Chaika – The Coffin Princess Review (Anime)
Chaika – The Coffin Princess has proven to be a popular series despite not being a huge name but now that I’ve watched the show, should this have been the final nail in the coffin?
Chaika has a lot of pros and cons so my feelings towards it are mixed. The action is great, the story is decent but the fan-service is awkward. The fanservice is mostly where 14 year old Chaika is involved and, well, it’s certainly not sexy. Chaika revolves around unemployed Toru who comes across the young sorceress Chaika who’s carrying around a coffin. Toru’s sister, Akari, decides to stay with her brother as they journey with Chaika in an attempt to help her evade capture from the Gillett Corps who believe she’ll become a menace to society like her father was, although she only wishes to help her deceased father rest in peace by finding his body parts. Toru finds a reason to live through helping Chaika and having made this decision, he’s unable to back out of it.
So it doesn’t sound bad and it genuinely isn’t, I thoroughly enjoyed the story and character development and wish that there wasn’t so much fanservice where Chaika was involved, and I didn’t enjoy her caveman-like speech which is explained and makes sense, but that doesn’t make it much more bearable. Take Chaika out of the show and it would have been far more bearable as it definitely excelled when it focused on other characters other than her, and it’s sad that I think I could really have liked this show if Chaika wasn’t such an insufferable, irritating character who’s nowhere near as appealing as Toru, although his sister with her obsession with her brother is fairly annoying too, making Toru stand out further and I feel his pain at having to put up with both of these girls – you can tell they both get on his nerves from time to time!
There’s plenty of visual flair to enjoy here with some stellar action scenes that warrant the higher age rating, and although it’s violent it isn’t particularly gruesome. Boens are a fantastic animation studio and Chaika does them no disservice, although the content isn’t the best they’ve worked with, and I have little to complain about animation wise – the animation itself is clearly great, but again, I wish there was less fanservice as it does little but poorly blend into the overall serious tone of the show. Don’t get me wrong, other shows definitely have a bigger abundance of fanservice, it’s just that here it really stands out as it doesn’t fit into the show and kept pulling me out of what would otherwise be a much more enjoyable experience.
The character design stands out, certainly where Chaika is concerned as not many anime characters carry around coffins, but the enemy design is what surprised me. One of the first battles which takes place in episode one is against a unicorn and no, it’s not a lovely and magnificent steed as you’d expect one to be, but a violent and gaunt looking creature who’s aiming to rip Toru and Chaika apart. Despite only being around briefly, I loved its design and it’s a shame that there aren’t many ravenous monsters in the show. All around I’m impressed by the character and locale designs though, and the show has elaborate world-building that compliments the show nicely.
Both the English and Japanese voice-overs do their job well although I can’t claim to be a big fan of either. Most characters are voiced well but honestly, I can’t stand Chaika in either version and whenever she speaks it grates on my nerves. The OST is notably less irritating and the OP is so damn good. I can’t remember a single note from the ED right now but the OP is one that I liked from its beginning notes and it keeps the quality up all the way through to the end – it has a bit of a gothic fantasy vibe to it which I really enjoyed and I wish this was reflected in the show a bit more, although it’s certainly there to some degree.
Chaika – The Coffin Princess has certainly been a mixed bag for me. I like the world-building, some characters and art, but Chaika herself and Akari were both massive nuisances to me and they really put me off of the show. I’m sure some will find them cute, but speaking in a caveman-inspired speech and another saying ‘big brother’ and inordinate amount of times was something that made me want to grind my teeth together. There’s plenty of potential otherwise and though it hasn’t particularly sold me on season two or to read the recently released in English manga, I had fun with it. I think the show will find a good home regardless and many will enjoy it despite my issues with it and whilst I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, I do think it’s worth giving a go if you get the chance.
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