I'll say it right away: magical girls amuse me. There's something so ridiculous about them that you can't help but laugh and invent drinking games for the cliches that are in it...

I've been meaning to check out Shamanic Princess ever since I saw an add for it at the beginning of one of my Slayers tapes. A particular character had caught my eye: Graham. He's a bit of a mutant freak with a mask on one side of his face. He's covered in bandages and his body is really not all that pretty to look at. But I'm told I always fall for the freaks and I must be right, because right when I saw that add for the first time, I perked up and said: 'Ooh, who's the pretty freak?'

I didn't know his name was Graham then. All I know is that after years and hearing some fairly good things about the show, I finally went out and rented it.

It was good.

Minor quibbles:

The main character's name is Tiara. Eeew. How stereotypically prissy. Then again, she is a princess, though it's very easy to miss where they say it explicitly. She is also dressed like a hooker. Seriously, who wears boots up to their thighs and exposes that much cleavage? Aside from hookers. Well, magical girls, I suppose. But Sakura was always decently dressed.
Aside from that, she doesn't seem a very sympathetic character, but because no one was especially good or evil, except maybe for Sara/the Throne of Yord, I could probably say that for everyone. I just didn't like Tiara as much Lena or Sara or the Throne of Yord.

The story moved rather slowly, and was a bit hard to follow, especially near the end when they're all in the painting... It was matrix-like: what's real? What's not real? Is this person attacking me really this person? or is it really my enemy assuming her guise? Not much is explained. The main cast of the story all come from a place called the Guardian World. There are neutralizers and magic users. The Yord Throne is a very powerful source of magic. What does it all mean? Maybe I wasn't paying close attention, but it's all a bit nebulous to me.

Also, I wasn't particularly impressed with the bishounen.

Praise:

The magic was AWESOME. None of that shoujo glitter-bubble nonsense. I loved the tattoo marking things and the summoning of shadow beasts and when Lena and Tiara call upon the powers of their shadows, the transformation sequence is dark and economical (considering) and TIARA'S HEAD HAS WINGS!!!! XD (Minor quibble: The first time Tiara does this, she poses way too much and makes way too many dance steps. Sailor Moon in season S ain't got nothing on her)

Kagetsu's English voice actor was Crispin Freeman. I didn't even watch it in English, but knowing that Crispin Freeman is in it just makes my day. I love Crispin Freeman. He has an awesome voice. Can you tell I like Crispin Freeman?

The furry thing kicks ass and is actually cute. Okay, so admittedly Kagetsu's crony is especially weak, but still. It was actually useful for more than cheering on the sidelines and providing the magical girl with new gadgets. Admittedly Tiara kept on telling it to stay out of her way, but can you blame her? If I had something cute and fuzzy like that for a partner, I'd want it to stay out of harm's way too. (it had a crummy voice in the English dub. A spanish accents?? What were they thinking?)

I liked Lena's outfit. Not her hair, which was a bit strange but totally normal compared to Tiara's cotton-candy Sailor Chibimoon hair. Lena's outfit was classy and outlandish and totally fit for a young sorceress. I approve. I also approve of her flute. That's a nifty flute. And a nifty power. And a nifty visual effect for her power. Green vine things? Totally cool. (Excuse me while I fangirl)

I was slightly dissapointed that Graham didn't actually appear in the story proper. He's mentioned in the first episode, when Lena says to the furry-thing 'so you're Tiara's new partner after Graham? Nice to meet you!' but I didn't know who Graham was at the time. I was rather pleased when Kagetsu was briefly turned into a crippled mosnter because I thought he was going to become Graham. My theory was reinforced by the fact that he was Tiara's ex-boyfriend and I'd seen Graham holding Tiara, but this was not so.
Anyways, Graham finally appeared the two final episodes, which were flashback episodes. I got to see his creation, and then I got to see him in action. So now it transpired that he was Tiara's first partner, which sets me up to expect his death. This made it easier for me to bear.
Graham was everything I had expected him to be. Twisted, sad, sweet, full of unrequited love... Dammit, he deserved to live!

Anyways, it was visually stunning and fun. I recommend it to anyone who isn't allergic to magical girls and too critical of obscure plot points.

Shamanic Princess is another one of those shows that I've been meaning to see and/or buy if only because it was so heavily advertised in all the shows I started with. That and Crispin Freeman is in it. The presence of the voice of Zelgadis adds automatic respect to a show, at least untill heavy editing and crappy dialogu bring it down in flames. And yes, I am talking about Rave Master (Manga = Good, Anime = Kago in Pain).
Of course that being said, the list of shows I've been meaning to buy is a rather long list. But Shamanic Princess is on there.

I haven't seen Rave Master. My brother bought the two first manga in French a while back and I thought it was rather strange.

Crispin Freeman is in it? Awesome.