Not Scrapping The Princess

After watching Haibane Renmei, one of my friends suggested I watch Scrapped Princess. I'd never heard of it before, but I figured I'd give it a go nonetheless.

I meant to post about halfway through the anime, but I was so dragged into it I kind of skipped past that whole thing and watched through right to the end. It's only one Season (24 eps). It's relatively recent (2003), and one of the character designers, Takahiro Komori, also worked on Cowboy Bebop.

I was taken aback by how good it was, when it seemed so lighthearted and silly in the beginning. I'm in the middle of watching Trigun right now, and I suppose I could compare Scrapped Princess to that. The main character, Pacifica, is a 15 year old rambunctious, bossy, and innocent girl who is prophecied to destroy the world at 16. What was so interesting about this anime is how it so perfectly integrated her innocence with such a doomsday plot line. It's set in the future, yet not in the future. You'll understand if you watch. Oh, and yes, the end was actually conclusive, though..it leaves you with philosophical questions to ponder, such as:

Is it right to deny people freedoms because you want to protect them?

Is it right to kill someone because you've been ordered to, even though you know they don't deserve to die?

Is it right to kill someone because there is a possibility they might kill millions of people?

Or is it right to protect them just because of your personal feelings, even though they might kill millions of people?

And of course: "Would you?" could be tacked onto all of those questions.

All of these questions lead to a dramatic ending for Scrapped Princess.

Grades?
Plotline: Excellent
Characters: Very Good
Music: Good
Animation: Very Good