Princess Arete is an anime movie whose existence I knew about to an extent, but never actively pursued until now. A blogger I once followed watched and liked it, and I had watched a decent amount of it some time before this, but didn't finish it until this year. Based on a 1983 short story called The Clever Princess written by Diana Coles, Princess Arete tells the story of...well, a princess named Arete whose father keeps her locked in her castle tower, away from the outside world. Many suitors try to win her hand, but Arete has no interested in being married to any of them and wants to experience life outside the castle. Unfortunately for her, an attempt to escape fails, and she finds herself not only married off to a sinister wizard named Boax, she is magically turned into a more submissive princess and taken to his abode in the desert. It turns out the wizard took her in order to prevent a prophecy involving her from coming true and taking away his immortality. Arete needs to find some way to break the enchantment and rediscover herself if she has any hope of escape.

I'm just going to get the main elephant out of the room right away: If you're looking for a fast-paced movie full of action, you're out of luck, as Princess Arete's pacing is VERY slow. Agonizingly so. Boredom and loss of agency/autonomy are huge themes in this movie, so don't you dare go into this movie expecting it to be full of explosions or fast paced action. I'll admit, even I got a little tired of the movie's slow pacing during the middle part, even if I understand that Princess Arete as a movie is trying not to rush one minute of its storyline and actually has proper build-up, something most movies nowdays seem to eschew. As much as I love Princess Arete's devotion to really trying to give its setting and storyline sufficient development, I honestly wouldn't blame anyone if they dropped the movie halfway through just because they're waiting for something to happen. Princess Arete pretty much exemplifies the term "Slow Burn" in every sense of the word. Some may like its slow pacing, others not so much.

However, don't think that Princess Arete doesn't have anything to offer as a movie. For one, the animation, for its time, is absolutely stellar. I can't tell if it was hand drawn or made in the very early stages of digipaint, but the motion and overall look of this movie are absolutely gorgeous. Everything from the characters' costumes to the backgrounds and medieval architecture feel subdued, yet alive and distinct. Even the character designs, while fairly simple compared to more modern stuff, are still relatively down to earth and fit the feel of the movie. Not only that, I love that the producers actually put a lot of thought and effort into bringing the setting to life, showing the various customs and habits of people living in a fantasy-inspired medieval setting, which most media only show one or two scenes of. The people in the background actually feel like they have their own lives and backgrounds outside of what Arete is dealing with, and I didn't notice any glaring stereotypes, so that's also a win right there. The soundtrack, made by the ever awesome Akira Senju, is also a joy to listen to, especially that one Russian song that plays after Arete is magically transformed and sealed away in Boax's castle.

Even the character writing is surprisingly strong. Everyone, from Arete herself to minor characters like Ample and the witch, have a surprising amount of depth and nuance to them, hardly ever reduced to just one-note stereotypes. Even Boax, the villain, actually has an interesting motivation for what he does, though it's mainly revealed at the end. From what I've heard, Arete in the original novel was a lot more rambunctious and happy-go-lucky, and her movie counterpart is much more subdued and reserved, but no less intelligent and proactive, especially after she breaks free from the wizard's spell. Some people may not like that she's basically forced to become a more submissive princess when Boax puts her under his spell, and she spends a good portion of the film in that state, but the movie makes it pretty clear that the point of Arete's character is for her to take back her agency and autonomy, even if it takes a while for her to do so. Hell, apparently Princess Arete is celebrated as a feminist work in Japan, and I can absolutely see why. The premise of a princess being kidnapped by a villain and imprisoned in a castle has been done many times before, to the point of being a cliche at this point, but the nuanced character writing, the deft way the producers handled the moral dilemmas the characters face, and the well-developed setting make Princess Arete stand apart from its contemporaries.

So if you're interested and looking to watch Princess Arete legally in some way, you're in luck! Studio 4°C, the company that produced the anime, actually posted an English subtitled version of the movie on their YouTube page! You have to turn on the CC to see the English subs, and some of the subtitles wind up skipping ahead of some lines, but those moments are thankfully very few in number. But you better hurry though, because it'll only be up for a limited time, until April 17th of this year. Princess Arete only managed to get a Blu-Ray release in the UK, fairly recently at that, and it never got a US release at all. Here's hoping this new exposure it's gotten will change that, especially since companies like GKids and Eleven Arts have started popping up and changing this as of late. Maybe one of them can put Princess Arete out on BD in the US at some point? I hope so, because Princess Arete is criminally underrated and deserves the love and appreciation it deserves, slow pacing or no. Definitely give it a shot if you're tired of the usual movies that rely solely on nothing but action and special effects.