Out Like a Ninja Part 2: The Puppet Princess

I know several people who are scared of dolls and puppets.  Never understood this fear myself, I assume the idea is that tiny, little, people-shaped objects would be easier for ghosts to possess.  Or that their little, soulless eyes are watching you.  On that note I present to you deadly ninja puppets.

Background:
Released By: Anime Works
Length: 40 minutes
Year of Production: 2000
Language: Sub and Dub both included, Dub reviewed
Available on Netflix: Yes

Puppet Princess was the first used DVD I purchased when I moved to Texas.  I had finally found the time to check out the local Movie Trading Company and this title was sitting prominently in the anime section.  I expected a laughably bad OVA but was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this title.

The Ninja
Yasaburo is the primary ninja of the series.  He was left without a master after the rest of his squad was annihilated by the deathless ninja-warriors of a local castle.  Left with few options, he agrees to work for Rangiku in order to make a quick buck. He also has the most fantastic eyebrows, in the same league as The Monarch from The Venture Brothers. 

True ninjas work the night shift

The Master
Rangiku is the mistress of deadly puppetry.  She commands four of the deadliest marionettes ever created, each with powers and abilities far surpassing those of humans.  These puppets, which she hates, are the legacy of her father, whom she also hates.  She is surprisingly innocent for a girl whose family was murdered in front of her eyes.  Her goal is to destroy all of the puppets created using her father's unorthodox methods.

The Puppet Command Loom

Story:
The OVA opens in typical horror movie fashion.  There are fleeting images of eyes and heads all with a look of terror frozen in place.  Four ninja are seen fleeing from a palace settled high atop a lone hill.  They are quickly followed by four more dark shadows.  The ninjas are quickly cut down from 4 to 2 by the unkillable assassins, a.k.a. ninja puppets, from the castle.  The leader of the ninja tries to sacrifice his remaining subordinate, Yasaburo, but it doesn't go quite as planned.  Instead of fleeing to safety he flees into many knives.

I'm sad the leader died, he had the best facial expressions.

After that grisly little opener, we see a young girl carrying a large wicker container on her back.  Her biggest worry is how not to crush the flower on the path in front of her.  This is our female protagonist Rangiku, and she is on her way to see the legendary ninja Kato.  Instead she finds Yasaburo who informs her Kato was killed by the feudal lords who feared his power.

And so Puppet Princess meets Lone Ninja

Further discussion is cut short when an enemy ninja appears to finish the job his death puppets failed at the night before.  Yasaburo is hopelessly outmatched in is about to be cut down when a sword emerges from the wicker basket the young girl has been lugging around.  A large red samurai puppet, controlled by Rangiku, emerges and slices all of the ninja puppets in half, sending the one human enemy scurrying back to his master.

Giant Death Samurai

With the present dangers addressed, Rangiku takes a moment to explain why she is looking to hire a ninja.  Years ago the lord of the realm, Karimata invaded Rangiku's home, murdered her parents and stole all but four of her father's puppets.  Rangiku and her nursemaid managed to flee with a bit of the family fortune in addition to the puppets. Now years later she is hoping to get her revenge.  However, in order to fight effectively with the puppets she needs someone to protect her while she operates them.  She is willing to pay handsomely for a single night's revenge scheme.

Emptying all of the gold bars from her piggybank

Yasaburo is significantly swayed by her monetary persuasion and agrees to help her.  The job has the added benefit of allowing Yasaburo for atone for his failed mission to the castle and if the job goes bad again he can take the money and run.  Once the terms of their deal are settled, Rangiku goes to purify herself at the waterfall.  Yasaburo takes this opportunity to try and force himself on the naked Rangiku who puts up no resistance.

Such a charmer

Rangiku agrees to pay his fee with her body assuming he can tolerate looking at her.  She reveals a thick, disfiguring scar running the length of her back.  With this segue she reveals another bit of her past.  Rangiku's dad built 4 attack puppets with powers far surpassing human warriors.  Her father was so obsessed with puppets he attempted to make his own autonomous puppet.  Through his research he found that the skin of young children worked better than copper to make the vital springs.  He harvested skin from the village's children and made his ultimate puppet from Rangiku's skin.

Little Rangiku, tortured by her father

Father knows worst

Rangiku's actual goal is not to avenge her family or her father but to destroy the puppet made of her skin.  Karimata is building an army of autonomous puppets using the skin of children in the surrounding villages.  Creepy faceless soldiers harvest the skin from equally creepy faceless children.

Creepy, Creepy Children

Rangiku and Yasaburo show up in one village to kill the soldiers with a ninja puppet and rescue one batch of kids.  Fresh from their all-too-easy victory at the village our heroes storm the gates of Karimata's palace.  Rangiku has to sacrifice two of her puppets (The ninja and the stocky one with all of the tools) to get through the rapidly closing gate.  They are ambushed on the other side by the enemy ninja and his puppets.  Rangiku brings out her Samurai Puppet and slices up the ninja puppets again.  The puppet master apparently learned his lesson last time however and modified the ninjas puppets to clog the gears of the samurai as they are cut down.

Fool me once, shame on you.....then REVENGE!

Left with little alternative, Rangiku detonates her Samurai, wiping out the last of the ninja puppets and almost killing herself. Yasaburo, meanwhile, is fighting the one human ninja and doing a fairly good job this time.  When he sees Rangiku detonate her puppet he gets a bit more serious and slices his opponent clean in half.

Always hard to pick up the 7-10 split

  Now that most of her puppets are destroyed, Rangiku talks more about her Father issues.  He was very sweet to her when they played with puppets, but otherwise a cruel despot.  As Daddy was burning to death in the fire, his last words to her were, "Don't let the puppets burn."  Clearly he had his priorities straight.

Her only happy memory; learning to kill with puppets

Now that all of the other enemies have been defeated, our two protagonists move on to the lord of the castle, Karimata himself.  Yasaburo forces his way into the inner chambers and is met with a rather unusual sight.  Karimata, in true deranged villain form, has fused himself with the puppet made of Rangiku's skin. 

I don't really understand the mechanics of this and I don't want to

Yasaburo and the Puppet Lord have an intense sword battle which eventually leads them up onto the palace roof.  Here Rangiku is waiting with all four of her death puppets at the ready.  Karimata is troubled by this, as she should only be able to use one of her weapons at a time.  He panics slightly as all four of the puppets rush him, but is able to slice through 3 of them which he realizes are illusions created by the ninja.

You can't see it, but there is a 4th  puppet just off-screen

At this point Yasaburo reveals he is the fabled ninja Kato, traveling under an alias, and he has the power to create illusions.  Upon hearing this Karimata decides he doesn't have to worry about the last of Rangiku's puppets which is obviously another illusion.  Or so he thinks until it stabs him in the chest.

The deadly fan is no illusion

The mask covering the puppet's face falls away revealing that Rangiku herself struck the deadly blow to Kairmata.  The Rangiku he saw controlling the other puppets was another of Kato's illusions.  Having accomplished her goal of destroying the last of her father's puppet collection, Rangiku sets off on another journey.  Kato decides to accompany her, having nothing better to do and realizing working for rich girl is better than living as a penniless drifter.  The two set off, happily ever after.

I'm not really sure what they're carrying now, all the puppets were destroyed

Why watch?
1. Rangiku - She is an exceptional leading lady for this OVA.  Her battles are a lot of fun to watch and she is exceptionally cute, even when is is going insane.  Combine all that with a decent back story and you have one exceptional main character.

Normally she is extra cute

Still kinda cute, in a crazy kinda way

Mistress of Disguise, pretending to be a puppet

2. The Creepy Factor - The show does a great job of bouncing the mood of story back and forth between horror, and lighter, more traditional battle style.  The contrast really helps to make the dark sections feel even creepier than they may have otherwise been.  I really didn't expect this to have such chilling sections when I bought this DVD, but it gives the show a very unique feel.

If you have a weak stomach, you'll want to close your eyes at times

The subtle creepiness of soulless faces

Should you be watching?
I really recommend The Puppet Princess.  The battle scenes are amazing, the atmosphere is perfect, and the female lead is charming.  They also pack a surprising amount of story and character development into a short run time.  The slow reveal of Rangiku's motives and past are masterfully done and make this OVA something special.  If you're not scared of puppets, check out this title.  If you are scared of puppets, check it out anyway but have a braver friend in the room with you when you watch, or at least keep the lights on.