AKA: Enban Oujo Warukyure, UFO Princess Warukyure, UFO Princess Walkure, 円盤皇女ワるきゅーレ

Genre: Comedy / magical girl

Length: Television series, 12 episodes, 23 minutes each

Distributor: Relicensed by FUNimation. (License rights earlier belonging to ADV.)

Content Rating: 13+ (minor violence, nudity, excessive fan service)

Related Series: N/A

Also Recommended: Hand Maid May, Mahoromatic, Sailor Moon, Steel Angel Kurumi. And last, but not least, NOT THIS ONE.

Notes: Warukyure is the direct romanization for the katakana used to render the name Valkyrie (Walkure in German). Valkyries, in regard with Norse mythology, is Odin's elite team of soldier maidens. (They are all female.) Along with their great battle prowess, they have the ability to fly and their main task were basically to carry the souls of the brave to Valhalla. The US release entitles this "UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie" and it is thus known as such on this site.

Rating:

UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie

Synopsis

Kazuto is trying his best to run his inheritance from his grandfather, the Tokino bath house. So when the alien princess Valkyrie (from the planet Valhalla) crashlands her ship on top of it, she repays him by giving him half her soul (through a kiss). This has the unfortunate side effect of turning her into an eight (or so) year old girl.

Review

And boy, does she turn into one of the most annoying and obnoxious brats in the entire animedom that I've seen so far. And here I thought Pita Ten was cutesy. Hah! It has nothing on this show.

I was having some hopes for this one. Not high hopes, mind you, but some. After all, it did have Valkyries in it, which appealed to my Norwegian mythology-loving soul. And that reference might very well be the best thing about the show, because I found little else of interest in it. Here is the first impression as described by a good friend of mine:

"I thought this would be an odd, perhaps rather too-cute series. And then. . . . . . .

. . . . . . FULL 99% NUDITY!(99% because the bottoms of the girl's feet aren't visible.)"

And boy, is there fan service. And what did you expect? The gang runs a BATHHOUSE, for Pete's sake. Given that this apparently takes place in the future -- a future when aliens of all shapes or sizes live on earth as well -- you get to see girls in all, well colors and sizes as well. All of them stark naked.

But my issue with UFO Princess Valkyrie is mostly centered around "Warukyure", who spends most of her time as said obnoxious brat. She's loud, she giggles inanely (and diabethic-inducingly cutely) at each scene, whether she's tormenting this rabbit/dog looking alien being or latching on to Kazuto's leg, apparently for good. Whatever she does, SHE NEVER STOPS GIGGLING.

Now, did you mention that I said "magical girl show" in the genre tag?

Well, that's because it is. Remember that I said that "Warukyure" shared half her soul with Kazuto? Well, one kiss (and I DO find it slightly disturbing watching eight year old girls kiss someone like that) and she transforms back to her original form, nude transformation sequence and all. (With boing.)

Since the reason she usually transforms is because there's trouble afoot, we do get some action sequences that I have to admit are enjoyable, at least. They rarely last for long, though.

So, basically, this show's main points are the fanservice, the magical girl sequences and the rather vague references to Norse mythology. Not much, I know, when going up against no particular main plot, a HORRIBLE opening theme, an ultra-annoying main character in "Wakuryure"'s child form and basically no great humor to speak of. It IS very, very nicely animated and rather colorful, which helps little when you shut your eyes tight shut every time "Waku"... oh, to hell with it: Valkyrie.... opens her mouth. >_<

So despite it picking up a little towards the end, this show is not very good. They had the chance to bring the series to a somewhat satisfying ending, but failed in that as well. You'd be better off just leaving this one at the shelves unless your name is Shiratori Azusa.

It's not a total bomb like MD Geist or Battle Can-Can, but it's not very good either. — Stig Høgset

Recommended Audience: Teens and up. Violence limited to energy blasts. Lots, and I mean LOTS, of nudity and fanservice, though. And boing. (THEM's new term for bouncing breasts in anime. ^_^ )