2021 ‧ Celtic or Irish Inspired Genre? ‧ 1 season
This one was an interesting find. It was just released in 2021 on Adult Swim and Crunchyroll.
It completely went past my radar and I’m kicking myself for it. Amazing animation, interesting story (yet convoluted), and great music make Fena Pirate Princess worth checking out, but let me break down the series a bit and say that it’s not perfect.
Animation
I would say that at the very least the animation portion is near perfect, and I would expect nothing less from production IG. My only issue I had was that Fena was so white that I had to turn down the contrast or else Fena would blend into light backgrounds. It was kind of humorous, however, as it reminded me of my wife at the beach.
Music
(Where did she go!? Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little but still had to change my contrast settings. \”Gondor calls for aid!\”… ok I\’m done.
I also loved the music. The opening theme is “Umi to Shinju” performed by JUNNA, while the ending theme is “Saihate” by Minori Suzuki. Yuki Kajiura composed the music for the series. Those unfamiliar with her name, she is a talented composer that used to be part of the group See-Saw, and has composed some of my favorite anime like .Hack//Sign.
Story
With only 12 episodes, it’s hard to cover a lot in that small number. However, this is my preferred length for an anime series. I usually don’t like anything over 24 episodes, but there are exceptions.
I believe this challenges the production team to balance things like story, character development, and effective soft or hard world-building.
What Fena: Pirate Princess does right:
I love the balance of the 18th century elements mixed with fantasy. I always enjoy a series that can balance historical places and events into its story.
All the characters are well designed and feel genuine, but lack a certain depth.
What Fena: Pirate Princess gets wrong:
It introduces characters with plot lines that are never resolved or very clear. In terms of character development, I felt there was very little and the emotions and intent behind each character’s actions did not seem believable or was hard to follow.
Fena herself is a very one-dimensional character; she does very little for herself and is always in need of rescue. Hopefully, you can see beyond Fena being the “damsel in distress”.
Conculsion
There were many great concepts and ideas put into Fena Pirate Princess but lacked focus to use them effectively and missed some great opportunities.
Despite some of its shortcomings, I really enjoyed this anime. The relationships between the characters felt genuine, however lacked development and purpose.
Fena: Pirate Princess has a good story, amazing artwork, and a brilliant original soundtrack. For me, series like this I fit into that Celtic/Irish inspired anime genre, that give an overly nostalgic and uplifting feeling.
This scene below of Fena dancing for a ritual, reminded of how pure and beautiful anime can be.
(Can’t stand that English dub, that’s just me though).
The look on Yukimaru’s face is how I look when I see artwork like this.
Definitely worth checking out.
My Rating: 7/10
See the first episode of Fena for free on YouTube from Chruchllyroll!