Petite Princess Yucie

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Petite Princess Yucie
Box art of Petite Princess Yucie
(Puchi Puri Yūshī)
Genre Romantic comedy, magical girl
Anime television series
Directed by Masahiko Otsuka
Studio Gainax, AIC
Licensed by Canada United States AEsir Holdings
Network NHK
Original run 30 September 200224 March 2003
Episodes 26
Puchi Puri Yuushi
Written by Ramyu Ryuki
Published by Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic Shōjo
Magazine Newtype
Original run November 16, 2002?
Volumes 1
Portal icon Anime and Manga portal

Petite Princess Yucie (ぷちぷり＊ユーシィ Puchi Puri Yūshī?) is an anime series, which was produced by Gainax, aired from 2002 to 2003, and ran for 26 episodes. Six volumes of videos were released on DVD by ADV Films in the United States. As of September 1, 2009, the series is now licensed by ADV's successor, AEsir Holdings; with distribution from Section23 Films.[1] Centering around Yucie, a 17-year-old who is trapped in a 10-year-old's body, the story follows her and her friends, all of whom are designated as Platinum Princess candidates. A Platinum Princess receives the Eternal Tiara, which grants any wish, but only to the one it judges worthy and only one wish.

Plot summary[edit]















Platinum Princess Candidates[edit]

Yucie (ユーシィ Yūshii?)
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 despite the fact that 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 oftens 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 seen 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. 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 recognized Arc as the prince who saved her when as a child.
Cocoloo (ココルー Kokorū?)
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 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, too, suffers from a curse that makes her look ten, even though she is seventeen.Due to her being a Spirit,any physical attacks are useless on her,just as shown when Diabolos' tentacle tried in vain to impale her.
Glenda (グレンダ Gurenda?)
As Princess of the Demon World (Underworld), Glenda is fiercely competitive and has strong magical powers. She immediately butts heads with Yucie, her rival to become the Platinum Princess. Glenda is a bragger who frequently proclaims herself as"fantastic" and "elegant," and is also often selfish, jealous, and temperamental. But she has a sweet side which she tries to hide, and eventually becomes very close friends with Yucie (perhaps, even overly-protective of her), even though she's loathe 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.
Elmina (エルミナ Erumina?)
As the Princess of Heaven (Celestial Realm), Elmina wears white robes and has wings. Elmina is very studious and fastidious, 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. 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 (ベス Besu?)
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.


Gunbard (ガンバード Ganbādo?)
Gunbard was the person who found the Yucie as an infant after a battle and raised her as his own daughter. He was once a legendary knight, and is often referred to as "the Hero Gunbard". But now he spends all his time doting on 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. 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 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 continues to serve the kingdom until he met Yucie.Then he decided to quit.Gunbard may be Arc's biological father. 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.
Cube (キューブ Kyūbu?)
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.
Queen Ercell (エルセル女王 Eruseru Ojōu?)
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. 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 lover many years ago. Gunbard went to gather the parts of the Eternal Tiara so that he would be able to marry Ercell, to his dismay, when he returned, Ercell was already married.
Arc (アルク Aruku?)
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 was also drawn to Yucie.
Gaga (ガガ?)
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. 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.
Chawoo (チャウ Chau?)
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 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 . He speaks with a heavy Kansai dialect.
Belbel (ベルベル Beruberu?)
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 (バリザん Barizan?)
Balizan is a golden-colored robot who is Elmina's steward.He also acts like a parent on Elmina,due to the King of the Heaven strives his daughter to be perfect.
A very old and wise dragon, that lives in a lake. He is a friend to Yucie.It was revealed that he was formerly a resident from Hell,but left and settled on a lake.His whole body was revealed while holding Diabolos along with Arc/Arrow while the princesses makes an idea to defeat the curse.
Demon King (Devil)
Glenda's father, he is pleasant and cheerful. He is an extremely doting father,much to the disgust of Glenda.He also have a collection of orbs that contains recorded scenes from his daughter.He doesn't even know Cube was banished in Hell.
King of Heaven (God)
Elmina's father, he is strict. He wants his daughter to be perfect.But he smiled when reading a letter from Elmina.
Fairy King
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 handome,green-haired man.
Queen Ercell's personal bodyguard,currently in charge of searching for the Prince,turns out to be Arc/Arrow.Loyal and reliable,he even let the prince do what he wants,even letting him and Yucie escape.


Opening Theme

Ending Theme

Insert Theme

List of Episodes[2][edit]

1. A New Platinum Princess Candidate
2. A Rival? Yucie Goes to School
3. Exciting First Job
4. What'll I do? Hairball Panic!
5. Memories...A Garden From a Time Far Away
6. Could it be Him? The Encounter Comes Without Notice
7. Oh, Meow? The Demon World is Full of Cats
8. Sparkle, the Me Within Myself
9. Perfection? Enter the Princess of Heaven
10. Is it Destiny? The Library Re-encounter
11. Thoughts Will Get There the Girl I Met at the Beach
12. Challenge! Heaven Triathlon
13. Romance! The Magic of Love Arrives Without Notice
14. One Mystery After Another! The Fairy World Princess
15. Petite Princesses Reborn! New Tasks
16. Harvest Festival Yucie's Decision
17. How Annoying! The Fairy World is Full of Lies
18. Blazing Souls of Stewards! Save Balizan
19. We're Here to Serve You! The Master is a Mr. Stubborn
20. Confession! A Ball for Two
21. All Together! A Song to Join Their Hearts
22. Visible? Invisible? Welcome to the Haunted House
23. To the Fairy World...Light Up Those Five Souls!
24. Graduation...Thoughts Kept Within
25. Final Scene! Princess Selection
26. To the Me Who will Eventually be an Adult


Takami Akai, the character designer for the Princess Maker series of games (also by Gainax), was the character designer and original creator for Yucie. Thus, there are many similarities between characters in the Princess Maker games and this series. Of note, Yucie's appearance is based on Lisa, the daughter from Princess Maker 3; the judge in the final episode has the same appearance as Maria, the daughter from Princess Maker 1; and the young Queen Ercell has the same appearance as Olive, the daughter from Princess Maker 2.

In addition, 'Cube' is the player's butler in Princess Maker 2, Princess Maker 4, and Princess Maker 5. In the anime, Cube is also Yucie's butler and has a nearly identical design.


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.[citation needed]


  1. ^ "ADV Films Shuts Down, Transfers Assets to Other Companies". Anime News Network. 2009-09-01. Retrieved 2010-01-25. 
  2. ^ According to each episode on Petite Princess Yucie-Complete Collection (2009)

External links[edit]