Hi Katt!

>I've just watched Princess Rouge OAV 1 for the second time (though I was
>half asleep the first time so didn't pick up on this then) and it just
>screamed out to me "AMG rip off"!!  Firstly there's the young (uni
>student?) guy, no girlfriend, probably not the greatest of confidence,
>fairly average really, comes across the "magical princess".. well, she
>comes across him, falls out of the sky onto him in fact.  Sounding slightly
>familiar? Then they live together for awhile (it really is a short time,
>the way this story was set out didn't impress me one bit) and eventually
>the feelings start up, blah blah, big evil thing comes into it and there's
>a bit of a fight, ENTER Rouge's two sisters, one the very bold and feisty,
>the other quieter, more logical? and of course, they decide to stay.  I
>don't know about any of you, but although the story isn't close enough to
>spark any lawsuits, I thought the general story was just too closely
>matched up with our beloved AMG. and damn them!! the show really did suck.
>Has anyone seen it? or anymore of it apart from the first OAV? I'd be
>interested to know what the rest of you think. Am I being too sensitive?
>Maybe but I need something to complain about. :)

Here's my take on that. Bare with me, I have to approach it from a certain
angle.

First thing to strike me about that? The "big evil thing". A big problem I
find with most American written stories is the need to have "baddies". I was
just reading a book the other day, I'm finding out about the culture of the
place, meeting people and then suddenly BANG!, in is inserted a bunch of
aliens who want to take over the world. Yawn. What's the point? I remember a
TV series for children based on a series of toys called "Sylvanian
Families". I watched the British one. They used the toys themselves, and the
stories were about events the inhabitants of the village. Very nice and
tasteful. Then I see the American one. It's a cartoon, there's baddies
(what's more comic relief baddies) and everyone acts like a stereotype of
Hollywood American junior high school? Why? Why the hell do these people
need to have baddies in everything? Every kids afternoon cartoon series
needs the silly baddies that recur. Even full featured Disney animated
movies are always guilty of it. It's so cheapening. What's more it shows how
fucking dumb the writers are. It's the single biggest mark of
unsophistication I can think of.

How does this apply? The AMS OVA had far too much taste to go into that sort
of thing. It's what puts it head and shoulders above so much fantasy anime
and indeed fantasy fiction. Same thing with Maison Ikkoku. Tastefully done,
and everything is understated, a word that seems to be lost to the
superlative obsessed American media. And this Princess Rouge thing hadn't
the class.

Why do you think the "plot element" of Mara annoys me, guys?  ^_^

Sam the man