Note: This post is considered an episode review and it dives into spoilers for the movie.
Crown Handler Chapter 1 is a good start to the series but I think it could’ve done a better job. Fortunately, things pick up a bit more in Chapter 2. This one expands on the lore of the series and it offers a little bit more action than the first, particularly at the climax. It does suffer from a similar problem as the first one, where the main characters don’t all contribute equally to the plot but compared to the first movie, it does a better job. The only one who gets the short end of the stick is Beatrice. I don’t know what the deal is between the writer(s) and this poor girl but I’m starting to think they need to give her something else besides her cool robot voice.
The main plot device of Chapter 2 is a bomb made out of cavorite, the mineral which powers much of the technology in PriPri, such as Ange’s C-Ball and Albion’s various airships. It was established in the TV show that cavoite is volatile and it overheats very easily so I can buy that the substance can be used as an explosive. Both the Kingdom and the Commonwealth were in an arms race to perfect the device, with the Commonwealth’s engineers ultimately coming in first. In the opening scene, we see that the bomb is capable of taking out an entire ship so suffice to say, it could turn the tide of the cold war between the two factions. Unfortunately, the Commonwealth appears to have lousy security as three of their Cavorite bombs get stolen and smuggled into the Kingdom. With the Commonwealth concerned over a potential war, Team White Pigeon join an investigation to recover the bombs.
Parallel to the whole bomb plot, we finally get to meet other members of the royal family. Kind of crazy that we’ve never seen anyone else before besides Princess or the Duke of Normandy, especially considering that part of Princess’s goal is becoming first in line for the throne. At the start of the movie, we get introduced to one of Princess’s (or Ange’s) cousins, Prince Richard (Kazuyuki Okitsu), who returns home after working at Albion’s colonies in the New World. During a parade welcoming his return, Richard gets injured in an assassination attempt. Curiously, the sniper is the same guy who kills Bishop at the end of Chapter 1.
Also added into the cast is Princess Mary (Rina Endō), one of the younger members of the royal family. Edward (Teruyuki Tanzawa), the Crown Prince, often sends Mary on royal engagements to get her ready for adulthood but this only makes Mary feel extremely pressured. Mary is a potentially interesting addition to the story. I quite like her bond with Princess, who appears to be the only person she feels comfortable around. Given Ange’s and Princess’s childhood, I can see why Princess is particularly sympathetic to Mary and tries to do whatever she can to make Mary feel less stressed. I also wonder what later chapters have in store for this character. Like assuming Mary doesn’t die or turn evil somehow, I can see Princess’s secret getting exposed and that leads to Mary inheriting her cousin’s dream and becoming the queen at the end of the series. The issue with that is that any viewer would obviously be rooting for Princess more so this series will need to do something where Mary inheriting the throne would be just as fine of a result.
While following a lead, Ange, Dorothy, and Chise discover a cryptic letter. The sniper guy attacks the trio and retrieves the letter but Ange’s photographic memory allows her to copy its contents. Deducing that it uses the same cipher as Bishop’s messages, Ange learns from the letter that the cavorite bombs have been moved to the Vickers Steam Theatre, under the guise of props for the latest play. The team then attends a performance of the play, allowing Ange and Dorothy to sneak off and confirm the whereabouts of the bombs. Due to the bombs’ size and the military wanting the bombs intact, L (Takayuki Sugō) has the theater under surveillance while he organizes a team to retrieve the bombs. Obviously, that’s a little boring so the movie has the assassin kill most of the spies on surveillance duty, forcing Control to start the raid a lot sooner than planned.
Ange, Dorothy, and Chise discover that one of the bombs has already been moved. They arrest the guy in charge of the theft for interrogation though they almost lose the guy when his employees attack the spies with a fire breathing dragon animatronic used for the play, due to the girls preventing him from getting paid. Apparently, this kid owes a lot of money. Funnily enough, the loan sharks he needs to pay are the exact same ones from Episodes 6 and 7 of the TV show. Talk about a deep cut. While the dragon is pretty ridiculous, I must admit that it does make for a very unique set piece. My only gripe is that all Ange does to defeat it is simply use her C-Ball to get on top of it and hold the employee at gunpoint.
Upon interrogating the employee, the girls learn that the missing bomb has been smuggled to a yacht, where a banquet is taking place, one that Princess happens to be attending to provide Mary some company. With Dorothy’s help, Ange and Chise rush to the ship to tell Princess and Beatrice of the situation. The team then comes up with a plan to stop the bomb from detonating and save everyone on the ship. I honestly find this scene more exciting than the fight with the dragon. Part of that is the bomb being a bigger threat but what I particularly like is that it gives most of the characters something to do. Princess leads an evacuation, Ange tries to get rid of the bomb, and Chise creates a distraction before helping Ange with her task. Coming off of Ange mostly doing everything in Chapter 1, the teamwork here is really nice to see. The only one who does squat is Beatrice, hence why I think she gets the short end of the stick.
After some quick thinking, Ange and Chise manage to stop the bomb from exploding and they send its remains over to Control (so much for recovering it intact). Princess and Mary return to the royal palace, only to learn that Edward has been assassinated inside the building. More shocking than that however, Princess learns that the one who got Edward killed is Richard. Turns out, the prince wants to be king and bring reform to the Kingdom. He’s the one who hired the assassin from earlier. The attempt on his life was a ruse so that he can then kill Edward and advance up in the line of succession. Richard is also the mastermind who got the cavorite bombs stolen and he had hoped to use one of them to blow up the yacht so that he can kill Mary, thereby making him the heir apparent.
This twist would admittedly work better if Richard had been around before this movie and for more than a couple of scenes. That said, there was some pretty good foreshadowing ahead of time. Considering that the assassin is able to give Ange, Dorothy, and Chise some trouble, it’s hard to believe that he would fail to kill Richard. That is unless he missed the prince’s vitals on purpose. There’s also an earlier scene where Richard admits to the Queen that he would not hesitate to use his army in the New World to protect his family and country if he had the authority to do so, suggesting that he’s more aggressive than his flamboyant demeanor would imply.
While annoyed that the bomb didn’t kill Mary, Richard is relieved that Princess survived, admitting to his cousin that she’s one of the few people he actually thinks highly of. With the assassin right behind Princess, Richard asks her to join his side. And yeah, this is where Chapter 2 ends. It’s a pretty crazy cliffhanger. I’m kind of glad that I got to this movie after Chapter 3 came out because waiting a year and a half to find out what happens next must’ve been annoying for fans at the time.
Watch Princess Principal: Crown Handler – Chapter 2 on HIDIVE
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