Princess Minerva...
Way back in the misty dawn of time, I picked up the VHS version of Princess Minerva...
In Princess Minerva, we have scantily clad sword-swinging women in a competition, the winner of which gets to live like a princess. This was, more likely than not, intended as a comedic spoof of the sword and sorcery genre, but, in my humble opinion, it falls short of the mark. It's a mediocre comedy and there's no blood or gore to speak of, but, beyond that it's so-so. I used to have the subtitled VHS version. In the aftermath of the Ultimate Otaku Fall Cleanup, I decided not to keep it in my archive. I gave Princess Minerva a 2 out of 5.
When a tournament for Combatively-Inclined Warrior Women is announced, the residents of the quaint little kingdom of Wisler quickly find themselves up to their hips in fearsome fighters of the fairer sex! This is NOT a good situation, especially since when these lethal lovelies aren't fighting for a profit, they're out fighting for pleasure, revenge, or just for the heck of it! Soon the hills are alive with the sound of cat-fights, with each and every combatant dreaming of the cash prize that could allow the winner to live like a princess. Every combatant, that is, except one: Princess Minerva already is a princess, and, frankly, she doesn't like it one bit! This royal Highness would much rather be a daring adventuress enjoying a life fraught with perils, not pearls, and, with the aide of her loyal bodyguard, Blue Morris, she's been secretly sharpening up her basic sword and sorcery skills.
Minerva has also taken up a secret identity: 'Cutey-Kamen,' (The Masked Cutey!), but her career as a crusading heroine has been going nowhere, as Wisler is a pretty dull place to live (no dragons running amok, trolls taking unlicensed tolls, etc., etc.) With the new Tournament, however, excitement enters Minerva's life with a vengeance... and, coincidentally, vengeance is also what the sinister sorceress Dynastar has in mind against our Princess as well! When Blue Morris is accidentally kidnapped by Dynastar's klutzy cohorts, it's up to our part-time princess and her ferocious flock of feisty female fighters, rashly recruited from the Tournament, to stage a daring rescue! It's the biggest, baddest, magical showdown ever faced by a bevy of beautiful battlemaidens as our amazing amazons must conquer a couple of conniving conjurers, defeat a dastardly dragon, eliminate evil elementals, face down a furious firestorm, grab the girl, and somehow stay on top of their saddles and save the day!
In Princess Minerva, we have scantily clad sword-swinging women in a competition, the winner of which gets to live like a princess. This was, more likely than not, intended as a comedic spoof of the sword and sorcery genre, but, in my humble opinion, it falls short of the mark. It's a mediocre comedy and there's no blood or gore to speak of, but, beyond that it's so-so. I used to have the subtitled VHS version. In the aftermath of the Ultimate Otaku Fall Cleanup, I decided not to keep it in my archive. I gave Princess Minerva a 2 out of 5.
