the Rain 7.3,
BToom! 7.3,
Armed Girl's Machiavellism 7.1,
Honorable Mention: Wasteful Days of High School Girls, Blue Seed, Patlabor, Get Backers, Clannad, Tsurune, Tada Never Falls in Love, Kino's Journey, Lupin III.
