Plot summary
''Petite Princess Yucie'' follows the adventures of country-girl Yucie as she is admitted by chance to the prestigious Princess Academy, where the daughters of royalty and nobles attend to learn magic, dance, etiquette, defense, art and music. There, she experiences many things in her quest to collect the "fragments" of the Eternal Tiara in hopes that she may become the legendary Platinum Princess, who is chosen every 1,000 years. Yucie, along with the four other Princess candidates who are initially her rivals but are won over by her offer of friendship, must grow in heart—if not in height—to become worthy of the Tiara. Yucie is a spunky heroine who is a genius of smiles, and who, despite her common lifestyle, is actually the daughter of a noble and former hero who has retreated from courtly life and lives in the countryside. She was discovered as a baby when Gunbard, the former Hero found her in the middle of a battle. The fragments take the form of Crystal Flowers and are scattered throughout the five worlds;Characters
Platinum Princess Candidates
; : : Similar to the classic ''Princess Maker'' tradition, Yucie was found as an infant by the knight Gunbard after a battle, and became his adopted daughter. Due to an unknown curse, she stopped growing at the age of ten, and looks like a child although she is now seventeen. Yucie is very cheerful and gregarious, but she has a very strong desire to break her curse and become an adult. One of the reasons is that she often feels that being small in size is a hinder to others, thus wishing to grow up. Yucie becomes a Platinum Princess candidate after she sees the light of the Eternal Tiara, which is not visible to others. It is also said that she is the princess of the Human World, as shown in the last episode. Although there is no evidence to prove it, her adoptive father, Gunbard, recognizes her as the princess of the collapsed castle during the battle he lastly involved, as he saw Yucie descending on a forest near the ruins. When she met Arc, she got mad at him for calling her huge forehead but falls in love with him later on. She starts to recognize Arc as the prince who saved her when as a child. ; : : As Princess of the Demon World (Underworld), Glenda was fiercely competitive and has strong magical powers. She immediately butted heads with Yucie, her rival to become the Platinum Princess. Glenda was a bragger who frequently proclaims herself as"fantastic" and "elegant", and was also often selfish, jealous, and temperamental. But she has a sweet side which she tries to hide, when they went to Underworld when the Kobolds welcomed them, and eventually becomes very close friends with Yucie (perhaps, even overly protective of her), even though she denies to admit it. Throughout her friendship with her new friends, she changes to more honestly enjoy friendship and have fun with her friends. She is seventeen, but like the others, has the body of a ten-year-old, although she looks rather developed. She desires to be the platinum princess because she wishes to become an adult. She believes if she becomes an adult, her dad will do his job as lord of the Demon World properly, her mother would return, and she would have the power to protect all of the demons living in the demon world. ; : : Cocoloo is a soft-spoken young woman who becomes Yucie's friend very early in the series. She is a fellow student at the Princess Academy (later revealed to be the Princess of the Spirit World), who wears tiny spectacles at the end of her nose, with her chief characteristics being self-effacing, self-humiliating and gentle. Cocoloo is so gentle that she is often ignored and talked-over by the much louder Yucie and Glenda, which causes Cocoloo to lament that she "has no presence after all" (Which is rather ironic, as Cocoloo is the princess of the Spirit World). However, Cocoloo is amazingly kind and encouraging towards her friends, which makes an impression on everyone who gets to know her. She also suffers from a curse that makes her look ten, even though she is seventeen. Due to her being a Spirit, almost all physical attacks are useless on her, just as shown when Diabolos' tentacle tried in vain to impale her. ; : : As the Princess of Heaven (Celestial Realm), Elmina wears white robes and has wings. Elmina is very studious and fastidious, even emotionless and monotonous voice, and a bit of a humorless goody-two-shoes. When she was younger, her stern father (who is the King of Heaven) would not tolerate imperfection. Elmina tries very hard to be perfect, and she is also very hard on herself whenever she makes a mistake. Once she made a mistake or is fail, she will be depressed and lose her confidence to keep going, because of her sad memories with her father in the past, leading her to have an emotionless expression. With her new friends at the Princess Academy, Elmina slowly learns to be more secure and not to give up, even when she fails. Elmina is also the tallest of the 5 candidates. Looks ten, but is actually seventeen as a result of the same curse. ; : : Beth is the princess of the fairy world. She is very athletic, stubborn, and has strong magical powers (The helmet she wears acts as an amplifier for her magic). Although she is also a Platinum Princess candidate, she left the Princess Academy after an evil force named Diabolos attacked her world. She is so determined to become the Platinum Princess that she once kidnapped Cocoloo and tries to force her to give up on her candidacy. As a result of difficulties she is suffering in her world, she refuses the offers of friendship from the other girls and regards them as her enemies. Due to this attitude, the residents of the fairy world regard her as dangerous. However, after many meetings with the other girls, Beth learns to open up and accepts the other candidates' friendship, for which the most thanks can go to Cocoloo. Diabolos was later defeated by the power of the heart of Yucie, Elmina, Cocoloo, Glenda and herself. Her father in a form of tree which supports the fairy world and trapped Diabolos inside him before the girls came to help defeat it, with Arc hurt. She also suffers from a curse that traps her in a ten-year-old's body, even though she is actually seventeen.Supporting
; : : Gunbard was the person who found the Yucie as an infant after a battle in which he led personally and raised her as his own daughter. He was once a legendary knight who completed an impossible task, and is often referred to as "the Hero Gunbard". But now he spends all his time doting and spoiling Yucie and is always cooking her large amounts of food which she does not always appreciate. Gunbard, fondly called "Papa" by Yucie, may have a mysterious connection with Queen Ercell as well as one to the Eternal Tiara itself. It is found out later that he is the one to have completed the Eternal Tiara, which was then separated in different parts and scattered around the different worlds, which he conquered the challenges and assembled it. At the same time, it was found out later that he was the first lover of Queen Ercell. This is also the reason why he wanted to complete the Eternal Tiara, so that he can gain a title, enough estate and knighthood in order to propose to Ercell. However, when he returned upon the completion of the Tiara, he found out that Ercell has already married (to the man who became King) and already had a son. Disheartened, he left Ercell's armor and sword in the palace and he continues to serve the kingdom until he met Yucie in the middle of a forest during a battle and quits his career to raise her. Gunbard may be Arc's biological father, which the old man denies. He once denied it, but may have simply wanted Arc to remember the King as his "real" father, since he was the one who raised and cared for him, just as Gunbard is Yucie's "real" father. Contrary to popular belief, he is not blind, just he was never shown opening his eyes, except when he found Yucie. He owns the house near the lake on the edge of a forest, which he built for him and Ercell, but not comes into fruition. He also has a very cheerful and positive attitude, even though Yucie hates his caring attitude. He only shows his serious attitude, when he was informed about his daughter's problem. ; : : A demon and a loyal steward to both Yucie and her father, Gunbard, Cube is able to summon magical items through sorcery and paying a magic hand with gold coins, with which he helps Yucie out in several occasions. He is one of Yucie's best friends. During the story, we learn that Cube was formerly Glenda's steward, but has been banished from the Demon World by her (Glenda's) mother for unknown reason. He was found by Gunbard and he serves his family as a steward, especially to Yucie which he serves loyally. ; : : Queen Ercell, in addition to being queen, is also the principal of the Princess Academy, and the keeper of the Eternal Tiara. She is in charge of finding the Platinum Princess candidates and guiding them through their tasks, as well leading other princesses and noble's daughters. She clearly seems to recognize Gunbard by the gasp she makes when Yucie announces she is his daughter to Queen Ercell, but what connection Queen Ercell might have remains is kept somewhat mysterious for much of the series. But Gunbard was actually Ercell's former lover many years ago. Gunbard went to gather the parts of the Eternal Tiara in all 5 worlds so that he becomes a knight would be able to marry Ercell, as he was just a commoner with a small patch of land, to his dismay, when he returned, Ercell was already married and has a child. ; : : Arc is a mysterious young man dressed in a cape and fedora. He first meets Yucie when he seeks shelter at a church at which she is temporarily working. It turns out that he is being sought by the castle guards, which alarms Yucie. Although Yucie is very saucy towards Arc, she finds herself drawn to him. Arc heroically saves Yucie when they encounter a demon from the Demon World. He also calls her "Huge Forehead" to tease her about her big forehead, much to her consternation. After kissing her on her forehead a few times, he finally gives her a real kiss, which is witnessed by her friends. Arc is also hunting for the one that first put together the Eternal Tiara, which he feels will lead him to his real father. In reality, he is Prince Arrow, son of Queen Ercell. This is in fact the reason he is being sought by guards, as he escaped from the castle to find his 'biological father'. At the same time, he is the prince that once saved Yucie when she was in danger when they were small. Later on, it was shown that Arc also has feelings for Yucie. He defeated what the Magic World failed and Fairy King failed to seal, but not being corrupted by it. Yucie used the Eternal Tiara to cure him of the curse. ; : : Gaga is Glenda's steward. He is a seven-foot-tall black-bodied cat-like demon with long, silver hair. This very old man demon has occasional accidents when his hip goes out and can make long-winded lectures that can put anyone listening to sleep, much to his annoyance, which Cube got the most number of punishments. Always loyal without question, Gaga takes great pride in being a steward. He also has the ability to transform into a black, red-eyed cat with bat-like wings. He replaced Cube as Glenda's steward earlier when the former was banished by the Demon Queen. He also neither hates nor likes Cube for the latter's absence in the Demon World and sees him serving a lowly Human. ; : : Cocoloo's steward. Chawoo is a ghost who often hides in her shadow, so the other characters do not meet him until well into the series. He is very devoted to Cocoloo and will always defend her. However, being too devoted to Cocoloo, he is often seem extremely exaggerating events to others, even to much of the extent of lying, and always transforming as Cocoloo, trying to fool Nikolai and fooling the denizens of the Spirit World of his master's experiences in the Human World. He speaks with a heavy Kansai dialect. ; : : Belbel is a very cute little Tinkerbell-like fairy who is Beth's steward. While she is obedient to Beth, she also tries to talk Beth into giving the other girls a chance which actually ends up working in the end. Most of her sentences end with "desu" (です, "yes" in the English dub). ; : : Balizan is a golden-colored robot who is charged bring Elmina's steward. He also acts like a parent on Elmina, due to the King of the Heaven strives his daughter to be perfect and his duty to be a perfect being. ; : : A very old and wise dragon, that lives in the lake near Yucie's home. He is a friend to Yucie. It was revealed that he was formerly a resident from Hell, but left and settled on a lake near Gunbard's estate. His whole body was revealed while holding Diabolos along with Arc/Arrow while the princesses made an idea to defeat the curse. Has a dragon hatchling alongside him named Jing. ; : : Glenda's father, he is pleasant and cheerful. He is an extremely doting father, much to the disgust of Glenda, which wants her father to be the Demon King he is, a strict and powerful leader. He also has a collection of orbs that contains recorded scenes from his daughter's achievements, in which he obsessively cherishes. He doesn't even know Cube was banished in Hell. Always suffers back pains, which Cube massages. ; : : Elmina's father, he is strict. He wants his daughter to be perfect, to the point of being disappointed seeing her failure. But he smiled when reading a letter from Elmina, revealing that he cares for his daughter. ; : : Beth's father. To protect Fairy World from Diabolos, the Fairy King turned himself into a giant tree to seal it. He is also a handsome, green-haired man. Reveals his true form during Yucie's dream. ; : Spirit King : Leader of the Spirit World and Cocoloo's father. He was shown in Yucie's dream and seen always covering his face with a book. ; Frederik : : Queen Ercell's personal bodyguard, currently in charge of searching for the Prince, who turns out to be Arc/Arrow. Loyal and reliable, he even let the prince do what he wants, even letting him and Yucie escape. ; Maga Selent : : A mysterious identity that watches the Platinum Princess Candidates and maintains Queen Ercell's mediator. But it was later revealed that she was a Platinum Princess and she is the last survivor of an ancient kingdom, centered in magic that was destroyed by the same corruption called Diabolos more than a thousand that almost befell Beth's kingdom. She was cursed to live until the next Princess will be revealed. She blamed herself over the loss of her friends and her world, but comforted by the very same souls of her friends that never blame her for their demise. For that, she was released in her cursed kid's body. ; Diabolos : : The series' main antagonist. Causes Margazareth's kingdom to collapse when he corrupts it. The Fairy King seals him in a tree when he tried to corrupt the Fairy World. Dies when Arrow/Arc defeats him, but not making him suffer a corrupting wound.Production
Takami Akai, the character designer for the ''List of episodes
Titles
Around episode 14, the ending imagery begins showing images of all five girls instead of images of just Yucie, and while the ending theme title doesn't change, the wording does change slightly. This reverts briefly for episode 19 with the ending imagery returning to what it was before, while the wording remains slightly changed.Music
;Opening Theme *Egao no Tensai by Petit Prince (References
External links
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