Karakuri no Kimi

In an obscure corner of feudal Japan, a clumsy young girl carrying a massive box searches for a legendary ninja. That girl is Rangiku Ayawatari—the sole survivor of the Ayuwatari clan—and she seeks revenge against Lord Sadayoshi Karimata, the man who slaughtered her family and stole the secrets of her father's prized puppet collection. However, in place of the legendary ninja, Rangiku finds Yasaburou Manajiri, a vagabond who is being pursued by "deathless ninjas"—strange, fearless warriors who can survive seemingly fatal blows. Upon discovering that they share a common enemy, the pair team up to defeat the cruel lord and rid the world of strange puppets that conceal a horrible secret.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ayawatari, Rangiku Main

Uechi, Aki Japanese

Manajiri, Yasaburou Main

Wakamoto, Norio Japanese

Ayawatari, Hisashige Supporting

Narrator Supporting

Mugihito Japanese

Leader of the Deathless Ninjas Supporting

Aono, Takeshi Japanese

Karimata, Sadayoshi Supporting

Nakata, Kouji Japanese

Yoshioka, Masahito Producer

Takaya, Hirotoshi Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Character Design, Key Animation

Kobayashi, Katsuyoshi Sound Director

Wada, Kaoru Music

Reviews

Dec 19, 2011

barcaman101

Recommended

I felt satisfied after watching this,a very short but worthwhile watch.After her family is killed and her kingdom was destroyed by rival forces a young princess called Rangiku embarks on a journey to get revenge on her enimies.Along the way she seeks the aid of the legendary samurai Manajiri to join her in her quest.what make this anime so good is that unlike todays anime this female character is more than just big breasted fan-service,on the contrary she is a reasonably interesting character as she is both nice and at the same time being a bumbling cluts.she carries around her fathers finest ... poppet warriors ,and man does she know how to use them.Manajiri the other main character is your typical sleezy pervert and provide a nice dose of humour.

I really liked the animation the drawing is well done,scenes move from being dark to more colourful.The action is also pretty good,with nice explosion and fight scenes.I watched the dub for this and the voice acting was for the most part well done.''All in All'' nothing spectacular but still a well done and entertaining anime given how short it is.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by barcaman101 (58)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jul 30, 2023

IzzyMarrie

Mixed Feelings

It's short and has charm, so watch it if the premise appeals to you. But don't go into it thinking it'll be on par with series like Ninja Scroll, the Kage OVA, or Vampire Princess Miyu in terms of either fights or beautiful animation. It's got style, but at a fraction, but it's definitely got some things going for it that make it a classic.

Animation was alright, and I'm not just saying that for the time this came out. It feels like, surprisingly, despite this OVA being an almost 1:1 shot of the one-shot it was based off of, that the manga did it better. ... Fights were decent, with cool moments of violent blood sprays accompanied with great choice of music. The final fight was its best fight and most well choreographed. Sound design was mediocre, however, with sound affects for a few of the scenes being a little off.

Overall, it's a decent short that I rated as a 5 because it's got one heck of a fun concept and an alright execution. It feels lacking. When reading the one-shot, the art felt more consistent throughout, the darker, thick lines and the scenes flowing better than something that has movement—biggest exceptions being where they barged through the enemy and the final battle, which the OVA completely excelled at.

Watch for a quick fix of 90's (despite coming out in the early 2000's) styled anime set Feudal Japan, but keep in mind that it's nothing phenomenal.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by IzzyMarrie (36)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nov 12, 2023

RyanSpring

Not Recommended

We've fallen on dark, desperate times when I somehow find myself watching and subsequently writing a review for a 41 minute, quarter-century old anime movie that no one else has heard of and there are FOUR reviews for prior to my own. That's about one every five years!

Puppet Princess isn't the worst of the worst, but talking plainly it came out in 2000, looks like it came out in the mid 90s at best or even the late 80s, is short, doesn't have time to develop characters or plot points or provide any emotional depth whatsoever and might as well not have a soundtrack at ... all. Aside from being able to say "I've seen that" or being the hardest of the hardcore old school anime or martial arts anime fan, there's simply no reason to go back and watch this now.

It is, in every way, somewhere under the umbrella of mediocre. Some things it might do the tiniest smidge above mediocre. Many other things it may do a smidge below mediocre. But putting it all together, and now considering how far removed it now is as we approach 2024, it's just an utterly middling, mediocre, forgettable, skippable movie from a bygone era. I don't feel like I've completely wasted my time watching this, as it's short enough to not care even if I had, but there's no reason for me to ever watch this again and there's probably no reason for you to watch it at all. Of course, since no one has heard of this, my wife and I will probably be the only people to read this review anyway.

OBJECTIVE RATING- I don't know. Very difficult to do two plus decades after the fact. Mediocre.
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT RATING- 5-5.5

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by RyanSpring (178)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Hidden Gems

by MightyMole

50 Entries · 37 Restacks

Contains Ecchi, but not Tagged Ecchi, Part 3: Lewd the Obscure

by Zalis

41 Entries · 84 Restacks

Post-1990s Standalone OVAs

by Gsarthotegga

50 Entries · 75 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for February

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for February Week 1: February 2 - 8 Anime Releases Black Clover Season 3 Part 2 Blu-ray & DVD [incl. episo...read more

Feb 2, 2021 8:26 AM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (4 comments)

Poll: Karakuri no Kimi Episode 1 Discussion Alcoholicide - Feb 23, 2014

14 replies

by Dekom »» Nov 6, 2:30 PM

Ushio to Tora: Yucking with Yokai

Ushio to Tora is the most recent adaptation of the classic manga of the same name. Here is a brief background on the series and some other shows fans of this anime are sure to enjoy!

by chriswyand

8,788 views

Spoiler

RecommendationActionBackground AnalysisMonsters