princess arete
fallen princess: goes from wealthy second princess to a destitute refugee when anankos destroys valla .
princess arete while has an interesting angle with what should be a refreshing princess story is buried in slow uninteresting - ness, watch it if you’re insomniac .
princess arete is a 2001 japanese animated movie done by studio 4c. it was based off an original story by diana coles, “the clever princess” or “the adventure of princess arite” in japan. the film is praised for subject matter but criticized for its pacing .
title: princess arete aka arite hime genre: drama company: studio 4°c format: movie; 105 minutes. dates: 21 jul 2001
one day, a sorcerer named boax offers to marry arete and turn her into a real princess. will arete find another prison... or finally find the way to her own heart' s desire ?
princess arete is an exceptionally empowering animated picture by studio 4°c, based on the book the clever princess by english author diana coles. while it was originally targeted towards children, the movie itself is a remarkably mature deconstruction of the
imprisoned by a sorcerer who fears she will rob him of eternal life, guileless young princess arete befriends a villager who helps her plan an escape .
the lost king, which follows garon between chapters 4 - 6 of the invisible princess .
notes: based on the children' s novel
the clever princess
by diana coles .
the invisible princess is a completed multi - chapter fire emblem fates fanfic by the apocryphal one .
fallen princess: after fleeing her kingdom during anankos' s invasion, arete ends up in nohr and is forced to scrape out a living on the streets as a performer .
the idea behind this movie / story is feminism through the male gaze. arete’s curse and what she have to inwardly fight against is being a default princess that literally waits to be saved .
arete is visited by two of her would be suitors and she is less than impress by there swaggering and boasting and decides to leave her tower for good however she caught. she taken to her father and an old sorcerer named boax who wants to marry the very young princess. boax then puts an enchantment on arete to make her a mindless traditional beautiful princess. before boax takes arete away, a witch gives her a magic ring that will grant her three wishes .
: arete loves studying magic, would happily have become a magic researcher had she not been a princess, and spends part of her off - screen time trying to create a barrier spell to repel anankos .
synopsis: after the death of her mother, the queen, princess arete has been confined to a tower in the castle to shelter her from the world. arete frequently manages to sneak out through hidden passageways in the castle to explore the town, but she laments her life, and how little she knows of the world. the kingdom’s knights are often sent out to find magical treasures created by a long extinct nation of sorcerers, believing that the finder of the most amazing treasure will win the princess’s hand in marriage, but this is in fact a scheme set up by the kingdom’s economists, as magical treasures are a lucrative trade. one day, an evil sorcerer flies into the kingdom and claims that the princess is cursed. he vows to lift the curse, making arete an “ideal” princess, in exchange for the princess’s hand in marriage .
garon is killed by anankos and replaced by his familiar sometime shortly after arete' s death .
while it could use a bit more screen magic, princess arete is still a good film, if you don' t mind that the plot is moving at half - speed at all times. — carlos ross
confined in the castle tower by her father, princess arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. sometimes she sneaks out. prospective suitors are sent on quests to collect... see more »
it 's too bad that arete 's character development didn 't come with a richer plot, but at the very least, the focus she commands makes the blandness in the rest of the cast forgivable. arete is a completely fleshed out, admirable yet pitiable, and altogether believable character who also happens to be adorable. watching her adventure in princess arete is worth suffering the disjointed and hollow plot .
arete dies trying to warn garon about anankos, but it' s only revealed after the fact .
confined in the castle tower by her father, princess arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. sometimes she sneaks out. prospective suitors are sent on quests to collect magic treasures to win her hand in marriage .
appreciating the work requires a good understanding of the plot structures of the princess fairy tales: the kingdom will be destroyed by an unknown monster, the king (preferably fat and has a good sense of fashion) says, “whoever kills sopa wins my princess! ”, a charming prince (ideally with good teeth) kills the monster, the princess (usually olive oil skinny) falls in love, and they all live happily ever after. watching disney princess works and its kins may be enough; i also recommend watching this after revolutionary girl utena and other feminist works for children. princess arete is like one of those hipsters and hippies in the countercultural movements in the 70s; you need to get the context to understand their reasonings .
boax takes arete to his secret liar where it is reveal that boax was actually a servant of the real boax whose real motive was to imprison arete because their a prophesy that she will end his immortal life .
the story is very simple but very slow paces in presenting its wonderful message. the concept of the story is good for it promotes freedom by self - discovery and believing in one self to achieve its goal and wishes without relying to any superficial solution which are magic that bent reality. princess arete is a good deconstruction of princess stories for it teaches us that dreams can be
the plot is about a princess, arete, who is forced to live in a tower by her father till a man worthy of her appears. arete however knows how to get in and out of her tower and goes into the tower and would rather her life has substance. while she waits in the tower her suitors bring her father magical gifts .
the cameo: makes one in fire emblem fates aftermath, which is set in the same universe as invisible princess twenty - one years later .
on a related note, arete being a child and all the older guy vying to marry her made me very uncomfortable .
once upon a time, there was a princess named arete, sheltered from the world in a high tower of a castle. while knights vied for her hand, she wanted nothing more than to see the world with her own eyes, rather than just through books .
confined in the castle tower by her father, princess arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. sometimes she seeks out to watch the common people at work. the knights of the kingdom compete for the right to marry her and rule the land by competing to see who can find powerful magic objects made by a long dead race of sorcerers. arete wants none of this. she longs to meet the common people and travel to exotic lands she has only seen in the books she keeps hidden under her bed. one day the sorcerer boax arrives in a fantastic flying machine and offers to take arete as his wife and transform her into a proper princess .
plot concept: confined in the castle tower by her father, princess arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. sometimes she seeks out to watch the common people at work. the knights of the kingdom compete for the right to marry her and rule the land by competing to see who can find powerful magic objects made by a long dead race of sorcerers. arete wants none of this. she longs to meet the common people and travel to exotic lands she has only seen in the books she keeps hidden under her bed. one day the sorcerer boax arrives in a fantastic flying machine and offers to take arete as his wife and transform her into a proper princess .
confined in the castle tower by her father, princess arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. sometimes she seeks out to watch the common people at work. the knights of the kingdom compete for the right to marry her and rule the land by competing to see who can find powerful magic objects made by a long dead race of sorcerers. arete wants none of this. she longs to meet the common people and travel to exotic lands she has only seen in the books she keeps hidden under her bed. one day the sorcerer boax arrives in a fantastic flying machine and offers to take arete as his wife and transform her into a proper princess. (source: ann )
arete hime comienza como cabe esperar. tenemos a la princesa arete, encerrada en la torre del castillo, esperando que sus pretendientes cumplan sus pruebas. ella, en tanto, pasa su vida leyendo, fugándose por un pasadizo secreto para conocer el lugar donde vive…
arete: i can' t imagine what it must be like to live in a country going through a bout of economic trouble .
when a sorcerer called boax comes to the castle, he sets about persuading the king to let him marry the princess. but he secretly fears a prophecy which foretells arete ending his life – leading him to imprison her the minute she’s in his castle! based on the 1983 story
the clever princess
by diana coles, this is a chance to see a story that fascinated japan on the big screen. language: japanese with english subtitles only .
arete hime initially seems like a typical modern iteration of a fairy tale, ala disney, with a captive princess who desires to see the world and empathize with its denizens. eventually, it shapes into a multi - segmented journey of self discovery more akin to
siddhartha
than
rapunzel .
every young girl should watch princess arete at least once. while it will hardly rank as any child' s favorite, it is an important film that respects their cognitive skills and that they will certainly learn to appreciate in adulthood. more than an amazing role model, arete is a relatable character with whom girls will surely identify themselves with – and maybe, like she did, they will be able to find the magic inside too .
it' s mentioned that royalty often have to marry for their countries over love, such as arete and sumeragi' s first marriages .
arete is so strong. she told that i also can use that magic… and the pictures were sophisticated! this is an underrated anime !
anime limited has picked up a new feature to add to their library with the acquisition of the princess arete work. the film saw distribution through netflix recently, though that ended earlier this year, alongside with several other studio 4°c projects. anime limited will be detailing their release plan in the coming weeks .
while not without merit, princess arete is slow - paced and feels about 20 minutes longer than it needs to be to tell the story. because of this, its themes of empathy and looking beyond outward appearances may get lost for younger kids. children who aren' t anime fans already may feel bored .
synopsis: confined in the castle tower by her father, princess arete spends her days watching the world outside her window. while she looks out at the common people working, the knights of the kingdom compete for her hand in marriage by searching for powerful magical items from a race of long - dead sorcerers .
princess arete cares more for the goodness of a person rather than their appearances. she shows empathy and concern for everyone she observes from afar in her kingdom and wants nothing to do with the thieving and lying knights who pretend to be in love with her to win the throne and the riches that come with it .
uptown girl: a male version, for mikoto; he' s the king of hoshido, and she' s a fallen princess masquerading as a commoner and his concubine .
princess arete (houko kiwoshima) lives a lonely life, made to live in a tower at the behest of her strict father. to win arete' s hand in marriage, suitors compete to win treasure for the king. while this is happening, arete yearns to experience the outside world, to live as an ordinary person, and to travel the world. after getting caught trying to escape the kingdom, the king matches arete with the wizard boax (tsuyoshi koyama), who enchants her and takes her to his faraway castle, where his only companion is a frog - turned - lackey named grovel (minami takayama). as arete now lives a lonely life locked in the wizard' s basement, her only friend is ample, who hails from a nearby village and cooks food for boax in exchange for the water he hordes. arete must find a way to break boax' s spell, get all the water out of the castle and toward the village, and follow through on her desires to travel the world .
fairy - tales have been universally used as a way to educate children and pass forward values through the generations. by adopting a fairy - tale format, princess arete is making a point: there are certain traditional values that have no place in modern day society, and should be replaced at once. it wants to pass on its own values, but does it appeal to its target audience? modern media geared towards younger viewers is often the polar opposite of what princess arete is. fast - paced, loud and brightly colored, it tends to reinforce the worrisome belief that children are not capable of introspection and should not be challenged intellectually and emotionally. arete' s story does not need dragons and magic to be stimulating. all it needs is a relatable heroine facing a relatable conflict .
originally released in 2001, the film was written and directed by sunao katabuchi with character designs from satoko morikawa. it’s based on the original work the clever princess from diana coles .
second princess of valla, and later queen of hoshido. she can be pretty manipulative when she wants something, but is ultimately a good person who just wants a happy ending .
outside context hero: subdued cases in mikoto and arete, in that they can only do so much to prepare either side for the true enemy .
by andrew osmond. the film princess arete is the tale of a little girl growing up in a castle, refusing to resign herself to being married to a hunky prince charming. then a sorcerer, frightened by a prophecy about the girl, effectively buys her from her father and imprisons her in his remote castle… but [ … ]
a pilot, despite being advised not to, bonds with a princess when he is tasked with escorting the royal subject overseas and across enemy territory to reunite her with her future husband .
it’s now the year 2016, new challenges and obstacles awaits us in this following year and let me start the by introducing you guys the movie princess and what i think about it .
i cant believe a guy like you would notice me: due to their differing social backgrounds, he' s absolutely shocked when he finds out princess mikoto reciprocates his feelings towards her .
the japanese cast includes houko kuwashima as arete, tsuyoshi koyama as boax, minami takayama as ample, satomi koorogi as witch and yûsuke numata as grovel .
doomed by canon: as a prequel fic to fates, the reader knows that mikoto, arete, sumeragi, and garon are all doomed to die .
boax has a deal worked out with a village that he will supply water if the village feeds him. the one who work for him is a lady named amble. amble tries to free arete but can’t seem to break her out. this sparks arete to break out of her enchantment and reverts to being a child. boax then gives arete a impossible task to free himself of her. however arete decides to go back to boax’s liar and learns that he has jewel that makes water. she steals the jewel and floods the barren land so it will be green again. boax then loses his magian crystal that makes so he can use magic thus ending his immortal life and fulling that pesky prophesy. arete then goes off on to see the world, the end .
in a magic fantasy setting, music and animation of the setting is very important in hooking the viewers to care. but for fairytale scenery princess arete loses for it doesn’t have any appealing atmosphere. the animation is just very gray and gloomy. as for the music it’s doesn’t have any good bgm and the other song are just plain forgettable .
russian - born origa - whose real name is olga vital' evna yakoleva - was born on oct. 12, 1970. she is best known for her theme songs from
ghost in the shell
anime series, which made her famous outside japan. she also provided her vocals for theme songs from
fantastic children
and
princess arete .
what the hell, hero? : arete is decidedly not happy with her sister manipulating her in chapter 2, and gives her a good dressing down for it .
one would assume studio ghibli has an unspoken monopoly - at least in japan - on the plucky young heroine genre, with kiki, the girls from totoro, and san from princess mononoke being the standard bearers, but miyazaki & co. shouldn' t rest on their laurels too placidly, as it' s clear from princess arete that they' re not the only ones that can do it right, and do it well. arete is by no means a perfect film, suffering from jarring act transitions and a dearth of much action in the first hour, but is animated crisply, provides a wonderful metatextual plot device to open the third act, and leaves the viewer with - if not a sense of wonder - at least…
hoist by his own petard: anankos' decision to spare mikoto and arete comes back to bite him in the ass later on, as it gives them time to fight back. arete is able to create a special spell that keeps out hostiles, which mikoto uses very late into the story to (temporarily) prevent nohr from invading hoshido .
is it meandering and incoherent or did it just upset my expectations? maybe a little bit of both. while studio 4°c might lack some of the richer cinematic instincts required to make a movie for children there' s a discrete boldness to
princess arete
that' s refreshing. a nice blend of folksy, raphaelite wonder paired with the smooth - bore charm of early 90s cg .
is at its best when its heroine is free to do as she pleases. she truly is a clever princess, and kuwashima houko does such an earnest job of it that you really have to root for her .
arete by creating and giving her sister the barricade staff, mikoto by using it to raise the barrier around hoshido, delaying the hoshidan - nohrian war until the time of fates .
when looking back at the entire journey our main character, arete undergoes, it' s quite epic. this in no way changes the fact that some stretches are completely starved for plot development, using the time instead to flash some scenic shots and play with arete' s diatribes on her predicaments. which brings me to one of the biggest problems with this film :
on the one hand i respect this angle but on the other it means that arete herself has no character development. she doesn’t grow, she reverts and then goes back to herself .
when anankos' troops surround mikoto and arete, they both think they are about to be killed. one discussion with anankos later, the soldiers let them go, to their surprise .
arete opens with an act detailing young arete' s rapunzel - like cloistering in preparation for marriage. establishing her necessary independent spirit, she frequently sneaks out of her castle to see how the commoners live, and is awestruck by the kind of magic we all can understand - those of artisans and skilled crafters. it' s here that she starts to descend into a malaise that, as a noble princess, she' ll never be able to perform that kind of everyday magic, and resolves to run away forever. enter a menacing sorcerer, boak, who essentially kidnaps arete through legal means and imprisons her in his castle. to do so, he casts a spell on her which transforms her physically into a more' traditional' princess; older, more beautiful, and utterly without ambition. while imprisoned, arete' s malaise (assumedly exacerbated from her depression in the first act) keeps her docile so she cannot fulfill the prophecy boak fears - that she will end his eternal life. it' s here that the film starts to pick up, as a local villager incites arete to action - by telling her to imagine what she' d like to be in a fairy tale of her own making. here, things get a bit metatextual, as arete imagines the life she previously lived, making the film self - aware that it is a fairy tale itself. it never becomes overtly or annoyingly so, but still: i loved the fact that it admits to using cliches because, well, that' s what the audience wants .
arete' s first husband, theophilus, is killed in the very first chapter after a failed attempt to talk down anankos. it' s only made known after the murder has happened .
one would assume studio ghibli has an unspoken monopoly - at least in japan - on the plucky young heroine genre, with kiki, the girls from totoro, and san from princess mononoke being the standard bearers, but miyazaki & co. shouldn' t rest on their laurels too placidly, as it' s clear from princess arete that they' re not the only ones that can do it right, and do it well. arete is by no means a perfect film, suffering from jarring act transitions and a dearth of much action in the first hour, but is animated crisply, provides a wonderful metatextual plot device to open the third act, and leaves the viewer with - if not a sense of wonder - at least a sense of satisfaction in a story of the death of supernatural magic and the quest for meaning and identity .
in conclusion princess arete is not a bad show for it has good message that can be thought provoking and inspiring but it will take a lot of patience and tolerance for one to get the message fully which is not very rewarding if you take account the time you invested on it. there are other good deconstruction of fairytale out there worth the check like the movies of studio ghibli made i highly recommend you check it out .
this is somewhat of a departure for animation house, studio 4℃, who are better known for their bold, inventive and frenetic movies rather than this quiet and deliberately paced fairytale. based on a diana coles novel, princess arete, is about a young princess locked away in a tower by her father to protect and preserve her innocence. suitors visit her at night but she sees through their lies and simply dreams of experiencing the world outside her window. when a sorcerer tricks her into marrying him she substitutes one prison for another. the film is interesting for subverting traditional fairytale convention, there is no white knight or dashing prince to save our heroine instead she must find the strength from…
dramatic shattering: when using a crystal ball to see the truth behind hydra, mikoto drops and breaks it when she sees the image morph from hydra - her beloved husband - into anankos, the silent dragon himself. needless to say, neither mikoto nor arete, who saw this at the same time, take this well (arete less than mikoto, as anankos had killed king theophilus in a fit of rage) .
: mikoto has a moment of this at the end of chapter 2, when she realizes that while her manipulations paid off and allowed her to marry hydra, they also hurt her sister, queen arete, deeply .
politically active princess: mikoto has been involved in the politics of valla' s court since she was twelve, and is actually her sister' s chief adviser. she keeps it up after she flees to hoshido, working her way onto sumeragi' s council .
achieve by determination and prior knowledge than relying on fairy god mothers and epic level wizards to turn the tables. the show became anti - escapism for arete resolve her troubles by herself which is impressive for me because most princess stories i ever read or watch are mostly saved by the prince or by their magical spell caster guardians. but the biggest weak point of the story is the characters in general; they are presented in a overly dry manner that it’s hard for me to take any care or sympathy for them. characters lack actual depth in the story. the interaction is unappealing and not interesting. the characters are not exciting or dynamic. arete should be dynamic given the role of a smart princess and the wizard boax is not very intimidating given he’s presented to be the antagonist of the story. sadly to say he is one the dries fearsome wizard i ever known even the wizard in the smurf looks more interesting. nice presentation of message but very shallow on character presentation .
nevertheless, fantasy stories about being a princess - like figure - - twilight’s bella is a more contemporary (and stupider) version of the generic princess archetype - - are still popular. us cool kids don’t like that kind of mainstream crap; we want aversions, subversions, and different settings (aka what made twilight oh - so popular). reinventions, especially the darker and edgier types, are fascinating to us. think revolutionary girl utena, a work that changed the shoujo demographic forever. grown - up people are like so mature ~
rebellious princess: mikoto, in her early years, would sneak around outside the palace to consort with
hydra
, volunteered to go on adventures, and manipulated or broke the rules to suit her own ends. she matures out of it as the fic goes on .
mikoto and arete decide to arrange for azura and kamui to get married as part of a deal to help hoshido and nohr to get along. although circumstances nix the idea, mikoto sees that it could have worked out regardless .
evil gloating: anankos likes to brag about his superiority and how doomed the human race is when he talks with mikoto and arete. garon also partakes in it in cheve, to further drive a wedge between hoshido and nohr .
mysterious past: since the vallite curses mean that a .) no one remembers valla, and that b .) arete and mikoto can' t speak of their pasts there, they have to present themselves as having this .
making a splash: valla as a whole is associated with water, with natives possessing the ability to travel through it as a gift from anankos. naturally, this ability extends to mikoto and arete, which they use to escape .
meaningful name :
theophilus
, the chosen name for arete' s husband and azura' s father, means
friend of god
, referring to his close friendship to anankos before his death at anankos' s hands .
i must admit that i have quite the soft spot for studio 4°c. they brought to life one of my favorite manga works, tekkon kinkreet, in 2006. along with making other visually stunning and complex works such as their shorter films noiseman sound insect, sweat punch, and digital juice, they' ve always been an anime studio i' ve held in very high regards. on those notions alone i decided to finally check out some of their earlier theatrical works, starting with their 2001 release princess arete .
parents need to know that princess arete is a 2001 anime about a princess kept locked up in a tower who longingly observes the goings - on of the common people below as she avoids the overtures of marriage from unscrupulous knights and a wicked wizard. while the slow pace might pose the biggest challenge to younger viewers, there is also a scene in which rats attack a wizard' s lackey and two instances of profanity (
s - - t
and
damn
). while it isn' t the best anime in terms of the quality of the animation and the story itself, tween fans of the genre - - as well as their parents - - will respond to the movie' s themes of seeking the reality underneath the appearances, empathy for others, and yearning for travel to faraway lands .
i' ll leave the third act alone, but, suffice to say, the action ramps up considerably here with arete' s escape, and studio 4°c really saves the picture with its resolution - magic abounds, lessons are learned, redemption is tasted, and happily ever after is established. as for what it saves the picture from - the second act deals with the boredom of boak and arete' s malaise. the film does a great job evoking these feelings in the audience, as it' s pretty boring and slow. it does a not so great job mainly because it' s pretty boring and slow. still, that' s not enough to hinder the picture too much, and it makes up for that in the end. princess arete is a shot fired across ghibli' s bow - though they don' t have too much to worry about from this film alone, a few more of this quality from studio 4°c or anyone else ought to get them a little nervous .
is an interesting piece of work. beautiful in its simplicity, it tells a tale of a princess who doesn' t want to be saved by a knight in shining armor, but rather to live life by her own terms. i wouldn' t exactly call it an opus of girl power, seeing as arete never once runs into men who remotely equal her in intellect and wisdom, but on the other hand it' s refreshing to see a film starring a girl who uses her brains instead of fan service to get herself out of tricky situations .
foregone conclusion: the fic is in - line with the canon of fates, so the reader knows that mikoto and arete' s attempts to stop anankos and unite hoshido and nohr are ultimately doomed to failure. the best they do is stall for time .
overall, it' s the titular character who manages to keep this movie interesting and somewhat engaging. her desire to see and experience the world, to live and work as those she observes while locked away in her tower, makes her a princess much different from the archetypal princesses seen in so many kids' movies. for kids beginning to come of age and starting to see and imagine a larger world outside their usual surroundings, these qualities alone make arete a relatable character, one the viewer can' t help but root for as she struggles against characters less interesting than she .
- long pans of the countryside, long journeys, this film is rife with scenes that simply take too damn long. one of the worst sequences involves the sorcerer and the princess almost competing to see who is more bored. i' d have to call that one a truly inspired moment of animation, right there .
arete hime takes off from the heart of a medieval city depicted placing special attention on the trades, the clothing and the buildings, holding a closeness to the atmosphere of arthurian tales that was to me unseen in japanese animation. with that sober though colourful tone, the protagonist goes on to introduce her adventurous charms as a princess who prefers to risk her life by jumping the voids that separate her from the outside over choosing to stay in her tower and hear, unbelieving, the concoctions that suitors recite to her about either her beauty or their heroism, traits not present in either case .
russian - born origa first came to japan in 1991 on a home - stay program, and made her major debut in japan in 1995 under the emi music japan label. she performed theme songs for ghost in the shell: stand alone complex, ghost in the shell: stand alone complex 2nd gig, ghost in the shell: stand alone complex: solid state society, fantastic children, and princess arete. she also performed the hymn singing voice for the character kanon in gust and koei tecmo games' ar nosurge playstation 3 and playstation vita video game, which shipped in japan last year .
arete is a curious little girl, who also happens to be a princess. clever and resourceful, she is the epitome of cool, and a truly inspirational role model. she is empathetic to the core, and tries to understand the reasons behind other people' s actions before judging them, though she has her own problems to worry about. deprived of freedom and objectified as a prize for men to win, she never lets her circumstances dim her bold soul. she is obstinate and refuses to accept what she doesn' t believe in; her love of life is what keeps her ever hopeful, and because she never feels sorry for herself, we don' t either. the sight of such a rich spirit confined in a cage is certainly sad, and is undoubtedly what gives the first half of the film its air of melancholy. but we never pity arete – we root for her. her character development is beautiful, and seeing her grow from a timid but intelligent princess into the brave adventurer she becomes is extremely satisfying. we are often teased with the notion that she will be saved by someone else eventually, but she ultimately puts an end to her misfortune using no magical object or outside help, but with her wits alone .
what amazes me is that this work is old - school allegory. arete symbolizes the feminist and existentialist aspects of the work; she feels timid, but she wants to find her own meaning of life. stuck in the towers and objectified as a treasure, she is sick of becoming a princess - - a twist on the archetype and an attack on the disney princess culture. there is a gradual progression of her character development: from an isolated figure afraid of having a meaningless life to a braver and maturing female. she is logically the person you will add to your favorite characters if you liked the movie a lot. boax, the villain, also controls a number of themes as well: the role of magic (or technology if using the work to compare and contrast today’s society), male superiority, and the villain archetype. other supporting characters reflect the wickedness of fairy tales in a realistic lens. anyone interested in writing or reading inventive tales will rejoice .
speaking of character, they don’t have much personalities. arete just wants to sees the world and is curious. boax is a meanie - pants, really half is dialogue is just yelling. boax’s servants grovel and amble are there though amble has a backbone and grovel is a frog .
though arete is the focus of the film for the most part, that is not to say the supporting cast is devoid of value. in fact, the main antagonist boax is done quite brilliantly. a wicked wizard on the outside, he has the soul of a spoiled and simple - minded child. he insists on glorifying a past long gone, and cannot deal with the sight of his world crumbling around him. his own long and enduring existence is soon coming to a halt, and that thought terrifies him. to say he is an allegory for patriarchy would be an understatement. he represents a whole set of values which slowly but surely are losing their influence over societies around the world. and yet, he remains a relatable and charismatic character with a whole lot of individuality. while ample is not as charismatic, she is an important ally to arete. both are forced into a submissive position; nevertheless, while she never actively helps the princess, though she tries to, it' s their mutual empathy what makes the cook share the precious piece of knowledge arete uses to save herself. by joining forces, these two competent, empowered female figures weaken others' influence over their lives .
sadly, the point of the film is that she must overcome prisons, both mental and physical, in order to attain that freedom, and it is in these sequences that the screenplay just drags and drags. it is almost a shame that boax turns out to be merely selfish and petty rather anything greater... the
villain
in this piece is never really sympathetic, but never really more than an outside threat, you realize very quickly that princess arete can and will outsmart him even with her proverbial hands tied. the outcome almost seems to be a foregone conclusion, and that' s what the children' s audience is going to be looking for here .
uptown girl: for her first husband, anankos. this ended up being a plot point when she had to manipulate her sister into letting them marry, much to arete' s anger. later, her second husband sumeragi was the uptown boy for her, since she was supposed to be just a commoner .
set years before the game' s present setting, it follows mikoto' s life as a princess of valla, before eventually becoming the queen of hoshido. while most of the fic' s story is original due to how the time frame is largely unexplored, it follows the canon laid down by the game and tries to fill in the blanks of some unanswered plot points .
truth serums: the throne in valla is enchanted so that anybody sitting on it cannot lie. when hydra remembers his identity as the soul of anankos, he' s able to prove it (along with his non - hostility) to arete and mikoto because he sat down on the throne sometime during their conversation .
when vallites lose loved ones, it is customary for family members to cut off their hair, with the amount cut off being proportional to how close they were to the deceased. arete shaves down to the scalp after her husband is killed by anankos, and mikoto does likewise after sumeragi is killed and kamui is kidnapped .
he decides arete and mikoto aren' t a threat to him and lets them go when they' re in his grasp; the sisters go on to delay his plans long enough for corrin, azura and the royals to grow up. had he simply killed them when he had the chance, he would have won .
arete is at once adorable and inspiring, in that fairy tale heroine manner, so all is not lost with this movie. lectures on philosophy are one of my greatest peeves, and she throws a couple out there, but thankfully, most of her character development focuses on her perspective. arete is not only starved of human contact, but also just the general gratification of being able to live. her yearning for things so gosh darned basic, things as simple as friends or everyday emotions, illustrates the degree to which she is sheltered and makes her pitiful in a heart wrenching way. she 's even more affecting because she doesn 't just cry and accept the pity. instead of lamenting her own misfortune, she always keeps her hope and her wits about her through tough situations to get the freedom which she so desires. arete 's mild mannerisms are a break from the utter exaggerations of most anime characters, and is a benefit to her cause for sympathy. emotional understatement is much more effective than rampant bawling. her rounded personality makes her more complete, more nuanced. her timid demeanor and slight build serve to contrast and highlight her internal fortitude. when all is said and done, arete stands side by side with the best animated heroines targeted towards children in any feature, japanese or otherwise .
japanese animation in recent years saw the rise of younger directors such as makoto shinkai (your name, 2016) or mamoru hosoda (wolf children, 2012). if you like european
high - blow
movie, katabuchi is for you. you will soon find that his understanding of classical movies and literature is extraordinary. princess arete is his first full - length movie and has many good points. however, the slow development of the story might bore the viewers. my suggestion is to watch his more recent mai mai miracle (2009) or in this corner of the world (2016) first, since these movies are more entertaining. if you like these movies and want to know more about katabuchi, you will enjoy this one .
mikoto' s first husband and kamui' s blood father, whom she finds as an amnesiac man and nurses back to health. after he regains his memories, he learns he was actually anankos' s soul given physical form, and helps mikoto, arete and their children escape. he then vanishes as his evil half takes over as the main antagonist of the story .
sort of; the letter was sent by the real garon as a genuine offer of peace, after arete died trying to warn him about anankos. but he was killed and replaced by anankos' s familiar shortly after sending it, and anankos took the opportunity to further divide hoshido and nohr. the lost king elaborates on the events surrounding garon' s
replacement
.
however, the aesthetics are ultimately unimportant, as this film is about several very interesting themes that are cleverly woven together. as i’ve mentioned, the first thing that struck me was the commentary on gender roles common in fantasy stories. there’s a real sadness about arete’s fate, the fact that she’s objectified and essentially caged to preserve her preciousness. she’s smarter than her potential suitors, and sees through them for the power hungry pillagers that they are. she’s sensitive to the lives of the peasants that she observes but can never influence, and when she escapes her tower to experience the real world, the people of the court conclude she’s become cursed. the build up is very slow (but never monotonous) and it’s forty minutes into the film that the conflict really begins when she’s pawned off by her father to be married to an evil wizard (the “evil wizard” part isn’t a traditional fairytale trope, but the “pawning off by her father” is). when the wizard imprisons arete again, there’s an interesting parallel between the princess’s trapped state and the wizard who essentially isolates and imprisons himself, and another parallel between the wizard and a witch character that appeared earlier… one of whom is prepared to foolishly wait for something which will probably never happen, the other not .
shotgun wedding: invoked by mikoto. she knows that she cannot get married to hydra due to him being a commoner, but she also knows that arete would be forced to allow a union if they have sex out of wedlock so as to preserve the family' s honor. mikoto then sleeps with hydra and purposefully gets caught by one of her gossipy maids, leading to a quiet and hastily thrown together wedding .
traditional fairy - tale model. it uses clever metaphors and sensible story - telling to address its primary underlying theme: the reaching for freedom through self - discovery. arete must face her journey alone – no one will come and save her. the only way she can be set free from her predicament is by her own hands. she must re - discover the magic inside to shake off the shackles that bind her .
this is just the tip of the iceberg of the ideas that the film explores, but the pacing prevents anything from feeling crammed or overcooked. arete’s actions during the final arc of the movie are both ironic and admirably heroic. i’m nitpicking by naming this film’s flaws, but the plot occasionally relies on convenient coincidences and the pacing probably severely limits its appeal. but anime that are as insightful and meaningful as this are a rarity .
studio 4ºc is well known for its smooth animations and appealing visuals, and it does not disappoint with princess arete. the relaxed pacing allows the movie to take its time and layer each scene so that they all feel dimensional. movements all look fluid, whereas the minimalistic character designs are cute and fitting of the fairy - tale premise. while the color scheme complements the medieval setting, the faded colors do make the movie look a bit dated, though everything else looks so pretty this detail can be easily overlooked. backgrounds seem as if they came right off a storybook; outside environments look like oil paintings, and the interiors are all very detailed. on the sound department, it is equally superb: the theme song krasno solntse by origa is breathtakingly beautiful, and it complements the melancholic feel of some scenes perfectly. the ending theme kin' iro no tsubasa sounds nostalgic, yet heartwarming. as for the rest of the ost, it is consistently solid, with some tracks more memorable than others.
princess arete ( アリーテ姫 arīte hime ) ( also princess arite ) is a 2001 animated film released by japanese animation studio studio 4 °c based on diana coles 's 1983 story the clever princess . the film is a non-traditional approach to the standard tales of fairy tale princesses , and it is known in japan as one of the most successful animated feminist works . 
princess arete (アリーテ姫 arīte hime) (also princess arite) is a 2001 animated film released by japanese animation studio studio 4 °c based on diana coles's 1983 story the clever princess. the film is a non-traditional approach to the standard tales of fairy tale princesses, and it is known in japan as one of the most successful animated feminist works.
princess arete (アリーテ姫 arīte hime) (also princess arite) is a 2001 animated film released by japanese animation studio studio 4 °c based on diana coles's 1983 story the clever princess. the film is a non-traditional approach to the standard tales of fairy tale princesses, and it is known in japan as one of the most successful animated feminist works.