Scrapped Princess...

Scrapped Princess has the look and feel of an ancient medieval setting with knights and horse-drawn carts. But, throughout the series there are glimpses of super-science and advanced technology disguised as magic and sorcery.,,

Volume 1
Family Ties
Pacifica Cassul is known as the "Scrapped Princess." According to prophecy, she is the poison that will destroy the world on her 16th birthday. In order to avoid being killed, she must secretly wander the lands along with her two siblings who vow to protect the princess every step of the way. But being the Scrapped Princess means you must stay one step ahead of your enemy. Just how long will they journey before time runs out?

Volume 2
Melancholy Wagon Tracks
Her Birth Foretold the Destruction of the World
The journey continues as they successfully evade the forces of Mauser. But a bounty on Pacifica's head is now set and a bounty hunter aims to collect using poison to end her life.

Raquel and Leo must now set out on a dangerous journey to try and find an antidote before it is too late. Powerful beings called the "Peacemakers," who claim it is their destiny to rule humanity, can no longer wait and observe as time is running out and as prophecy predicts, "the world will be destroyed when the Princess turns 16."

Volume 3
Traveling Trouble
Pacifica and her siblings are captured by Senes, the Beast Princess! As Senes and her troops explain the true history of humanity, the Peacemakers attack! It's now up to Pacifica to give them the power to fight back!

Volume 4
Spells and Circumstances
Pacifica and her siblings are determined to return to Leinwan to prevent the loss of any more lives. The Generals fear an invasion and launch an offensive spell. When the dust settles, Pacifica has been separated from the others and her her memory lost! As she now lives a normal life, how long can she keep that up until she is recognized as the Scrapped Princess?

Volume 5
Prophecies and Parents
Because of Pacifica's amnesia, when Raquel finds her she explains who she really is. A military official spots her and she is forced to flee before being reunited with her siblings. Raquel and Shannon continue to search for her unaware that she has been captured. The King has ordered her execution. If there was ever a good time for a rescue, it would be now!

Volume 6
Pacifica's Destiny
Pacifica's birthday is only hours away! Will the destruction of the world unfold from this event? The final battle will ensue as her siblings, Shannon and Raguel, prepare themselves for the final battle. The fate of Pacifica, and indeed the entire world, is revealed in the shocking finale!

The series shares some elements with .Hack and Full Metal Alchemist. In particular, the classic sword and sorcery settings and magical effects of .Hack and the magical soldiers from Full Metal Alchemist.

The story is very well executed. It gets a bit dark near the end, but, it's still quite good. The animation quality and effects are also very good. There is some bloodshed and violence, but, no gore to speak of. There are no naughty bits. There is some humor and comic relief in the beginning of the series, but, as the series progresses, there's less humor and the tone of the series changes and gets darker and more menacing. I enjoyed the series very much, but,I enjoyed the earlier episodes more than the later episodes. I gave Scrapped Princess a 4 out of 5.

Start Spoiler... Read on at your own risk...

The glimpses of advanced technology seen throughout the series are from a previous human civilization. As near as I can tell humanity came across an alien race called H.I. somewhere about the year 2500. There was a war. Humanity was seriously outclassed, but, managed somehow to hold their own. The H.I. could appear seemingly out of nowhere. So, humanity developed artificially intelligent war machines with the ability to predict where the H.I. would appear. It's suggested that the war machines had the ability to see the future.

At some point in time, humanity's war machines foresaw that should the war be allowed to continue, humanity would become extinct. There was a conspiracy between the H.I. and humanity's war machines to bring about an early end to the war and "preserve" humanity. Humanity found itself imprisoned in "a sealed off place" with its own war machines guarding the gates. The surviving remnants of humanity would be kept in a medieval society. Humanity's activities would be carefully controlled to maintain the status quo forever. Just before the end, a human named Browning arranged for a key to unlock the prison to be hidden in the genes of the surviving humans.

Our story begins 5000 years later (roughly the year 7500). Humanity has forgotten everything. At this point, the key manifests itself in the form of the Scrapped Princess, Pacifica Cassul. Now, humanity's war machines are called "Peacemakers" and are treated as gods. A religion has formed around Browning and, of course, practitioners of that religion are hunted down and exterminated by members of the Mauser religion put in place by the peacemakers.

On her 16th birthday, Pacifica will have enough power to overcome Celia, the prison warden. But, when Pacifica is killed 10 hours too soon, Pacifica's spirit and Celia find themselves perfectly matched. So, Celia asks Pacifica to tell her what she should do. In the end Pacifica convinces Celia that humanity should be set free. 

End Spoiler...