Majestic Prince: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

Majestic Prince: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Neil Lumbard May 17, 2023

Majestic Prince is an action-adventure science-fiction series. Executive produced by Hideyuki Nanba (Celestial Method, A Lull in the Sea), Hirofumi Inagaki (Star Blazers 2199, Space Battleship Yamato 2199), Noritada Shimizu (Majestic Prince: Wings to the Future, Active Raid), and Yoshihiro Furusawa (My Hero Academia, Weathering With You), Majestic Prince has animation that drew from the original character designs by Hikaru Arashima. Produced by Shūichi Takashino (When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace, My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex), Takashi Yoshizawa (One Week Friends, Chaos Dragon), Tomoki Numata (Heaven's Lost Property Forte, Is This a Zombie?), Yoshitaka Goto (Mobile Suit Gundam: Lost War Chronicles, Captain Earth), Majestic Prince is distributed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.

Izuru Hitachi (Hiroki Aiba), Ataru Suruga (Junya Ikeda), Toshikazu Asagi (Shintarō Asanuma), Kei Kugimiya (Yōko Hikasa), and Tamaki Irie (Yuka Iguchi) comprise the alliance known as Team Rabbits. The team of special forces works together as the Evolved Children. These gifted and powerful fighters use high tech and elite mechanical weaponry in order to fight for the future of tomorrow. The Evolved Children are the last remaining heroes fighting against the possible annihilation of human kind.

As the enemy grows more dangerous, the task becomes greater – defeat the enemy and save the world (no matter the cost). These challenging stakes arise as human kind was on the brink of conquering outer-space. It is with the Wulgaru alien technology that things become so complicated as the intergalactic stakes are higher than ever.

The series animation isn’t as impressive as one might hope to find for a science-fiction production. The animation production for Majestic Prince comes from Doga Kobo (Aria the Scarlet Ammo AA, A Bridge to the Starry Skies) and Orange (Dimension W, Trigun Stampede). The animation is under the art direction of Minoru Maeda (Our Last Crusade or the Rise of a New World, Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero).

The art style is decent enough for the genre but it doesn’t stand out as well as other productions do. This is generally average quality animation. The style seems less distinct and creative – there is a generic quality to the animation that makes it seem as though it could have been done on autopilot. The production certainly isn’t as ambitious or creative in this regard as some other mecha anime series.

The character designs by Hisashi Hirai (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, Majestic Prince: Wings to the Future) are an excellent of how the series could have improved. The character designs don’t make much of an impression. These designs seem a bit cookie- cutter and don’t stand out as well as one would hope for. The designs simply feel average and unexciting. There isn’t that much to make the designs stand out. These aren’t abysmal efforts by Hirai but the results aren’t as spectacular as the genre sometimes commands, either.

The Majestic Prince mecha designs by Hiroshi Tani (Plastic Memories, Luck & Logic), Koji Watanabe (The Galaxy Railways, Space Brothers), and Yasuhiro Moriki (Classroom For Heroes, Martian Successor Nadesico) provide some decent action-adventure elements to the series. These designs offer decent mecha elements – the mecha adding to the science-fiction universe. It is unfortunate that these are average designs and not something on par with the Gundam franchise or the likes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. If one keeps expectations in check, the average mecha design elements may still be enjoyable for genre enthusiasts but there simply isn’t as much to make them stand out in any meaningful way.

The CGI direction by Takayuki Miyakoda (Comet Lucifer, Active Raid) underwhelms. The CG aspect is something that could have been underplayed. The use of CG in the animation sometimes feels a bit overdone. The results could have been more organic looking. This is one area that would have been better with a different creative approach.

The cinematography by Takafumi Kuwano (My Senpai Is Annoying, Plastic Memories) is bright and colorfu. Though it is not as distinct as some series the animation is well highlighted by the cinematography from Kuwano. The cinematography plays a big role in the production.

This element of the cinematography is especially true in regards to highlighting the aesthetic of the mecha itself. The cinematography does an effective job in this regard even if it also could have been improved in other aspects – making the series look a bit more sophisticated than it does at times.

The score composed by Toshiyuki Watanabe (Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening, Majestic Prince: Wings to the Future) isn’t something that breaks new ground. The music is decent as action-packed background music and the score is an acceptable aspect of the production. The music isn’t quite as thrilling as the best action anime series deliver but the results by Watanabe still provide some fun excitement.

Written by Reiko Yoshida (Digimon Frontier, Digimon Fusion), Majestic Prince offers some decent action and fans of the genre will find the scripting delivers reasonable dialogue. The scripting by Yoshida has the elements fans sometimes look for in this type of series – though perhaps the series isn’t quite as ambitious as some might want to experience. A decent effort, though.

Directed by Keitaro Motonaga (Date A Live, Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening), Majestic Prince isn’t something that rivals the best mecha anime productions. For audiences seeking the best the genre has to offer, Majestic Prince isn’t the answer. Nonetheless, Majestic Prince has some fun elements for genre fans and action-adventure junkies. If for no other reason with this production, Majestic Prince audiences will find that director Motonaga delivers a certain quality of action set-piece that will appeal to some members of the target audience.

Majestic Prince: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Sentai Filmworks, Majestic Prince is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation remains crisp, colorful, and engaging. The animation is bright and vivid during the high-definition presentation. Color reproduction is especially noteworthy and plays a good role in the series presentation quality. The encoding on the release is worthwhile and Sentai Filmworks has done an effective job of presenting the series on this release.

The original Blu-ray release of the series was on four Blu-ray discs and spread across two volume collections. The new re-release collects these same episodes across three discs. Without owning the original volumes, I cannot offer a direct comparison between the presentations, but I would imagine the presentation quality to be close in quality even despite one less disc for the series episodes. Sentai does a good job with disc authoring and encoding.  

Majestic Prince: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The television series is presented in English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo or Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). The lossless audio encoding on the release is worthwhile. The release offers both audio options in a satisfactory lossless audio encoding format. The series sounds reasonably engaging with crisp dynamics. Dialogue is well reproduced. One of reasons why Blu-ray is superior to streaming options is the enhanced sound quality. Blu-ray offers lossless, high bit-rate audio encoding. Streaming services offer (at best) a more compressed audio-stream. Regardless of if one picks the original Japanese language track or the English dub option, the presentation provides a worthwhile encode.

Majestic Prince: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The complete collection bundles together the entire series with the theatrical feature-film. The feature-film included in the bundle is Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening (HD, 1:19:35). Presented in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound in English or Japanese (with English subtitles). This disc is the one released separately as reviewed here.

Japanese Promos (HD, 3:19)

Majestic Prince: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Majestic Prince isn't the best science-fiction action anime series out there. The production has some mediocre elements and it could have been done a bit better. One of the reasons the series isn't as impressive is the animation quality. The animation production is by production studios Doga Kobo (Aria the Scarlet Ammo AA) and Orange (Trigun Stampede). The production doesn't have as many compelling elements as some other mecha series do (and is a far cry from something in the Gundam universe).  

The Blu-ray release does provide series fans with a complete collection offering the complete television series and the feature-film Majestic Prince: Genetic Awakening. The television series is provided in both English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. The feature-film provides a 5.1 surround sound presentation in either English or Japanese. The lossless audio encoding is one of the best strengths of the presentation. The release is almost barebones – unless one considers the feature-film as a bonus (your mileage may vary). RENT IT.