Scrapped Princess

**Scrapped Princess** is an action, adventure, drama, comedy, fantasy, science fiction, science fantasy Japanese anime series.  It started

    with a light novel series which was written by Ichiro Sakaki, illustrated by Yukinobu Azumi, and published by Fujimi Shobo for the magazine Fujimi Fantasia Bunko.  It origianlly ran from March, 1999 to October, 2005 for 13 volumes in total.  After that came a manga series, which was written by Ichiro Sakaki, illustrated by Yabuki Go, and published by Kadokawa for the magazine Dragon Comics.  It originally ran from 2002 to 2003 and lasted for 3 volumes in total.  And finally after that came the anime series.  It was directed by Soichi Masui, written by Reiko Yoshida, musically composed by Masumi Ito, and produced by Jun Katou, Hitoshi Hayakawa, Masahiko Minami, Satoru Negishi, and Yutoku Abe.  It originally aired from April 8, 2003 to October 7, 2003, and lasted for 24 episodes in total.

## Plot

The story takes place in what appears to be a fantasy world (revealed later to be Earth in the distant future) and revolves around a girl named Pacifica Casull, the sister in a pair of twins born to the royal family of a kingdom called Leinwan. Pacifica is abandoned at birth. The 5111th Grendel Prophecy predicts that she is the "poison that will destroy the world" if she reaches her sixteenth birthday. To prevent this, she is dropped off a cliff as an infant ("scrapped").

Pacifica is rescued by a court wizard and adopted by the commoner Casull family. Her foster siblings, Shannon, a swordsman, and Raquel, a wizard, become her protectors. Both siblings are extremely powerful and, more often than not, they easily break out of whatever difficult situation they face. Her siblings travel with her throughout most of the story, protecting her from the numerous attempts on her life by people who fear the outcome of the prophecy. Both siblings' skills see constant use. By contrast, Pacifica is mostly a typical fifteen-year-old and her inability to defend herself is a recurring source of self-doubt for her, as is the constantly repeated insistence that she will destroy the world. As the series progresses, the truth about the prophecy slowly comes to light, but even as more of the truth is revealed, more questions arise. Pacifica must discover her hidden destiny, as powerful beings called Peacemakers, who are worshipped in this world as demi-gods, continually manoeuvre to have her destroyed. At the same time, a mysterious being called a Dragoon comes to the aid of Pacifica and her guardians, offsetting the attack of the Peacemakers. It turns out that Pacifica is not "the poison that will destroy the world", but humanity's last hope, as part of a plan that was set in motion 5000 years before by scientists among the human resistance during what were called the Genesis Wars.

Before the Genesis Wars, the Peacemakers were created by humans as weapons against humanity's alien foes, but, determined to protect their human creators and prevent them from destroying themselves, the Peacemakers switched sides and assisted the aliens by imprisoning the survivors of the war in an artificial environment, while at the same time backing up their cultural development to the Middle Ages. The Peacemakers were able to do this with the help of a gifted psychic named Celia Mauser, who, like the Peacemakers themselves, had originally been a tool of the defense. Her powers were used to enhance humanity's weaponry, to the point where it was possible to predict enemy movements. The Peacemakers encouraged Celia Mauser to leak information to them in exchange for the lives of her brother and sister. She was too late; her siblings died, and Celia Mauser's treason was for nothing. Celia was then kept in an area of phase space in a sort of virtual reality for 5000 years, while humanity continued to live on unknowingly in an intangible cage, isolated on a single continent called Dusbin (literally, Dust bin). Her powerful mind was programmed into the artificial environment's control system, and the religion concocted by the aliens to control humanity worships her as a god.

For 5000 years, the Peacemakers watched over humanity, keeping cultural development at a standstill, and prepared to wipe out much of the human race if it ever showed any sign of stepping beyond its apportioned limits (as the Kingdom of Leinwan does toward the end of the series when the attempt is made to coerce the Peacemakers into helping them conquer the world). As the Peacemakers put it, "You don't know you are trapped if all you've ever known is your cage." Humans are completely incapable of resisting the will of the Peacemakers. Just looking at a Peacemaker in the eye renders a human obedient – even Shannon and Raquel are not immune to this. Pacifica Casull is the only human being in 5000 years who is immune to this control, and her ability will become communicable to others once she reaches her sixteenth birthday. This is why the Peacemakers are determined to destroy her, and why they have used the Grendel Prophecies to induce others to do the job for them, since Pacifica cannot be directly attacked by the Peacemakers. In the end, Pacifica's twin brother, Prince Forsyth, who has seen the suffering inflicted on his people by the Peacemakers in their attempts to eliminate Pacifica, asks to meet her. Her guardians allow it and he uses the opportunity to stab her in the back, ten hours before she turns sixteen. This causes her to be removed to the phase sphere, where she meets Celia Mauser and is given the choice of whether humanity will remain in their prison or not. Pacifica chooses freedom.

## Why It Rocks

1. Great voice acting in both sub and dub.
2. Amazing cast of characters.  All of the main characters are interesting, complex, and even entertaining.
3. Good animation.
4. Awesome fight scenes, especially whenever Shannon Casull is fighting.
5. Very appealing character designs.
6. It's interesting how subtle the fantasy elements in this show are.
7. Excellent soundtrack.
8. Pacifica, despite being annoying at times, is given a lot of intrigue, complexity, and sympathy.  She's even given some likable traits as early as episode 1.

## Bad Qualities

1. While she does have likable traits from the very beginning, Pacifica Casull can still be kind of annoying.