It’s really hard to write a review about a series that you love. You run the risk of waxing romantic and droning on about the subtle differences that bore people who aren’t already into the show; on the other hand if you collapse your appreciation into terse sentences like “Watch this. It roolz.” then no-one else will understand why the series was good. So between the fanboy and the hip otaku, therein lies the chasm straddled by the honest reviewer, and yeah, it often feels like you’re stretched across a chasm.
Hime-chan’s Ribbon (1992-1993) is something of a legend in anime` circles. It was one of the most mature magical girl animes` before Sailor Moon came along and added fighting to the mix, and other series tried to appeal to (dumb and horny) guys by sexing up series, a la Lyrical Girl Nanohora. So it may be the purest example of the genre out there. At the same time, it was a mature example of the genre in that magic didn’t fix everything and the main character had to grow up and learn NOT to rely upon magic as a cureall. You toss in the above-average musical score, the well-characterized characters, and deft emotional plots, and it’s easy to see how I could write a book about HCR’s virtues.
However, the series was not perfect. Season two and three saw HCR lose the plot about the ribbon and the lessons Hime-chan learned by it. In fact, you could probably skip most of episodes 31-53 and not miss anything. HCR does experience the anime` sag, just later on in the series and for a more prolonged period than usual. It was in the middle that the series came to rely more upon stand-alone episodes instead of story arcs; and towards the end, the highly-annoying summary episodes showed up when they weren’t needed if you had been following the series all along. At times, it was schmaltzy, cheezy, and over-the-top; critics will find most of the series this way, but I found only a few episodes guilty as charged.
However, if you watch the majority of the episodes and savor them for the pure-hearted innocence that they are, you’re in for a heartwarming and humorous experience. About the only moral caution I would throw out is that far too often, Hime-chan relies upon deception, or purposeful lying in order to evade consequences. Nearly all of the profanities I’m convinced are mistranslations (for example, I’ve seen “itse” translated as “brat” elsewhere and not “b*stard” and at least in one case, “d*mn” is used in place of “idiot”).
One other thing that’s worth mentioning is that although HCR is emotional, it is not pointlessly so. I’m in awe of the way this series builds up sorrow to a climax and then at its height, washes it away in a deeper understanding that we are not meant to be defeated or laid low, but to learn and endure and to triumph.
HCR exists in two forms: the complete original fansubbed series (at small rez and with cruddy WMA audio), and the high-quality DVD AVIs being released by Honobono. Unfortunately, Honobono has only made it to episode 21, so you’re stuck with the original if you want to see the other episodes.
For your downloading pleasure:
The high points in this series are episodes 1-31, and then episodes 54-55, and 59-61. And now, one last word — how does it end? Gently. You’re not left feeling hopeless, but rather feeling like Hime-chan’s adventures were continuing and you could return to them at any time. I say this because sometimes the ending of a good series is like the ending of a good book. You hate to see it end and it can be painful. That’s not the case here.
Hime-chan’s ribbon is definitely worth watching.
[...] forward are very nice. The eyes are not very detailed, but the faces are. If you’re a fan of Hime-Chan’s Ribbon, then you’ll be fine with what they do here. The animation doesn’t disappoint for the [...]