The Princess and the Pilot Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Princess and the Pilot Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 27, 2013

NIS America is a label that has been cornering the market on uniquely packaged releases. Typically NIS has released anime series, always in a deluxe slipcase that houses two slimline cases with Blu-rays and DVDs and which also includes a nicely illustrated hardback book. While collectors may lament the fact that this kind of packaging doesn’t “fit” in with traditional Blu-ray casing, NIS releases at least have their own uniform appearance. The Princess and the Pilot is a bit of a difference for the label, however, in that this is a feature film from 2011 that may hold some interest for anime fans since it features a screenplay by Satoko Okudera, who also wrote the popular The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Like that enterprise, The Princess and the Pilot features another plucky heroine, but this outing is decidedly more meditative, with both romantic and sociopolitical angles that provide some added interest.

There’s a certain Studio Ghibli-esque feeling to this piece, not necessarily with regard to the plot, which doesn’t dabble in the odd or quasi-folktale element like Miyazaki’s work often does, but in its slow, steady pace and especially with regard to some of its lovely renderings of the environments through which the characters pass. The two main characters in the piece are the title duo, a young princess whose fiancé has disappeared in the turmoil of a long war and who finds her own life threatened by the conflict, and a half-caste pilot who has struggled with racial prejudice his entire life who is enlisted to get the princess to safety. The film is not especially eventful, spooling out the slowly developing relationship between these two as the battle elements occasionally thrust their way into the main storyline.

The Princess and the Pilot Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Princess and the Pilot is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of NIS America with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The animation here is often quite breathtaking, at least with regard to some of the backgrounds (and especially the skies, which frequently feature dimensional clouds that move with a sense of depth that's quite remarkable). The image here is sometimes just a tad on the soft side, though that may be a deliberate choice on the part of the animators. Colors are beautifully saturated, though tend to feature somewhat muted tones rather than bold, bright primaries.

The Princess and the Pilot Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Princess and the Pilot features both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and LPCM 2.0 audio in the original Japanese. The 5.1 mix is nicely immersive, especially in the battle scenes, but also with regard to some very evocative ambient environmental sounds. Dialogue, effects and score are all very cleanly presented. Fidelity is excellent and dynamic range is quite wide.

The Princess and the Pilot Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

As mentioned above, this is another so-called Premium Edition from NIS America which comes housed in a sturdy slipcase and which also includes a nicely illustrated hardback book. The on disc supplements are:

• Special Preview (1080i; 1:06)


• Preview (1080i; 1:55)


• TV Spots (1080i; 00:31)

The Princess and the Pilot Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Princess and the Pilot is a fairly rote romance (with occasional action elements), but it features some really lovely animation that should appeal to those who like the slightly dreamy style of Studio Ghibli. This Premium Edition from NIS America features the requisite hardback book and slipcase, and the Blu-ray itself features excellent video and audio. Recommended.