Pachi's Anime Review - Chaika the Coffin Princess

Greetings to my first proper post of 2015 (3 months in). Now that I'm not consistently sick as a dog from the most persistent cold ever nor spending my time either engrossed with my job or engrossed in doing nothing, I can get back to proper reviews, and we're starting off with one of my favorite fantasy series of last year that wasn't Rage of Bahamut: Genesis. Read on ahead for my take on Chaika the Coffin Princess!

Just when I thought I was running out of ways to insert a penguin into anime (realistically there's never a shortage of ways anime can include penguins), I get the opportunity to draw a penguin in an intricate dress. Chaika's outfit is one of those designs that is both inspiring and painful to look at - it's appealing and unique, but comes with the stipulation that you'd have to draw it over and over again. I'm thankful I only had to draw it once! Honestly I think I've made Chaika less cute by turning her into a penguin.

The wicked tyrant Emperor Arthur Gaz was killed by the Eight Heroes, putting an end to a 300-year war between the Gaz Empire and the Alliance of Six Nations. 5 years have passed, and a peace that no longer requires warriors like saboteur Toru Acura has settled.  One day, Toru happens across a young girl with a peculiar method of speech carrying a coffin in the forest. Her name is Chaika Trabant, and by claim she is the orphaned daughter of Emperor Gaz. She hires Toru and his sister Akari to help her procure her late father's body parts (his corpse was quartered and distributed among the Eight Heroes) so she can give him a proper burial. Toru agrees with the prospect that his saboteur skills will again see use in this time of supposed peace. The three set out on a quest in a country of magic, monsters, and mysteries to fulfill their own purpose in life.

Chaika the Coffin Princess, by definition, is an anime I ought to hate. It is yet another light fantasy based off a series of light novels wherein there is a primary male protagonist surrounded by greater than light amounts of female companions who either want to pork him or hold some one-sided level of affection for him while he is free of the burden of pandering. These types of stories are a staple of the Japanese comic industry and they are not going away, see the long-term success of Rumiko Takahashi's Inuyasha: a primetime feudal soap opera which occasionally switches to the action/adventure genre for brief spats of time (like if Yo-jin-bo were adapted into an anime but lost all self-awareness). At time of this writing, multiple light fantasy harem shows in Absolute Duo, World Break, and Testament of Sister New Devil have all surfaced in the current season, two of which I previewed the pilot episodes of and nearly suffered a brain hemorrhage courtesy of their malcontent formula. So at time of writing, I'm feeling particularly cross to stories of this kind! That being said, I'm not here to throw stones. Rather, let me better your time by telling you how Chaika does a modestly good job of diverting the chauvinistic tropes of its origins and ilk, and what it performs well at regardless.

The immediate charm of Chaika is in its earnest priority of good storytelling. The world of the show is a low-key yet complex one with not necessarily a lot of rules governing it but many things inhabiting it. There are steampunk-like weapons fueled by magic known as 'Gundo'. Animals able to use magic known as 'Fayla'. Saboteurs Toru and Akari's 'Iron Blood Transformation' technique which turns their hair red and boosts physical strength (but which is unrelated to magic as they are not wizards). The setting contains a grab-bag of fantasy tools, and most are present immediately in the first episode.

This isn't your typical magic user show where magic exists in the form of generic fire/ice/lightning/earth/wind spells. It actually shares a bit in common with Mahouka, in that magic is treated as a commodity both for everyday use and as leverage in wartime. As such, we can't get away with not explaining in some way how these various abilities at play work. There are two ways of doing this. The incorrect way is the Mahouka way = stop the plot entirely for 5 minutes to explain in agonizing detail what each piece of magic hardware does, down to what software is installed on the device. Chaika, graciously, employs the proper method = display techniques naturally in the confines of the story, dropping important terms when necessary, without over-explaining. We don't need 5 minutes to explain what a Gundo is and how magic energy is pumped into it and how it performs based on incantations. We witness Chaika using her modestly sized Gundo sniper rifle and see with our eyes how it works just from the sight of her using it. Maybe we don't know the technical details, but hey, you wanna know that stuff, go ahead and theorize it. Once you introduce magic into a setting, suspension of disbelief is expected; furthermore, everyone in that world knows magic is real and functioning everywhere. Having to stop and blatantly explain everything happening wouldn't make sense when there are no in-story outsiders needing an explanation (the classic "as-you-know" conundrum). Traditionally, only fish-out-of-water stories get a pass on that front. Chaika understands this and pits a careful balancing act of high fantasy magical powers with low fantasy tech applications without breaking the illusion of its world for the benefit of its audience. It's nice when a story actually attests to your possession of a brain, eh?

But perhaps the more viral charm of this series is in the Coffin Princess herself, Chaika Trabant, a high contender for Best Female Lead of 2014 among those of the anime fandom who rank that kind of thing. This intricately designed doll brought to life genuinely leaps into your heart with her stilted speech patterns, impish temperament, and unflappable gusto. She's so multi-faceted and likeable she threatens to wander into Mary Sue-territory. But she does have flaws such as gullibility and clumsiness that are addressed properly, so we never quite stumble into that pit of snakes; plus, her personality lends to a timid, background presence while her hired hands handle the up-front action, so by necessity she is dependent on others. Even so, Chaika takes center-stage as the heroine of the story, for good reason.  Chaika is a wizard (as per the previous paragraph, a 'wizard' in this world is not so fancy nor uncommon a profession) who claims to be the daughter of the late tyrant Emperor Gaz, hoisting a coffin within which she can carry her father's distributed body parts and eventually lay him to rest. Even though this back-story and subtle hints dropped early on should raise a red flag and sound the "IT'S A TRAP" alarms, Chaika's willful determination is heartwarming and you really want to see her procure those appendages, regardless of what may come packaged with those actions.

A wide assortments of fantasy pick-and-mix personalities round out the rest of the cast, beginning prominently with aforementioned hired hands Toru and Akari Acura. Toru cleverly represents a very real commentary on the often ignored positives of war industry. Like it or not, there are people who fine tune their profession specifically for use in wartime, which is necessary given how often humanity finds an excuse to fight. It's not so easy to tell a fisherman to give up the ghost because there's no more fish to catch when fishing is all he knows. As a saboteur, Toru loses his way of life after Emperor Gaz is defeated and the war ends, leaving him taking up whatever petty squabbles he can in peacetime. Upon meeting Chaika and learning of her puzzling quest, Toru sees a golden opportunity in a potentially villainous venture. Underneath the cheerful lining of Chaika and her merry band of compatriots rests an unknown heart of darkness. Toru is a moral man, but not above the selfish desires of sustenance, musing that Emperor Gaz's revival might usher in a new war which would raise demand for his services. A continuous thread through the story is temptation calling out for Toru to accept power and destruction toward the benefit of his livelihood at the expense of peace. His temptation is characterized in several forms, specifically through Fredrika, a dragoon companion who frequently offers to make a contract with Toru in order to increase his power tenfold, and through the leader of the Eight Heroes Stephan Hartgen, who represents the man Toru would undoubtedly become if he continues to rely on war.

I could even say that Akari's frequent advances on Toru are also a form of temptation, but I won't. See here is one of my petty issues with Chaika: it's a harem. Toru is the only male in his crew of traveling buddies and every female in the group harbors some level of attraction for him. With Chaika herself it's not too big a problem. The romance she shares with Toru, though juvenile, is returned, and neither's role in the story is compromised by these feelings. This is why I find Chaika to be a shining example of how to do action harem right - the titular heroine must not take a backseat from the plot to become the male hero's manic pixie dream girl where simply the virginal ideal of her existence is the his stimulus to fight (*cough* acertainmagicalindex *cough*).

But just as Chaika makes a huge leap on the sexism board, it takes a step back, namely Akari. Like your gross uncle trying to justify why he only reads the swimsuit edition of Sports Illustrated, light novels continually try to forgive incest by waving a giant [NOT-RELATED-BY-BLOOD] flag. I fully understand that sibling relationships are more intimate in Japanese lifestyle than American; 'brother' and 'sister' can be used by children as terms of endearment to strangers of similar age. But none of this makes Akari's type of character easy for me to swallow. She's not an overt flirt, but her entire existence seems to be for the sake of Toru and at the prospect of one day wedding and/or bedding him. This is not used as a gaudy veil hiding a meaningful family relationship nor a Saboteur business relationship. It's actually just addressed as a joke, almost suspiciously so. Akari's delivery of her affections is so tart and sarcastic that I regularly wondered if she was in on the joke, too. But probably not; I'm likely over-reading the stone-faced personality trope for something subversive. Her character never goes anywhere, but she's the only member of the cast I dislike, so it's easy for me to ignore.

From a story-telling standpoint, there are two primary designs of Chaika's tale. The first is the general fantasy adventure where our heroes travel from one town to the next with a goal in mind; in this case, seeking out the Eight Heroes and convincing each to part with their piece of Emperor Gaz. All the while the trio are pursued by the government-designated Kleimann Agency whom specialize in postwar efforts and prioritize Chaika's gathering mission as a possible affront to peace; similarly they are shadowed by a mysterious young boy known only as "Guy", who boasts unusual powers and acts as Chaika's most trusted informant. The second, and the element which I find more trademark of this particular story, is an ever unraveling mystery plot. Like Fullmetal Alchemist (I am referring more to the mangaverse here than the '03 series) and others that have come before, this is a land where something is not as it seems beneath the surface; and also like FMA, it is a land that has just recently ended a great war but is teetering on the edge of starting another. The source of that collusion, the power striking fear and doubt into the nations' leaders, and the stimulus for the collection journey all revolve around the enigmatic Gaz and his terrifying magic. Spoiling as little as possible, it becomes clear quickly that Gaz operated under the machinations of a Xanatos Gambit; "even my death is all a part of my plan". How? Can't tell you that. But the presence of Gaz merely in the way people talk about him and questioning his connection to Chaika is palpable and effective on the viewer because of how integral his existence (or rather, non-existence) is on every single aspect of the story. He holds sway as a villain to be feared even in his complete absence.

But I still must be a bit critical, as while Chaika's story is good, it's not as good as it could've been. The collection journey is more fun and exciting and is where most of the prime techniques I mentioned above are employed; though this portion is minimal and eventually takes a back seat. The mystery plot suffers from time constraint execution, especially at the very end of Season 2, lessening the blow of some twists and cheapening some payoffs, but in theory it's engrossing material which had the potential to surpass greats of its kind like FMA. All in all, Chaika has solid elements which sadly aren't completely fleshed out. Even so, the end result is top notch and worthy of your attention. If you need more convincing than that, take my assurance that the one-and-only Chaika of Chaika is the most adorable character you'll ever meet and just getting to experience how wonderful she is makes the whole show worthwhile. My images of her don't do justice - you must see and hear her in motion to truly understand. I promise she will touch your heart and brighten your day. And that's the shocking truth.

You can currently find all subbed episodes of Chaika the Coffin Princess streaming online at Crunchyroll. The series has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks and has plans to be released on home video sometime in the future.