First Episode Principal

I mentioned in my first blog that I had some trouble figuring out what to write about; because I consider first impressions to be one of the most important moments when it comes to art and creation in general.  How are we supposed to trust creators if they aren’t willing, or are incapable, of giving us a good enough reason in the first place to become invested in what they’re creating?  It’s for that reason that I didn’t particularly care for Karas, why it took me until Sirene’s episode in Devilman:  Crybaby to actually care about the show, but I was immediately invested in others.  Cowboy Bebop, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Samurai Champloo, Planet With, Made in Abyss, FLCL, et cetera, because the staff was able to give a plethora of reasons to stick around for the show.  One of my favorite studios, Studio 3Hz, has stunningly good first episodes.  While I could talk about almost any of their shows I’m going to focus this time on last year’s gem, Princess Principal.

A first episode has a myriad of responsibilities and goals, all of which can be tackled in varying ways in the context of each story.  The primary goal is to give us a strong enough impression that we are invested enough to continue watching the rest of the show.  However, there are three supporting goals that are necessary in leading to that much larger, more important one.  Those three are to provide us context into what’s going on, provide us with some insight as to what the show’s themes and tone will be (which could also translate to, “provide us a teaser of the narrative”), and, lastly, provide us with what the aesthetic is going to be.  For the sake of clarity, I’m using aesthetic as a very broad topic encompassing not only the visuals and directing, but also the music and voice acting.  Without these three we end up with no idea as to what’s going on and disinterested which is… less than ideal if you’re trying to make people interested.

Given that the content and subject matter of every story is wildly different, it’s nearly impossible to compare two different series’ first episodes at face value.  What needs to be compared instead is how well executed the presentation of the core themes, tone, characters and world is.  The shows I listed previously stand out in memory because they neatly presented us with a very good, general idea of what we’ve gotten ourselves into while simultaneously giving us interesting things, and the promise of more of said interesting things.  Made in Abyss being a definite stand out in all regards of world and theme building as well as just being extremely entertaining.  By this reasoning I would also argue that Devilman:  Crybaby had a very poor first episode.  I feel like the first episode only established the aesthetic, while doing little to represent the show’s narrative, themes and spending too much time contextualizing things that didn’t need to be contextualized nor explained.

Forewarning, I’m about to use the word “context” a lot.

May we always praise your name, Yuki Kajiura

Princess Principal is an episodic spy thriller that immediately it gives context to the world with a brief fifty second narration, explaining the nation’s rise to power, civil war and resulting wall.  This is a tool that is often judged with undue harshness because of a misunderstanding in the intent.  I would much prefer have a fifty second narration and slide show setting up the world opposed to a forced conversation that would come across as, “We need to go over the wall.”
“The Wall?  It’s really been ten years…”
“Yes.  Ten years since the bloody civil war that came immediately after Albion’s rise to power.”
I’m looking at you, Akashic Records.  At this point we have been given a satisfying set up for the world, which is followed by the OP, then a really great shot of Ange spying on someone from afar.  We see the steam, the gears, and the general streets of London, informing us of the setting.

Bless you, Chise

Typically, I don’t care for action scenes without any context or stakes because we aren’t given any reason to care yet.  Spectacle will never outweigh a good, well thought out scene that advances the plot and has actual consequences for failure.  Studio 3Hz gets around this with Eric, who is a damn good plot device that fills many roles.  In this instance, he’s our grounding force constantly letting us know what is or is not normal.  At this point all we know about the world is that it’s a steampunk setting, the military is incredibly advanced, and we just saw Ange jump off a building and begin glowing green.  For all we know, there are mechanical limbs or a drug being passed around that allows for super human abilities.  Having Eric be just a normal man and utterly flabbergasted at the events confirms the significance of Ange’s cavorite device and the fact that Chise cut through a moving car’s tire.  The city is further contextualized as the episode progresses, we see how beautiful and well-kept the private school for royalty is compared to how filthy the inner city is, emphasizing the difference between East and West.  The brief interactions between the group in charge of the spies gives us a solid idea of each’s personality and paints the opposing forces of the Duke in a very unsavory color.  Arguably the most important things being contextualized are the girls’ personalities, though.  Each girl has a very distinct character design, hinting at their personalities on visuals alone, but of course we get solid development in very natural conversations and interactions between the five of them.  Not only that, but even imagery and shot composition subtly shows us which girls are in the darker parts of the business, and which ones are still innocent.

Killers in the shadow

Princess always trapped

Due to the episodic, nonchronological nature of the story there are plenty of opportunities to ruin said story.  The staff is of course able to nail the formula and use it to their own benefit.  Rather than seeing the girls slowly befriend and trust each other, we’re told blatantly in the beginning that this is Case #13, safe to assume this is their thirteenth mission together.  The relationships have already established.  Instead, we’re being shown the end-game.  Basically, it’s the same as when you make a new character in a video game.  During character creation the video game shows your character in the highest tier armor, showing you what you will eventually become.  Incentive to continue with that class.  With the knowledge that we were dropped into the middle of the story, we are implicitly told that we will get to see how they grow from there and see how they reached this point in their lives and relationships.  Incentive to continue to watch the show.  Several shots and lines foreshadow upcoming events, twists and backstories to each of the characters, as well as reward those of us that are rewatching with feels way earlier than necessary.  Overall tone and pacing are set in a bold fashion, clearly informing us that there will be subterfuge, blood, politics, double crossing double crossers and the gray of morality throughout the rest of the show.

My heart hurts

Aesthetic is a complicated matter to discuss via blog format because there’s only so much about the visual and audio cohesion that can be explained via text.  So, suffice it to say that Studio Easter delivers consistently beautiful back ground art, the character designs, music, direction and storyboards/layouts are all top-notch and none of the mentioned ever stray too far from what we are given in the first episode.  Quality of course varies from episode to episode, cut to cut, but, as a whole, the dark, jazzy steam punk aesthetic that is displayed in the beginning is an apt precursor for what you’ll see and hear for the entire show.

After rewatching this episode multiple times this week specifically for this essay, the sub three times and now two for the dub, I can say with all confidence that this is a good, entertaining episode.  Each rewatch I saw small details I missed before and never came to a point where I felt bored rewatching it.  The dub was especially nice because it gave me a higher appreciation for the animation and visuals.  Several moments of dialogue were not simple static characters with lip flaps.  Those did, of course, happen but were very few and far between, broken up with small movements and character acting to keep things interesting from a visual stand-point.  All this isn’t to say the episode is perfect, by any means, but to say I have problems with it would be me digging through and nit-picking on personal preferences and biases; most of which can be explained away.  As an example, how did Ange read that those were ballet tickets that fell out of Eric’s bag?  She probably didn’t.  She probably saw one word like, “ticket” on it in the dark at a glance and was able to extrapolate when she saw his sister’s feet.  Alternatively, and more likely, she went through his bag at some point.

Princess Principal is by no means the end-all when it comes to first episodes.  There are many that have done a better job, but that does not mean Princess Principal does not deserve recognition.  It’s a prime example of how to make a first episode, giving us the stepping stones to a good first impression:  context, narrative and aesthetic.  In doing so, giving us more than enough reason to come back for the rest of the series.

Goodnight, cute girls doing spy things

Thanks for reading everyone!  This is another show that I had a lot of fun watching and think did a lot of things right, so I'll definitely come back to this for other topics later down the line.  As far as what's in the works, I'm tossing around the possibilities of a Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Star Driver and Blood Blockade Battlefront essays.  They'll all get made eventually, just never sure the order.