Princess Connect! Re:Dive (2020)

[プリンセスコネクト！Re:Dive]

Season 1

Director: Takaomi Kanasaki
Studio: CygamesPictures
Starring: MAO, Miku Ito, Rika Tachibana
Episodes: 13

Synopsis:
An amnesiac knight is taken in by a young Elvish girl selected by the goddess Ameth to act as his guide.

Impressions:
I'm a pretty big fan of the game that acts as this series' source material, so I was looking forward to the animated adaptation when I heard it was coming out. This is a rather loose adaptation with little focus on the main plotline of the game, but I think it works in the series' favor as it has a far more comfortable feel when you compare it to the rather stiff adaptation of Granblue Fantasy, another Cygames title. Director Takaomi Kanasaki of Konosuba fame lends his comedic sensibilities to good effect, to the point where some people have dubbed this series "chill Kobosuba".

Although PriConne has a fairly small cast when compared to most gacha games, there are still a lot of characters to juggle and I feel the series does a decent job of balancing that, giving the other guilds and episode or two of focus while mostly remaining centered on our core quartet. Not everyone will be on board with the severe mental impairment of Yuuki our protagonist, but events are driven more by the trio of heroines. We have a good balance with the sunny yet ditzy Pecorine, the quiet and dependable Kokkoro and the prickly Kyaru. Other characters are mostly limited to showing off their particular quirks during the screentime they have. Eriko almost definitely has the most impact of the lot of them.

I won't say the series is perfect, but I had a lot of fun with it. For me, as a fan of the game, I'd say it's definitely worth having, but viewers with no prior attachment may not find themselves quite as satisfied. It's definitely worth a view all the same and I think just about anyone can enjoy it.

Rating:
Own It